Friday Open Heavens Devotional - How Prophetic Are Your Names?

MEMORISE: And she shall bring forth a son,and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21.

READ: Exodus 2:5-10.
5.And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. 6.And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. 7.Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? 8.And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go.   And the maid went and called the child's mother. 9.And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 10.And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

MESSAGE
The name you bear is very important because it serves as your identity, and your future may be connected to it. The name a person bears is sometimes indicative of the experiences he or she will encounter in life. Take for instance Moses: this name means "drawn out of water" (Exodus 2:10). No wonder water was a recurring decimal in his life. He turned water into blood (Exodus 7:19-20); he parted the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21-22); he turned bitter water into sweet water (Exodus 15:24-25); he brought water out of the rock (Exodus 17:5-6); and the issue that denied him entrance into the Promised Land was about water (Numbers 20:8-20). Knowing how significant the name of an individual is to his destiny, God had to change the names of several people in the Bible (Genesis 17:5, Genesis 32:28, Mark 3:16, Acts 4:36). My mother told me that after my birth, she intended to name me Elisha, but on her way to see the priest for my baptismal name, she forgot, so she named me Enoch. I told her I like the two names: Elisha, the man with the double portion anointing, and Enoch, the man who walked with God, so I took the two names. By the grace of God, the prophetic essence of these names is being fulfilled in my life today. Examine your names: if there is any evil name among them, reject it, and if there is a good name you desire, add it to what you have, and the Lord will back it up.
A good name should glorify God; for this reason, any name attached to an idol, local deity or unclean spirit must be discarded. A good name should also be prophetic. A name such as Christopher means "the bearer of Christ". It is a prophecy that the child so named will bear the person of Jesus Christ any where he goes. A name such as Gabriel means "able-bodied one of God" or "strong man of God". That is very prophetic! A good name should give the bearer something positive to work towards: it should be a challenge, a promise or a goal he or she should strive to realise. How prophetic is your name? On the other hand, many people are yet to see the fulfilment of the promise in their names. For instance, someone who is named after wealth may still be living in squalor, and someone named after glory may still be living in shame. If you find yourself in this type of situation, pray hard that God will cause the good promise and prophecy in your name to be fulfilled, and also work towards its realisation.

PRAYER POINT: Father,speedily bring into manifestation, every good prophecy or promise inherent in my name, in Jesus' Name.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: JOB 40:3-42:17 AND 2 TIMOTHY 1.1-2:13.