Your Name – The Presidential Prayer Team

The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. – Psalm 6:9

If your name described the essence of your life, what would it be? Explorer, struggling, celebrated, broken, lavishly blessed, ignored, investor, storyteller, the list is endless. Certainly, it changes a bit from day to day, but if you look closely there is probably a theme describing your entire life journey.

Many Old Testament characters have names rich with personal meaning. Hagar’s story is found in Genesis 16 and 21. In its variations her name tells it all, meaning; forsaken, one that fears, flight, a stranger. Enslaved to a childless woman, she is given to the woman’s husband to make a baby, and she does! However, that complicated family dynamic does not work out well for anyone. Powerless and scared she runs away but finds no refuge, only barren desert. Alone in a desperate place, she has an amazing encounter, she meets her Creator, God, and He knows her name! God tells her to return to her mistress and gives her the name of the son she will bear, Ishmael, meaning “God listens.”

The enduring stories of these characters and their descendants still resonate in the world today. God still seeks out the desperate and abandoned, He still listens to the cry of a repentant heart. He still blesses despite past failures and misguided plans.

Never forget the day He heard your prayer and rescued you through the power of Jesus Christ. Praise Him for giving you the name “redeemed.” Ask Him to bless America in the complicated relationships with people groups around the world. And remember HIS name is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God.

Today’s Verse: Psalm 6:9

The Lord has heard my plea;
    the Lord accepts my prayer.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Acts 4:7-12

⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” ⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, ⁹if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, ¹⁰let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. ¹¹This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. ¹²And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”