Good Day Dear Friends, “There is Salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given among mortals by which we must be Saved.” (Acts 4:12 NRSV)   What’s in a name? Can you say, “Everything”? It must have been a very sad time for the Lord of all creation. One can only imagine that the Almighty Father greatly enjoyed walking through the glorious Gardens He had created and hearing the excitement in the voices of His children calling upon Him “Abba, Abba!” But when sin came along, their excitement was vanquished and replaced by something new to their spirits… fear. Of course hell on earth was just getting started, as Cain would continue his father’s sinful ways of death by spilling Able’s righteous blood on the ground. No longer were any of them anxious to call His Name, as fear took away the Joy that was theirs in Him. But thank God, that’s not the end of the story, as the unfailing Love of God will always conquer man’s failings…  “And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, ‘For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.’ And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the Name of the Lord.” (Genesis 4:25-26 NKJV)   This is a Truth that began at the Beginning; it’s something we absolutely need to know, understand and accept. In the Beginning, mankind loved calling upon the Name of the Lord, because He was their greatest Joy. My how things change, but God hasn’t. He was, He is and He will always be; and HE still is our greatest Joy. What’s different of course is that we’ve changed, no longer spotless and pure; we are unrighteous before our Righteous and Just God, Who cannot tolerate sin.  So we’re left hanging, we’re left unto our inherited, but well-deserved destiny of eternity without our greatest Joy. That is however, unless we choose to call upon the one and only Name that can Save us, that one and only Name that we’ve been told about since the Beginning of time, that one and only Name that longs to give us more Joy than we can possibly imagine. Just look at what all those of Faith have set as a perfect example for us to follow.   “Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the Name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.” (Genesis 21:33)   “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall Glorify Me… Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My Name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My Salvation.” (Psalm 50:15; 91:14-16 NKJV)   “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the man of iniquity forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have Mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7)   “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be Saved.” (Joel 2:32)   “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a Hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity… Thus says the Lord Who made it, the Lord Who formed it to establish it (the Yahweh is His Name): ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and inaccessible things, which you do not know.’.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14; 33:2-3)   Today, as in days gone by, there are many names being called upon in hope of deliverance. But there is no name, no not one, not Buddha, not Mohammed, not Confucius, not Allah, not Mother Nature, not self, not Bill or Jane, nor Harry or Mary, there is no other name that guarantees our Hope and Salvation here and now. In Hebrew, it’s “Yeshua”; in Greek it’s “Iesous” and in English it’s Jesus… the Name above all names… the only Name that can give you back the Joy in abundance and Eternal Life you were created to have. So, do you really want to grab the gusto of Life? Then, take special note of what the psalmist writes above, “Because he has set his love upon Me.” And then do likewise, for He’s waiting for us to call upon His Name. Have you called Him yet today?   In the beautiful Name of Jesus we Live! AMEN Tom   “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart… For ‘whoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be Saved.’” (2Timothy 2:22; Romans 10:13)