Call me by my name!

Hello my name is Justin not Jason, Jesse, Josh, or Justice just plain old Justin pretty easy.  Through my life I have been called every name except my given name even from those I interact with daily.  When I was a child my grandfather never called me Justin he would always call me Justice.  My great aunt would always call me Jesse nothin else.  I'm not mad or do I not love these people any less but sometimes I just want to be called Justin like you know who I am.  Over the course of my life I have met people by the name Justice, Jason, Jesse, or Josh but I have never wanted to be them or even tried too.  But this whole issue I had about being called by another name made me think and look over my life.  Its a sad reality when we the children of God go out in the world today we are often called everything but a child of God.  Why is that?  Is it because we fail to love others no matter the situation? Are we about talking and not so concerned with walking?  Can we not forgive? Do we not show compassion?  It may be a combination of all these or others.  But you know it is so wonderful to know we serve a God who know us each by name.  Even before birth he called our name he knew what big plans he had for us.  Shuffled in the crowd of billions of people born, unborn, gone on head of us and those still to come he still knows each one of us personally.  But how well do we know him? Its sad to think that there is one God and a lot of us fail to even take the time out to know him for ourselves when he knows every detail about us.  We fail to spend any intimitate time with our one and only Father.  You may ask me well what does spending time with the Father have anything to do with others not seeing me as or calling me a child of God?  When we fail in a true intimitate relationship with God as far as devotion, meditation, prayer, and reading Gods Word we fail to allow God to transform our lives.  Our lives simply reflect the mess we devote our time too.  We want more but we won't let God do it.  We want peace, love, prosperity, and joy and its all there we just have to access it.  I must admit at times I fall short and my walk isn't where it should but I challenge myself and whoever is reading to allow God to transform us so that we can be seen as who we really are children of God.

The Beginning

You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its remotest parts
And said to you, ‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
11 "Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12 "You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13 "For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’


Isaiah 40:9-13

These verses were sent to me by a man named Eddie a guy who in a few months I will journey with in Africa.  In the midst of preparing to leave and go serve, God seems always to send a Word through somebody.  In these first few weeks of the new year I have been extremely anxious about the preperation for moving.  It is quite comforting to know that God knows what i'm going though. I thank God that whoever is reading this is taking the time to think about me and my journey.  I thank God for my many friends and family who have chosen to support me first and foremost through prayer.  This is going to be a long road but I am extremely excited.  Please continue to pray for me, Ghana, ad missionaries around the world.  As you pray for me you are also in my prayers.  Feel free to post anything that I can pray for you about I'm a open and willing prayer partner.

Yours in Christ,
J.Jones