Pergamum 9

We live in a world where Satan is god. Amid all the destruction, death, and theft, is you! Every morning you awake to confront the god of this world and his works of darkness.

BUT there is one thing he fears more than anything on earth and that is YOU when you faithfully hold fast to the power of God’s name. There is so much honour given in heaven to those who hold fast to the power of His name. And please do not confuse heavenly honour with worldly honour. On earth there is no honour given to those who die for the sake of Christ. The world of wickedness gloats over the death of the saints but heaven rejoices.

Jesus honoured the saints in Pergamum for clinging faithfully to His name, even though one of their beloved leaders had been martyred in their city. These saints faced the reality of martyrdom for their faith daily, yet they held fast to the name of their God.

Have you ever asked why God allows His beloved saints to be murdered by the devil? What is the point of that when we are the overcomers and the victors over death? Is there something we are missing?

And have you noticed that the Lord goes by quite a few names now? Jesus, Messiah, Yeshua, Jehovah, G_d, YHWH, God, Lord, Elohim, Saviour, and others. Which one is correct? Which name did the saints in Pergamum cling to? One thing is for sure, it was not our English Jesus Christ – they did not speak English.

The truth is Jesus is not freaked out about what name you call Him, whether it is His name in Hebrew, or English, or Aramaic, or any other language. His concern is that you know and understand HIM and who HE is. His name reveals who He is to you. Jesus’ only concern is that you get to know Him in an intimate and personal way, and in this intimacy His name can change, just as two lovers often change the name of their loved one to something personal to them. Lovers often rename their beloved. You will see that this is something Jesus does with the saints in Pergamum. He promises them a white stone with their new name inscribed on it. But more about that later.

Jesus is not offended by which of His names you have chosen to give Him. He is honoured and delighted to be called by that name or any other name you use as you get to know Him better. It is not about the verbal pronunciation of the name you have chosen but about how you faithfully cling to Him when you are facing trials and temptations. The question is how do you cling to someone you cannot physically see or hold onto?

And I’m going to leave you with those questions to think about. What name do you carry in your heart for the Lord that endears Him to you? Do you have more than one? What are they and how do they make you think and feel about Him? What ‘human’ language do you speak to Him in and what is His name in your language? And lastly, how do you cling to Him?

Then we will get to looking at why Satan is allowed to kill the saints.

To be continued …

Have a blessed and happy day! 😊 💥