Experiencing the Extraordinary Reality of Jesus
By Leslie Ludy
He is … My Savior
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12 ESV
The sound of humming lawnmowers and the carefree laughter of children playing could be heard throughout the neighborhood on that summer afternoon as I excitedly cut through backyards in an effort to reach my house as quickly as possible. I couldn’t wait to tell my parents the news. I was six years old, and I had just had an amazing experience at a little vacation Bible school that I had been attending all that week. The neighbor woman leading the VBS had shared the message of salvation and had given an invitation to any of us who wanted to accept Jesus into our hearts to come to the front and pray with her. Even though I was only six, I felt a stirring within my soul. I was inexplicably drawn to say yes to Jesus and invite Him into my life. After praying a simple prayer to receive Jesus into my heart, I was given a little, white, pocket-sized New Testament. I remember feeling a strange joy that I had never experienced before.
The spiritual investment and prayer my parents had poured into my life since I was a baby was now reaping eternal rewards. After that day, they continued to water the seed that had been planted in that memorable moment at vacation Bible school and Jesus became the most important part of my life. I sensed something had changed deep inside of me. Though my understanding of Jesus was childlike and simple, I knew beyond a doubt that He was my Savior.
He is … My Strong Tower
The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
Proverbs 18:10 ESV
When I was nine years old, the public school I attended in the second grade launched a campaign to keep children safe from potential kidnappers. Since I had grown up in a quiet, safe neighborhood in rural Indiana, those kinds of threats had never really been on my radar. But now as I sat paralyzed at my school desk fiddling nervously with my freshly sharpened number two pencil, I heard terrible true stories about children who had been snatched away from their families. Some had been grabbed by pedophiles when they wandered away from their parents in shopping malls, or pulled off their bikes and thrown into the backseat of a criminal’s car. Others were being poisoned by drug dealers who offered them innocent-looking candy hearts laced with narcotics. I became terrified that something like that would happen to me. Whenever my mom ran into the grocery store for five minutes, leaving me in the car to watch my younger brother, my heart would race and I would sink as low as I could on the seat, praying frantically that no bad guys would spot me.
After nearly a year of battling constant uneasiness (and sometimes outright terror), I heard a missionary give a message at my church about the supernatural protection of God and the power that is available to all those who bear the Name of Jesus. I began to recognize that I had nothing to fear because I was secure under the Shadow of the Almighty. I began to believe that His protection over my life was real. For the first time in months, I was able to walk down my neighborhood street without constantly looking over my shoulder, or sit in the car in a grocery store parking lot without my heart pounding. At night when I felt afraid, I would quote verses from Psalm 91: “Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you … for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up…”
(v. 9–12). And as my heart agreed with these precious promises from God’s Word, I knew that the powerful, almighty God that I read about in the Bible was my Strong Tower, my faithful personal Protector.
He is … My All in All
…the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:23
who fills: to complete, fulfill, satisfy, perfectly supply
all in all: any, all, every, the whole, thoroughly, daily
In my teen years, I drifted away from the close walk I’d always had with Jesus. Stressful social experiences during middle and high school convinced me that spending my time and energy pursuing popularity and the attention of guys was the best route to avoid any further rejection and pain. But around the age of 16 my life felt empty, hollow, and purposeless. Although I had plenty of friends, a thriving social life, and a string of popular boyfriends, I hadn’t found the fulfillment that I was seeking. In my frustration and despair, I cried out to the One I knew would never leave or forsake me. And He made His presence known to me. I felt a clear calling to come away from the distractions and empty pursuits that had been occupying my thoughts and energy, and to once again build my life around Him. When I said yes to that call, my social life dwindled, I was no longer popular among my secular friends, and I no longer had an exciting dating life, but I found something infinitely better … I discovered Jesus as my All in all. Nothing else had been able to fulfill me the way He did. Instead of spending my time pursuing guys, climbing the popularity ladder, or engaging in shallow and meaningless social activities, I now pursued a deeper walk with Jesus. I spent time studying Scripture, worshiping, journaling my prayers, listening to His voice, and learning to serve others.
My life began to look completely different from other girls my age. But I had never felt more fulfilled. When I gave Him first place in my heart and life, I finally experienced the deep soul-level satisfaction I had been craving, and I knew that all I needed was Him. He truly became my All in all.
He is … An Endless Discovery
The Bible is overflowing with specific attributes and qualities of God. In fact, from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, there are just over 300 unique names used to describe who He is. Each name represents a specific aspect of His nature. Some names describe God the Father, and others describe Jesus — and each one shows a specific way He wants to reveal Himself to us personally.
Many of us think of God as our Creator, and we think of Jesus as our Lord or Savior. But there is so much more — infinitely more — to who our God is. Knowing Him is like exploring an endless frontier. Even throughout all of eternity in His presence there will always be more of His nature to discover. When we catch even a small glimpse of the extraordinary reality of all that He is, we quickly realize that there is no need He cannot meet, there is no problem He cannot solve, and He truly is the answer to everything.
Here is a small peek into just a few of His names — and each one of them is a powerful reality that we can build our lives upon.
My Portion, My Maker, My Husband (Isaiah 54:5)
My Well-Beloved (Song of Solomon 1:13 KJV)
My Savior (2 Peter 3:18)
My Hope (1 Timothy 1:1)
My Brother (Mark 3:35)
My Helper (Hebrews 13:6)
My Physician (Jeremiah 8:22)
My Healer (Luke 9:11)
My Refiner (Malachi 3:3)
My Purifier (Malachi 3:3)
My Lord, Master (John 13:13 KJV)
My Servant (Luke 12:37)
My Example (John 13:15)
My Teacher (John 3:2)
My Shepherd (Psalm 23:1)
My Keeper (John 17:12)
My Feeder (Ezekiel 34:23)
My Leader (Isaiah 40:11)
My Restorer (Psalm 23:3)
My Resting Place (Jeremiah 50:6)
My Meat (John 6:55 KJV)
My Drink (John 6:55)
My Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7)
My Peace (Ephesians 2:14)
My Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30)
My Righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30)
My Sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30)
My Redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30)
My All in all (Colossians 3:11)
And remember — this is just a very quick glimpse. There are so many more of His names to discover throughout Scripture.
When I think back to the most significant times in my life, they have always been when I discovered a specific attribute of His nature and began to apply that reality to the specific needs or struggles in my life. In a world that is overflowing with self-help books and unlimited, free advice on the internet, we often look everywhere but to our King to solve the deepest needs in our lives. All the while, He is the most perfect fulfillment for every need we will ever have — if we proactively pursue all that He is and all that He wants to be in our lives.
The Bible says that when we know His Name, we will put our trust in Him. When we understand all that He is and all that He wants to be in our lives — we lack nothing.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing. – Psalm 23:1 NIV
For He satisfies the longing soul… – Psalm 107:9
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things… – Romans 11:36
All things: any, all, every, the whole, thoroughly, daily
In other words — Jesus is everything. And He is meant to be our everything. Unlike earthly relationships, Jesus will never let us down. He cannot be taken away from us. And He will never fail us. Nothing can separate us from His love.
…neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38–39
Do we know Him that way? Do we know who He is enough to put our trust completely in Him? Is He really our everything? Is He the answer to our every problem and the fulfillment of all our needs?
When we know who God is, nobody will have to convince us we should spend more time with Him. Nobody will have to twist our arm to worship Him or learn more about Him. We will see it as the greatest delight and privilege to be in His presence and walk with Him daily.
If you find it difficult to build a daily relationship with Jesus Christ, one of the best ways to grow closer to Him is to study His names all throughout Scripture. I encourage you to take your specific needs or struggles to the Word of God, and look for a specific name that can apply to your situation.
I’d like to continue sharing some more examples from my own life:
He is … Faithful and True
[Jesus is]…the Amen, the faithful and true witness,
the ruler of God’s creation.
Revelation 3:14 NIV
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a
white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True…
Revelation 19:11 NIV
As a teenager, I was challenged to walk away from the dating scene and the typical way of pursuing a relationship — to leave the pen of my future love story in His hands when everyone around me, even my Christian friends, seemed to be doing the opposite.
It was difficult to trust Him with such an important part of my life. What if He didn’t care about it as much as I did? What if He disappointed me? But when I finally trusted Him with that pen, He wrote a story that was far beyond any I could have written for myself. He was perfectly faithful in every single area I entrusted to Him.
Isaiah says that, “…in perfect faithfulness You have done wonderful things, things planned long ago” (Isa. 25:1 NIV).
That became the theme verse to describe my love story with Eric. It really was a story that only God could write. He did wonderful things — things beyond all that I could have asked for or imagined. As I trusted Him completely, He proved Himself Faithful and True in this area of my life, and every other area that I have entrusted to Him.
He is … My Deliverer
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom
I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:2 NIV
But as for me, I am poor and needy; come quickly to me,
O God. You are my help and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay.
Psalm 70:5 NIV
After Eric and I were married and first stepped into full-time ministry, we went through a lot of unexpected stress. For the first several years we were unaware that we were in the midst of an intense spiritual battle. All we knew was that the moment we stepped into ministry, our lives seemed to be launched into turmoil.
My health was impacted, our finances were impacted, we became the brunt of hurtful false accusation from others. A staff member stole thousands of dollars from our ministry and nearly sank us. Pastors and leaders we had once respected let us down, and though our message was making an impact, we still received awful criticism in the form of scathing letters or rude comments.
I was in my early twenties, new to ministry, and wasn’t prepared for any of this. I started experiencing depression and anxiety attacks. I would wake up in the night, unable to breathe, with my heart racing. I would be plagued with fear throughout the day. I felt a constant sense of doom and uneasiness. One night I ended up in the emergency room thinking something was wrong with my heart.
There was nothing physically wrong with me, but I was being controlled by fear — always bracing for the next crisis. I realized I could not live this way, and I began to cry out to God for freedom from fear. As I went to the Word of God and began to stand firmly upon His promises, I became strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. He showed me how to resist the enemy’s attacks against me. And I was set free — wholly and completely. Fear no longer had any hold over me. Jesus was my Deliverer.
He is … My Healer
“…For I am the Lord who heals you.”
Exodus 15:26b
…Who forgives all your iniquities,
who heals all your diseases…
Psalm 103:3
One of the attacks against me in our early ministry days was constant sickness and health issues — things I had never struggled with in the past. So many times I was unable to speak at an event I had committed to because I had lost my voice or had a migraine or some other physical issue that kept me bedridden. Sickness was becoming a hindrance to everything I knew I was called to. And one night as I lay coughing in bed, Eric and I had finally had enough. We began boldly praying for healing in the authority of Christ and resisting the enemy’s attacks against me in this area. We began to cry out to God to be my Healer, standing on the promises in His Word. There wasn’t an immediate healing that night, but we knew there had been a breakthrough spiritually. And over the next few weeks and months, there was a major shift in this pattern of sickness. I became strong for what God had called me to do. Since that time, the enemy has not been able to hinder me from my calling with health issues. I personally experienced the reality that God is my Healer.
He is … My Restorer
He restores my soul…
Psalm 23:3a
“Behold, I make all things new.”
Revelation 21:5a
A couple of years after our first child, Hudson, was born, we were excited to learn I was expecting a second baby. But only six weeks into the pregnancy, I had a miscarriage. It was an unexpected and devastating loss. I began to ask that God would restore what had been lost and redeem a heartbreaking situation into a testimony of His goodness and glory.
It didn’t happen in the way I expected. But about nine months later, right around the same time our second child would have been born, through a series of amazing miracles, we welcomed our first adopted child, Harper, into our family.
It was a beautiful story. God had turned my mourning into dancing. He restored what the locust had eaten, and turned what the enemy had meant for evil in my life into good. He was my Restorer.
He is … The Lord My Banner, My Miracle
…The Lord is my Banner.
Exodus 17:15 NIV
You are the God who performs miracles; You display Your power among the peoples.
Psalm 77:14 NIV
…He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you….
Galatians 3:5 ESV
When we first started the process of adopting Harper, we were told it could take a year or more for all of the paperwork to be finalized. Once you know you have a child overseas who is supposed to be part of your family, it feels emotionally exhausting to wait such a long time — especially for something as tedious as paperwork. I had prayed that it would be the fastest adoption that our agency had ever processed. They had been doing adoptions for nearly 30 years, so I was definitely praying for a miracle.
We turned in every bit of paperwork as quickly as possible. But so much was dependent upon the timeframes of other people and government agencies. There were a lot of slow-moving parts to the process that felt frustrating and tedious.
There was one set of fingerprint processing that we were told could take up to six weeks to process. Eric and I drove over an hour to deliver that paperwork in person and plead with someone in authority to expedite the process. We were told by the employee we gave the papers to that speeding up the paperwork would be impossible. My heart sank at the words. But at that moment, a supervisor overheard our conversation and said she would make a phone call to see if anything could be done. She happened to be about eight months pregnant and her maternal heart went out to us when she heard about our adopted child waiting for us overseas. After a few minutes on the phone she told us, “You’ll have this paperwork back within a week.”
It was the first of a series of incredible miracles we experienced during Harper’s adoption. And when the adoption agency called to tell us that her adoption had been finalized — only three months from the time we started the process — they said, “This is the fastest adoption our agency has ever processed.” He was our Miracle.
He is … My Refuge
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
Psalm 91:2
…For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.
Psalm 57:1
O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
my refuge in the day of affliction…
Jeremiah 16:19a
After about 15 years of full-time traveling and speaking, Eric and I felt that God was calling us to begin a discipleship training ministry. We felt burdened to pour biblical truth into smaller groups and lead them through a deeper discipleship process than what we could do in just one-night events. It wasn’t easy to leave a traveling ministry that was impacting thousands at a time and do something that felt smaller and less significant to many people. But we knew it was obedience.
One of the ways that we knew this was because there was a huge spiritual attack against us as we took the first steps to launch Ellerslie (our discipleship ministry). We became the brunt of extreme false accusation and even betrayal from people we had trusted and prayed for and served. We had people speak doom over what we were stepping into, telling us it was bound to fail. Some of them even went as far as to try to make it fail — spreading lies about us and doing whatever they could do to hinder or stop us.
We knew we were walking in obedience, but there was so much attack that it almost seemed impossible Ellerslie would ever get off the ground. In the midst of the stress and turmoil I experienced during that time, I began to stand on God’s promise that “no weapon formed against you shall prosper” (Isa. 54:17). And all of the threats and lies began to melt away.
None of those attacks, as extreme as some of them were, could hinder us from what God had called us to do. The night of our very first Ellerslie banquet was extremely special because even through all of the spiritual attacks and threats, God’s purposes had been accomplished. He had proven Himself to be our Refuge.
He is … Jehovah Jireh, My Provider
And Abraham called the name of the place,
The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount
of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Genesis 22:14
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8
When Ellerslie began, we saw God provide in miraculous ways. But a few years into the ministry, we walked through some very intense financial tests of faith. Unexpected challenges and expenses had drained the ministry of nearly everything. And yet we were watching just enough come in each day to pay the bills and keep things going.
There were certain businessmen in our lives who predicted that our ministry would collapse. It took a lot of faith not to listen to those voices. One day we had a payment due of $10,000. There was nothing in the bank to cover it. Ellerslie had received various donations in the past, but they were usually much smaller than that amount. The idea that someone would donate enough to cover that bill the same day we needed it seemed far-fetched to say the least.
On top of that, we did not feel that God wanted us to broadcast this need to anyone. All we could do was pray and wait and trust. We knew we couldn’t make the payment unless a miracle happened. When Eric’s assistant mentioned that she was going to get the mail, he jokingly said, “Make sure you find a check in there for $10,000.” A few minutes later his assistant came back from getting the mail, a look of amazement on her face, holding a check in her hand for $10,000.
God had done what had seemed totally impossible and kept us going even when our well of provision seemed to have totally dried up. He gave us the specific amount we needed on the exact day that we needed it — supplying a clear reminder that He was with us, and He would meet our every need. He was our Provider.
He is … My Strength
God is my strength and power,
and He makes my way perfect.
2 Samuel 22:33
“…I will love You, O Lord, my strength.”
Psalm 18:1b
“…[His] strength is made perfect
in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9
There have been many seasons in ministry where I felt exhausted, spent, weary, and discouraged. One time I was supposed to get on a plane early in the morning to speak at a women’s conference. I literally felt like I didn’t have it in me to even go. All I wanted to do was curl up in a little ball and hibernate for months. I didn’t feel I would have anything to share with these ladies, or that I would even have the energy to get up on the stage at all.
I remember choosing to stand on the verse,
“…[His] strength is made perfect in [my] weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). I couldn’t remember ever feeling quite so weak. Choosing to get on that plane was nothing but sheer obedience — it was the last thing in the world that I wanted to do. I was just taking one step at a time to even get up on the stage that day.
But once I was there, I felt God miraculously work in and through me to reach the hearts of the women. It was certainly not because of anything I had to offer, but His strength was being shown through my weakness. He alone was my Strength.
He is … My Friend
and the God of All Comfort
…there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:24
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort…
2 Corinthians 1:3
There was a point in my ministry journey where I felt very, very alone. Eric and I had walked through some bizarre spiritual attacks, and we didn’t know who we could trust.
We felt like we had encountered “Job’s friends” who criticized us as we walked through God’s tests of faith and battled spiritual attacks. I felt extremely lonely, and I just wanted someone to understand — someone who could empathize at some level. I remember trying to share my struggles with a well-known women’s ministry leader, thinking that surely she would have been through something similar and have words of encouragement to share.
But she only looked at me strangely and asked if I maybe had a martyr complex. A short time later I shared some of my struggles with a well-known Christian author and got a similar response — she simply couldn’t relate to what I was sharing.
I had never felt so alone. But I began to discover the joy and beauty of meeting Jesus in the secret place. I began to experience the deep, soul-level comfort of His Spirit — even when nobody else could understand or offer the understanding and comfort I needed. When I was lonely, He was my Friend. When I was in despair, He was my Comforter.
He is … My Hope
According to His great mercy, He has
caused us to be born again to a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
1 Peter 1:3b ESV
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast … even Jesus…
Hebrews 6:19–20
Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from Him.
Psalm 62:5 NIV
Over this past year, I have experienced some extremely discouraging circumstances. Amy Carmichael once wrote that when we are going through difficult stretches, the enemy paints pictures in our mind of what our future is going to look like: dismal, gloomy, defeated, and miserable.
In one of her books she talked about a time in her life, nearly 60 years before its publication, when the enemy had painted dismal pictures of her future — they were so vivid that she could still clearly remember them. Those pictures are never from God; they are not filled with hope but with despair.
Throughout my discouraging circumstances, I have begun to pray that God would replace these dire pictures with a sense of overwhelming hope. I have become assured that He is still writing my story, He’s not finished yet, and He will work all things together for my good. Even when I can’t see the victory yet — He is my Hope.
. . .
If we refuse to settle for a shallow understanding of who Jesus is, we will spend the rest of our lives and all of eternity learning and discovering more of His awe-inspiring majesty, holiness, faithfulness, and love. The Christian life is meant to be a continual deepening, a continual discovery of who He is.
Let’s not pitch our tents on the outskirts of this endless frontier and settle for merely knowing Jesus as our Savior. He is ready to show Himself to be our Redeemer, Restorer, Resting Place, Healer, Deliverer, Comforter, Refuge, Strong Tower, All in all — and anything and everything else we could ever want, hope for, need, or desire.
He is enough — He is more than enough to satisfy the longing soul. What a wonderful name is the Name of Jesus.
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:9–11
Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. – Revelation 19:11–16
To be counted among God’s faithful Christians we do not need to do something notable or epic. We simply need to “be obedient to the heavenly vision and work with a pure intention to the glory of God” as she described it.*
This article was originally published in Issue 47.
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