What’s Your Name?

There’s a reason why 2 Chronicles 7.14 is so often quoted these days. It is God’s own recipe for revival. As people of faith survey the brokenness of our world, they long for the healing that only God can bring. This verse holds the cure if we will rightly apply it.

It begins in a curious place:

“If My people who are called by My name…”

This verse was for a specific group of people. Of course, we know God spoke it to Solomon after he dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, so we can assume that He was speaking to the children of Israel. In fact, “Israel” was the covenant name God gave to Jacob. It means “governed by God.” But Paul makes it clear in Romans 4.9-16 that the promises of righteousness and inheritance of the world are not only for Abraham and his natural descendants but also for all who share the faith of Abraham through Jesus Christ. As Peter says in 1 Peter 2.10, once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God.

The question we must first ask ourselves is, “Do I know for sure that I am one of God’s people and that I am called by His name?” It is curious that God did not say, “If My people who call on My name,” but “If My people who are called by My name.” God is looking at us from His perspective–whether or not He considers us His own.

Last night I made the mistake of referring to my daughter as Ali Zachman. The problem is that she was married in May and her husband was standing in the room! She politely corrected me and I quickly apologized. Then her husband Andrew said, “You’ve only been calling her that for 18 years.” He was right. I call her by my name because I still consider her my daughter. I wonder if this is how God looks at it. It’s not if we consider ourselves to be God’s people that counts but if He considers us to be His people.

We know that on the Day of Judgment many will be surprised to find that they are not God’s people.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23, NIV)

Notice that these people called on the name of the Lord, but they weren’t known by the Lord. God never put His seal of ownership upon them. They were never truly His people. They weren’t called by His name.

If we want to be part of God healing the land, then we must first be sure that we belong to God and that we’re part of His family. Have you trusted your life to Christ and received the witness of the Holy Spirit that you are a child of God? This is the first step to revival.