I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the power of a name, and the power of Christ’s name.

It started with a discussion of this talk, below, in my Relief Society meeting a few weeks ago. (Relief Society is the organization for women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

The discussion question for our meeting that morning, based on this talk, was “How has someone showed up for you in an unexpected way because he or she knew your name?”

One sister, Sister N., shared a story from her newlywed days. She and her husband were renovating a house. They hired a plumber. When they went to pay the plumber, the plumber noticed their last name, which starts with N. He said their name out loud, and then said, “Are you related to so-and-so (with the same last name) of Bear Lake?”

“Yes, he’s my uncle.”

“He saved my life when I was born— he was the only doctor in Bear Lake. When I was born my mom had a lot of trouble. He doctor saved my life. You don’t have to pay your bill. It’s all on me. I’m so grateful!” Such is the power of a name.

As I’ve blogged already, Christ has many names. They are all powerful: Redeemer, The Light, The Way, The Truth, the Life, The Good Shepherd, and so many more. I’m sharing photos of Christ’s beautiful creations in this post to show examples of one of His names, Creator.

Today was like a Part 2 for my thoughts on Jesus and names. All three speakers at our church service today (sacrament meeting) had the topic of names (our name and Christ’s name) for their talks.

A young man, Brother M., one of my son’s friends, gave a powerful sermon about names. He first talked about the Middle Ages. He said during that time, if you dropped the name of a powerful Lord, you could get whatever you wanted. Then he went back to the ancient Romans. Caesar’s name was associated with the most powerful empire at the time. Everyone knew his name, it was synonymous with the Roman Empire. Next He mentioned different stories from the scriptures. Jesus gave himself the name the Great I Am, which is synonymous to Yawveh or Jehovah, in Hebrew. (See more here.) Then when Jesus spoke to the Pharisees He called himself the Great I Am, or God. the Pharisees didn’t believe Him, and felt He was being heretical. Names hold power. God knows this.

So when God has spoken to His children on earth, He hasn’t said, “Hey, you, I have something to tell you.” No, instead He has called and does call the person by name.

Examples of this: Mary, Joseph, Saul who changed his name to Paul, and Joseph Smith.

The next speaker, Brother G., talked more about the topic that Jesus knows our names. Some of Brother G’s points:

-when he’s in a crowd of people talking, like at a party or meeting, his children know that they can catch his attention by calling out, “Dad, dad…” and then if he still hasn’t heard, they say his name. He immediately hears it and replies. He says we can all hear the sound of our name over the many voices of the crowd.

-“The fact that Jesus can call each of us by name means He knows us, He loves us, He atoned for us.”

-He knows our sins, our feelings, our temptations, our proclivities, our doubts, and our questions. We don’t have to ever feel ashamed. We can talk to Him about our doubts.

-Because He knows our feelings, you can try this experiment. Brother G said he has done this experiment while he was preparing this talk over the past week or so. Every time you feel a feeling, pause and ponder that Jesus knows your name. He knows your feeling. Tell yourself those things. Tell yourself that He knows where your feeling is coming from. He knows why your feeling is happening. If you do this, you will find that you have an advocate before God the Father in the form of His son Jesus Christ. You have an understanding advocate, not condemnation.

-When we accept His love, because we know He knows our name and is our advocate, we will want to know and follow His voice. Our name stands out to us. In the same way, His voice can stand out to us.

-When we recognize His voice, things happen. His voice helps us to:

+see a better way

+put away unkind feelings and thoughts

+let go of doubts and unbelief

+forgive

+overlook small things

+commit to get through big things

+begin to feel love for others and even love from others

-This love fills us up and makes up for the lack of love we feel and heals borken relationships.

-When we pray we increase our ability to hear His voice.

-He told the story of his family’s pet goat. This goat will not came when called, even when called by name. Brother G explained that’s typical of goats and that’s why Jesus likens His followers to sheep, not goats, because they follow when called by name.

-The word “goat” used to mean a bad thing. Nobody wanted to be called a goat. He said that up until a few decades ago, it was known to mean failure. Charlie Brown was the goat of his baseball team, because of his dropped flyball and bad pitches. Then in the 1990s, he said, Muhammad Ali popularized the acronym G.O.A.T. as meaning “the greatest of all time.” Ever since then, the name “goat” has been a great name people aspire to.

-He told a story from a shepherd about what it’s like to call sheep and that they follow the shepherd. This story comes from a BYU Speech/Devotional given by Elder D. Todd Christofferson in October 1999. It is from Elder Christofferson’s aunt, Adena Nell Gourley. Go here to read it.

Here are some excerpts from that letter of Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s Aunt Adena, in her words:

“I thought how some of us, who are all God’s sheep, are bound and unfree because of our sins in the world. Standing there on the back porch, I silently thanked my Heavenly Father that there are true under-shepherds and teachers who are patient and kind and willingly teach us of love and obedience and offer us security and freedom within the flock so that, though we may be far from the shelter, we’ll recognize the Master’s voice when He calls, ‘Come on. Now you’re free.”

As Elder Christofferson said in that speech, “Our choice in this life is not whether we will or will not be subject to any power. Our choice is to which authority we will yield obedience: God’s or Satan’s. As Lehi stated, it is a choice between liberty and captivity (see 2 Nephi 2:27). If it is not one, it is necessarily the other.”

Our yielding to God and His right to rule and reign over us brings other blessings. Among the foremost are the faith and confidence that permit us to live with peace.”

The Shepherd wants us to be free. When we follow him as sheep, and not act like goats who won’t follow, we can become free.

-Brother G. concluded by saying, “Jesus knows our names. He knows our hearts. He atoned for each of us. We know His voice. The result is peace.”

The third speaker, Brother E., cotinued with the theme of Jesus knowing our name. He talked about how whenever he hears this phrase from the theme for the Aaronic Priesthood: “I am a beloved son of God and He has a work for me to do,” that he feels the Holy Spirit so powerfully bear witness to that truth.

I felt the Holy Ghost too as he said that. I thought of the complementary statement for the Young Women, from over here:

“I am a beloved daughter of heavenly parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny.” It’s safe to say that each statement can be used for everyone. Brother E. said that these statements are powerful testimonies that Jesus does know us by name.

Brother E went to to say that knowing evidence that Jesus knows our name is in the following:

-blessings, including blessings for healings and comfort and patriarchal blessings. He told a story that recently some friends of his family had a daughter who was in trouble. She reached out to her parents in Boston and asked for help. They reached out to him and asked him to go find her and gave him directions. So he and, I presume another priesthood bearer (he said “we”) went and found her and gave her a blessing of healing and comfort, using her name. He said he could immediately feel peace and guidance from that blessing.

-callings

Then he said that the most powerful way we are called by name is through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

The name of Jesus Christ is powerful. All wonderful things are either done in His name, by His name, because of His name, or through His name, even unconsciously. He knows our name because he atoned for us. Thus He is our Advocate, another name for Him. Because He is our Advocate, we are not doomed to death and sin. Praise Jesus for His mercy and atoning glory!

It was such a lovely sacrament meeting. I am so grateful to bask in the peace and love and truth of it forever more.

I’ll close with the words of the song “In His Name” from the Scripture Scouts New Testament Album by Roger and Melanie Hoffman.

“In His name, the blind can see the way.

In His name, the evil goes away.

In His name the sick are healed, In His name the water’s stilled,

There is strength, there is power, in His name.

In His name, I pray for one who’s hurt,

In His name, I help a wounded bird.

Yes a child can do His work, I can serve as Jesus served,

I can show I believe in His name.

He is strong, He is wise, I am just a little child,

But there is much I can do, there is much I can do in His name.”