Church Volume Two: A 9-Day Devotional by Jesus CultureSample

One Name - Jake Ithurburn  

“As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grows, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” - Ephesians 4:16 (NLT)

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” - Matthew 18:20 (ESV)

If it’s a relationship that has hurt you, then it’s a relationship that will heal you.

Growing up, I had a relatively normal and healthy childhood. My parents were very loving, and I always had solid friends in my life. During my early adolescent years, I had a fairly good amount of trust for the people in my life. I felt secure within relationships with others. I’m not 100% sure what caused it, but somewhere along the way I began to develop a “lone ranger” mentality. Maybe it was my parents’ divorce. Maybe it was heartbreak. Maybe it was being hurt or let down by close friends. Whatever it was, I know that trust had been broken, and relational walls had been built up around my heart. My relationship with God felt safe, but most everyone else I needed to keep at arm's length. It was Jesus and I against the world.

About four years ago, God, being the loving Father that He is, began to break down those walls in me. After years of not being a part of a church community or family, God led me to Jesus Culture. I thought that I was there merely to be involved with the worship that was happening in the church, but He had other plans—bigger plans. God began to renew my mind. It wasn’t through a spiritual experience, a sermon, or a worship service. It was through community and family. He began to show me that there was pain in my soul—pain that had festered into this “lone ranger” mindset. God knew that only through the people around me, and through relationship with others, could I find healing for my heart.    

It changed the way that I worshipped. Worship was no longer just me and Him. It was me, Him, and my family. True thankfulness began to fill my praise and my songs. I would walk in the doors during a Sunday worship service, look around at everyone worshipping and feel so much gratitude for how God had surrounded me with such awesome people—people who were after His heart.

This song ‘One Name’ comes from that place of thankfulness. It comes from my desire to worship with a family.