A new name

Isn’t it wonderful that one incentive that God gives us towards walking with Him for a lifetime is a new name?
Part of Revelations chapter 2 verse 17 reads:

"Everyone who is victorious will eat of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

The white stone perhaps symbolizes purity and righteousness. The fact that your name will be engraved on it signifies permanence. No matter what name we’ve earned here on earth, good or bad, a permanent brand new name awaits us in heaven. In fact it is there already now, waiting for you. Think about it. Your stone with your true identity is right now at the Father’s side. Each step that you walk in victory brings you closer to that identity, such that when you see Jesus, the name He gives you will be what you have already become in your walk with Him.
2Corinthians 3 verse 18 says that we are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory. So where are the champions of God? Where are those who walk by faith and not by sight? Where are those who love and love even when it seems so hard? Where are those who forgive those that don’t deserve it? I ask again, where are the victorious ones? I hope both your hands are up.

What does it take to meet God?

Today, I am commenting on the first two verses of the book of Isaiah chapter 55.

In those verses, God offers an invitaion for a meeting. These are His words from the New King James Version of the Bible:

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat."

There's something that I know about ALL of God's invitations; they are given out to specific types of people. Make no mistake, God invites EVERYBODY, but He invites everybody based of the wounds or pains or problems that He knows that we all have, so that we can come to Him to get healed. Unfortunaltely however, we exclude ourselves by saying "Me? I'm not sick", or "I don't have any pains or wounds", or "Everything's just fine with me."
So, what does it take to meet God? When God gives a blank cheque, whose name is on it? See if it is yours.

From our passage above, the person who will see God, who will answer God's call must be:

1. Thirsty
A thirsty person is one who has been without water for a while. S/he either has been deprived of water or by some event has come to a place where water is not normally found, e.g. a desert. Not only must this person be thirsty, but his/her sense of perception must be intact to know that they are thirsty. Are you thirsty? Do you have that sense of deprivation as if something that is yours has been witheld from you? Do you have a gnawing need deep in your soul and know it? Then your name is on God's blank cheque.

God's invitation is also for the
2. Humble
It takes humility to have a desperate need, and admit it. The world we live is full of pretenders. We spend all our lives covering up our flaws. Popular culture shows us all the glamour and splendour of this world and how all of it could be ours, if only we were good enough. The best things that the world has to offer are just outside of our reach. So we save and save, or cheat and steal or lie and deceive so that we can just measure up. Still, we don't. If you doubt my analysis answer this simple question: When last did you have enough money, praise, happinness, recognition or whatever it is? When last did you have enough? Well, if you don't have enough, at least be humble enough! Be humble to acknowledge that you are lacking in that particular area and come to God who is telling you right now: I have exactly what you need.

My last point today is that YOU are the one that God is inviting if you will just
3. Release yourself.
One common symptom of our human weakness is that we are always on our guards. We've been quite so from the day that we were born. Every child is born with a tight fist and our most rewarding lesson would be to learn to let go. In verse 2 of our passage, God coaxes you to "let your soul delight itself in abundance." It is strange that even God has to tell you to allow your soul to delight itself in His riches. Every human soul instinctively is looking for God, like the opposite ends of a magnet. But because our popular culture has removed God from conscious perception, we are left to grope around and feel our way towards him, in our subconscious mind, which is not very reliable. This is why there's a huge market today for New Age and eastern religious paraphernalia. These new teachings talk of the God within and how we must each find ourselves. Yet it's not ourselves that our soul longs for. It is the Living Waters of God Himself. The human body consists of between 60% - 80% water, yet we still thirst. The answer to our thirst does not lie within us. It is apart from us, though not far from us. Release yourself today. Yield to the voice of the true God who loves you and waits for your response to His invitation.