There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. – Acts 4:12 NLT

“Hi. My name is …” Hmmmmm. Imagine if we had no name to introduce ourselves with. What a funny world we would live in! Our names carry greater significance than we think because they identifies who we are. Regardless of whether your name is Charlie, Apple or John Smith–your name sets you apart from those around you. What about the name of the country you are from? I don’t think conversation would go so well if someone asked you where you were from and all you could muster was a quick “Oh you know, that place to the left of the big coconut tree.” A name can locate you. In Bible times, names were chosen for a person or a place because they represented the nature of that person or place, or because something significant had taken place in that location- not just because they sounded cool. We see the fullness of this in God’s names: God our Healer, God our Hope, God our Love… the list goes on and on. He has so many names, not because He has a split personality but because His nature has many facets, like a diamond- each one beautiful and equally strong as the other. One facet can be seen when Jesus refers to Himself in John 14:6 as “The way, the truth and the LIFE.” This Life comes out of the very nature of who He is, and when we locate ourselves in Him, we find that He REVIVES us and restores us back to life. How easy is it to name our problems and issues in life? It’s almost as if we introduce ourselves as our problems. “Hi, my name is Heart Broken.” “Hi, my name is Its-Everyone-Else’s-Fault-But-Mine.” Or if not, we write a Facebook status, post a sad photo, or tell all our friends about it. Relax 🙂 Of course it is equally bad for us to project a perfect life over social media. That’s what the Pharisees did during Jesus’ time and it produced irrelevant Christianity at its best. What we need to keep in mind though, is that at all times we can call on a Name that is HIGHER than any other name (Philippians 2:9)- higher than any sickness, circumstance or issue. Just as Jesus did throughout His own life, whether he was climbing a mountain with his crew (aka the disciples), or hanging on cross at the climax of the world’s greatest love story, He called upon His Father’s Name. God’s Name is the highest authority–He painted the heavens, breathed the stars, and formed the universe and everything in it. Like a boss. You just don’t get any higher than that! And in the same way that God breathed life into the very first man at the beginning of time, He is still looking to breathe His fresh-exhilarating-hope-filled LIFE into each one of us today. What is the ‘name’ you constantly confess? Might it be the things that other people have said or done to try to define who you are? Whatever your response, let’s start afresh today by confessing that our Heavenly Father’s Name is greater than anything we may face today… and by being revived within His Name!