I’ve been thinking about my True Joy today. She’s fiery, compassionate, artistic, kind, loyal, creative, and witty. She’s gifted in serving the body and in praying prophetically.
Her name comes from John 4:23 – speaking of the time there will be people who worship God in spirit and in “truth”. The word in the Greek for truth is “aletheia” means nothing hidden, transparent, certain in terms of the truth of God’s character and free of falsehoods / superstitions.
Alathia has some righteous indignation over injustices and falsehoods. The older she gets the more I realize how she was destined for this time in history. Her name declares “true joy” which is found only in the One True God.
When compromise abounds, followers of God will have to raise a standard of righteousness. She will be one that will boldly and without apology raise a standard of righteousness with the goal of always pointing others to Jesus.
Raising kids in the ways of God is hard but it in this season is it more critical than ever.
We are either for God or we are against Him. There is no room for middle ground or mediocrity. The time for complacency and complaining is over. It’s time to cross over to worshipping in spirit and in truth – completely surrendered to Him alone.
Alathia Joy has always shunned a nickname. When she was younger, I tried desperately to get “AJ” to stick – she hated it. Even when others hear her name and make a weird face, she is not deterred – she repeats it again, only deferring to “Joy” if the person is older and it is just an acquaintance. I didn’t understand it until today: her name is TRUTH! NOT a nickname!!! She knew in her spirit from a young age that it wasn’t ‘right’ – she just couldn’t explain it. I chose her name when I was studying something called Theophostic Ministry. It was the name of the training center and when I heard it, I thought it was the most beautiful name and wanted a girl with that name. When it was finally time to have a girl, I changed my mind but my husband stuck to his guns because he’d fallen in love with it by then. Today, I’m glad he was so stubborn because her name fits her perfectly.
What’s the take away as parents? Names have power. For example, I saw a tremendous shift in my husband when he stopped going by a nickname he never liked but his family used and began going by his legal name. He became more confident and bold. Look up the meanings of your children’s names (even the nick names) and pray into it. When you speak their name, you are declaring destiny. For example, my name is Marci Lynn – Marci means warlike and Lynn means beautiful and stream. For years I hated the fiery part of my personality -the passion that ran hot then frigid. It took me a long time to understand fiery is who I am – I am warlike – I am like a bulldog with a bone – I just don’t give up. I’d love to hear your children’s names and their meanings. Let’s press in together as we declare destiny over our children every time we speak their names.
