Want a new name?

God has a NEW NAME for you.

Can we talk real talk?
-did you have a name people called you, a not-so-nice 'nick name'?
-do you have things you call yourself when you mess up?
-do you still hear the voice of your critical dad in your head?
-or perhaps a coach or teacher who derided you?

Whether someone built you up or regularly tore you down, it has impacted how you view yourself. These things-words-lodge themselves in our brains, and they oft mark us. You may be a true success story in your life, but your dad's words, "you're never going to amount to anything" still replay in your head. You may have stepped on the head of alcoholism, but you hear in your head, "you're never going to be more than a two-bit drunk." But that is not how God would have it.

Scripture supports what I am saying here - Some of us remember Sunday School lessons about Gideon, and how he defeated a mighty army with just 300 men. It is a great story in Judges 6 and 7. But there is another aspect to Gideon's story that has great application for all of us, before the battle. Pay attention to this, please.

The curtain comes up in this story about Gideon while he is threshing wheat in a winepress . . . note: God comes to Gideon, right where he is:

"the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said,
"The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."
Judges 6.1-16-- https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+6.1-16&vers...

Let's set the scene and the context: Gideon lived during a time when Israel had forsaken God and worshipped idols; the nation suffered mightily under the oppression of the Midianites. Organized bands raided Israel, burning homes and crops and killing the animals across the whole breadth of the land, from Jordan to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

The angel of the Lord comes to a fear-filled Gideon [maybe his friends or parents referred to him as 'the coward'] where he was working, more or less, in hiding. God does not 'call him out' but rather 'calls him upward' . . . calling him a MIGHTY WARRIOR. God calls Gideon according to who he sees him to be, and how he wants to use him.

And so Gideon became a MIGHTY WARRIOR.

Friend, names are important to God; he knows you by name. "See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands." Isaiah 49.16 God thinks of you by your name.

Consider this: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." From Isaiah 43

Just as he had for Gideon, he has for you: a purpose and a NAME. Hint for next briefing: your name begins with a 'B'.

Christine
PastorWoman.com