What's In a Name?

I don't know why but I just seem to have a fascination with names and their meanings.

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Anyway, I think names are really powerful especially when we believe how our words carry weight. Where the word of a king is there is power and there is power when a priest appraises something by speaking and declaring it to be either good and bad. As king-priests there is double weight and power to words that are spoken.

By knowing the meaning of names it is like speaking that meaning to the person. A name with a positive meaning is a blessing to whoever owns the name. I think almost every name has meaning or is derived from a root word with a meaning. Take for example the name, "John", a lot of names are derivatives of John. It's taken from Hebrew and it means, "the Lord is gracious". What a blessing that is for people with the name. Every time people call that person by that name it is like declaring the graciousness of God in that person's life.

Even God knows the power of names. He changed Abram's name to Abraham; Abram's name was changed to Abraham which means, "father of nations" and that was before Abraham even had a single son. Every time someone called him by name it was like declaring that he was indeed a father of nations.

I used to think that Gabriel meant, "man of God" and I loved that meaning but I recently found out that Gabriel actually means, "hero of God" (all name meanings are taken from http://www.thinkbabynames.com/). What a name to live by!

After finding that out, I now prefer to be called by my full name, "John Gabriel" as much as possible. It is like declaring in my life that God is gracious in my life and I am his champion; his hero. Because of God is gracious, He will use me as a hero for His glory.

That's why I like to tell people what their name means so that they know that when they are called by name, it is not just being called but it is actually speaking over their lives.

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The boy is a warrior; the boy is his name.