Hello, My Name Is- CCM

Hello, My Name Is

Good morning faith Filled Friends followers and welcome to the second day of our six week anniversary! I hope you’re as excited as we are! Today we are beginning a new series on our favourite CCM songs of all time (Contemporary Christian Music) Each day for the next week or so, one of the authors here at the Faith Filled Friends will do a devotion on their favourite CCM song. I’m excited to be able to start off the series today with one my favourites from Matthew West, “Hello My Name Is”. It is an amazing song which talks about how we can be called children of God, no matter what circumstances we found ourselves in before. This was one of the first, if not the first Matthew West song I heard and I loved it right from the first time I heard it. I hope you enjoy it too!

So let’s get to it!

‘Hello, my name is regret, I’m pretty sure we have met, every single day of your life, I’m the whisper inside, that won’t let you forget…’

‘…Hello, my name is defeat, I know you recognise me, just when you think you can win, I’ll drag you right back down again, ‘Til you’ve lost all belief…’

These opening verses of the song are all about regret and defeat. These things and many other things in our life will seek to define us and drag us down. They are like the little whispers in our ear telling us that these things are all there is. It doesn’t just have to be regret or defeat, it could be sickness or injury too. When the trials of this life get us down and it can feel like we are trapped or being blinded to everything else around us. When we let them consume us, that’s when we loose control. The devil uses things such as regret and defeat to stray us away from God, to the point where we loose belief. It is so easy to be devoured by these things if we are not always on the lookout for them.

1 Peter 5:8- “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”.

‘…Oh, these are the voices. Oh, these are the lies, and I have believed them for the very last time…’

‘…Hello, my name is child of the one true King, I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, I have been set free, “Amazing Grace” is the song I sing, hello, my name is child of the one true King…’

The second verse here is the chorus of the song. It is my favourite part as it is all about who we really are as followers of Jesus! As consuming and deceiving as things such as regret and defeat are, they are nothing but voices and lies and we must not believe them. We are not defined by our hardships and struggles, but by God’s grace, through what He has done for us. If we find ourselves being held down and overtaken by these things, we must stand strong in God because we are called Children of God, not children of regret and defeat! The difficulties of this life do not own us, God does, because he payed the price for our sins! We cannot let our hope and joy in the Lord be dimmed by the hardships we face. By receiving salvation through God’s grace, we have been changed and set free. We have been set free from the chains of things like regret and defeat. We will still experience many kinds of struggles as Christians, the difference is that we don’t have to be overtaken by them, we can leave them all at the foot of the cross! It is in Jesus that we find who we truly are, not in the struggles this world throws at us. When we put our trust in Jesus, we become Children of God and nothing can ever take us away from being His.

John 1:12- “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”.

‘…I am no longer defined, by all the wreckage behind, the one who makes all things new, has proven it’s true, just take a look at my life…’

We leave it all behind when we come to Jesus, we don’t need to try and change for Jesus, because is it Him who changes us. He tells us to come as we are and He will make us more like Him. When we come to faith in Jesus, we are born again, into a new creation. The evidence of Jesus changing us will be seen in our lives, in the way we think, act and speak. We are given a new outlook on life through Jesus, not focusing on the wreckage and difficulties behind us but rather on the hope of eternity that is before us.

Philippians 3:13-14- “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”.

2 Corinthians 5:17- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

‘…What love the Father has lavished upon us that we should be called His children
I am a child of the one true King…’

To be called God’s children is such an amazing privilege! The God of all creation loves us so much that he wants to have a relationship with us! May we never take it for granted, but be forever thankful to God for his love which brings us into His family. We are called children of the one true King because of it! That is who we are, not regret, defeat or anything else. We have been set free from these things and we must not ever forget that we are God’s and God’s alone!

1 John 3:1- “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him”.

I pray you have been encouraged by today’s devotion and that you will continue to be encouraged throughout this week as we share more of of our favourite CCM songs. Father, I thank you that we can leave all our hurts and struggles behind. They seek to get us down and consume us, but you help us to rise above them and to seek you. We praise you that through trusting in what you have done for us, we can be called your Children, we are Children of the one true King! May we always find our identity and hope in you. Thank you that you have changed us and continue to change us, becoming more like you each day. May we hold strong to you Lord through whatever we may face, never forgetting that you called us you children and that we belong to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

God Bless everyone,

Josh- The Faith Filled Friends