How to Guard your Faith with the Names of God

Tessa Afshar, one of my favorite Biblical fiction authors, was recently featured in the pilot of Morning Star Bright Lights, a podcast sponsored by an independent Christian bookstore on the East Coast. The host closed by asking Afshar what word she would give to their listeners. Without hesitation, she replied, “We have to guard our faith.”

Afshar continued by describing how our faith is under attack. “The enemy wants to reduce it to such superficiality that it will shatter with the first storm” or “other people will just walk right by it.”

She urged listeners to contend with their faith—to protect and strengthen it.

Contend is an aggressive word. A wrestling word. The Hebrew Old Testament word means “to strive against.” In Isaiah 49:25 (NKJV), God says to Israel, “I will contend with him who contends with you.” What a promise!

The waves of hate and violence engulfing our country remind me that we can’t afford to be babes in the faith.

Here’s a simple way to guard and strengthen your faith. Read, pray over, and claim one name of God each day.

That’s it.

God didn’t write those verses for other people. He wrote those words for YOU. To YOU. So you could make each verse your own.

Each name says something about God’s character—and He embedded a promise in each name. What better way to learn more about God than by reading His names for Himself?

The Bible contains well over six hundred names for God. Don’t worry; I’m not giving you the whole list! Only 40 names. Divvy them up however you want.

It’s a way to intentionally press into God for the month of September.

(Chart adapted from: https://www.teachingoftheword.com/show_article.php?article_id=48)

If you want, you can make cards for each name and tack one on your bathroom mirror each day. Stick one in your wallet or purse each day. Just don’t make it legalistic—make it about God.

This is more than an exercise to reassure yourself that God is in control. When you thank God for who He is and pray the promises in each name to Him, you become a mirror—reflecting His glory back to Him. You can’t make God bigger, but you can magnify what He says about Himself by praising and praying your way through each name.

Will you do this with me? Let’s start September 1.

I pray this will strengthen your faith in how big God is … how He’s got this day, and every day to come. May God’s words about Himself encourage, bless, protect, and uphold you now and forever more.

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