DOES GOD KNOW YOU BY NAME? RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE LOUD CRY.

Topic: DOES GOD KNOW YOU BY NAME? RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE LOUD CRY.

Bible Text: Revelation 18:1
*And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory*.

During our last study we saw how darkness is covering the earth, and how God's children are suppose to consecrate themselves and be the light(truth, righteousness) that would disperse this darkness (false religion, sin, unrighteousness)

For you to be part of the Loud Cry, you must must have experienced God's glory and His great Power.

NOTE: *This study is a foundation for other studies on righteousness by Faith* .

🎯 *What Is God's Glory And Great Power* ?
Talking about God's glory, the only thing that comes to the mind is God's appearance in a fiery and majestic way, with all encompassing light around him accompanied with many signs and wonders...

Yes, this is part of it, but we tend to forget the other part of God that also explains his glory and power.( character)
Let's not forget, Satan can also manifest as an angel of light, with power and so many signs and wonders, but he lacks the character of God.
God's glory and his power can not be separated from His character.

*When Moses asked the Lord to show him His glory, what did the Lord do* ?

Exodus 33:18
*And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory*.

19 And he said, *I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee* ; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

🎯The Lord replied him with, I will proclaim my *name* before thee...
So, God is telling us that His glory, is His name.(Character)

🎯What is God's name?
Exodus 34:5-7
And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, *and proclaimed the name of the Lord*.

6 *And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth*,

7 *Keeping mercy* for thousands *forgiving iniquity* and transgression and sin, and that will by *no means clear the guilty*; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (KJV)

The NIV version says, *Compassionate, gracious God, Slow to anger, abounding in Love and Faithfulness*

🎯God is Love, the fruit of Love is Righteousness, the root of Righteousness is Love.

Numbers 14:17-18
And now, I beseech thee, *let the power of my lord be great* according as thou hast spoken, saying,

18 *The Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression* , and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

We see here that Moses asked the Lord to make His power great among them by showing them mercy, by being patient with them(long suffering)
This was the name He had declared to Moses. So, God's power is his character.

That's why we see throughout the bible the Lord works with name.
Remember Jacob?
When the Lord wanted to bless him, he changed his name from Jacob which means supplanter to Israel.

Even when Moses asked the Lord to show him his glory and for His Presence to go with them...
The Lord said he would do that for Moses because he knew *his name*

🎯Let us see what the Lord meant by He knew the name of Moses.....

In the book ofNumbers 14, the children of Israel sinned against God and God was upset with them that he wanted to destroy all of them and allow only the descendants of Moses to live, but Moses pleaded with God to forgive his people...that was why he reminded God of His character in Numbers 14:17-18
And God spared them because of Moses's powerful intercession.
That Intercession was prompted by LOVE!
it is the compassion that Moses had for his people that made him intercede on their behalf even though they were a stiff necked people, and Moses had suffered greatly from their hands...still he practiced forgiveness, Love, Longsuffering by interceeding for them.

🤔The question is, how many of us, can ask God to forgive those who have really wronged us, and maybe even tried to take our lives in one occasion or the other....?
How many of us, will have that privilege just like Moses did and will not try to play Mr right before God and not hesitate to ask God to do away with our troublers?.

Honestly, it's not an easy thing to do, because our human nature is prone to wickedness and vengeance. But nothing is impossible with God if we believe.

🎯 *Moses's Name*....
Numbers 12:3
*Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth*

Numbers 12:7
*My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house*

This is who Moses was..remember, his literal name was Moses..which means *drawn out of water*
But that wasn't the name the Lord referred to when He said to Moses...

*I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name* .(Exodus 33:17)

❤From all we have seen about Moses, we can say that Moses's name was LOVE, LONG SUFFERING, FORGIVING, MERCIFUL, FAITHFUL, MEEK, etc...that means Moses had the Character of God,that was why God said to him'"I know you by name".

😭💔Now, I am not going to mince words or pretend as if all is well with me or all of us here.
I have studied this particular bible portion many times, but this time around I got a deeper understanding and my heart has been broken ever since then.

This is the question I asked myself: *DOES GOD KNOW ME BY NAME* ?
Can God Say to you..
*I WILL DO THAT YOU HAVE ASKED BECAUSE I KNOW YOU BY NAME*?

What is the name (character ) that God identifies you with?
Let's look at the book of Galatians 5:22-23

*But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law*
This fruit mentioned above is the character of God, this is what God wants to identify us with.

Let's look at this particular character that God declared to Moses in Exodus 34:5&6 in regards to the attributes of those who would proclaim the loud cry message these last days. This is also one of the fruit of the Spirit.

🎯 *LONG SUFFERING*
Definition:
having or showing patience in spite of troubles, especially those caused by other people.
"his long-suffering wife"
Similar:
*patient*
*forbearing*
*tolerant* (Oxford Dictionary)

*Long Suffering*
*patiently enduring* lasting offense or hardship (Merriam Webster)

Revelation 14:12
*Here is the PATIENCE* of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus*

*But the one who endures to the end will be saved* .(Matthew 24:13)

In describing God, in the book of Romans 15:5&6 Paul says
" *Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus* "
 *That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ*
7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to *the glory of God*.

So, God who is Patient and Longsuffering also wants us to be like him, this is how we glorify God, by exhibiting His character.

In other to stand up against the beast system these last days, and gain victory over his image and his mark, we must be patient, endure, forbear one another's faults...this character is needed in these last days, if not one will soon get weary and eventually give up.
It is because this very character is lacking in our families, that is why we are having all time record divorces in marriages, misunderstandings in our churches, families, etc..because no one wants to stomach another man's nonsense.

🎯 *Impatience Hinders Us From Attaining Perfection*

James 1:3-4
*Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience* .
*But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing*
Verse 12
*Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him* .

Formation of character comes only when you associate with people, no christian living alone in an island will sin.
Who will tempt you to sin?

It is human beings who provoke one another to sin...and this is where we are to show patience and endurance, and when we overcome this, we are climbing towards perfection.

🎯 *Lesson From These Three Men*
Ezekiel 14:13-14
Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:
14 *Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job* , were in it, they should deliver but their own souls *by their righteousness* , saith the LordGod.

Remember, we said God's name/character is Love. His character was summed up to Righteousness which is the fruit of Love and Love is the ROOT of righteousness.

What lessons does God wants us to learn from these three men by mentioning them?

*Their characters*...
*Noah* : was patient during his time, he had forsaken the world then, endured the mockery and slanderous remarks made by men in those days against him...he persevered till he entered the ark.
He didn't stop warning the people about God's impending judgment that was to befall the world then.

*Daniel* : we all know the story of Daniel how he endured to the end by refusing to bow to the King's image, even while in the Lion's den, he didn't grumble..he waited patiently for His God.

*Job* : we all know what happened to Job that he didn't deny God because of his afflictions he endured the pain, sufferings and sorrows until God delivered him.

James 5:10-11
*Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience*.
 *Behold, we count them happy which endure. *Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy*
🎯 *Lessons From Our Lord Jesus Christ*
Our Lord Jesus suffered from the hands of those who are supposed to be His subjects. He bore evil, sin, pain and anguish, yet he didn't utter a word against those who brutalized him, rather he asked God to forgive them.

The Lord Jesus endured embarrassment, hatred, injustice, provocation, poverty, pain etc...yet he didn't murmur..
What was ahead of him was far more precious than what he passed through as of then...he saw his life on earth as a temporal thing and his business was to do the work of his father, I.e to win as many souls as possible for his kingdom.
Likewise we, who are followers of Christ, those who would give the loud cry in these last days must experience God's character. (Righteousness)

Righteousness is that light that would light up the world of darkness(Sin and falsehood)
These are the people who will be able to stand to call people out of darkness. (Babylon) Revelation 18:1-4
How do we survive when all earthly supports are being cut off? how are we going to bear the humiliation, pain , hunger and sufferings ahead of us, if we don't endure knowing that it is only but a matter of time, and it will be over.

The book of Isaiah 60 also describes such people ......
Isaiah 60:1-
*Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee* .
2 For, *behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but theLord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee*.
3 *And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising*

"The glory of God shall be seen upon thee"
That means we shall reflect God's character: His righteousness the earth.

*Conclusion*:
My brothers and Sisters, this calls for a sober reflection on our characters....
If I were to be you, I would hold unto the helm of our Lord's garment until he changes my name just like Jacob did...except you're not tired of your name that doesn't give God glory....

We have to hold unto the righteousness of Christ, no self righteousness or self justification will save us.
Only the righteousness of Christ..therefore run to him now that it's still day before it's too late.