God knows your name and mine. Do we know His?

Early in my Christian life, I heard a sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer. When my pastor reached, “Hallowed be Your name,” he detoured into a new sermon series on the names of God.

That experience instilled in me a lifelong love for the names and attributes of God. It’s why I wrote Daily Reflections on the Names of God: A Devotional, published by Revell Books and endorsed by Kay Arthur, founder of Precepts Ministries International.

The names of God don’t just reveal His nature and His ways. They also teach me about myself and they reveal the priority God places on relationships.

Learning how God describes Himself changed the way I relate to Him. Blind faith? Not at all. My faith stands on the very foundation of God’s character. 

It also changed the way I pray. Instead of praying to an impersonal force out there in the universe, I’m praying to our very personal God. There’s a name or attribute of God that relates to every situation I experience. When I’m dealing with a crisis, I come before El Elyon, the Most High God. Nothing is too big for Him to handle. When I need direction, I call on God as my Guide. When my heart is hurting, I run to my Comforter.

Understanding His names even altered the way I share the gospel. When others speak of who they think God is, I’m able to say, let’s look at who God says He is.

If you and I want an intimate relationship with the Lord, it makes sense to start with how He describes Himself. As we enter this Christmas season, let’s commit to learning the names of the One who came to restore us to Him!

What is your favorite name of God?
What name or attribute of God do you struggle to understand?