What Kind of Name Do I Have

Heavenly Father, I give You praise this morning and thank You for just being alive. I praise You for the time You have given me to share with my wife, family, friends, church, coworkers, and the people I have met or will meet in life. I praise You for the simplicity of knowing I exist for a reason and that You created me with a purpose, with talents, and the ability to learn. Help me today to take command of my day and shake the evil from it.

Holy Spirit, You inspired the writers of wisdom that we called Proverbs to write: A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor rather than silver and gold. The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the Maker of them all. A prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. Humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; he who guards his soul will be far from them. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. The rich rule over the poor, and the

borrower is the slave of the lender. He who sows injustice will reap iniquity, and the rod of his wrath will disappear. He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor. Cast out the scoffer, and contention will leave; indeed, strife and shame will cease. He who loves a pure heart and speaks gracefully, the king will be his friend. The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and He overthrows the words of the unfaithful. [Proverb 22:1-12]

Holy Spirit, I desire to keep my good name and to be written in Your book of Life. I do not seek fame, fortune, or some kind of glory. I only seek to live my life fully and completely within Your will. I seek to help those around me and to lead at my job and be a stable member at my church. I desire to see my children, grandchildren grow to know who You are and that they have a relationship with You. I desire to leave this world with the knowledge that I treated people right, stood for what I believed, lived what I believed, and made most people feel valued. I desire to be like Barabas or Silas to help others succeed and to grow Your kingdom. I desire to use my ability to teach to help others learn to pray, lean on You, and grow in their faith. This is what I desire to be attached to my name. I want to be known for being faithful to You.

I pray and ask that I may be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that I may walk worthy of the You, fully pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You; strengthened with all might, according to Your glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified me to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light. You have delivered me from the power of darkness and conveyed me into the kingdom of the Son of Your love, in whom I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. You are the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by You all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through You for You. And You are before all things, and in You all things exist. And You are the head of

the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things You may have the preeminence. In Your blessed Son Jesus’ name, Amen. (Colossians 1:9-18)