I think that God gave man, specifically Adam, a very special assignment: He gave man the authority to name other parts of His creation including all the animals (Genesis 2:19-20) and also Eve (Genesis 3:20). This same authority can be found in other places in the Bible: 1) the renaming of Abraham {father of many nations} and Sarah {princess}, from Abram and Sarai {courtyard} (Genesis 17:1-5, 15-16); 2) the renaming of Daniel and his friends (Daniel 1:1-7); and 3) the prophetic name that Jesus was given (Matthew 1:20-25).
It has been an amazing experience to live in cultures where names literally mean something, rather than names that are commonplace or have been normalized. Living and doing ministry in Africa has been very interesting, in so many ways. Last month, I met people named “Blessing,” “Gift,” “Hope,” and the like. These names didn’t seem to only be names like Katie, Ann, or Jim. These names eventually had a prophecy and a prayer built into them, and part of Batswana culture is to give all people Setswana names. Several people on my team and other teams were given Setswana names: Alexa, Katie, and Kasey became Truth, Way, and Life; and I was named “Gift of God.”
Things don’t have the power to change you unless you let them. I believe that this was just another prophecy that the Lord was using others to give to me. In South Africa, a friend spoke a word over me: worshipper. I had been asking God what my identity is to be, rather than the things that I’ve done to ascribe as my identity. In Botswana, I was renamed “Gift of God,” which helped reaffirm the person that God has created me to be, not only a “messenger of God” (Angelica), but also a gift. Also in Botswana, one of our host had recently gone through a name change herself, from her given name to Ember, because the Lord has called her to both start spiritual fires in people and to stir up spiritual flames that grown dim. I want to encourage you to spend some time with the Lord so that He can give you the name that He has in store for you, for His Kingdom, and for those in your circle of influence.
Angelica//Mpo
Prayer Requests:
- That my squad has safe travels as we travel to India in the next few days,
- That we have a restful and inspirational mini-debrief this weekend, and
- That our original squad leaders have safe travels back to the states.
Praise Reports:
- My squad survived Africa with minimal injury and illness,
- It is really easy and natural to be my authentic, fun self with my new team, and
- We are almost through another calendar year!//Happy New Year!
