Date: Monday, 19th May, 2025
Text: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10
Author: Pastor Adedeji Fadehan
Exhortation:
Parents can make or mar the destinies of their children with their verbal pronouncements over them. This starts from the name the parents name the child. Names are prophetic. The destiny of a child is wrapped up in his name. This is why you cannot afford to name a child casually.
It could be erroneous to name a child based on circumstances that surround his birth. Satan knows that some cultures give names to their children based on the prevailing circumstances of his birth;therefore, he manipulates those circumstances to manipulate them to give their children negative names.
Jabez’s mother made this mistake. His mother had named him Jabez (which means sorrow), because she gave birth to him in pain- 1 Chronicles 4:9. His life was thus full of sorrow till he cried to God for mercy.
Ichabod’s mother made a similar error. The baby was a son of Phinehas, a priest, whom she gave birth to on the day the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. His mother, on hearing of the capture, her husband’s death, and her father-in-law’s death, named the baby boy Ichabod, meaning, “Where is the glory?” W e never heard of his deliverance from this evil curse- 1 Samuel 4:19-22.
In the case of Jacob, the power behind his name Jacob (which means supplanter or a deceiver) continued to affect him. He found himself deceiving his dad and cheated his brother. But a time came that Jacob cried to to God all night and his name was changed to Israel (a prince with God); from then on, his destiny was positively changed- Genesis 32:22-32.
Reflective Nugget: As a parent, what name (s) did you give your children?
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