OUR NEW NAME

OUR NEW NAME

"To Him who overcomes... I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it." (Rev.2:17c)

The Word tells us that "We are in the light as He is in the light" and "be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48) and " to perfect holiness". JESUS reached into the heart of the Father and brought forth a white stone which decreed us to be innocent through His sacrifice. Upon this stone was a new name (nature) which cannot be known by any man (carnality).

In Hebrew a white stone was given to a man who had been forgiven great sins. In Hebrew Court the white stone was given on the right hand for not guilty, the black stone for guilty. The former accused then wore the white stone and stood on the right (symbolic of acquittal, court satisfied by the Blood of Jesus Covenant) as a sign that he had been forgiven.

In the Middle Ages alchemists were fond of speaking of the 'lapis lazuli,' or white stone (actually a rich azure or sky-blue).Alchemists sought by science and discipline to build themselves into perfected stones - actually to become the white stone by which they could possess total knowledge and wisdom.

On the island of Patmos, whether or not John was aware of alchemy, the Holy Spirit certainly was, and the Lord promised, [Rev. 2:17]. But the Holy Spirit may also be saying something like this: 'To him who overcomes will I give a perfected soul; no one has to study alchemy to achieve it.' Every Christian is in the process of being transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ, which will finally be accomplished in 'the twinkling of an eye' (1 Cor. 15:52) - as a gift and not by alchemic science or its modern counterpart,

To him who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will go out no more. And I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God, and My new name.(Rev 3:12)

In the Hebrew a person’s name was his nature, so they were very careful in naming a baby. Example, my husband David’s name means beloved, lover of all. My son’s name is Sean, a derivative of John which means God is gracious.

Therefore, our new name that is written in heaven is His nature. Our new name is Jesus. In the Old Testament, Hebrew names such as Joshua, Jehoshua, and Jeshua are simply linguistic variations of Jesus, meaning "God's salvation" or "God is my help," my salvation, my healer, my protector, my deliver, my refuge etc. His name/ His nature is written on our foreheads: His nature is embedded in our hearts and minds.

And I looked, and lo, the Lamb stood on Mount Zion. And with Him were a hundred and forty-four thousands, having His Father's name written in their foreheads. (Rev 14:1)

And they will see His face, and His name will be in their foreheads.(Rev 22:4)

THE PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE

10 Things You Need to Know

1. God knew you before you were born.

2. He has a plan for you. You’re born exactly when and where God wanted. You’re purposefully alive at this scheduled and precise time.

3. God gives you this time to have an opportunity to transform your mind and become everything you were created to be.

4. God commits to perfect that which concerns you. You don’t do it, you agree to cooperate with Him.

5. Now’s the time to change. As we cooperate with Holy Spirit we are being changed from glory to glory.

6. Time is given to obey God’s instructions, to possess the promises, and to destroy the enemies of your soul.

7. This lifetime provides an opportunity to be transformed. Why waste time giving attention to your trials, when you can seize the opportunity to serve God.

8. The purpose of your life is to proclaim the glory of God, and to demonstrate His characteristics to the world.

9. Bible promises are not for the sweet by and by, but for you, NOW, in this lifetime.

10. You were born and born again at a precise time designed especially for you. And for Him.

Destiny Confession:

I confess that in Christ, I am free from the spirit of slavery and I am adopted as Your son. I agree with You that I am Your child and Your heir according to Your promise. I pray for Your divine intervention in my life. Your will be done on earth ( in my life) as it is in Heaven. I also ask You to reveal Your Glory in me, so that I can take my place as a son of God and set Your creation free from corruption and slavery.

Lord, I thank You that You break the seal of the revelation of Daniel in my life and release me into the fullness of my destiny.

Lord, I choose to turn towards You. I ask that You remove from my face the veil that separates me from You. Lord, would You remove all ungodly devices and religious spirits and disconnect me from all ungodly heavenly places that keep me from Your glory? I ask You to reveal Your glory in me. I receive freedom from Your Holy Spirit and ask You to transform me into Your likeness with ever increasing Glory.

I declare I will:

*remember all the blessings and faithfulness of You, God, with a thankful heart

*be a good steward of everything You give me as You direct me

*keep my eyes on Your face and not on Your hands

*guard my heart with all diligence by being careful to protect my eye gate, ear gate, and heart gate

*sow righteousness for myself that I may reap the fruit of unfailing love

*seek You

*extend mercy to myself and others and receive mercy for myself

*sow righteousness and reap justice

*eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life which is Jesus Christ

*trust in Your Word, Your Ways, and Your Strength

*be an overcomer through Your grace and take back dominion over the land and over all creation

I declare I will enter into Your Glory. I declare I will no longer allow my sin to separate me from Your Glory. I declare I want to come and sup with You, Lord. I declare I want You to disclose Your Face to me. I declare I will no longer hide from You. I declare this is the time to be transformed into Your realms of Glory. I declare this is a new time, a new period, and a new season. I declare that this is the time of a directional shift into Your destiny for me.

Psalm 19:12, Psalm 90:8 Deuteronomy 8, 28, Isaiah 25:7-8, Isaiah 28, Jeremiah 2:13,19, Ezekiel 34:1-5, Daniel 12:3,4, Hosea 10:12-13, Matthew 13:14-16, Matthew 27:45-52, Luke 6:46, Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 3, Ephesians 5, James 5:16, Jude 24

LIVING UNDER A BLESSING PART 2

WE AS BELIEVERS DO NOT LIvE UNDER A CURSE

To assume that some BELIEVERS who happen to be sick or hungry are under a CURSE – while other believers (who are healthy and full) are not CURSED – is wrong. Not only is this unkind and judgmental -- it’s a misuse of scripture.

Those who fully trust the Gospel of Salvation know that we are not Old Covenant people. Jesus (our deliverer, mediator, savior) proclaimed a new covenant – a replacement for the “schoolmaster." Hebrews makes it plain (8:13), “By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear” NIV.

Jesus gave us the guarantee of our inheritance NOW (Rom. 11:26, 27, Eph. 1:12-14). We are MADE ALIVE in Him (1 Cor. 15:22). The iniquities of previous generations can have no LEGAL jurisdiction in the lives of the NEW CREATION. We are not affected by our old nature any longer; neither do we partake of the sins of our past -- nor the sins of others.

THE DEVIL CAN’T DO IT:

Our freedom doesn’t come through repeating specific phrases to the devil about our rights. Scriptures everywhere teach that it’s NOT the devil who holds our destiny in his hands. God is absolutely in control. James 4:7 tells us, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. DRAW NEAR TO GOD..." James didn’t say anything about repeating expressions, or formulas that could supposedly take away satan’s “legal rights.”

John gives us great assurance when he says: “He who has been born of God keeps Himself and the wicked one DOES NOT TOUCH (harm) HIM” (1 John 5:18). This word for touch in Greek is “hapto” and means to fasten onto or to lay hold. Essentially, John says that if we’re born of God, the devil can’t affect our lives anymore. (See also Gal. 3:23-28.)

And what could ever separate us from the love of Christ? Not trouble or hardship, not persecution or famine, not nakedness or danger. (NOTHING. Not our past mistakes. Not words or curses that others have said.) Not death nor life, not angels nor demons, not the present nor the future, nor any powers…not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:38).

“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31 NIV). (Who can be against us? The answer is NO ONE -- NOTHING!) The devil is eternally defeated, and we are delivered from the power of darkness into the kingdom of light. Christ’s work is totally FINISHED in us! We now sit in heavenly places (Eph. 2:5-6).

WHAT WE KNOW:

If after becoming a Christian, we continue to act with ungodly behavior similar to that of previous generations, then we just don’t understand the reality of the fullness of our salvation. Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (“soteria,” to be delivered from the bondage of sin, to be whole, rescued, salvaged, be in health). NIV Col 1:12-14, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” NIV.

There must be a transition for all of us … a full transformation into the REDEMPTIVE TRUTH that CHRIST lives IN US and we live IN HIM. We need our understanding baptized with TRUTH. We need to apprehend what the cross has already provided.

If we believe that our failures and disappointments are due to our past failures -- or those of our ancestors, then we forfeit the need for our own accountability. Galatians 2:19-21 says, “I HAVE BEEN crucified (past tense) with Christ and I NO LONGER LIVE, but Christ lives in me. (The sins of my old life – and my fallen nature no longer exist for me.) The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” NIV. (Rom 5:1-5, Rom. 8:1-8).

For those who live In Christ Jesus, THERE ARE NO GENERATIONAL CURSES. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law.(Gal 3:13) Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Ironically, Paul CURSED those who presented a false gospel – these are the ones that required Christians to keep Old Testament laws and concepts: "As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:9, 4:21). The stronghold that really needs to be pulled down is the one of lack of knowledge!

CONCLUSION:

Perhaps we need to change our “terminology” – because we’re not under a “CURSE!” However, as believers, we do need to repent. We need to become transformed by the renewing of our minds… and become whole. We all do have “environmental tendencies” that need to be recognized and changed. All inclinations, predispositions, propensities toward wrong behavior need to be modified and adjusted; we all have wrong habits that need to be addressed. But those are not CURSES. They are pivotal CHARACTER issues that we need to deal with.

2 Cor 5:18-21, All this is from God, who RECONCILED us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, NOT COUNTING MEN’S SIN’S against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

**Gal 4:8-10, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God -- or rather are known by God -- HOW IS IT THAT YOU ARE TURNING BACK TO THOSE WEAK AND MISERABLE PRINCIPLES? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? NIV

**Titus 2:13-15 also makes it very clear “…. Jesus Christ … gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. THESE THEN ARE THE THINGS YOU SHOULD TEACH. ENCOURAGE AND REBUKE with all authority.” NIV

Out of our own ashes, we emerge as the mature company of believers. We’ve freed ourselves from wrong behavior by incorporating the truth that Christ has redeemed us from every curse. We’ve taken our own accountability for wrong-doing. We’ve changed our responses. Now, with undeserved vindication, we glimpse into the nowness of the eternal resurrection life and we manifest the Image of the overcoming Son.

The Blessing is More Powerful!

We are blessed to be a blessing! We are to proclaim the blessing of the Lord over our families, churches, cities and nations. Proclaim His goodness and invoke His blessing over every sphere of delegated rule He has put in your life!

I was given a dream revealing to me the power of declaring His blessings. Light was being released over people and cities as they proclaimed the blessing of God's Word. People began to be healed without anyone touching them as darkness was displaced by light. I had this dream repeatedly and I knew it dealt with the power of proclaiming God's blessing. Yes, the power of the blessing is more powerful than the power of the curse!

Defining Our Terms

From Webster's Dictionary:

To Bless: To invoke divine favor on, to bestow happiness, prosperity or good things of all kinds; to make a pronouncement holy; to consecrate, to glorify for the benefits received, to extol for Excellencies.

A Blessing: A prayer or solemn wish imploring happiness upon another; a benediction or blessing; the act of pronouncing a benediction or blessing; that which promotes prosperity and welfare . . .

From the Hebrew Language:

To Bless: Barak – To kneel by implication to bless God as an act of adoration, to praise, salute, thanks . . . a posture of reverence . . .

A Blessing: Berakah – Benediction (an act of invoking a blessing).

The Nature of the Blessing

1. Pronounced audibly (can be written as well)

2. Continue on in time – generation to generation

3. Usually are not just individual, but family oriented

The following definition is true concerning the nature of both curses and blessings:

A word spoken with some particular form of spiritual power and authority for good or evil that sets in motion something that will probably go on from generation to generation. (By Derek Prince)

Examples of Generational Blessings from Scripture

1. From God Directly to Abraham:

Read Genesis 12:2, 3

2. From Melchizedek in Behalf of God:

Read Genesis 14:18 – 20

3. Transfer of the Generational Blessing:

Read Genesis 25: 9 – 11

4. Stolen Birthright by Jacob from Esau:

Read Genesis 27:27 – 29

5. Patriarchal Blessing from Israel to the 12 Tribes:

Read Genesis 49:28

Five Steps to Invoke the Blessing

According to Gary Smalley and John Trent as stated in their excellent book The Blessing – there are five clear steps to invoking a Blessing!

1. Meaningful Touch

Touch imparts and releases life, warmth, compassion and blessing.

2. A Spoken Word

After meaningful touch comes a word of loving affirmation.

3. Attaching High Value to the One Being Blessed

Esteem, give honor, and value to another. Declare Life!

4. Picturing a Special Future

Envision God's destiny for individuals, churches and cities. Impart hope!

5. An Active Commitment

Empower others with a practical commitment. Get behind them!

Proclaim His Word Over Your Life!

From Numbers 6:24 – 27

The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.

From Psalms 103:1 – 5

Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit; who crowns you with loving-kindness and compassion; who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like an eagle.

LIVING UNDER A BLESSING

Genesis 3:14: So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

And to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return."

James 1:16:Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

The curse came from the breaking of the Covenant, not because God cursed mankind.

James 3:5:Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

James 3:8: But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was always blessing? How would you like to get up in the morning with joy and peace and love, and nothing goes wrong during the day? Nobody says any nasty things to you. Everybody is kind and nice, and you have everything you ever desired and wanted available to you? Nothing ever gets taken away from you. It would be wonderful wouldn’t it? But … It doesn’t happen does it? No, that is unfortunately just not the way life is. It just does not seem to work that way. We do not walk continually in blessing. Why is that? God designed us to be walking in blessing.

God Made Everything Good

When God created the earth He made it a beautiful place, and He looked down on it and said, "It is good." He pronounced every single thing He had made, "good," and planted a beautiful Garden in Eden. He took the man and the woman that He had created and put them there in the Garden, and He said, "Enjoy yourselves. Enter into the blessing that I have made and created for you."

Adam and Eve had everything their heart could desire. They were living in a garden paradise. There were no pests, there was no harm, there was no danger, and each of them was living with the most beautiful specimen of creation that God had ever made. For the guy you had the most beautiful woman in the world all to yourself. For the woman you had the best looking guy in the world all to yourself.

There was no conflict, no strife, there was love and there was harmony. And God came right in there every day to visit and to share in that beautiful blessing and the joy that they were experiencing.

But it did not stay that way did it? Something went wrong, and something entered, which was not blessing. It was a curse.

What Blessing Means

Provision

Blessing consists firstly of provision, bountiful provision. God blessed and He gave everything - everything that man could ever not only need, but desire. When a person is blessed they have everything they could ever want, need or desire.

Protection

Secondly, blessing involves protection. God gave them protection. There was no harmful influence, there was no danger, there was nothing to be afraid of. There was no fear in the Garden of Eden whatsoever.

Harmony

Then there was harmony, total peace and harmony. There was no conflict between Adam and Eve, no husband and wife squabbles. There was no fighting between the animals. They did not even eat each other! The animals were all vegetarians in those days. There were no carnivores, there was no conflict, there was no strife. There was peace and harmony. There was security, safety, protection and boundless provision.

Love

And there was love – the love of God in the hearts of man, and His love permeating the earth as He came down to walk in the garden in the cool of the day to fellowship with them. He poured His love upon them, and received love from them in return. It is a beautiful picture of blessing.

We try to create that these days at a very great expense. People spend a lot of money to go to some paradise island somewhere to get away from it all, to get away from the rat race. They want to go to a place where they can be all alone, at peace and at harmony with just nature.

We somehow try and recreate that garden paradise. Isn’t there just something about being in a beautiful place where there is lovely green vegetation and a river of water bubbling past? There is something about it. We travel miles and miles and spend a lot of money to be able to get to places like that, to go and spend time just sitting on the banks of the river in the shade of beautiful trees, and the flowers, and all the beauty that God has created. It is blessing. That is what God designed for us originally. That is the way God wanted it to be.

He warned Adam and Eve and He said, "You can eat of every tree and you can take of the Tree of Life, but don’t you touch the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, because in the day that you do that you will die."

What happened in Genesis 3? Instead of bountiful provision there was loss. It got stolen from them. or really they gave it away. They lost what they had. They lost all that wonderful provision, and they lost that peace and harmony. It was all lost, and they had to leave the Garden of Eden. They were driven out. They lost the blessing.

Earth Under a Curse

And a violation of that original Covenant that God made with man, when he sinned and disobeyed God’s Covenant, he came under a curse, and that curse was passed down upon the generations of Adam, and on every human descendant of Adam. That curse came upon the earth, and it is under a curse. The Scripture speaks about the whole earth groaning and travailing under the bondage of that curse. It is known as the curse of Adam.

The Covenant of Law

If you read Deuteronomy 28, God says to them, "If you will obey My commandments that I give you this day; if you will do that, then blessed will you be coming in and going out. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. You shall be above only and not beneath, the head and not the tail. You will lend to many nations and not borrow. You will have no sickness and disease …"

All the blessings are there. All the elements of a blessing are returned. "I will give you bountiful provision. I will watch over you and protect you from harm. I will cause harmony, peace and unity between you, and you will walk in love."

Jesus Redeemed Us From the Curse-Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law.(Gal 3:13) Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

THE TRUTH -- WE ARE BLESSED, NOT CURSED:

In the midst of this superstition, the Lord God determined to reveal Himself to Abraham: "And I will make you a great nation, And I will BLESS you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will CURSE. And in you ALL THE FAMILIES of the earth shall be BLESSED" (Genesis 12:2,3). Here we see that BLESSING was God's sovereign choice toward ALL believers that desired relationship.

Scriptures say that those who put their hope and trust in God are BLESSED (Jeremiah 17:5). Conversely, those who put their trust in man are CURSED (Jeremiah 17:7). IF we believe, then we are blessed. Do you see? Our battle isn’t with the devil… our command is to love God and follow Him with all our heart, soul, and might… Our deliverance comes by comprehending that we are ALREADY BLESSED; regardless of our circumstances -- whether we “happen” to be rich or poor, healthy or disabled, whether our forefathers were successful, or we come from a long line of disreputable, good for nothing thieves. God’s not partial. He BLESSES those who believe upon Jesus Christ – (the One who became a CURSE for us) – that we might become the beneficiary (heir) of the blessings of Abraham (Galatians 3:13,14).

“Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are BLESSED of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world'…” (Matthew 25:34,41). That’s our charge… to obtain our blessed inheritance.

NEW COVENANT:

Jeremiah foretold of our day (31:28-32) “…So I will watch over them to build and to plant," declares the LORD. "In those days people will no longer say, `The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' Instead, everyone will die for HIS OWN sin; whoever eats sour grapes--his own teeth will be set on edge. "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will NOT BE LIKE the covenant I made with their forefathers…” NIV.

Ezekiel also knew of the coming new covenant concerning individual accountability, (Ezekiel 18:1-4,19, 20), “The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: "`The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel (you surely aren’t going to use this proverb anymore). 4For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son-both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one that will die. …19"Yet you ask, `Why does the son NOT share the guilt of his father?'

Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, HE WILL SURELY LIVE. The soul who sins is the one who will die. THE SON WILL NOT SHARE THE GUILT OF THE FATHER, NOR WILL THE FATHER SHARE THE GUILT OF THE SON. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN WILL BE CREDITED TO HIM, AND THE WICKEDNESS OF THE WICKED WILL BE CHARGED AGAINST HIM…” NIV.

For those who live In Christ Jesus, THERE ARE NO GENERATIONAL CURSES.

JESUS DID IT!

When Jesus died a transition happened from the Old Testament way. He alone provided liberation from the curse of death… Jesus finished His work. The Scripture is unmistakable on this topic. ... Christ’s work was and is sufficient. There is nothing left for Him to do. His salvation is complete. He gave us His LIFE. When we become “born again,” we are totally severed from that TIE with the devil. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13, 4:5) and the influence of sin (Rom. 6:18-23). The curtain of our personal tabernacle was rent.

TO BE CONTINUED.....