But He who enters by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. To Him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:2-3.
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!” Isaiah 43:1
“No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. Genesis 17:5.
But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.” Genesis 17:19.
God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel. Genesis 35:10.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship. Exodus 31:1-3.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Names are very important. I give people names before they are born and I change people’s names when I call them to a special assignment that is signified by a new name. But that is the name I always called them from before the foundation of the world. I call each one by name. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! Isaiah 43:1.
It is one thing just to recognize a person, it is another level to know their name, and it is a higher level of closeness when you have a nickname, a very special name that shows something of the personality people close to you have seen in you, that close friends and family call you. Did you know I have a very special name for you that no one knows but Me and you? Have you never read, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.” Revelation 2:17.
Do you recall that when I gave Moses the design for the ephod and the shoulder plates of the breastplate of the High Priest I instructed him to have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel engraved as on a seal, one name on each precious gemstone of the breastplate and six names on each precious stone set in gold filigree borne on the priest’s shoulders? Exodus 28:9-21. In this way every person was represented there in the entire nation, for all were descendants of one of the sons of Jacob, whose name I had changed to Israel. And you too, when you are in Christ, are descendants of Abraham and particularly of the tribe of Judah, the fourth born son of Jacob and Leah and the ancestor of David. Your names were all there on the heart and shoulders of your great High Priest of whom Aaron, though a real man like all of you, was but the sign and shadow.
And above all, I give you My Name when you are born again in Jesus. You derive your family name by birth, adoption, or marriage. With Me you derive your name by all three. You are born again to Me by My Word in Jesus as a new creation in Him, you are adopted back from the devil to your true Father in Jesus, and you enter the Covenant that unites us in a marriage of the spirit as One in Jesus. And I give you My Name and in that Name issues forth the Name exalted above every other name, the only Name given among men by which you must be saved: JESUS. Acts 4:12. The Name that moves everything on earth, in Heaven, and, yes, even in hell. Demons fear it and flee from it but for those who believe it is the POWER of Salvation, victory, deliverance, healing, provision, and eternal life. And I gave Him that Name before He was born. “Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Luke 1:20-21. His Name told His mission.
What does it mean to you to have My Name? You are with Me always and everything I have is yours. A son has a place in the house forever. It is one thing to be a servant, it is a whole new level to be a son. The servant does not have your name, but the son does. The servant does not have your name, but your spouse does. You have My Name.
And My Name works wonders. My Name is a sign. My Name is a strong tower that the righteous run to and are save, lifted up, in a safe refuge, an impenetrable fortress. No one can snatch you out of My hand and when you are safe in My hand, under My wings, the evil one cannot touch you to put his filth in or on you.
My Name is wonderful. Remember the prophecy of Isaiah? A Child is born to us, a Son is given us, and on His shoulder dominion rests. His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God Hero, Father forever, Prince of Peace! And all of these are true for you who have His Name. That wonderful powerful Name that is My masterpiece of Salvation, My plan and purpose for your Shalom and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. He came in the flesh declaring, “A body you have prepared for Me! To do your Will is My delight and your Torah is within My heart!” My instruction that revealed Myself and taught you how to hit the mark of success every time is the Torah. It is My Word, from the Aleph to the Tav. And now I speak to you through My Son, who shows you My Will for your life. He came to do good to you, give you abundant life, and to seek out and save the lost. He came to save you and bring you the truth that would set you free. He came preaching the good news of the KINGDGOM! Even now you can begin Kingdom living, right in this world. In His Name you are in the world but not of the world. He kept you by My Name which I had given Him. And He gave you that Name when I gave you His Name.
And did you never read what Jesus told John in his revelation on Patmos? “I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” Revelation 3:11-12. What is Jesus’ new name that He speaks of there? Ah, listen, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” Revelation 19:11-13.
And He, the Word of God tells you to pray, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME, your Kingdom come, Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” With My Name is tied up the Kingdom, that I give you, and My Will for you.
My Will. What is it? I will tell you right now that the best prayer you can pray for your ultimate good and that of everyone is that My Will be done in them, through them and with them. Why? Because I know the plans I have for you, plans for your SHALOM (the whole pie of everything you need for life and godliness—it includes peace, health, prosperity, good relationships, and fruitful activities of meaning and purpose) not evil, to give you a future and a hope. My Will is that all be saved and come to know the truth. My Will is that every one of you prospers and is in good health even as your soul prospers. My Will is that you all know Me and the One whom I sent, Jesus Christ, for this is eternal life. My Will is you walk in that life of good deeds I prepared for you in advance in Christ Jesus that you might enjoy it. My Will is that you rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give constant thanks. My Will is that you enjoy richly all I have created for you. My Will is that you know My Name. My Will is that I dwell with you and you dwell with Me. My Will is that you are in perfect protection, have direction, and are led by My Spirit in right paths for My Name’s sake. My Will is that you never stumble on a stone and that no plague come near your tent. My Will is to forgive you and shield you from the wrath to come. My Will is to have you dwell in the delights of My house forever and drink from the fountain of living water. My Will is for it to be done on earth as it is in Heaven, and in Heaven there is no mourning, no sickness, no death, no pain, no remorse, no guilt, no division, no darkness, no fear, and no blame, only love, only peace, only unity, only light, and only joy unspeakable filled with glory.
And when you pray My Will for someone, this is what you are praying. So it really is a very excellent prayer of faith, but I am grieved to say that most people do not know My Will, though it is easy enough to find out in My Word, and when they pray “Thy Will be done,” they are not praying the prayer of faith that will raise up the sick and give life to the dead, but a prayer of double minded doubt. It means they are doubting I will give the relief they are seeking or do what they want to happen so they keep their self-pride and godly reputation in tact (or are they protecting My reputation?) by putting the blame on Me if the good result, such as healing, is not received. This is not how I teach you to pray and is certainly a worthless prayer that I will not hear. For the double minded man will receive nothing from his prayer. My servant James put it this way, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:5-7.
How did Jesus teach you to pray? He taught you to speak to mountains, cast out demons, and then pray for good things to restore and replace the damage those mountains and unclean spirits had left behind when you cast them out. And He taught you to do it all in His Name, so that He could perform it for you and with you and in you. “And Jesus answered saying to them, ‘Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.’” Mark 11:22-25. “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 11-17. “These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:17-18. “You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you; And light will shine on your ways.” Job 22:28. And back to James: “Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer OF FAITH will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months [look back, Elijah went to the king and declared it! 1 Kings 17:1]. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.” James 5:13-18.
Praying My Will with faith in all that means will never keep the status quo unless you are in Heaven already, for there all is perfection, but on earth, while Satan is loose and the “god” of this world such is not the case.
But there is a huge difference between speaking arrogantly and speaking My Word with boldness. As an example of what I am saying you could compare the words of Lucifer vs. the words of Jairus, the woman with the hemorrhage, Mary and Paul. But above all the Words of Jesus, for He spoke boldly but never of His own initiative but only My Words and did the works I showed Him. Speaking arrogantly is declaring results based on your own power apart from Mine and speaking humbly is speaking My Word based on My power and Will to perform it in your life. The difference is declaring the things that I am doing in and for you versus the things you are doing yourself without My help (even that you are performing for Me, like the boastful Pharisee who went to the temple to pray to himself). One is giving glory to Me and My work in and for you and one is glorifying yourself and your accomplishments. One is humility and one is pride. It is all about acknowledging the source. When you command and declare to your body, your life, your finances to line up with My Word, and declare the result (the end) from the beginning, you are talking My language. I call into being those things which are not seen so they are seen. Call in My promises, decree them with boldness in your life and the lives of those around you to the farthest ends of the earth and watch heaven and earth move to your word, which is My Word in your mouth and heart by faith.
Speak My Words, not yours. Your words, no matter how hard you declare them, that are stout against Mine, will not get you anywhere ultimately. There is no counsel but from Me that will be successful and endure unto life eternal. Listen to the declarations of Lucifer, now known as that ancient serpent, the dragon, and the devil, “How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer, star of the morning and son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, they will ponder over you, saying, ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a wilderness and overthrew its cities, who did not allow his prisoners to go home?” Isaiah 14:12-17. Did you see his arrogant declaration? It was quite commanding and spoken with boldness. “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” It was all about his glory and what he would accomplish that would make him like Me in majesty and worship. He was seeking the throne of dominion over the earth, he would raise his throne above the angels (“stars of God”) of which class he was created by taking the throne of man over the earth, making himself like Me, which mankind is, being made in My own image and likeness. His aim was to steal man’s identity and dominion over the earth rather than serve man as he was designed to do, and he was successful in this with Adam and Eve, but it is not an enduring success but only for a time and half a time. He took the leasehold interest over the earth from man but not the fee simple. I am the ultimate owner. He will fall in his own pride. He is not like Me no matter how much he declares it in his arrogance of what he himself can accomplish apart from Me. Apart from Me you can do nothing that will bear fruit that will endure.
Jairus, the woman with the hemorrhage, Mary and Jesus, and myriads of other believers, declared with boldness what My Word was doing in them and for them and got the result they called in from the Spirit to the flesh. Listen to Mary, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; for behold, from this time on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name.” Luke 1:46-49. Great things, mighty things, but she gave Me the glory as the source of all the wonders in her life. And My servant Paul, “thanks to be God who has given us the victory in Christ Jesus,” and “I can do ALL things in Him who strengthens me,” and “I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” David declared himself exalted as king above all his enemies because of what My strong arm and grace had done for him. He sang that I stooped down to make him great and that I was his Shepherd that gave him a banquet in the sight of his enemies and filled his cup to overflowing with goodness and kindness pursuing him all the days of his life. And Jairus declared his daughter healed by the power of My Son and so she was and the woman with the issue of blood declared herself healed if she just touched the tassel on My Son’s cloak so the power in Him would get in her. And Jesus spoke to storms, fig trees, blind eyes, meager supplies, troubled people, dead bodies, and crippled limbs and changed everything from death to life, from brokenness to wholeness, from confusion to peace, from lack to super abundance, and from darkness to light. Arrogance? No. He said He did not do the mighty works they saw but I, the Father, did them in and with and through Him. Not by power or the might of man but by My Spirit. I anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and POWER. And I do the same for you. And you release it by faith. And the spirit of faith is you believe in your heart and speak it with your mouth.
My servant James showed the difference this way, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the good and righteous thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:13-17. Lean not on your own understanding, a way may seem right to a man but end in death. As it did to Judas Iscariot. Entrust your plans to Me, let Me direct your paths by My Holy Spirit in you and the lamp of My Word, and your plans will be established. Wisdom builds the house, understanding establishes it, and knowledge fills all the rooms with precious treasure. And wisdom, understanding, and knowledge come from Me and My Word. Pray in the Spirit before making decisions. Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time (redeeming not killing time), because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish but understand what My Will is. Ephesians 5:15-17. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in Jesus; walk as children of Light, for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is pleasing to Me. Ephesians 5:6-10.
The difference again, is declaring the things I am doing in you, for My Word is working in you to heal and deliver you, to give you wisdom and to save your souls, to set you free and give you victory, and the things you are doing yourself because of your own power, greatness, and goodness. No one is absolute good but Me. But you are in Me. Declare it till you live the life of good deeds I prepared for you in Christ Jesus in advance.
I love you. Praying My Will and declaring it is the best prayer you can pray, because My Will is good, pleasing and perfect for your life and the lives of others. All unique and all exactly designed for shalom.