What's In A Name?

What's In A Name?
Dear Friends,

For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His government and its peace
will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen! Isaiah 9:6-7 (NLT)

Wonderful Counselor; Mighty God; Everlasting Father; Prince of Peace. These are all names given to Jesus. As such they are aspects of his character, they describe who he is and what he has come to do. Let's take a look at each one:

1. Wonderful Counsellor
...the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. Isaiah 28:29 (NKJV)

When you and I need advice, guidance, direction who or what do we go to? Do we rely on self? Are we fiercely independent? Wanting our own way? Do we look to our peers? Do we use the internet? None of these can give us the full help we really need, each has limitations and they can even lead us down the wrong path. 

We read in Colossians 2:3 In him [Jesus] lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (NLT)

If we know Jesus personally then we have access to all his wisdom and knowledge. If we go to him, he will give us wonderful counsel and excellent guidance. 

We can go to him about anything, he can guide us in the right direction to take, he can teach us truths from God's Word to put into practice; when we have problems in our relationships he can give us advice and good counsel. I am so aware of how much I need his wisdom every day, wisdom for such things as how to make the best use of my time, my money, my energy, my abilities etc. 

God knows us better than we know ourselves, he loves us more than anyone else can ever love us and he wants what is best for us. That being so, why would you or I ever want to go anywhere else for counsel? 

2. Mighty God 
Jesus is God Almighty. 

All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). Isaiah 7:14 (NLT)

God with us! How amazing is that?! He's with you and he's with me.

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. Colossians 2:9 (NLT)

You may be in the middle of something right now and it just feels like it is too much to cope with on your own. You may be feeling like you are being pulled under and there's nothing you can do about it. Perhaps the harder you try, the worse it gets. It may be a situation at work, a challenging relationship, an inner struggle. You feel so alone. It feels like you are fighting a losing battle and you've reached the point where you're about to chuck it all in and just give up. Because you just can't face any more. 

Jesus is our Mighty God and you can experience him as such if you will just let him into whatever you're going through. 

Jesus is our protector and our defender. He is for us, and because he is for us nothing and no one can stand against us. He is our refuge and our stronghold. We don't need to try to be strong on our own, we don't need to try to be strong for others, we can run to him. We can receive his strength. There is no one greater, stronger, mightier than he. We can live victoriously because he has already won the victory. 

3. Everlasting Father
The idea behind these words is that Jesus is the Father of Eternity. He is the ruler of time. He reigns over all things. He is the source or author of eternal life. 

...keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source [or author] and perfecter of our faith... Hebrews 12:2 (HCSB) 

Jesus is the source of my life and your life. He gives us the gift of eternal life. He loves us with an everlasting love, a love which is constant and unchanging because he is everlasting, constant and unchanging. He is one we can totally depend and rely on. We live in a world which is constantly changing. This can leave us feeling insecure and uncertain. People we rely on won't always be there for us, they can't be counted on forever, we may feel let down by then. But as the Everlasting Father, Jesus is with us forever. We may have fears about the future because it's unknown to us, but Jesus knows the end from the beginning and with him as our Everlasting Father we have no need to fear the present or the future. 

As Everlasting Father, time is in Jesus' hands, he is in control, nothing can thwart what he has planned for us, he is Sovereign and we can rest in the knowledge that he will work out all things in his time. And what he does will be in our best interests. 

4. Prince of Peace
As the Prince of Peace, Jesus has brought us peace with God, peace with one another and an inner peace. Jesus is our peace and when he lives in us and we live in him, then his peace will guard our hearts and minds. 

Jesus said “I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. John 14:27 (NLT)

As the Prince of Peace, he alone can bring us an inner peace. Peace can reign in our hearts if we have made him Lord of our life. There will be things in this life which will try to rob us of our inner peace - worry, fear, bitterness, envy, unforgiveness, circumstances – however, we don't need to allow them to do so. If we set our minds and our hearts on Christ he will fill us with his peace. 

To Think About:
Am I in need of some direction, help, guidance, wisdom, advice for something specific right now? Will I go to Jesus who is the wonderful counsellor, or will I look elsewhere?

What am I struggling with? What battle am I going through? Will I go to Jesus who is the Mighty God, who is mightier than anything I am facing, and ask him to give me the strength to stand and persevere? 

Will I submit to Jesus, the Everlasting Father, who gave me the gift of life and will I follow his plan for my life? 

Is there something which is stealing my peace of mind? Are there any areas of conflict in my life where I need Christ's peace to reign? Will I ask Christ to restore his peace in me? 

I don't usually include a prayer with my blog post, but I would like to include this one today. You may like to use it as your prayer:

Thank you, Jesus, for these names which reveal different aspects of your nature and character. When we need counsel, direction, or guidance may we turn to you because you are our Wonderful Counsellor. 

When we need strength for our journey and a place of refuge in times of trouble, may we run to you because you are our Mighty God.

When life doesn't seem to go according to plan when we experience setbacks, challenges, and delays, may we place our life in your hands because we know you love us and that you will work all things out in your time because you are our Father of Eternity.

When we have lost our peace when our fears, worries, and concerns consume us, when Satan robs us of our peace, may we seek you and the supernatural peace that you can give us because you are our Prince of Peace.

We pray this in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.


Vicki

Today's devotional was based on the sermon I preached at my home church on Sunday 3rd December. If you would like to listen to it, then please click on the link here

If what you read was of interest to you, then you may like to know that my book "Dear Friend...52 Weekly Devotions to Encourage, Challenge and Inspire" is available to buy from Amazon, now on Kindle as well as in paperback. (Its content is material adapted from previous blog posts.) To learn more, click on the link below:

Dear Friend...














https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/bloggergrid/













https://www.faithfulbloggers.com/












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts

Do You Know You Are God's Prized Possession?

Dear Friends, Do you know that God considers you his prized possession? Maybe you find that hard to believe. You may think that because of what you've done or what's been done to you that you are not special, that you are not worth much. You may have a negative self-image and you may compare yourself with others and believe they are so much better than you. But the truth is that you are so much more than what you think you are. How do I know that? Because that's what the Bible tells me and if I want to know the truth about God and myself I go to the Bible. It's there I learn that being prized by God means that I am treasured, valued, cherished and much loved by him. At the moment I'm reading the book of James, and rather than rush through it I'm taking my time so that I can really feed on it and digest it. It's taken me most of the week to read the first chapter, but it's been a good investment of my time. It's why today I'm writing about
Read more

When Life Doesn't Go According To Plan

Image
Dear Friends, I guess at one point or another in your life, things did not go as you had planned, dreamed or hoped for.  I've certainly experienced that and it took a long time for me to come to terms with this. I grew up in a Christian home where I was taught how to have a personal relationship with God and how to seek his will and direction in all I did. Believing that God wanted me to be a Primary School Teacher I applied to University and with God's guidance I chose the one that was right for me.  Those four years at university were tough and more than once I wanted to give up and go home.  But believing I was where God wanted me to be, gave me the endurance I needed to keep going.  At the time my plan for my life was to become a teacher and I firmly believed that was God's plan for me too. In my prayers I asked God to direct me to the teaching post he had for me.  I never doubted that I wouldn't get a job as a teacher.  When no job was offered despite nume
Read more

You Are The Apple of God's Eye

Image
Dear Friends,  When I was a child we would sing a song about having a great, big, wonderful God  who never leaves us and who is ready to catch us when we stumble because we are  the apple of his eye. I used to enjoy singing it and although I never fully understood what it really meant to be  the apple of God's eye, I knew it was connected to God loving me. If you are a similar age to me and grew up in church, you may be familiar with this song too. At the time I never realised that the phrase "the apple of God's eye" came from the Bible. But I was reminded of this song a few weeks ago when I read the following verse in the Bible: Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8  (NIV) The idea of being the apple of God's eye has been on my mind since then, so I decided I wanted to know more about what it means to be the apple of God's eye.  Here's what I learned: The phrase "apple of the eye"
Read more

You are God's Favourite

Image
Dear Friends, I love my children and will sometimes say to them "You are my favourite son/daughter."  The response I usually get from them is a groan or rolling of the eyes and "Mu-um, I'm your only son/daughter."  I tell them, "Yes, but you're still my favourite!"  It's my way of letting them know how much I love them, how precious, how special they are to me.  For me, it's a picture of how I believe God loves each one of us.  He loves me in such a way that he says to me, "You're my favourite!"  And I believe he loves you in such a way too and says "You're my favourite!". God loves each one of us with an incredible, incomparable, unconditional love.  A love that goes beyond the ordinary.  A love that is pure and selfless.  A genuine love.  A love that is beyond our understanding.  He loves us each individually and considers us all his favourite. I love words and I love the word used to describe how Go
Read more

The Apprentice Prayer

Image
Dear Friends, I receive devotional emails from the website "Soul Shepherding".  In one of the emails several months ago Bill Gaultiere shared  "The Apprentice Prayer". I have printed it out and placed it in my journal so I can refer back to it and pray it again.  This is the Apprentice Prayer:  Jesus, I love you! Father, I adore you! Holy Spirit, I rely on you! Lord Jesus, I seek to live as your apprentice in all that I do today. My life is your school for teaching me. I relinquish my agenda for this day and I submit myself to you and your kingdom purposes. In all situations I abandon outcomes to you, praying, “Your will, your way, your time.” Dear Father, I ask you to ordain the events of this day and use them to make me more like Jesus. I trust you, Sovereign Lord, that you won’t let anything happen to my family or me today, except that it passes through your loving hands. So no matter what problems, hardships, or
Read more

"God Is Taking Everything Away From Me"

Dear Friends, When I was first diagnosed with M.E (M yalgic Encephalomyelitis)  in the late 1990s I really struggled to come to terms with it. I can remember in the early years and when it was at its worst saying that God was taking everything away from me. This was truly how I felt, and the hurt and the pain from what I was losing was intense. It's a pain which actually cannot fully be put into words. Not only had I lost my health and strength, I had to give up work and I wasn't able to do the things I'd been doing at church, such as leading Sunday School and running a youth group with my husband. Jason and I had married in the Summer of 1995 and the illness meant I wasn't able to do all I wanted to do in the home or to be the kind of wife I wanted to be for Jason and I wasn't able to socialise (for me that meant not going to church and mixing with church friends). It really felt like God was taking everything away from me and like I said, it was extremely pa
Read more

The Blessing Of Pain

Dear Friends, I’ve been thinking about pain quite a bit this past week, probably because I’m in the midst of it at the moment!   My close friends and family know that I have been to the National Migraine Clinic (NMC) in London.   Before they can treat the migraines I need to take a 12 week break from all my painkillers.   This is proving difficult as I also rely on painkillers most days to manage & tolerate the muscle pain caused by M.E.   The leg pain in particular has been almost unbearable, sitting, laying on the sofa, in bed, heat treatment, massage mat; none of these things have provided me with much relief. We all experience pain in our lives, the cause of it will be different, the intensity of it varies, but pain is still pain and it hurts!   I don’t enjoy pain and I don’t seek it out, however, God is teaching me that there is blessing in pain.   It’s my experience of this that I want to share with you today that you may be encouraged and blessed too. Alth
Read more

The Teacup Story

Image
If you would like to listen to this devotional please click  here Dear Friends, The Potter's Wheel A couple of weeks back I was reminded about a story I had read a few years ago. It's called "The Teacup Story" but before I share it with you, let's go to the Bible. Jeremiah was one of God's prophets in the Old Testament. He was called by God to pass messages on to God's people. In Jeremiah 18:1-6  we read about an object lesson God gave to Jeremiah and which is still relevant for us today: God told Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.” So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot. Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’
Read more

Set Your Sights on the Realities of Heaven

Image
Dear Friends, Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1-3 "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. 2  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God." (NLT) I read these verses one morning when I was in the middle of a bad spell of migraines.  The spell lasted for ten days.  Some of the days were extremely painful when I just couldn't function normally, some were more bearable and I could live with the pain and some days I woke free from the pain and hoped for a pain-free day only for the migraine to develop later in the day.  I know that some of you reading this will have experienced pain much worse than this.  You may be going through something right now which is almost unbearable.  Whatever that painful experience may be, it's not pleasant!  Whether it's
Read more

Living The "Zoe" Life

Image
Dear Friends, Do you ever find yourself wrestling over a verse or passage of Scripture? Perhaps because it's hard to understand or grasp. Or perhaps it doesn't fit with your experience. For some months, possiby years, there has been one verse which I've wrestled with. It's this one from John 10:10b Where Jesus says, "My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." (NLT). Other translations use words such as an abundant life, life in all it's fullness, enjoy life to the full, everything they need. What is this kind of life that Jesus is talking about? Is it really possible to experience it ourselves? I want to share with you the place I'm at right now in my journey of understanding. We will never fully understand all that the Bible has to teach us and sometimes we (I) will get it wrong. You may very well disagree with how I am interpreting what I read. But if it causes any of us to go back to the Bible and ask the Holy S
Read more