Names of God

Have you ever done a study of the names of God? It's a pretty amazing study. Here are a few of the names of God found in scripture and what they mean. Hopefully this will be as much of a blessing to you as it is to me. What an awesome God!

Abba - Father Mark 14:36; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6
Adonai - Lord, Master Num. 14:17; Deut. 3:24; Ps. 30:8
Jehovah Jireh - Jehovah Will See to it Gen. 22:14
Elohim - God Supreme
El Roi - God the Almighty, the God Who Sees Gen 16:13
Jehovah - self existent, eternal Lord Ex. 6:3; Ps. 83:18; Isaiah 12:2, 26:4
Jehovah Nissi - The Lord is my Barrier Ex. 17:15
Jehovah Rapha - God Who Heals Ex. 15:26
Jehovah Shalom - The Lord is my Peace Judges 6:24
Jehovah Shammah - The Lord is There, He is with us Ez. 48:35
Jehovah Tsidkenu - the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23:6
El Elohe Israel - God, the God of Israel Gen. 33:20
Eloi - My God Mark 15:34
Jah - sacred name, the Lord, most vehement Ps. 68:4
El Shaddai - God Almighty Gen. 17:1
I AM Ex. 3:14
Alpha - the First Rev. 1:8,11, 22:6,13
Omega - the Finality

An Interesting Exercise

In "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", the author challenged the reader to try a very interesting exercise. Look down the corridors of time and imagine yourself at a your own funeral. Picture the room full of friends and family, business acquaintances and school friends. Of those present, four people will stand up and share what they remember about you and your life.

Therein lies the exercise... imagine what they would say. Consider what you would want them to say. Here are some of the questions posed plus a few of my own:

What is it that you would want those people to say?
What character did they see in you?
What difference did you make in their lives?
What difference did you make within your sphere of influence?
What kind of friend were you?
What kind of daughter?
What kind of wife?
What kind of mother?
What kind of sister?
What kind of qualities were you remembered for?
What adjectives would they use?
If you were a business owner, how did you handle your business?
In what way is the world different because you were in it?

As you mull these questions over, write down your answers. For me it was very fascinating to look at life in the reverse. I spent some time journaling my thoughts and impressions. It was a mixed bag of course... there were some things that I did not want to hear at my "funeral", things I knew I wanted to change. Yet there were glimmers of things that I wanted to hone and further develop.

Purpose... that is the point... to live life with purpose. Looking at life with a definite plan - if you will - so that you can live effectively. How different would my life look if I consistently thought about the end result of my choices and the use of my time? This exercise sort of built some personal accountability into my life because I set the bar myself (especially since I wrote it down). Keeping that bar in front of me motivates me to strive to accomplish it.

Fellowship

It is interesting how much I enjoy time with friends and how little time I actually make for them. With that in mind, I decided to invite some women from church to join me at a popular walking place a couple of times a month. We've been meeting about twice a month for the past three months.... the main reason is fellowship, the sneaky reason is exercise! It's much easier to walk (gradually) uphill for 2 1/2 miles then back down again if you have someone pleasant to talk to and walk with. Along the way I've made some new friends as well as deeper ones.

Isn't that how it is in life? When joys arise, they are much sweeter when we have someone to share them with. In the same way, when the trials of life bear down on us, the presence of friends helps to lift that burden. Along the path of life these experiences serve to deepen relationships and build new ones, that is if I let them.

So often I get so busy that I don't make time for those people that I love to be with. I just muddle along in life moving from one thing to the next and before I know it months have passed! To be fair, life is busy but is it maybe too busy? Fellowship is a God-given lifeline that we all need. We are relational creatures who were created to interact with one another and sharpen one another.

My life is so much richer because of the people God has brought into my path. Hopefully this blog will be one way that I can meet new people and deepen relationships already in place. I do hope you enjoy the time you spend here with me... and thanks for taking the time to hald my hand and walk a while : -)