All of my life (as long as I can remember) I have heard people pray like this, “Lord, we praise Your name. We thank you for who you are.” and so forth and so on. I have even used these phrases myself when I’m not sure what to say, and it’s no wonder because the Psalms are littered with verses that sound just like these prayers. The funny thing is I never really thought about them until today. They were just phrases that sounded good when I prayed out loud. I believed them. I was truly praising God for His name, it’s just that I never stopped to truly consider “What is His name?”
I am in the middle of the study Experiencing God, which I am doing with my friend Laura. Today’s lesson is on the name of God, which is I AM. When Moses asked who he should tell the people God is God replied, “I AM WHO I AM”. The beautiful thing about this, the thing that somehow never clicked in my brain is that we fill in the blanks. “Today God is my strength because I am at the end of my rope.” “Today God is my provider because I don’t know how we are going to pay the bills.” “Today God is my refuge because everyone is mad at me.” “Today God is my comfort because those words really hurt.” “Today God is my joy because life is good.” “Today God is my peace because I should be stressed, but I’m not. I know He has it all under control.” “Today God is my salvation because He has saved me from the life I was living. He has made me a new person.” Etc… The list goes on and on because God is who He is. He is EVERYTHING you need Him to be.
What I have learned is that experience is the follow-up to this. We believe these things - “God is provider.” – when we need Him to provide. He proves himself to us by providing, and at that point we have experienced Him, which is how we gain intimate knowledge that God is provider, which is how we grow more intimate in our relationship with Him. It’s a wonderful cycle.
I must say that it is my belief that Jesus clearly stated, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I believe that God works in people’s lives even if they reject Jesus, however, you can not intimately know God or experience Him without first accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life. To know God, you must acknowledge you are a sinner and that you need Jesus’ salvation. You must be willing to walk away from everything in your life. You don’t have to walk away from it before you accept Jesus because He will help you desire to walk away from once He has cleansed you from it (by His death for you on the cross). You just have to be willing. Once you give your life to Jesus, you will begin to intimately know the Father. There is nothing more satisfying in life. NOTHING! Money and relationships will never provide true and lasting love, joy, peace, comfort, strength, refuge, deliverance, hope, help, confidence, redemption, and on and on. (There are books you can buy about all the names of God.)
It might seem far fetched that you could wake up and live every day of your life with no anxiety, no worry about the future, no loneliness, no need to prove yourself, no hate toward others, no animosity, no strife, no regrets. However, it is possible. This is how I wake up everyday. It’s also how thousands of others wake up everyday. Find a Christian, a true Christian who everyday gives their life to God and who trusts Him with everything (you will know them by the light in their eyes), and ask them if this is not true of their lives. It is true. Jesus says “He who finds his life will loose it, but he who is willing to loose his life for my sake will find it.”(Matt. 10:39) Meaning that if you will give up control of your life and give it to God, who has your best interest at heart, you will gain an abundant life here on earth that will carry over into heaven when you die. Please email me if you would like to discuss further. I am always open for questions and debate.
The purpose for this post is to share a song. This is probably my favorite song right now. It’s just that after today this song has new meaning for me. I wanted to share it with you. (Yahweh means: I AM)
I loved this day's lesson as well! it was great to look at the list and realize all of the ways Jesus has shown Himself to me. :).
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