Starting Right
Starting Right is a 5 minute Day Starter to help keep you motivated, encouraged, and focused throughout your day. DannyMac is a pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, husband, and father. His years of leading and training people have given him vast experience in helping individuals to accomplish change in their lives and meet their goals. He can help you set the course for your day by offering practical advice from God's Word in a positive and fun way. There is no better way to begin your day than by Starting Right with DannyMac.
Starting Right
The Great "I Am": Understanding God's Character Through His Names
What image flashes in your mind when someone mentions Coca-Cola or Nike? Companies spend millions ensuring their names instantly conjure specific mental pictures. But what about when you hear the name "God"? It's often harder to define, sometimes leaving us with a fuzzy understanding of who He truly is.
Danny guides us through several powerful names that speak directly to our current circumstances: These aren't just ancient titles but living descriptions of a God who meets us precisely where we are. In particularly turbulent times, Danny highlights how we desperately need both the healing and peace that God offers through His character.
What do you need God to be for you today? As you consider His many names, you might discover He's already revealed Himself as the answer to your specific situation.
Good morning. I am Danny Mac and you're listening to Starting Right. Every weekday morning, I'm going to be here to share stories of life and hope from God's Word. So grab a cup of coffee, sit back and relax for the next five minutes as I help you start your day by starting right. Sit back and relax for the next five minutes as I help you start your day by starting right.
Speaker 1:You know that companies and their advertising agencies spend a tremendous amount of money trying to get each of us to recognize their company names and as soon as that name is said, they want us to have this picture in our minds as to what that item is that they're trying to sell us. Let me show you what I mean. Coca-cola you get a picture in your mind of a bottle of Coca-Cola or maybe a can of Coca-Cola. How about Nike? Nike makes you think of running shoes or of athletic wear. At the very least, you see that swoop that belongs to Nike in their design. How about McDonald's? The picture of the golden arches fills your mind almost immediately when you think about McDonald's. When I was growing up, if somebody came to me and said, hey, I just got myself a new Mustang, I didn't think they just purchased a horse. I knew that they just got a new car. Names are important because they give to us in our minds, an understanding, a picture of what we believe that thing is. But what about this? What picture do you get in your mind when I say the name God? It's a little bit harder to define sometimes. It's very easy for us to see it's great and glorious, it's powerful, but we don't know what God looks like, and so we sometimes have this fuzzy understanding of what he really is and what he really is like because we only know him maybe as God. It's important, particularly where we are in this world and in this time, to remind ourselves who we mean when we talk about God.
Speaker 1:In the book of Exodus, moses had been living out in the back desert for a long time, and God came to him and spoke to him and said Now, moses, I want you to go back to Egypt and to lead my people of Israel out of slavery from the Egyptians. Moses argued with him for a while and then, in chapter 3, verse 13, he said Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me what is his name, then? What shall I tell them? God said to Moses I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites I am has sent me to you. That name I am encapsulates all of the things that God is for us. It's God saying I am who you need me to be when you need me to be it.
Speaker 1:But throughout the Old Testament there are many other names. There's over a hundred other names of God that we hear and we learn, and each one of those names describes a little bit more of his character to us, so that we can understand who God really is. For the sake of time, I'm going to share just a few of these with you this morning, names that I think that we need to remind ourselves of. One of those names is El Shaddai. That means the Lord, god Almighty, all-powerful, able to do anything and everything that we need.
Speaker 1:Jehovah-raha the Lord is my shepherd. He will guide me, he will protect me. Jehovah Rafa he is the God who heals us. He is our healing power when we need it. Jehovah Shama the Lord is there. He's with you right now. Jehovah Tzidkenu he is the Lord who makes us right before him. He is the Lord who makes us right before Him.
Speaker 1:El Olam, the everlasting God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord, will provide. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord, is our peace. What do you need God to do for you right now? Maybe in one of those names there's something specific for you.
Speaker 1:I know that in those names there are two of them specifically that we need for our world around us right now. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord, that heals Our land, and our lives need to be healed. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord, is peace. This morning, as we move through another week of rather tumultuous times, we have a God who is the great I Am. He is everything that you need Him to be right now, when you need Him to be it. When you talk about God, get a picture in your mind of what it is that you need and what he can provide and guide and lead you in for your life right now, because that is who he is and he loves you that much. Have a great day, everyone. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday, right here on Starting Right with Danny Mac.
