Naming your Future

Rachel was about to die, but with her last breath she named the baby Ben-oni (which means “son of my sorrow”). The baby’s father, however, called him Benjamin (which means “son of my right hand”). Genesis 35:1

In this scripture, Jacob’s wife, Rachel, is giving birth and as she’s dying in labor, she names her son Ben-Oni which means “son of my suffering”. She named him and his future from a place of her current suffering, but Jacob understood the power of a name and changed it to Benjamin, “son of my right hand”. He didn’t want to prophecy pain over their son, so he changed his name. If you steward sorrow, you will name your future with the pain of today instead of declaring by faith what your tomorrow is supposed to be. You can steward sorrow and you can steward faith, but you cannot steward both.

What are you naming your future? Have you named your future based on your old pain and your past? Don’t let the injustices of yesterday become the pain of today. How has your faith been affected by your past experiences and disappointments? Are the things you’re believing for being filtered through a lie you believed about yourself or God? Ask the Lord to heal you of those moments so that you won’t prophecy sorrow into your future.

What to Pray:
God, show me the areas that I have lost faith. Open my eyes to see the things that have altered my faith or made me unable to have faith. What areas do you want to heal my faith? I don’t want to stand in the way of what you want to do. Catch me up in your story, Lord. Forgive me for prophesying sorrow and letting my faith be affected by disappointment. Thank you that your mercies are new every morning and that you want to heal me from the pain I’ve experienced in my past. Regardless of the suffering I have experienced, teach me how to name my future with FAITH. I trust you and I will let you name my future. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Prayer of Jabez:
Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh [if] that you would bless me [indeed] and enlarge [Expand] my territory, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm [evil] so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked. 1 Chronicles 4:10 KJV, NIV, MSG