Search

life

Make Room for Healing and Joy

by

Don’t Hold on to Things You Shouldn’t

We’ve all found ourselves in unpleasant situations. Places where we feel trapped. Sometimes it’s because of things we’ve done. Sometimes we’re there due to no fault of our own.

The Israelites found themselves in bad situations repeatedly. They would go through times when they would be captives of other countries. Most of the time this was because they would be doing things they shouldn’t.

There was a lot of guilt and judgement.

God would give them chances to change. These opportunities would come to them through prophets of God.

One of these messages of hope came in Isaiah 6:1-7. Isaiah received a message from God and he felt doomed because he was a sinful man. A Seraphim that was attending to God touched Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal and said, “This coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.

The year of Jubilee was a time for the Israelites to dedicate a year of rest to God, acknowledging that God would provide for their needs.

The Year of Jubilee, which came every 50th year, was full of releasing people from their debts, releasing all slaves, and returning property to those who owned it. During this time, the Israelites were not supposed to reap or harvest; it was a time for people to return to their families and loved ones.

The Year of Jubilee was a time of Restoration.

So, after seven years of Sabbaths, we reach the 50th year. A year dedicated to rest, the restoration of property, and freeing people from debts, servitude, and slavery.

Because everyone was released from their debts and slavery, everyone got to rest and could start the next year with a clean slate. 

It’s important to note that God owns everything. Anything He’s given to us, such as resources, crops, etc., belongs to him. Therefore, the Israelites would dedicate this year of rest to him, acknowledging that God would provide for their needs.

The Israelites went into captivity because they didn’t observe these resting years (Leviticus 26). Because they didn’t trust that God would provide and dedicate time to resting, they reaped the consequences.

God also instituted the Year of Jubilee as a foreshadowing for his future work on the cross. Jesus relieves us of all spiritual debts and our slavery to sin by His death and Resurrection.

In Matthew 1:18-25, Joseph learned of the coming of Jesus when an Angel came to him in a dream. He was told what would happen and what he was supposed to do. And he did it.

Our ultimate forgiveness is through Jesus. But we have to accept this gift.

Jubilee was a release from the past. A restoring. It brought hope for the future.

The Israelites held on to things and wouldn’t let them go. They neglected to take advantage of Jubilee, and they suffered unnecessarily because of this.

Too often we do the same thing. We’ve been hurt by someone, and we don’t let go. Then we’re the ones who suffer. We tend to hold on to things as a way of protecting ourselves. Even when we’ve let go of something, it has a way of creeping back.

We have the power of choice. We can forgive. We can release the past. This makes room for healing and joy.

Jesus is our Jubilee.

A Straight Path is the Shortest Way

by

This Can Be Hard in the Wilderness

In geometry, a straight line is the shortest distance between two points (on a flat surface). When going from point A to point B, on a map or in life, it’s rare that we can go in a straight line. In this case we want to find the “most straight” line.

The same is true for our path to salvation.

The fewer detours or obstructions we have to deal with the sooner we get to where we’re going.

The Israelites had been in exile for years. Isaiah explained over and over that they had been dealing with this judgement because of their own self-inflicted obstacles. Then in Chapter 40 he shifts to a message of hope.

In verses 3-5 he tells them,

“Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!”

Isaiah is telling them to get ready for the coming of Jesus. That the path is straight. There is only one way to salvation and that is Jesus. They needed to quit wandering around out in the wilderness.

In the New Testament, when Mary visited Elizabeth, the unborn John leapt in Elizabeth’s womb. John already knew he was going to have a part in the Christmas story before he was born. He was going to make a path through the wilderness to Jesus.

We need to do the same thing as John and help each other through the wilderness. We can do this by sharing the road map of life. This map can be found in the Bible. This isn’t to say that it’s easy, but it is the straightest line.

The best path is the straightest line.

We need to use this map in our own lives as well. Life can be a hard road. But it is easier if we know the best path to take.

Advent is the preparing for the coming of Jesus. This is a good time to focus on the path and find our way through the wilderness of life.

Part of preparing for Jesus is repenting of the things we shouldn’t do. Repenting can seem like a negative thing. But it shouldn’t be. Repenting doesn’t mean stop, don’t, no.

Instead of looking at it negatively, look at it positively. It’s not the ending of something, but rather the beginning. Start, do, yes.

Start down the right path. Do something to move you closer to Jesus. Say yes to the straightest line.

Even though the wilderness can seem overwhelming and easy to get lost in, look for the straight path. Nothing is too hard or too difficult for Jesus. He will show you the right way to go.

A Story is a Good Way to Tell a Story

by

It Makes the Message More Real

Stories are a way to relate to information in a more personal way. We can connect and feel stories. It taps into our emotions. It’s a way to make things more understandable.

The Bible is a collection of stories. These were stories that people then could relate to. We can still relate to them today.

Often we are so close to something that we can’t see the whole picture. We are stuck in our rut. Focused on our situation. We want what we want. Our narrow view is all we see.

This was Isaiah’s perspective in Chapter 64 Verses 1-4. The people were tired and frustrated of being in exile. Isaiah wanted God to shake the world and come down as a warrior to free them. He closes with God acting on behalf of people who wait in Him. People were waiting on God throughout the Old Testament.

We are impatient people. We want what we want, and we want it now.

The answer to Isaiah’s plea wasn’t answered quickly. This answer didn’t come as Isaiah expected. It came in the form of a little baby…not a warrior. (Luke 1:26-38)

Too often we are so busy that we forget to step back from the rat race and patiently wait on God’s timing. We feel that waiting is a waste of time.

We need to be willing to wait on God.

Maybe God is waiting on us to wait on Him.

Many times, we hear something that is hard to believe. Like the story of Jesus, being born as a human, dying on the cross, and then coming back to life. From a worldly perspective this is a little hard to believe.

Stories can help us step back and understand things that are hard to believe.

A good example of such a story is one that Paul Harvey shared on his 1970’s radio show, “The Rest of the Story”. This was a Christmas story about a man and some birds.

The Man and the Birds

Author Unknown
As told by Paul Harvey

The man I’m going to tell you about was not a scrooge, he was a kind decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family and upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn’t believe in all of that incarnation stuff that the churches proclaim at Christmas time. It just didn’t make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus story, about God coming to Earth as a man.

He told his wife I’m truly sorry to distress you, but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas Eve. He said he would feel like a hypocrite and that he would much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. So he stayed and they went to the midnight service.

Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then he went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper.

Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another … and then another. At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against the living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled outside miserably in the snow. They’d been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter they had tried to fly through his large landscape window. That is what had been making the sound.

Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures just lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter. All he would have to do is to direct the birds into the shelter.

Quickly, he put on a coat and galoshes and he tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light so the birds would know the way in. But the birds did not come in.

So, he figured that food would entice them. He hurried back to the house and fetched some bread crumbs. He sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail of bread crumbs to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs.

The birds continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them but could not. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around and waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction … every direction except into the warm lighted barn.

And that’s when he realized they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me. That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Any move he made tended to frighten them and confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.

He thought to himself, if only I could be a bird and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe warm … to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see … and hear … and understand.

At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind.

He stood there listening to the bells, Adeste Fidelis, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas.

And he sank to his knees in the snow …

Stories make things more real.

Anything is possible for God.

Who Sits on Your Throne?

by

It’s Up to You

Too often we think we know what’s best. We want to be in control. We’ve got this.

We do have the power of choice. We just need to use this power wisely.

Problems begin to arise when we compare ourselves and our situations to those around us. Especially when social media spouts off how great someone else’s life is.

This misplaced focus is the root of the problem.

This is what happened in the Bible in 1 Samuel 8. Israel looked at the other nations around them that had kings. This looked like a good thing. They went to Samuel, who was their judge, and asked him to appoint a king for them. They wanted to put a human king on their throne, rather than God.

Samuel prayed to the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

Samuel told them it was a bad idea and warned against it.

He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.

And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

They didn’t listen.

So, then they got their kings.

Then years later, just as they were told, they found themselves living in exile.

This brings us to Daniel. King Darius had a dream and Daniel was able to tell him what it meant. Because of this, the king appointed Daniel as one of his main administrators. Other officers did not like Daniel because he outperformed them. Though some scheming, Daniel ended up thrown in a den of lions. (Daniel 6)

But because Daniel had God on his throne the lions’ mouths were shut.

Later in Chapter 7, Daniel has a dream. This dream is pointing to the coming of a new king…King Jesus.

Rule, glory, and kingship were given to him;
    all peoples, nations, and languages will serve him.
His rule is an everlasting one—
    it will never pass away!—
        his kingship is indestructible.

We don’t have to put Jesus on our throne. But if we don’t, we will have the same troubles as the Israelites when they wanted an earthly king.

We can choose who sits on the throne of our lives…Jesus, our ourselves.

Life is Full of Struggles

by

What are You Going to Do About Them?

We all experience struggles in life. We also have opportunities to celebrate peace and harmony. The question is which you’re going to focus on.

This past Sunday we celebrated getting new hymnals at church. Pastor Lisa pointed out that, at different times different things speak to us. This is true in worship.

It might be a prayer, a liturgy, a Scripture, or a song. Music is certainly something that can move us. A hymnal is more than just a book of songs.

It is a gathering of history. It is scriptural. It is a part of a journey. It gives us direction.

One such song is Great is Thy Faithfulness.

This popular Christian song was written as a poem by Thomas Chisholm in 1923. It was about God’s faithfulness over his lifetime.  Chisholm sent it to William Runyan who was affiliated with the Hope Publishing Company. Runyan set the poem to music. It quickly became popular among church groups.

Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father; 
there is no shadow of turning with thee; 
thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not; 
as thou hast been thou forever wilt be.

Refrain: 
Great is thy faithfulness! 
Great is thy faithfulness! 
Morning by morning new mercies I see:
all I have needed thy hand hath provided–
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!


Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
join with all nature in manifold witness 
to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. [Refrain]


Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, 
thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, 
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! [Refrain]

Great is Thy Faithfulness, Thomas Chisholm

These Biblical lyrics reference Lamentations 3:22-23.

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
    His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Lamenting is crying out. It is to express deep sorrow, to mourn, or grieve.

This is what the book of Lamentations is. In the Bible, people would wear sack cloth and throw dirt. I remember when people would wear black for a while to show their feelings of lamenting. Now people get on social media.

Lamentations 3:19-26 gives us a good plan for dealing with life’s struggles. It tells us to get these struggles out and share them with God. It professes God’s daily mercies and peace we can have. It points out that it is up to us to look to Him for this comfort.

We need to tell God how we feel and have faith in Him.

It is up to us to believe. Christians do not lament as the world does.

Give your struggles to God and live in His peace.

I Killed Jesus

by

Now What Am I Going to Do About It?

This past Sunday the men of the church led worship. Jim Miller gave us a great message. At the end of the service, we took communion.

Communion is a part of Christian worship. It was instituted by Jesus on the evening before His death. It is the partaking of bread and wine, which was presented before God the Father in thankful memorial of Christ’s sacrifice. This became (through the sacramental blessing) the communion of the body and blood of Christ.

Like all religious ceremonies, communion can become routine. Just another habitual thing we do.

As we were preparing to take the sacraments Jim said something that caught my attention. He said, “We caused Jesus’ death.” Our sins are the reason Christ died on that cross. And it hit me…

I killed Jesus.

It’s not just that Jesus died to pay for our sins. I killed Him.

At that moment His sacrifice hit me. I directly caused His death. I’m responsible for this.

Now what am I going to do about it?

The Scripture Jim used was 2 Peter 1:1-11. This is an outline for a Christian life.

The Lord has given us everything we need for life and godliness. That you may share the divine nature and escape from the world’s immorality that sinful craving produces.

  • This is why you must make every effort to add moral excellence to your faith
  • And to moral excellence, knowledge
  • And to knowledge, self-control
  • And to self-control, endurance
  • And to endurance, godliness
  • And to godliness, affection for others
  • And to affection for others, love.

If all these are yours and they are growing in you, they’ll keep you from becoming inactive and unfruitful. Whoever lacks these things is shortsighted and blind, forgetting that they were cleansed from their past sins.

Do this and you will never ever be lost. You will receive a rich welcome into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

How do we apply this outline to our daily lives?

Jim being a rancher, gave us a cowboy analogy for this.

In different seasons cattle need to be given supplements to keep them healthy and living their best life.

He used a story about supplements from a cattleman’s magazine. This story used staves in a wooden barrel as an example. These are narrow vertical boards that are used on the sides of wooden barrels.

If one of these staves is shorter than the others, the barrel can’t be filled. It will only hold as much as the shortest stave.

The point of this magazine article was…cattle will only be as healthy as the shortest thing in their diet. This is where supplements come in.

Taking supplements is not something that is done once. It needs to be done on a regular basis over a period of time.

This is the same in our spiritual lives. We need to take supplements to live the best life. These supplements are regular reading of the Bible and prayer.

Reading and applying scripture and praying daily, living the life that God has called me to, these are a way to repay a small portion of my debt for killing Jesus.

We Don’t Need To Be Scared

by

Even If It Is Halloween

As I write this, tomorrow is Halloween. There are a lot of scary decorations in yards and on houses as I drive through town. There are a lot of scary movies on TV. Kids will be dressing up in costumes and trick or treating. There will be scary sounds and scary things as they go from house to house.

 As scary as this can be, most people will know that there’s no real danger with these decorations and sounds…but it’s nice to know there are others close by that have our backs.

As scary as Halloween is, there is something else that’s scarier.

In Matthew 10:28 we are told, “Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul. Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” We should be afraid of Satan. Matthew goes on in verse 31 and tells us, “Don’t be afraid…”

We have Christ’s protection available to us every day. If we acknowledge Jesus before people, He will acknowledge us before our Father in heaven. But if we deny Christ, He will also deny us before God. (Matthew 10:32-33)

As a parent you’ve probably had situations where your kids are hounding you about something. You tell them no. They keep asking and asking. You continue to tell them no.

Then comes the question…why?

And the answer…

Because I said so!

This is because you as the parents know more than them as the kids.

This is the same thing Jesus tells us. He knows more than we do.

As we’ve been going through Isaiah, we’ve heard him warning the people and telling them what to expect if they don’t quit doing the things they are doing. As scary as this is, they don’t seem to be taking it seriously.

He goes on to tell them the peace they can have if they believe and change.

It can be hard to believe if we don’t have proof. These people were being told to believe something and they didn’t have any proof…yet. We do.

In Isaiah 61:1-2, we see what Isaiah told the people they could expect from Christ. The Lord’s spirit is upon Him. He was sent “to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release for captives, and liberation for prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and a day of vindication for our God, to comfort all who mourn…”

In Luke 4:14-21, Jesus has returned to Nazareth, where He had grown up. One Sabbath when He was at the synagogue, He was given the book of Isaiah to read from. He unrolled the scroll and read:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
    to proclaim release to the prisoners
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
    to liberate the oppressed,
    and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

He sat down and everyone was looking at Him. He told them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.”

Like little kids we’re continually asking why. Why is this so hard? Why did this bad thing happen? Why…

And the answer…

Because Jesus said so.

The world can be a scary place. It doesn’t have to be. Jesus is our protector. We need to trust Him. He knows more than us.

Remember to Say Thank You

by

We Take Gifts for Granted

We are surrounded by blessings. We can get so used to them as a part of life that we forget to be thankful. We need to slow down and be intentional about seeing the blessings and being grateful.

As we have been going through the book of Isaiah, we have seen how the people were warned of the impending disaster if they didn’t change their ways. But there is hope if they do. (This is pretty much the message throughout the Bible.)

Isaiah spells it out for the people.

What you’re doing is wrong. If you change, the punishment won’t come. If you don’t, it will.

In Chapters 40 – 52 there is a message of hope. This is the hope of the coming Messiah and the price He will pay for our deserved punishment. Isaiah tells them in Chapter 53, verses 1-9 what’s going to happen 600 years in the future.

Who can believe what we have heard? He possessed no splendid form for us to see, no desirable appearance. He was despised and avoided by others; a man who suffered, who knew sickness well. Like someone from whom people hid their faces, he was despised.

 It was certainly our sickness that he carried, and our sufferings that he bore, but we thought him afflicted, struck down by God and tormented. He was pierced because of our rebellions and crushed because of our crimes. He bore the punishment that made us whole; by his wounds we are healed. Like sheep we had all wandered away, each going its own way, but the Lord let fall on him all our crimes.

He was oppressed and tormented, but didn’t open his mouth. Like a lamb being brought to slaughter, like a ewe silent before her shearers, he didn’t open his mouth. Due to an unjust ruling he was taken away, He was eliminated from the land of the living, struck dead because of my people’s rebellion. His grave was among the wicked, his tomb with evildoers, though he had done no violence, and had spoken nothing false.

Even though this had not happened yet, it was being told by Isaiah as though it had already happened.

Granted, it might be hard to believe someone telling you things that hadn’t happened yet. We have no excuse, because it did happen, just like Isaiah said it would.

We need to remember to say thank You for this gift that we have been given by Jesus.

We say thank You by accepting it.

The World is Full of Miracles

by

Why Do We Overlook Them?

John the Baptist was put in prison by Herod for sharing the message of Jesus. John had spent his whole life declaring the message of the coming Messiah. As he was trapped there in prison, he may have been having second thoughts about this. Had he got this wrong? Was Jesus really the Messiah?

While he was in prison, John sent two of his disciples to Jesus to find out. When they went to Jesus, they found Him curing people who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirts. Also, he was giving sight to many who were blind. (Luke 7:21)

They asked Jesus, “Are You the one who’s coming, or should we look for someone else?” (Luke 7:20)

He answered them, “Go back, and tell John what you have seen and heard:

Blind people see again, lame people are walking, those with skin diseases are made clean, deaf people hear again, dead people are brought back to life, and poor people hear the Good News.” (Luke 7:18-23)

Jesus was telling these disciples and John the things they had been taught. These things had been predicted in Isaiah.  

Last week we looked at Isaiah telling us about the Messiah in chapter 9. Between chapter 9 and chapter 34, Isaiah is telling the people of the harsh judgement to come. That’s a lot of chapters about what the people can expect because of how they have been living.

In chapter 34, Isaiah switches it up.

He goes back to the message of hope for restoration.

He tells the people that God is coming. Deserts will become green. The Lord will display His glory. He is coming to strengthen those who have tired hands and encourage those who have weak knees. He will say to those with fearful hearts,

“Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.”

And when He comes, this is what it will look like:

“He will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland. The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.” (Isaiah 35:1-10)

These miracles that Isaiah predicted happened.

We’ve heard of these miracles that Jesus did. The Bible is full of examples of Jesus performing miracles.

Miracles just happened in the Bible though…right? Wrong.

The world around us is full of miracles. It’s nothing but miracles.

Miracles don’t have to be some miraculous healing (not that they can’t be). Doctors, nurses and medicine are miracles. Technology that allows us to communicate virtually with people around the world is a miracle. The fact that the sun comes up right on schedule every morning, as it has for thousands of years, is a miracle.

I think Albert Einstein summarized it will when he said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

The world is a miracle full of miracles. We just need to open our eyes and see them.

We’re All Given a Name

by

And He Shall Be Called…

What’s in a name? This is a question that is often not given much thought. I know I haven’t given much thought to what my first name means or why I was named Mark. I just know who I am.

However, my middle name is Eugene which was my dad’s middle name. This name I’ve thought about. I am proud of this name. It’s also who I am. I’ve shared this name with my oldest son.

The reasons names are given to people by parents are all over the map. There are family names. People named after singers, actors, characters in movies, TV shows or books. Or maybe they are just a clever “play on word” name. Some of them make me scratch my head, “What were these parents thinking?”

I’ve known people, for whatever reason, didn’t like their names.

How do you feel about your name?

Are you living out who you were named to be?

In the Bible we find people named for a variety of reasons. Many of these were significant.

For example:

  • Moses means drawn from the water, son, deliverer – this is a pretty accurate description of who he was and who he became.
  • Abraham means father of a multitude – it started as Abram which just means father until God changed it to Abraham.
  • Jacob means grasping the heal – which is what happened when he was born. It also means deceiver, underminer and sneaky. All of which he was.
  • Benjamin was originally named Benoni by his dying mother which means son of my trouble or sorrow. After his mother died, Jacob changed it to Benjamin which means son of my right hand. This second name seems to be a more positive name.

Isaiah tells us that God named his first son Shear-jashub – a remnant will return (Isaiah 7:3). This was looking to the future and what they could expect in the future. God gave Isaiah’s second son the name Maher-shalal-hash-baz – swift to plunder and quick to carry away (Isaiah 8:1-4). This is what they could expect first.

Isaiah followed up with a message of hope in chapter 9 verses 2-7. He tells them about the Messiah. That darkness and despair will not last forever.

He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

These names mean – there will be restoration, going back to the way things were in the beginning.

Names mean something.

In Exodus 3, Moses encounters the burning bush. When he goes to take a closer look, God called to him. Moses answered, “Here I am.”

I don’t know about you, but if a burning bush called my name…I’m not sure that I wouldn’t have turned and run.

But Moses stayed and it’s good that he did.

God went on to say, I am the God of your father – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3:6) God went on to tell Moses to go rescue the Israelites from the Egyptians. But Moses protested and said, “Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”

God told Moses that He would be with him. Moses still pushed back and didn’t feel that he could do this.

Don’t we all feel like this when God calls us to do something that we feel uncomfortable doing.

Moses asked God, if I tell the people that the God of their ancestors has sent me, they will ask, “What is his name? Then what am I to tell them?”

God replied to Moses, “I Am who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.”

This name says it all. It tells us who God is and who He will always be.