SATURDAY- 12TH AUGUST, 2023
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO
YOU WILL CALL HIS NAME JOHN
Luke 1:13, KJV
"But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John".
So far, we have looked at naming after experience (s) or even expectation (s). We still want to push this untitled series further.
The angel that met Zacharias told him, he shall name the son that'll be born to him, John. This is a revelation to him. Receiving by revelation is possible and it could be either ways. Either you pray to God for it or God voluntarily for a reason of His own gives you such disclosure.
The name John is a strange name. You may not know it is strange until you read witnesses from those who called it so.
Luke 1:59-61, KJV
"59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. 60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. 61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name".
Do you know what is fighting a lot of people? It is not the multitude of people contesting what God has told them but the fact that they themselves can't take a stand. Many people have feet but they can't still stand let alone take a stand. They are too feeble and are easily persuaded out of God's will. If need be, let me warn you that if you're easily persuaded out of God's will and you aren't bold and strong will on what the Holy Spirit has told you to do, you'll grieve Him many times and be at loggerheads with God.
The name John is a revelatory communicated name to Zacharias, the father of John. Thank God he carried his wife along on what the baby would be named. On his naming ceremony, the just born baby is named Zacharias after his father. To the masses of relatives and crowd there, nothing is wrong in that. It is a good thing for a child to bear even his father's name in our dispensation. The many "juniors" you'd find comes as a derivation from the name of their father. For instance, you know we have Martin Luther King (the father) and then we have Martin Luther King (Junior). That idea still runs today. They'd almost named the new born baby Zacharias when the mother protested that he shall be named John. When she said that, everybody becomes sorely surprised at the strangeness of her utterance because no one in their family cycle, household or let's say lineage bears that name.
Let me quickly tell you that you can name your child after your own desires. Some in the process of wanting to carve such uniqueness for their children have gone into the Greek or Hellenist and the Roman Cultures to name after gods and exotic beings. They want to appear impressing, civil and special. You'd better be careful to seek the will of God and let it be done. Or else, you'd called somebody a name that'll grieve and frustrate them in the spirit so much more that it'll be evidenced they're being frustrated and gagged on earth and in their day to day living.
Parents must learn to stay with the will of God like Elizabeth protested and demanded that the baby be named John. We know that the name is strange but that's what God said he should be called. We should not be afraid of doing contrary to age long traditions or dispensational practices when it's the Lord calling for their being set aside. When do we become shivering kittens that are controlled by the spirit of the age instead of the Spirit of truth? I don't care whether it is strange to do or not, if I know it's the Lord and I can prove that, I'd take the step. Elisabeth could have been sidelined and the boy eventually named after his father but for the timely confirmation from his father. Seeing that it is not the authoring of Elizabeth alone that the baby be named such unfamiliar name, they all succumb to the will of the parents. The boy became known as John and so the will of God is effected over him.
This drama reveals the contest against God's will and it has just told me one thing. Every God's will, thought and breathing shall be contested and fought against. The devil will hide his thoughts in fighting them under expressions like, "none of your kindred bear this name". What he's seeking to do is to have you embarassed and portrayed as a breaker of age long tradition (an unruly and disobedient fellow). Once he can make you afraid of being a first timer on such divine ground God is solely calling you to, you'll be finished. So, learn not to be afraid. Learn to be called to do the unpopular and if it be God, you shall prove Him so in years to come. We all know how great and greatly to be praised John became in the will of God. He was a very critical messenger. Except he appears, Jesus couldn't have appeared. He was meant to identify Jesus through his baptism (John 1:33) and even to give Jesus' ministry the needed public approval it needs to be floated (John 1:29-38). But according to God's revealed will, he shall be called John and not Zacharias. Many a children bearing Zacharias after their parents, grandparents and many noble people who God didn't ordain that they'll wear the hides or skin of those men. By wearing their hides or skins, they have now become encroachers into the destinies and lives of others. They are nothing but Jacobs trying to appear as an Esau when God has not called them one (Gen.27:15-16). They're trapped in the lives others have lived and in the assignments others have executed. They're in the world trying to find their feet. They are consequently lost from the onset trying to wear the shoes of another and walk in his steps. They have failed to be adjured to see that God is calling them to take a new land and go on a new path. They are seeking to discover themselves and shake off the garment they've been worn and the lies with which they've been clothed. They become mimicks and in turn mockeries. As God has supremely seen, He rather wants to carve a new path for them. You can allow God, contest Him or distort His plan. You will choose! However, may God's angel meet such and ask them what name they bear in the light of renaming and recalibrating them. May they not go, labour and tarry under the hides and skin of another or a wrong name forever when they're destined for more.
PRAYER: Lord, give me a new name. I put off every wrong names, hides and skin that have been worn me. I look as you designed and function so.
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Nehemiah 1:1-3:14; 1 Corinthians 7:1-24; Psalm 31:19-24; Proverbs 21:4
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