Spirit Led Living

There is one name that is found only once in all of the Bible, 'El-'Elohe-Israel . It is found in Genesis 33:20. Jacob calls God this name when he builds an altar to the Lord at Shechem on the occasion of his struggle at Peniel which resulted in God changing his name from Jacob to Israel. A literal translation of this passage would say that Jacob, "called it the altar of El, the God of Israel". Elyon   or Most High is used to denote His stature, His exaltation or elevation. It means that He is far above all other men or gods. Deut 32:8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.    Gen 14:18-19 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, Gibbor , "Mighty (One)": The people of Israel were in a constant struggle for their land and their liberties, a struggle that reached its most intense and ...

When we started this study into the names of God   we began with the name that God called Himself.   Moses is told that he is to say that "I AM" sent him to rescue his people out of captivity. Yahweh is that name. After the fall of man came a separation that necessitated God to reveal Himself progressively to man all over again. Before the fall, Adam and Eve had a full revelation of God to the point where they met and talked together in the "cool of the day". With man's rebellion, not only were they banished from the Garden, their sin caused separation from a righteous God. Through the centuries that followed man rediscovered who God is by observing His actions toward man. As a result more names of God evolved that are basically adjectives of God and thus are attached to His name. Jahweh-jireh - This name is translated as "The-LORD-Will-Provide," commemorating the provision of the ram in place of Isaac for Abraham's sacrifice. God is our provi...

  Tsur – In the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy we find what is called the "Song" of Moses. Five times during that section we find the Hebrew word that is translated “Rock” or “Safe Retreat” as a descriptive name for God. It occurs also in the Psalms, Isaiah and the poetical passages of other books. It presents the idea of God as steadfast and unmoving. As often happens throughout the Bible the name of God appears with the possessive “my” to indicate relationship. This is true especially of Moses and David but is not the case with Saul who always refers to the “Lord your God” in his exchanges with Samuel. While Saul had been anointed to be King of Israel, it is clear that he did not have a personal relationship with God. David on the other hand, despite all his shortcomings did not depend on the prophet for his interaction with God because he had a personal relationship with Him. Kadhosh or Qadhosh , "Holy One": This name is found frequently in Isaiah and Psalms, and ...

Adhonay or as it may be more familiar to us, Adonai , is a word for God that is attributive. In other words, it describes one of His attributes. In this particular case it points to the sovereignty of God. Unfortunately, when it comes to translations it is very difficult to capture the original intent of the writer and so in many translations some of the names for God become interchangeable. In this case, Adhonay become possessive as in my Lord as opposed to simply Lord. God is Lord. God is Sovereign. This is an incredibly strong name for God in that it puts all the power on His side. He is completely in charge. There can be no discussion as to His rule and reign. Whatever He says goes. The New Testament parallel is Kurios. It represents both Yahweh and Adhonay and it is used upwards of 600 times. In fact, any time the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament Kurios is how those two words are translated in the Greek. It is the title of dominion. It is used not only of God the ...

Yahweh Yahweh is most often translated in the Old Testament as “Lord”. To understand Yahweh we have to understand that the Jews were very careful about saying or writing the Lord’s name lest they sin by saying it in vain. It is also important to know that this iteration of the name of God is one of the oldest ones and comes at a time when ancient Hebrew was very limited in that there were no punctuation marks or in the case of Yahweh it contained no vowels. Yahweh, a combination of the tetragrammaton (YHWH) with the vowels of 'Adhonay, transliterated as Yehowah, but read aloud by the Hebrews 'adhonay. This is where some traditions get their translation of Jehovah. Yahweh has its roots in the event of the burning bush were God reveals Himself as “I AM”. For most of the Old Testament Yahweh is more future tense in the sense of “He will be” in relation to his covenant relationship with His people. There is a sense of promise in His name that begins to be fulfilled in Christ. It pr...

I often wonder at people's names. It seems that with each passing generation people try to get more and more creative with names, spellings and pronunciations.   In a world that is becoming more and more secular, people choose names for any number of reasons, but less and less as a result of prayer. In the Bible we find that most names have significance. Often, the names chosen end up being prophetic, and in a few instances, God Himself either chooses the name or changes the name (Abram/Abraham, Saul/Paul). In my own case my mother had lost two children before I came along and it took many years before I was conceived. I was a mid-life baby for both my parents. In my father's case (unbeknown to me) I was his fourth son and came at a time when he really didn't want any more children. As for my mother, I was her only child and I came as a result of much prayer. In fact, my mother promised God that if He blessed her with a child that she would completely dedicate the child to ...

2 Corinthians 13:11   Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Bill Hybels wrote a book called “AXIOMS” in which he enumerated the axioms that he has developed over the years and which have stood the test of time. An axiom is a statement generally accepted as true, or that states a truth in a succinct, easy to grasp statement. If you’ve read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, you know that each of those habits is stated as an axiom. One of my axioms which came to me during a leadership meeting is this: “Perfection is destination, excellence is a journey and the joy is in the journey”. Perfection, as we read in 1 Corinthians 13:10 is unattainable in this lifetime, but it is something to aim for. When we do that, we generally can achieve excellence. Titus 3:8   This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may b...