What is in a name: My Confusion Made Clear

Beloved, grace and peace be with you, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, awakening you through wisdom and revelation, that is through truly knowing Him intimately and personally beyond a shadow of a doubt, His immeasurable love for you. Amen. With that being said, I now invite you, into my HEART...


This is what the Lord says and shows me, “Do not fall into the trap of comparing yourselves to those who have come before you. But take notice and learn from their walk. From their affliction and from their glory, and see that it is all a picture of my Son Jesus. Take upon His yoke and learn from Him, and you will see that my grace is sufficient and in due time if you continue on as He continued on, I too, will lift you up to an exceedingly high place.” Amen!


Beloved, I will share this portion of my testimony when I was beginning my beautiful walk with the Lord Jesus. One of the first encounters of the ministry He would accomplish through me, was that of Paul. Upon reading the letters to the Church, something great and compelling came over me and in tears of joy I looked up to heaven and said, “Lord, am I to be Paul?” And He responded “Yes.”

From that point on for about almost two years, I was trying to be like Paul (the apostle Paul). When persecution came upon me for sharing my faith, I rejoiced because that happened to Paul. Anything I spoke boldly about the Lord to people, I would refer to how Paul did that. If I received a vision or a dream or revelation from God, I would attributed it to the way Paul received such things.

But there were many times I was timid unlike Paul. I was fearful to be imprisoned, or beaten, or to die in the manner Paul died. I no longer found myself in a place of wanting to be without knowing marriage to a woman like Paul lived his entire life.

I became conflicted with many aspects of Paul’s walk and his life, and that’s when I started to struggle and grow weary. I walked away from ministry and my leadership positions, due to falling into the pit of thinking that “being all things onto all men” meant I was supposed to be there for everyone all the time and have all the answers. So in trying to be something I was never intended to be, I grew physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. I put away my bible. I stopped praying. I was a man truly pitiful, in that, I no longer knew who I was and was living to reach an identity that was never intended to be for me.

Months went by, yet I spent much time with the Lord. I took a lot of long walks talking to Him, rejoicing in Him and with Him. I began to know my God in a new personal way. I was knowing Him not through the eyes of Paul, but through my eyes. Amen!

Eventually I found myself back in God’s house, and eventually I found myself rejoicing in my praise to Him for all He has done, is doing and will graciously and powerfully do. But in order for that to have happened I needed to lay down the man Paul, and pick up the man Flavio.

One day as I sat in the sanctuary receiving God’s Word, sitting next to my beloved (Mishel), I started to weep and weep and weep. This weeping was the beginning of what I would come to know as “Breakthrough.”

I cried out to God from my very soul that was in agony over not knowing who I was, and said to Him, “Please help me to be the very best me I can be” as I was exhausted from trying to uphold the ministry the Lord gave to Paul to uphold.

Beloved, in that moment, I could hear the chains of frustration, struggle and agony crashing to the ground, as I was free to be me. It was as if I breathed my first, and no longer was chained to the ground but running freely.

It would take another year for me to fully comprehend what took place back in 2009 when the Lord said “yes” to my question of being Paul. It wasn’t his identity or ministry I was to become like or uphold, it would be His zeal for the Lord and God’s people knowing Him intimately, I would rejoice in. Amen.

Throughout my 3 1/2 years walking with the Lord so far, I have had four biblical names spoken to me. The first was myself asking the Lord of I was to become Paul. The second was at a small church I was invited to, to be part of a marriage ceremonial, and a woman I did not know and never seen before and wasn’t introduced to, came right up to me and said, “Hello Daniel.” I told her my name wasn’t Daniel, it was Flavio, and she said to me, “The Lord told me to call you Daniel.”

The third name was David, and the fourth was at a men’s group I was a part of, and one of the men who came into the home where the group was hosted at, came to me and said, “Hey Jesus.”

All four names have perplexed me. One caused me to be conflicted, but the Lord was faithful to show me the meaning of all four. As mentioned, Paul meant I would have a zeal for the Lord and a people knowing Him intimately. Daniel meant I would be intimately connected to the Lord through visions and dreams and morally set apart for the Lord. David means, I would be a man truly after God’s heart in my desire to know Him, and Jesus means I would have a personal relationship with my heavenly Father. Amen.

“My heart rejoices in it. My mind knows it all too well. My mouth confesses it out loud and my life will dictate it! Amen. All my praises to my great God and wonderful Father through my beautiful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forever! Amen.” — F. Lugo

Therefore, this is my tried, tested and made true encouragement to you. Do not fall into the pit of comparison, but be at peace to seek God out, that you will come to know intimately, passionately and powerfully your identity that can only be found in the Lord Jesus. Amen.


As always... YOU ARE LOVED.