As with all of the Word of God, there is always more to discover. Ellen White puts it so well:




"New Meaning in Familiar Texts

“As soon as the seeker for truth opens the Bible to read the utterances of God with reverence, possessing an earnest desire to know "what saith the Lord," light and grace will be given him, and he will see wondrous things out of God's law. He will not regard the law of Jehovah as a yoke of bondage, but as the gracious commands of One who is all-wise and full of compassion. He will make haste to fulfill His requirements. Great truths which have been neglected and unappreciated for ages, will be revealed by the Spirit of God, and new meaning will flash out of familiar texts. Every page will be illuminated by the Spirit of truth. The Bible is not sealed but unsealed. The most precious truths are revealed; the living oracles are heard by wondering ears, and the consciences of men are aroused into action.” --TSS 30. {CSW 34.3}





Re the Lord’s Prayer:

After having learnt the Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew version of the Lord ’s Prayer by heart and contemplating those words daily for some years in active prayer I keep finding ever more treasures in that prayer that I haven’t thought of before:

First of all I am seeing a red line from the beginning to the end centering upon the word ‘name.’ That word, name, in Hebrew encompasses so much of essence to our very existence. It certainly is much more than a mere appellation, something used to call someone’s attention. ‘Character’ or ‘characteristic’ is another important aspect of that word. There are others, but perhaps to me the aspect of the word having to do with title, proprietorship, ownership, most especially God’s title to me and all of mine, is forever taking on more and more importance and value.

Interestingly, in the Bible the word translated ‘heaven’ may well also be translated as the masculine plural of the word ‘name.’ This is true for Genesis 1:1, but in this context it is certainly also true for the last word in the following phrase:

“Our Father, who art in Heaven/Names…”

…or even

“Our Source, which is in entitlements…



Notice what comes next:

“Hallowed be Thy name…”

…or:

“Let Thy title be cleared…”




Our Creator certainly does have title to all. Yet, do I really and truly honor His title to Me and mine? Or is there in effect a cloud on the title? Am I claiming at times to be someone other than One of God’s Sons and Daughters?

For instance, when asked for my ID, whose name and title is on the ID I choose to show?

What powers am I given by my Father in Heaven for doing my portion of claiming Him and Him alone as my proprietor? What responsibility is upon my shoulders to that effect? What blessings are being held in store for me to discover as I am doing my best for claiming my Creator’s promises towards this end?





My English Version of the Prayer of Yeshua:

“Our Origin / original Father / Creator in verity, clear your title [to me and mine!]
Create your Kingdom of Delight, let it be shaped [not only] in name, but in action and substance!
Teach us our lessons continually [such that we may come to recognize each our part of the responsibility!]
Forgive us / Give us advance healing,
as we give healing to others that are trespassing upon us and ours.
And let us not come into knowledge by the thorn,
but guard us from all destructive power and authority.
Let it be so / Amen!”

So...

Should we pay more attention to the names we endow upon our children? The practice does not seem to carry the responsibility nowadays that it did in Bible times.

Dear Jesus,
I'm sorry for the sins that i have committed against You and against Your people and against myself and the Church.
Help me Jesus to live more of a Godly life in You all day and every day of each week through each year.
I love You Jesus, please show me the way that You want me to now take in the direction of my life in You.
Jesus, lead me to a Church that You want me to be a part of.

In Jesus name, i pray...
Amen...

I really do love and honour You Lord Jesus...
Please lead me to a Church that has people in my own age bracket...
And that keeps the commandments of You and have the faith of Jesus...
Whether or not it could be a Church that meets on Sunday or Sabbath--Saturday...

Thankyou Jesus that i can dwell in You and You in me all the the time 24/7...

Love from Luke Goss.

Yes, paying more attention to the names we endow upon our offspring makes a lot of sense to me. Allow me to share two of my reasons:



I.

I remember an occasion when I was alerted to an item I’d never noted before in spite of the fact that it had been there for a very long time and in spite of the fact that I was very familiar with the area since a long time back. Having once noted that item, all of a sudden I began noting other similar items all over the place, which likewise I’d never noted before.

It occurs to me that many different things, some more unique than others, are attached uniquely to each and every different word and name. Thus, every time one is seeing or hearing a certain word or a name the eye of one’s mind is as it were seeing a whole set of associated ideas or pictures connected to that word or name. Some of these mental associations occurs on the level of our awareness, but I believe a much greater number of mental associations occur on a subconscious level. Our lives are being influenced and shaped in consequence of such things as each of us experience through our sensory input. This is unavoidable. Each of us have unique experiences due to circumstances unique to each one among us.

Now, think of this concept in terms of a baby given a certain name! That baby is being reminded time and time again of such things as are by nature associated with that given name. Whether the baby knows and understands the meaning of his or her given name makes little difference, the things associated with that name will by necessity form and shape the reality of the life, whether past, present or future, of that baby.

So yes, I believe that the names we are given affects each our reality in no small ways!



II.

Let me share what I believe is a key Scriptural object lesson and example of the above:

The story is familiar to most Bible students, yet I never heard anyone mention this aspect of the story before God alerted me to it by means of a complex set of experiences. The story is found in Genesis 9:20-27, but the aspects of the story associated with the subject matter of this post is certainly much more easily perceived upon considering the meaning of certain Hebrew words of that Bible passage, i.e. in comparison to that which is being conveyed by any translation I am aware of. Therefore allow me to paraphrase very freely part of the story in my own words:

“Upon waking up from his drunken state Noah realized a thing regarding the name given unto his grandson Canaan. Remembering all of a sudden the meaning of the name given his grandson, that is “a slave of a servant” or “a servant of servants” (cf. verse 25 in the KJV,) and having a hangover Noah cursed himself and said: “There is certainly a lot of power being created by and through a given name. Now my beloved grandson will suffer for a life time the consequences of the name we’ve given him and he and his offspring will become slaves of servants for ever.”

It is an unfortunate fact of history that this very Bible passage and the words of Noah have been abused over the centuries, and are still are being abused, for giving license to own and use men as slaves. Indeed, I’ve heard and seen such interpretations being alive and well among Jews even today and I believe that the same attitude was prevalent in apostolic times as conveyed for instance by Peter’s dream as recorded in Acts 10:28.

So yes, I believe, using your own words: “We should pay more attention to the names we endow upon our children!”