Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day ( Wednesday 4/22/09)

Today's Devotional Is Written By One Not Just Called But Chosen: God Has Truly Called and Chosen Tracy Koweh by name, For A Day and A Time Like This! 

Genesis 32:28 (New International Version)

 ²⁸ Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, ^[a] because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."

You Don’t Know My Name…………

 

Today’s Message in the Music comes strictly from the title of Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name”.  It’s amazing how much faster change comes from hands on experience than from learning. One moment in time, one word spoken or not spoken, even one missed opportunity, can cause you to change your entire outlook on a situation, a circumstance and even your life.

 

This past month I have went through a transformation- - - -a shedding of another layer of “snake skin”. It has been very hard, but not as hard as it had been in the past. This time I choose to let God do the shedding. There was no more self-soothing or quick and temporary fixes for the pain. This time I let God begin the healing process in and through me. I asked God for a permanent break of my old self………..an extreme home make-over.

 

Saturday morning as I was running errands, I thought of Simon and how he use to cuss like a sailor and was quick to anger, but how spending time with Jesus on a daily basis helped tone him down…………..so much that Jesus changed his name to Peter. Then on Sunday the scripture reading was when Jacob wrestled the angel, and the angel changed his name to Israel. It was Sunday after service that I realized, I too had gone through a name change.

 

The funny thing about change is that the people you expect to notice it- -- -  are normally the last ones to see it. And the people who you never thought would notice, are the ones who pick up on it the fastest. It’s like when you losing weight. People around you see it last because to them it’s a gradual change in your appearance. But let the fat kid from high school show up at the class reunion looking tight and right in all the places that count………..the whole room will take notice.

 

The hardest part of change is getting the people that matter the most to see it. They have gotten use to you being the liar, the last one to show up, the cheater, the alcoholic, the abuser and the disappointment- - - - they can’t see you any other way. For some people in our lives, it doesn’t matter how cleaned up and changed we’ve become, they will always see us the way we were. If we’re not careful and rooted in God, that very thing could cause us to digress. When people around you can’t or won’t accept your “new name” then its time to cut them loose. If they can’t forgive you and trust the God in you, you don’t need them in your life.

 

God is the only one who can judge and He truly knows our heart. So if you’re ready for the next level of greatness in your life, stand up and boldly ask God to change your name. You don’t have to be Simon or Jacob any longer. Let God do a work on the inside of you that no man, woman or child can take away. Just because it’s on your birth certificate or in your gene pool…doesn’t mean it’s your Destiny. God is waiting to sign off on your adoption papers..RIGHT NOW