Praying the Names of God - June 19
From Praying the Names of Jesus Week One, Day Three
The Name
Elohim is the Hebrew word for God that appears in the very first sentence of the Bible. When we pray to Elohim, we remember that he is the one who began it all, creating the heavens and the earth and separating light from darkness, water from dry land, night from day. This ancient name for God contains the idea of God's creative power as well as his authority and sovereignty. Jesus used a form of the name in his agonized prayer from the cross. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Key Scripture
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
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Wednesday
PRAYING THE NAME
Then Jacob made a vow, saying,"If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth." (Genesis 28:20)
Reflect On: Genesis 28:10-22; 35:1-8
Praise God: Because he not only created the world and everyone in it but continues to sustain it through his creative power.
Offer Thanks: For the way God has blessed you with the good things of the earth.
Confess: Any tendency to take God's earthly blessings for granted.
Ask God: To increase your desire to bless others with the gifts he has given you.
Jacob, you may remember, was the twin who tricked his brother out of a blessing. Fleeing from his brother's wrath, he had a dream one night in which he encountered the God of his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac. Promising him descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth, God told him: "All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
This was Elohim speaking, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He made it all, he owned it all, and he could give away its fruit to anyone he pleased. Jacob asked for safety, food, and clothing— basic human needs. But God gave him so much more, making him a wealthy man and the father of numerous children. He even blessed Esau, the brother whose blessing Jacob had stolen.
Then as now Elohim desires to use his creative power, not only to sustain us and the world he has made, but to create for us a life filled with blessings, both physical and spiritual. Ask him now for what you need, believing in both his power to bless and his desire to care for you.
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Meet your spiritual ancestors as they really were: Less Than Perfect: Broken Men and Women of the Bible and What We Can Learn from Them.
