God moves through His Name

On Friday as I walked into work I was greeted by a colleague with a friendly “Hi Alissa,” which instantly brought a smile to my face. It’s interesting how nourished I felt from simply hearing my name. 

Maybe it’s a bigger deal to me because growing up, I didn’t have the privilege of owning a pencil or Minnesota license plate keychain with my name printed on it. I call it a privilege because I saw it as such; something my friends Sam, Whitney and David likely took for granted. Despite my repeated disappointments, I continued to search through the racks each time I saw the display. “Maybe this time it’ll be there.” I’d think as I scanned through the “A’s.” It never was. 

Having a name straying from the conventional spelling seems like a silly thing to spotlight but through my young eyes, it was an utter letdown. It’s not that I wanted to change my name — I liked it — but I wanted to be acknowledged, be seen, be worthy. 

I’ve accepted I’ll never have an American Girl named after me and I no longer wish to write with a pencil made just for me. But my desire for being called by name remains. Few do it but when someone does, it feels good. 

In the past few weeks, I’ve been digging into the Names of God during my devotion time. Each Name speaks to an attribute of Him — Who He is. For example:

Jehovah Rapha: The Lord Who Heals

El Shaddai: Lord God Almighty

Jehovah Jireh: The Lord Will Provide

As I read through His Names, I feel the power in each word as they pour from my mouth. I can only imagine the smile on God’s face as we honor Him by praying with such intention, purposefully choosing a Name on which to call. 

So I pray to Jehovah Rapha as I pray for my grandma to recover well. I pray to El Shaddai for God to strengthen the nation. And I pray to Jehovah Jireh as I pray for my future husband.

It’s praying in His Name that has brought even more power and passion to my conversations with God. 

Sometimes I find myself sitting in the quiet of the morning, simply repeating Jehovah Jireh or Jehovah Shalom as I encounter Him. When I can’t find the words to pray, these mantras provide reassurance that God is listening and He knows exactly what’s on my heart. 

I get it; I get why we make God smile when we call on Him by Name. It’s the same reason I smile when I see “Alissa’s iPhone” move across the screen on my car display. I feel acknowledged, seen and worthy. And how much more does our Heavenly Father deserve these things?

I encourage you to try it. Get God’s attention by purposefully calling to Him by another Name today. It may take practice. You may feel uncomfortable. You’ll likely mispronounce words. (I did; still do.) That’s ok. 

Because who knows, it may be just what you need to awaken a dormant cry in your soul. And God will respond by moving in Beautiful ways in your life — through His Name. 

My placecard from Kelsey and Annalisa’s wedding, which now labels my prayer journal.