Calling on the name of the Lord

The scriptures are full of the injunction to “call on the Lord’s name.”¹ All too often, this phrase is interpreted as a synonym for prayer. To call on the name of the Lord means more than to pray to him,² especially given that most prayers are focused on asking for what we want instead of finding out and advancing what God wants.

To call on the name of the Lord is to actively seek additional understanding and application of the Lord’s character in your life. To call on the name of the Lord is to fully live and apply the name of the Lord in every aspect of your life³ while fully expecting him to reveal more of himself to you.⁴ It is to seek to see yourself, others, and the world more like God does in order to enumerate changes you can make to more fully think, feel, and act as he would in your place. Calling on the name of the Lord is the means of obtaining outcomes through faith by actively recognizing situations in yourself, your family, and the world that are out of alignment with his character and doing all you can to reconcile them to his will. Calling on the name of the Lord means more than simply praying and asking for what you want. To call on the Lord is a matter of studying the scriptures, considering your experiences with God, and even asking those whose relationships with him exceed your own in order to:

1. Find out the will of God,
2. Make a plausible path to advancing God’s will, and
3. Patiently, joyfully, and fervently work in a systematic and consistent way to advance God’s will.

We are instructed to continuously call upon the Lord for blessing in all that we do.¹⁵⁵⁶ We should do nothing without first calling on the name of the Lord by comparing our options for action against our model of what Jesus would do in our place.¹⁵⁵⁷ We are instructed to call “on the name of the Lord daily,” proactively considering God’s goodness, our own nothingness, and pursuing his purpose in all we do.¹⁵⁵⁸ Subjecting our choices to God’s will is not arbitrary compliance; long-term wellbeing is a function of alignment with the will of God. Calling on God’s name will result in universally better outcomes compared to any alternative.¹⁵⁵⁹

When you call on the name of the Lord, God will answer you, and through obtaining and living up to the information he provides in interactions of increasing frequency and intensity,¹⁵⁶⁰ you will come to more fully know the abundance of his peace and the value of his truth.¹⁵⁶¹