I want to continue the message on "Renewed Name." In the last message I talked about Elijah how God gave so much more meaning to his name. He was a Prophet who was known as the Prophet who prayed that it wouldn’t rain and it didn’t rain for three years. (1 Kings 17 v. 1) God added to the meaning of his name by sending him to a widow lady who had very little food and God miraculously multiplied their food through Elijah to last the entire famine. He also added to his name by using Elijah to raise up her son who died.(1 Kings 17 v. 8-24) Because of Elijah’s obedience God added so much more power connected to his name. He wants to do the same for you. Every opportunity that God brings your way to use you for His glory is an opportunity to increase the reputation for God that is attached to your name. Maybe all that your name meant in the past when people mentioned your name was "failure" or "one who never accomplished anything for God." Well, God is about ready to change your reputation for His Glory! In 1 Kings Chapter 18 Elijah challenged the 850 false prophets on Mount Carmel in front of all Israel! He challenged them to call upon their god to burn up a sacrifice with fire. Elijah said that he would call upon his God and that the first one to answer would be the one and true God. The false prophets called upon their "god" from noon to about 3:00 P.M. and were so frustrated that there was no answer from their "god" that they cut themselves with knives. Elijah then called upon his God and He burned up the sacrifice, the rocks and even the water that Elijah poured on the sacrifice. God really showed up for him with power! God will do the same for you if you show up where God sends you, even though you are being challenged. At the place that He sends you, you will be challenged, God will show up for you and people will know that you belong to Him. Don’t be afraid of a challenge by the enemy and his two-legged devils! God will show up for you and show out for you if you show up.
After this victory, Jezebel gets very angry as Elijah killed all these false prophets, which included 400 of her own. She sent word that she wanted to kill him and he started to run away. He got his eyes off of God and wound up hiding in a cave. God called to him as he was hiding and said "what are you doing here Elijah? He was really saying "Do you really know the meaning of your name? Look at all the power that I have attached to you name, look at all the miracles I did through you to show people that you’re are my Prophet." Every time people mention your name they think about my power operating in you life. Now look at you! You are running away from a pagan woman." He encouraged him and told him to go back to where Jezebel was. God is telling you today- "don’t forget how far I have taken you, how many miracles that I did through your life, how many people I have touched in your ministry through you and how I promised that I would always take care of you. Your name means so much to other people and Satan is fearful of your name. Don’t look at yourself now and your incapability, continue to let me use you and realize that I am the source of your power." God stirred Elijah up and sent him out in power to complete his assignments. God could be saying the same thing to you today! Do you realize how much the devil shakes when your name is mentioned? God has renewed your name and your name represents His power operating in your life. Don’t go back to looking at the circumstances that are confronting you. God is bigger than the circumstances. Look how He came through for you in the past! Look at the meaning that your name represents now. Don’t fall prey to the demons that are trying to get you to look at how you can fix the situation, when God fixed every problem in the past. He delivered you in the past and He will do it again!
Look at some of the meanings that some of the names of the of people in the Bible meant: Esther’s name meant "a star" and she sure rose to the occasion, becoming a queen in a foreign country and saving her people form destruction. Jezebel means "chaste" and she never lived up to her name as her life was completely opposite. Rebecca the mother of Jacob and Esau pronounced a curse upon herself for conniving to have Jacob receive the blessing from Isaac, their father. Her name means "a noose." She really tied a noose around her neck by doing this! Dorcas, her name means "gazelle," was the woman who Peter raised from the dead. The devil couldn’t stop her from leaping like a gazelle. Elijah means "my God is YAH." God really showed up for him as we discussed earlier. Stephen means "crown" and he sure received one by being the first martyr. Absalom means "father of peace" and he never lived up to his name as he declared war on his father David! Phinehas was a man who pleased God so much by destroying someone who had disobeyed God and as a result God stopped a plague (Numbers 25 v. 7-9), but his name means "mouth of a serpent." God sure changed the meaning of his name and He wants to do the same for you. Jeremiah means "exalted of God" and he sure was. He preached to people what they didn’t want to hear, but at the end He was still standing and free while they were in captivity.
Some of these people mentioned never let God change the meaning of their names and some did. The choice was up to them and it is your choice today! Let God add to the meaning of your name by you not looking back to what your name use to mean, but how God in the future, can use you for His glory and add blessings connected to your name! The more you obey Him the more favor that He will pour out on you and the more favor He will add to your name!