The Name He's Given Me

You are still a promise

The heartbeat of God

You may have forgotten, but He has not

You are not your ashes, you are a flame

Do not ask the shadows, the Light of the World knows

Knows your name.

Chorus of the song, “Name” by Nichole Nordeman

This was on the playlist I was running to this morning. And, though I’ve heard it before, the chorus met a deep need of mine to be reminded of who I am, where my Father is concerned. As I thought about the truths my sister, Nichole, wrote in this song, I thought of a verse from Revelation that always intrigued me.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Rev. 2:17 ESV

I know and have memorized the verse, …in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (Rom. 8:37 ESV), but so often I see myself as so much LESS than a conqueror. As a matter of fact, I feel defeated. But my feelings don’t define who I am. The one talking in that “white stone, with a new name” verse is Jesus, Himself, who had victory over sin and death and the powers of darkness… the Almighty Creator, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, whom God placed at His right hand (Rom. 8:34) to rule and to reign for all eternity. He is also the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). He is the one who names me. Not myself, not other Christians, not anyone else. Jesus. And, His name for me is the only one that counts.

We, as human beings, tend to put people in categories and define them by various characteristics. Ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic class, gender, religion, profession, marital status, standard of living, and many other ways we’re categorized. I wish I could say that I don’t do this, that I love people for who God created them to be, regardless of these things, but I’m human! Thankfully, though Jesus spent 33 years living as a human being, even during His life on earth, He saw people and loved them for who they were created to be. The prince and the beggar had equal value in His eyes.

Another way we categorize people is by their life experiences. I have seen this in my own life. Because we’ve had a pretty rough go of it for the past two decades of serving in West Africa, some people put us in a category by ourselves. They can’t relate to me, because, wow, they could never go through what I have and come out on the other side intact. Well, let me tell you, I am far from intact! It is God’s grace that has carried me through and holds me together! In that way, we are very much alike.

We’ve endured some tough stuff over the past few months that have gotten me discouraged and the enemy has used the down time to pull me even further down, where it takes extra effort to get myself going each day. The voices in my head are beating me up, tearing me down, and trying to redefine who God has told me that I am, clearly written in His Word. But, I must choose to hold tightly to the fact of who I am and WHOSE I am. My name is hidden with Him, my life is cherished by Him, and I have a part in His eternal plan for the world.

When I named my kids, each one had significance according to something that was happening in our lives at the time, similar to how folks in the Old Testament named their children. Sometimes when I think about them and pray for them, I remember God’s promises and presence in the midst of that time. I’m reminded of God’s grace displayed through each child and how He continues to show Himself in their lives. I pray that when Jesus thinks of the name He’s given me, that He thinks about how He wove my life into the beautiful tapestry of His plan, and that I fit just right into it. And, I look forward to meeting Him and receiving that white stone and gazing into His eyes to hear Him pronounce the beautiful name that He chose just for me.

"Name" by Nichole Nordeman, lyric video