Say the Name

 

As I read my Jesus Calling devotional this morning, I was reminded of the critical need to immediately call on the name of Jesus no matter what we face.  I was convicted of how when faced with an unexpected change in my day, I immediately go into whirlwind of damage control, search and rescue, and how can we fix this, my mind racing with every possible scenario to explore, when the first thing to do is call on Jesus.  Even when I don't know what to say, saying His name is enough.  Not because saying his name brings Him to us because He is with us always and has never left our side, but because saying His name reminds us that we are in His presence and that He is walking through whatever challenges we face with us.  It is for our peace that we call on Jesus for "He is our peace".  Ephesians 2:14a.  Let that soak in.  Jesus is our peace.  When we are upset by the storms of life the only peace we will find is in Him.  When we scurry and try to figure things out on our own, I don't know about you, but my mind is rarely peaceful, but that is because I am not turning to Christ first, saying His name first, trusting Him for who He is.  What a change in my day to day choices and decisions if I made it a constant practice to speak the name of Jesus first..

One of my favorite ways to remember how natural speaking the name of God is is through breathing.  One year at a staff development retreat, a clinical psychologist taught us how saying Yahweh was as natural as breathing.  When we inhale "Yah" and exhale "Weh", we see how our Creator formed us to be able to speak His name within the most necessary part of our being.  Like breathing, saying the name of God brings life and hope and peace in all things we do.  I want to seek to make saying the name of Jesus as natural to my life as breathing.  Will you join me?

"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  Philippians 2:9-11