#16 - Jesus Changed My Name
- Lauren Wingert
- Apr 10
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 12
I was born male, and my mother named me with a girls' name. I was embarrassed by my name, and I always hated it. All through school, when roll was called, the teachers were surprised a boy answered to that name. My name was a cause of pain to me, and it was gender messaging from my mom. I was her second child, and after a firstborn son, she had wanted a girl. It is likely she named me with a girls' name intentionally.
There are examples in the Bible of actual divine name changes!
Matthew -16:17
Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you be the flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church..."
Abram/Abraham - Genesis 17:1–5
God appeared to Abram when he was 99 years old and made a promise to bless Abram and multiply his descendants. God then changed his name from Abram (meaning “exalted father”) to Abraham (meaning “father of a multitude”).
When you become a Christian, the holy spirit changes you and gives you spiritual life and saves us from our original sinful nature. Jesus changed my name. Now I answer to a new name, "chosen", "child of God".
Ezekiel 36:26
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here"
Ephesians 13-14 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
The Bible says when we believe in and accept Christ into our hearts and lives, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. It is a done deal; you are saved and receive the inheritance of eternal life.
Though we are saved by faith in Christ and by his grace, and our hearts are forever changed, we are still tempted, we still have a fleshly body and are not free from sinful desires and thoughts. Gender dysphoria remained with me side by side with my joy of receiving salvation.
Colossians 3:2
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
Psalm 51:10
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Galatians 2:20
“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
If you have trans desires, and you don't have Christ, it will be difficult to overcome it. Gender dysphoria is likely one of the most overpowering feelings to try to fight, and it causes confusion, depression, guilt, and pain.
By identifying with Christ’s death on the cross, we as Christians are supposed to die to our old selves and our selfish desires. I was a Christian and fought my trans thinking for years, but I had great difficulties, and I eventually gave in to those desires and transitioned to female. What now? Was that a sin?
Romans 7:18
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Changing gender was not my first choice. I was a Christian male. I was saved by Christ before I transitioned. I got married and had kids. My marriage failed. I didn't have the ability within my flesh to carry my marriage through.
It took me a long while to come to understand that as a Christian, the Holy Spirit seals us forever, and what we do cannot undo that, no matter what works we do, no matter our failures or our successes. I must live by faith in the Son of God.
My experience has taught me that changing gender can only add fleshly comfort in this life.
There is an even greater comfort that comes from Christ. Jesus saves us and gives eternal life, and the comfort and peace and true inner joy of salvation and a heavenly hope. I am now a citizen of heaven, and I bear the name, 'Christian'.
Philippians 3:20-21
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Romans 8:38
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The unexplainable comfort and the change in your heart from the Holy Spirit is this:
Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I praise God for saving me, and that I am a child of God. I did not turn my back on God by transitioning. Everything I have done in the past is 'covered' by Christ. Jesus removes all sin and gives me a new tender heart, and new understanding of spiritual things.
Choose Jesus, choose life!
I walk in faith that I have a new name, I am a Christian, a child of God
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Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe You died for my sins. Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and life. I confess You as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me. Amen.
— Greg Laurie, Harvest, Salvation Prayer
