Good morning and welcome back to my little rabbit trail!
There is power in a name and anyone who tells you different has never been called their full name by their parents. I could tell how much trouble I was in based on how my mother called me into a room. If I got called Judd I knew I wasn’t in trouble. They just needed me to do something. If I got my actual first name, “Justin” I knew I had probably left some clothes on the floor or that I had forgotten to pick something up. The use of my first and middle name meant I was in some pretty deep trouble. This could include anything from breaking something to failing a test. I will NEVER forget when I had a 57 in French class and my mother kicked the door in with my report card. To this day it gives me chills. When my parents busted out the combination of “First Middle Last Name” I knew I wasn’t coming home that night. Make out the will because this was my last day trekking around this sphere we call Earth. As I said there is power in a name and the same goes for God as well.
We are continuing to look at the names of god and this is my favorite name of God by far. Yahweh or as the Jewish know him YHWH. 
YHWH is the name of God that is used over 6,800 time in the Bible. But it’s interesting to note that even though this is the name used in the Bible they will not say his name. Many Jewish will substitute the name of YHWH with either Adonai or HaShem. They either fear mispronouncing it or they truly do not know how to pronounce it, as the vowels have been removed since the time of the second temple. Either way they honor the name of God and won’t say it. Even those that speak English will not fully write out the name of God. Instead they will simply write out G-d. The first time we see the use of YHWH is in Genesis 2:4, “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” So throughout the first chapter of Genesis we see Elohim and then in chapter 2 we see this the use of the word YHWH. As you can see we have discovered the first appearance of this name of God but what does it mean?
In the book of Exodus in chapter 3, Moses asks God, ““If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God’s answer to this question makes me smile every time I read it, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.” While our translation is as close as we are going to get for this, a better 
way of reading this is, “Tell them that I AM now what I always was and always will be.” What a beautiful description of the God of the universe who was there at the creation of all things and will be there when time comes to an end. He is the very definition of existence. Throughout the New Testament we also see his use of the name I AM. John 4:16-26 gives us the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. After he and the woman converse and talk about the Messiah, Jesus ends the conversation by saying “I who speak to you am he.” Then further in the book of John we see the same use of the phrase. John 8 tells us about a “discussion” he is having with the Pharisees. After they have been questioning him about his authority and how he can make these audacious claims he ends by tell them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” The response by the Pharisees is typical in that they pick up stones to stone him but it was not Jesus’ time yet and he hides himself. Finally, Jesus uses this phrase in the garden right before he is arrested. The guards have come to arrest him and he asks who are they looking for, and they answer Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus’ answer is, “I am he.” This causes them to have a reaction and they draw back and fall to the ground. There is power in a name.
So where am I going with all of this? What if we treated God’s name as something precious to us? What if when we pray it wasn’t always, “Dear heavenly Father.” What if our prayers became personal and we recognized that. When we come to the Lord in prayer because we feel that we need God to go before us in life, we pray “Jehovah-Nissi” (which means the Lord our banner) I need you to go before me today. I am facing uncertain times and I am trusting you to lead my way.” Even that simple prayer seems to acknowledge the character of God. I want to encourage you to seek the Lord in all you do. Remember a name has power in it and there is nothing strong than the Lord’s name. I hope you have an incredible week and I am praying for you!
Pastor Judd