Your Name, Your ID, Your Purpose...Do You Know It.

One of the deepest statements I have heard in recent years came from the most unlikely of sources….Steve Harvey (don’t worry this is not about Think Like A Man Act Like A Lady). Though it isn’t a shock to me that it came from him it maybe a shock to some of my readers that I am referencing him. I reference him because the statement he made is the context of something I have been teaching for years. Steve said “The 2 most important days in your life is the day you were born and the day you find out why!” Man that’s deep. Even if it isn’t deep to you it is deep to me. What Steve was talking about was your purpose now purpose isn’t the topic of today’s entry it does have something to do with it. See today’s topic deals with the importance of your identity and the role your name plays in it.

Most people I know have a misconstrued opinion about identity and your name. Your identity is who you are; your name is who you are. Which says your identity and your name are basically one in the same. Think of it this way, if a cop pulls you over and asks to see your I.D (identity) you pull out your driver’s license and the first thing the cop looks at is…….your name. Why is that? It’s because your name is your ID, then he looks at the picture to make sure you really are the name that they ID belongs to. If you go to open a checking account they ask you for 2 forms of ID both forms must have on it…..your name. Why is that? Again, it’s because your name is your ID. Now if your name is your ID and your name is who you are and your name has a definition (as all names do whether you know yours or not) than the definition of your name is who you are. This my friends is the power of words. The Holy Bible says in Proverbs 18:21: Death and Life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it will eat the fruit thereof. All that means is that words have power, they have the power to bring life to a situation or death it all depends on what you say. If your name has a definition and your name is you that means you are the word of your name personified. Meaning you are walking around life or death just by being you. My wife knows someone whose name is Wrath (no joke that is his actual name). Let’s look at the definition of Wrath according to Dictionary.com.  Wrath is strong, stern, or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation; ire. Now would anyone be surprised if I told you that this kid has anger management issues? Probably not because His name means that and if you think he is trying to live up to his name your wrong. This kid barely knows what the word means yet he exemplifies its very definition. He is always throwing toys at other kids, pushing them around, taking stuff from other kids. When you try to talk to him, he throws these horrible tantrums. HIS NAME IS WRATH PEOPLE! His name has shaped his destiny. That is a spirit he’ll have to battle for the rest of his life.

Please realize that the reason for this is because his parents who didn’t understand the spiritual power their words have (saved or not) spoke this over the life of their son. Now even if he doesn’t want to he is that thing and will have to fight it. Why do you think God is in the habit of changing the names of His people, Sari to Sarah, Abram to Abraham, Saul to Paul, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter. He did so because in changing their name He was changing their destiny and making a covenant with their destiny. Whether you realize it or not your name dictates a lot of your decisions which dictates your destiny. I was in a discussion on FB concerning names and I was amazed that some of the people I thought would think it has an effect didn’t. Your name is you and therefore is your destiny. Jesus’ name means Savior isn’t that what He came to do seek and to SAVE them which are lost (Luke 19:10)? Lucifer even had a name change we now call him Satan which literally means the adversary of God (according to dictionary.com), why because His destiny changed from that of the chief praise and worship leader in heaven to the enemy of God and all He stands for. 

I bring all of this up to help you understand that your purpose, your true purpose not your passion or desire but the reason you were created is contained in your name. When you learn what your name means you will find out your purpose and the only way to change that is for God to give you a new name. So in truth you ought to find out what God calls you and the only way to do that is to develop a true relationship with Him. You can do that or risk wondering your life hoping to stumble upon your purpose. Once you find the purpose for your life you can better than know how to live. Your name is your identity and wrapped there in is your purpose. I pray this has been some help to someone struggling to find purpose in your life. Be careful what you name a thing (your situation, your spouse, your job, your kids, or yourself) because what you name it you have defined. Grow in God’s Grace and Abide In His Love!



Reflections of a Child turned Father

As I reflect this Father's Day on being a parent. I’m finding out things about me I had never known before. I am finding out about the patience I have and impatience I have. I am finding out that much the more what it means to love someone so much that sometimes it hurts. For you see my daughter is quite possibly one of the bravest, most stubborn, sweet, innocent, obnoxious, loving, caring, irritating, did I mention stubborn, beautiful, independent child that I have ever known. I love her so much that I want to see the best for her more than she will ever realize but that love sometimes goes against what her will is. There are times of conflict where I would have her to do one thing or act one way and she wills do it the total opposite way. There are times where she whether do to ignorance or independence will go off and do things that could be potentially dangerous to her but her naivety doesn’t allow her to see that decision could be costly. Yet I love her anyway and it hurts deep inside to see her in any kind of pain, to see her make a mistake, or see her not get the best things she desires.

As I reflect on being the father of a teenage daughter I realize more and more how much she can sometimes resemble my relationship to Christ. There are times when He would have us to go or say or do and we do the exact opposite because we think we know better. We as parents know our sacrifice for our children and at the drop of a hat would give our lives for them simply to see their desires be fulfilled and for them to not have to struggle. Christ has done the same for us and yet like a teenage child we sometimes take the sacrifice for granted. My daughter has a tendency much like most teenagers to think she is entitled to certain things because she knows we would do anything for her. How many times have we as Christians taken Jesus for granted and feel he just ought to bless us because if nothing else that’s what He’s always done and He says He loves us so….



My Family - Me, my wife Falonda, and my daugher Ashley. God has been so good to me!


As I reflect on this monumental responsibility called parenthood I reflect on the thought that in order to be a better parent it means I must be a better child. I must not take my God for granted, I must obey His way for He knows best even if I want to go another way, I must leave those behind He shows me are no good for me, I must keep His words close to me and remember them at all times, I must spend more time with Him and get to know Him and develop this relationship even more closely than ever before. Doing these things will cause me to be a better parent because my Heavenly Father will show me and direct me how to be a better father. He will increase my love for my daughter to the outpouring of love that He has for me not merely an unconditional love, but an eternal love that penetrates past the flesh to the spirit and soul and with compassion compels righteousness to come forth. Discipline which is to correct when correction is needed but freedom to experience the mistakes that are sure to come that will help develop her to be who God has called her to be and with love be there for her with love during those mistakes.

Through this reflection I have learned that I have had fatherhood completely wrong. I used to think that in order to be a good father one had to look at the child and that finished product of a child now turned adult would dictate whether or not the father was a good and effective father. But I have learned and am now in the state of practicing that what it means to be a good father is one’s ability to love your child through good times and bad, richer and poorer, sickness and health, obedience and rebellion (yes just like marriage vows) till death do you part. A good father is love. A love that no matter how that child turns out; because it is up to that child, that you as the father (parent) love them. Love them with when they become what you see and when they don’t. Love them! It’s a concept that seems foundational and basic but when I say love them I mean to:
Listen to God’s direction
Obey His commandment for each situation
Validate and cherish the gift He’s given you
Educate and impart into them what God has imparted into you with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding

Train them to love, obey, and hear the voice of God
Help them; as they will struggle along the way
Edify them in the faith of God & in their natural minds, speaking well of their good & correcting their bad
Maintain the edicts and precepts of a Godly house and what it means to be a Godly person in their ear daily.

These are the things I have learned and prayerfully as I grow and become a better father, I do so not at her expense but my growth causes her to grow and become even greater than whatever it is that I am.

Ashley I love you more than you know and am glad and proud to call you my daughter.

I hope and pray that this message though as a tribute to my daughter Ashley and a reflection on what she has taught me and God has revealed to me that parents both single parents and non single parents alike will read this and be blessed by this and take note of what it means to be a parent and to truly love your child. Train them up as the bible teaches, training invovles instruction, correction, direction, and information but it also involves leadership by example. Be the example for your child just as God was the example for us. Grow in God's Grace and Abide in His Love!