Called by God's Name

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” II Chronicles‬ ‭7‬:‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

You are called by God's name. Have you ever thought about what that means?

Whenever I read that we are called by God's name I think yes because we are God's children. His people. His possession. His.

It implies a personal relationship with God. We are under His authority. God’s reputation on earth is tied to His people like ours is tied to our kids. For example, “Aren’t those Susie’s kids acting up over there?”

Indeed we are God’s kids. But I was reading these verses recently (on the day I call my "re-birthday" because it is the day I gave my life to Jesus 35 years ago.) And this time Holy Spirit focused me in on the words "named" and "called."  

In Ephesians 3:15 the Greek word used for named is onamazo and it does mean to bear the name of but it also means to utter or to make mention of the name.

The Hebrew word used in 2 Chronicles 7:14 is qara and it also means to give a name to. Additionally it means to be chosen, called out. But the meaning I want to focus on is to summon, to call for, or to invite.

Why is this important? Because what we learn from these two verses is that every family in heaven and on earth that belongs to God and is called by His Name is summoned/invited/called upon when a person cries out to God by Name.

Think about that.

There is some disagreement about whether or not God is talking about angelic host in heaven as well as the people of God. But the point Holy Spirit made to me was that as an ambassador of heaven, when someone calls upon the name of Jesus, I should be prepared that I may be sent in His Name.

“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

As God's ambassadors, He may send us to represent Him.

When Paul (Saul) prayed for help when he was blinded on the road to Damascus, Ananias showed up because God sent Ananias in Acts 9.

When Cornelius was praying and seeking God, God sent Peter to him in Acts 10.

Look at how long this process was: Cornelius prayed. God appeared to Him in a vision and told him to send for Peter. So he sends two of his household servants to retrieve Peter. Then the next day Peter is praying. God gives Peter the vision of the unclean animals three times in order to encourage Peter to say yes when Cornelius’s people arrived at the house where he was staying.

While Peter was meditating on the vision and asking Holy Spirit the meaning, the two servants arrived and told him Cornelius’s request. He knew instantly this was what his vision was about, and he got up and went with them to Cornelius's house.

Likewise Ananias needed some convincing to go to Paul. When God told Ananias that Saul was praying and that he was to go to him, he was understandably fearful for his life. So God had to explain His whole plan before Ananias agreed to go.

But sometimes it's quicker when the ambassador for Christ is ready and willing and completely submitted to God.

In Acts 8 Philip was praying, and God sends an angel to tell him to arise and go to a road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza.  He immdediately goes without hesitation. He doesn't even know exactly where he is going or what his mission is, unlike Peter and Ananias. But he goes, and now he's just standing there waiting for the next part of his assignment.

He sees a royal chariot with the Ethiopian eunuch who represented the queen of Ethiopia. The angel tells him to go near and overtake the chariot. 

So like Elijah, he had the power to run and overtake the chariot, and running alongside he could hear the eunich reading the prophet Isaiah. So Philip called out to ask if he understood what he was reading. Apparently they stopped the chariot, cause he invited Philip to join him. As he continued on his journey joined by Philip, Phillip is able to explain the passage and present the gospel message to him. When they come to water, Phillip baptizes him.

And because Philip is so submitted to God, immediately after his assignment was over and they came up out of the water, in v 39 the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away (also like Elijah). And the eunich saw him no more but went on his way rejoicing.

“But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.” Acts 8:40 NKJV

I believe Phillip shows us the greatest level of submission to the Lord. The more submitted we are, the more we are able to be expedited like packages sent via express mail. 

So just as important as prayers of supplication as we cry out to God with our requests are prayers of submission making ourselves available to the Lord so we can be the answer to someone else's request. 

You are Christ’s ambassador. Whenever someone calls upon the Name of the Lord, you are subject to being called upon. The more submitted we are to God, the more He can use us, and the more supernatural our movements can become.

When Peter still leaned on his own understanding, he had to have a whole vision multiple times in order to be willing to go to Cornelius. Ananias was so fearful that not even a visitation from God could initially persuade him to go to Paul without first receiving a full explanation from God.

But Philip got to the point where, like Elijah, God could just catch him up and place him wherever He wanted him, and Philip instinctively knew what to do. He just started preaching to whoever would listen in all the cities. Look at this map which I found on thebiblejourney.org:

Philip started out preaching in Samaria, God called him to Jerusalem to preach to the eunuch, and then God caught him up and deposited him in Azotus. So he just preached all the way up the coast until he arrived back up in the north in Caesarea.

[reflection removed] *

Lord, give us the submission and oneness of heart and mind with Christ Jesus that we may get to the point where You don't even need to ask us anymore. Just take us wherever You want us to go.

Amen, Lord! Let it be to your servant as You have spoken.

*Update: I removed this thought about what happens when our spirits are awake in the dream realm while our bodies are sleeping because this morning Holy Spirit woke me up saying that His focus in this blog post is on us being submitted to Him during our awake hours and that I should not have added my own reflections on this part. He says that while this part is interesting it throws off the focus. I'm hoping He'll do a blog post on the dream realm though because I'm loving learning about it. Speaking of submission, I pray I get to the point where I never have to be corrected by Holy Spirit for going offscript!