Knowing God Through His Names: Introduction

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. (Isaiah 43:10 KJV)

Our God is a God who is beyond knowing in fullness, completeness. He is awesome in power and in might. Our God is a God who has many names—names that describe Him, His nature and his character. One website states there are 900 plus names of God (the names of God)! Many of those names are actually titles. With that in mind, it is no wonder that it literally takes a lifetime of relationship to get to know Him. While on earth we can only know Him in part; for those of us who have Jesus as Savior and Lord, we will have an eternity to get to know Him. Exciting? I say, yes!

Knowing God will help us to experience Him in new and revitalizing ways. We will also come to believe Him more and more. (Notice I said believe Him not believe in Him.) As we learn more about who God is, His nature and character, we will find that we fall more deeply in love with Him. Ideally, we should grow in our love for God each day, week, month, and year.

In Bible times, names were more significant than they are today. In fact, the nature and character of a person were thought to be revealed in their name. A person’s name really did impact their life and the trajectory of their life.

There is a vulnerability in being known by name, so, in a sense, God has made Himself vulnerable to the people He created. Therefore, we should use His name (all of them!) with care. Using God’s name without thinking is not any better than using it to swear. We should use God’s name with reverence. How are we at honoring God by how we use His name? How do we dishonor God by how we use His name?

God first reveals Himself in Genesis 1:1 and continues to progressively reveal more of Himself—His nature, His character throughout the Scripture—from Genesis to Revelation—He reveals Himself to His people. This should cause us to seek after Him, to receive from Him all He has to offer us. God gets bigger as we seek Him. God cannot be put into a box—He is much bigger than any box; He moves when, where, and as He wishes.

What type of God are you reflecting as you journey through this life? We tend to reflect what we perceive.

The thoughts and ideas I have shared in this post come from Beth Moore’s Believing God study and Ann Spangler’s book Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide. I recommend both of these resources.

This post is part of my Believing God series. To read previous posts see: Believing God, Believing God: Unbelief, Believing God: Those Who Believed God, and Believing God: God is Who He Says He is.

Please join with me in prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for revealing Yourself to us. It is amazing to have the honor of being able to know You by name. Place within us a hunger and desire to pursue You, to get to know You more and more each day. May our love for You deepen as we grow in our relationship with You. Quicken to us a desire to use Your name reverently and do nothing to dishonor Your holy name. Open our eyes to how You reveal Yourself to us personally, as You woo us to Yourself. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

From My Heart to Yours,

Kim