A prayer to know the names God calls me by Tiffany Tabalt, read by Lea Martin.

Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zephanath Panaya and gave him Asanath, daughter of Potapherra,

priest of own, to be his wife, and Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt, Genesis 41-45.

Here's a little background on Joseph. He'd been the favorite son of his father throughout

his childhood until his jealous brothers sold him into slavery. He was then sold to

a man to be a house servant, and did a very good job at that until that man's wife accused

him of raping her, which, of course, he hadn't done. He was thrown into prison for a very

long time. Then the Pharaoh began having some disturbing dreams. Eventually, Joseph was

pulled from prison and was able to interpret those dreams, and in payment, he was placed

into the position of second-in-command of the entire land of Egypt. During his time of

leadership, his wisdom kept many from starvation during a very serious drought. In our verse,

we see that Pharaoh gave Joseph a new name and a wife. However, as you read the very next

words, you see that the writer Moses, well, he completely ignores the fact that Joseph

got renamed with a new Egyptian name. He proceeds to tell us what this guy, who was first

named Joseph, did next. What happened to Joseph, receiving a new name, occurs to us as well.

This world seems to be all about names. Your nationality, skin color, gender, education,

work skills, IQ, financial status, relationship status, people define us by those labels. They're

used loosely, used as slurs, used to hurt us, used to confine us, used to determine

even our futures. These labels, though, don't tell the world what we're capable of. These

labels don't show our love for God. They don't describe our dreams. They don't describe

who we truly are deep inside our core. Whatever this world might be labeling you as, it's

not how God sees you. He says in Isaiah 43, 1, I have called you by name and you are

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