God's Names and Our Identities
There was a season of worship music from my childhood where a flood of songs were released reflecting on the names of God. El Shaddai, Jehovah Jireh My Provider, and Emmanuel all spring to mind. Interest in the names of God appears to making a comeback in worship as demonstrated by the popularity of Jireh, Yahweh, and Yahweh Elyon.
The names of God have always been dear to his people. The first person in scripture to give God a name is Hagar, who calls God El Roi, “The God who sees” (Gen. 16:13). God shares his most intimate name, Yahweh (“I am who I am” (Ex. 3:14) with Moses when he calls him to free his people from slavery in Egypt.
God gives us his names not just as titles but as personal revelations of who he is in our lives. Each name is an invitation to know him intimately and trust him deeply. By revealing himself as Jehovah Jireh, he shows us that he’s our provider, inviting us to rely on his provision rather than our own efforts. When he calls himself Jehovah Rapha, he promises healing and wholeness, reminding us that we can bring our brokenness to him.
These names allow us to experience aspects of God’s character in a way that transforms our own identity. We become secure, knowing that the Almighty God—El Shaddai—holds us; we are at peace, knowing Jehovah Shalom guards our hearts. Each name is a doorway to a deeper relationship with him, where his attributes fill in the gaps of our own weaknesses and insecurities.
God’s names remind us that he’s not distant or detached. He’s personal, invested, and actively working in every detail of our lives. Knowing him by name anchors our faith, drawing us closer to his love and transforming the way we see ourselves and the world around us.
The connection between God’s names and our identities is crucial to our lives: the way we think about ourselves, the way we pray, and even the way we make decisions. My wife Angel and I have poured a lot of time into thinking about the importance of our identities in Christ and have been grateful for the ways Trading Faces has impacted others. From today to Monday (Jan 11-13), the price of Trading Faces has dropped to $2.99: far and away it’s lowest price on Kindle.
Below is a chart we’ve worked on to extend the extensive work on our identities in Christ in Trading Faces to the names of God. There is a lot more work to do here and I would love to hear some of your thoughts about what connections you see between the names of God and our identities.