ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD

Nothing is impossible with God.  When you open up the pages of the Bible you see that God is spectacular in His theatre. God spoke the world into being.  He parted the Red Sea for Moses, tumbled down the walls of Jericho for Joshua, and shut the mouths of lions for Daniel. If you close your eyes and imagine, you will see that Scripture is better than a movie!  “Ah Lord God!  Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm!  Nothing is too difficult for You.”  (Jeremiah 32:17)

Extend this same thought down through the centuries to Jesus’ birth when the angel, Gabriel said to the Virgin Mary, “For nothing will be impossible with God.”(Luke 1:37)  Jesus was born, the Messiah, the Son of God, and He followed in His Father’s footsteps, turning water into wine, feeding the 5,000, walking on water, healing the blind, raising Lazarus from the dead.

All things are possible with God. Possible is translated “dynatos”:   Able, mighty, powerful, strong. (G1415) Can you see the word dynamite in the original Greek word? It is the same word used for the name of God in Mary’s prayer of adoration: “For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name.” (Luke 1:49)

So if all things are possible with God, why do we get so confused?  Why do we question when He does not do the impossible: right every wrong, cure every illness, heal every relationship that has gone astray? Why does He simply say no to some of our requests?  It’s not what He can do, but what He chooses to do that baffles us.

The will of the Father. Jesus taught about this and then lived this principal out.  In the early part of ministry, when He taught His disciples to pray, this is how the Lord’s Prayer begins:

“Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.  Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6: 9-10)

Notice that Jesus begins His prayer looking to who His Father is: Holy.

Jesus then declares that there is a heavenly kingdom in which God’s will is always done, and that will transcends down to our lives on this earth.  But there is a clash: His wills versus our free wills.  God is asking our wills to line up with His perfect will in the midst of disobedience, lack of faith, sinfulness and suffering.

Jesus continues this teaching and His example throughout His  ministry:

“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.  His daily nourishment was to do the will of the Father.” (John 4:34)

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 6:38)

And then ultimately Jesus modeled in His own life doing the will of the Father when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane:

“And He was saying, ‘Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” (Mark 14:36) Three times He petitioned the Lord with this request.  It was hard fought prayers.  Words such as “grieved”, “distressed”, and “troubled” are used.  He asked others to pray with Him and to keep watch, to be on the alert.  When his disciples did not, an angel came and ministered to Him. But, when He had finished praying, His will was aligned with His Father’s will. He brought God the greatest of all glory because Christ “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8)   After praying, He said to His disciples “Get up and let’s get going.” (Matthew 26:46) So be it.  The time has come. What if God had said yes to the prayers of Jesus?  If He had, you and I would be lost in our sins, for it is only possible through the blood of the Lamb, the perfect sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son, that we are reconciled to our Heavenly Father. “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:4).  “Then who can be saved?  With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Mark 10:26-27).  God said no for the sake of others. This points out that there are reasons for a no answer, just as there are other reasons for a parent to say no to a child.  Sometimes in our weakness God’s glory is better displayed.  Sometimes He says no so He can say yes to something better.  Sometimes our requests would lead us into temptation and to sin.  Sometimes we are not in right relationship with Him to even ask.  Sometimes it is so we will grow and trust in Him for fully.   But ultimately, it is because He is eternal, we are finite, He has a purpose and a plan, and we must trust Him by faith. The best way to find out the will of the Father is to bring it to Him in prayer. As you seek His will for your life, not only will you get to know His will, you will get to know Him better.  “So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:17)

Dialog with Him.  Bring your requests to Him and the peace that passes all understanding 

will invade your soul.  Bring your doubts, your fears, your praise and your petitions before 

Him.  Get to know Him better as you do.  He is faithful, trustworthy, good, merciful, just, 

holy.  God is love.

While praying remember to:

·     Pray in faith:  “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

·     Pray for wisdom. “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)

·    Pray trusting Him:  “for they cried out to God in battle, and He answered their prayers because they trusted in Him.” (I Chronicles 5:20)

·     Pray in the Spirit: “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18)

·     Pray earnestly: “Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.”  (Colossians 4:12)

·    Pray for His name to be glorified: “To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

·      Pray knowing that He is able:  “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)

What about you?  Do you trust the Lord?  Do you spend time in prayer seeking not only His hand and His provision, but also who He is?  Do you look through the lens of your circumstances to interpret who God is, or do you look to God through His Word and in prayer to discover who He is? If He asks you for sacrifice and obedience that does not align with your will, do you say “Yes, Lord” and get up and go anyway? Do you know that He works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose?  Lean hard into Him and seek His face; He will draw near to those who draw near to Him.

“I find the doing of the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plans.”

—George MacDonald

FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH

“I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE”  JOHN 6:51

Feeding the 5,000.  There are so many beautiful details and life lessons to be learned from this story, but you must weave together the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to see the whole picture.

“NOW WHEN JESUS HEARD ABOUT JOHN, HE WITHDREW FROM THERE IN A BOAT TO A SECLUDED PLACE BY HIMSELF.” (MATTHEW 14:13)  “THE PEOPLE SAW THEM GOING, AND MANY RECOGNIZED THEM AND RAN THERE TOGETHER ON FOOT FROM ALL THE CITIES, AND GOT THERE AHEAD OF THEM.”  (MARK 6:33)

 Jesus had just learned that His cousin, John the Baptist, had been beheaded by Herod.  Coinciding with this, the apostles had just returned after having been sent out in pairs to minister in the nearby villages.  Scripture states that they were so busy that didn’t even have time to eat.  So Jesus promises them a little get away and some much needed rest. Can you imagine their disappointment?    Instead of seclusion, they step onto shore to see a sea of faces.

“when he went ashore HE FELT COMPASSION FOR THEM AND HEALED THEIR SICK.” (MATTHEW 14:14) “and he began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34)

The tenderness of Christ is on display here.  He is our example that in our grief and in our fatigue we can still minister outside of ourselves, if it driven by compassion.

“When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, ‘This place is desolate and the hour is already late, so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”  (MATTHEW 14:15)

Jesus taught and healed until late in the day.  The disciples, surely tired and hungry themselves, suggested that it was time to send the crowds away.  They had ministered enough for one day.  The disciples came together as a united front—all 12 of them. They were looking to their circumstances and a practical, logical solution. Instead they should have been looking to the Manna of Heaven standing before them. He provides for us in our desolate places, like the Israelites of old in the wilderness.

 “BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT!’ AND THEY SAID TO HIM, ‘SHALL WE GO AND SPEND TWO HUNDRED DENARII ON BREAD AND GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT?”  (MARK 6:36)

What an enormous, impossible task!  This was not a “mere” 5,000 people that the story is commonly named for because in that day only the men were counted, not the women and children who were also there.  So the size of the crowd must have been double or triple the official count.  Can you hear a bit of the sarcasm and frustration in the disciples’ response?  One denarius was equal to about a day’s wages.  That means it was going to take 8 months of hard earned worker’s wages to buy some bread to ease the crowd’s hunger.

“THIS HE WAS SAYING TO TEST HIM, FOR HE HIMSELF KNEW WHAT HE WAS INTENDING TO DO.” (JOHN 6:6)

Sometimes He tests us, seeing who we will rely on: ourselves or our Savior.  He knows what lies ahead of us and He knows what He is intending to do.  It is a matter of trust.  It is a matter of faith.  

 “AND HE SAID TO THEM, ‘HOW MANY LOAVES DO YOU HAVE? GO LOOK!"      (mark 6:38)

By asking the disciples to do this, He wanted them to realize their own lack of resources.  He also wanted the disciples to participate and be  witnesses to the mighty miracle He was about to perform.

“ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES, ANDREW, SIMON PETER’S BROTHER, SAID TO HIM,  'THERE IS A LAD HERE WHO HAS FIVE BARLEY LOAVES AND TWO FISH, BUT WHAT ARE THESE FOR SO MANY PEOPLE?”

(JOHN 6:9)

This little boy was not even in the official count because he didn’t count.  The bread was barley bread, the cheap bread of the common people.  And two fish? Most of these disciples had been fishermen themselves who were familiar with catching boat loads of fish.  How embarrassing was that? 

“AND HE SAID, ‘BRING THEM HERE TO ME.” (MATTHEW 14:18)

When we bring the little bits of what we have to Jesus, however, He can perform a mighty miracle. This is very important because most of the time we are too embarrassed to bring our small portions to our Savior, but that is exactly the point: to humble ourselves before Him and admit we cannot do it in our own strength and our own power.  We can only accomplish His will through His blessing, His strength, His provision and His power.  He honors the widow’s mite.  He honors the 5 loaves and the 2 fishes.

 “AND HE COMMANDED THEM ALL TO SIT DOWN BY GROUPS ON THE GREEN GRASS. THEY SAT DOWN IN COMPANIES OF HUNDREDS AND OF FIFTIES.” (MaRK 6:39-40)

Earlier in Mark it said the Jesus had felt compassion for the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  Fear keeps sheep from lying down. But the crowd had already fed on the teachings of Christ and had witnessed the miraculous healings.  A hungry crowd can turn into a mob scene very quickly, but instead there was order and fellowship in the midst because they could put their trust in Him.

“AND HE TOOK THE FIVE LOAVES AND THE TWO FISH, AND LOOKING UP TOWARD HEAVEN, HE BLESSED THE FOOD AND BROKE THE LOAVES AND HE KEPT GIVING THEM TO THE DISCIPLES TO SET BEFORE THEM; AND HE DIVIDED UP THE TWO FISH AMONg THEM ALL.” (mark 6:41)

Jesus blesses what we give to Him, multiplies it and shows us that He will perform huge miracles through our small offerings, our small efforts, our small turning it over to Him.  It says in John that He “kept on giving”.  He does exceedingly and abundantly more than we can ever think or ask. And do not miss the practical portrait of The Bread of Life blessing and breaking the bread, a symbol of His provision and sacrifice of His body broken on the Cross for you and for me.

“AND THEY ALL ATE AND WERE SATISIFIED.” (LUKE 9:17)

To be satisfied is to be

·         1) content 

·         2) paid or discharged in full 

·         3) convinced beyond a doubt.

Jesus paid the price in full when He died on the cross for our sins.  When we are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt of this and place our trust in Him, He brings a deep contentment into our lives that the world cannot satisfy. It is the same word used in Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”  He wants to satisfy us spiritually just as the crowd was satisfied physically on that given day.

“when they were filled, he said to his disciples, ‘gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.”  (John 6:12)

When we are filled up with Jesus, The Lord picks up every fragmented piece of our lives and weaves them all into a life for His glory.  Not one single broken piece is wasted. There were twelve baskets full, one for each disciple to pick up and carry back to Him.   

How about you?  Are you a sheep without a shepherd? He is waiting for you to trust in Him.

Do you feel like you don’t count? He counts the very hairs on your head!

Do you humble yourself and offer up a sacrifice daily of what little bits of time, energy, and resources you have and then allow Him to multiply them beyond your wildest imagination?  Offer up some little bit of your life, the seemingly insignificant, today.

Do you minister out of compassion or out of duty? Ask Him for His tender mercies to flow through you to someone else today, even if you are tired and weary. 

Do you turn to Him in faith when He tests your heart to see if you will look to yourself or to Him for the solution?  He is the one and only true God who can keep on giving when we have nothing left to give ourselves.

Do you find satisfaction and contentment in His provision? Thank Him for His many blessings in your life today.   

Do you trust Him to take the broken pieces of your life and weave them into a beautiful tapestry? He picks up all of your broken pieces so that nothing is wasted in your life, not one.  Keep turning your disappointments over to Him, asking Him to complete the healing and the good work that He has already begun in you.

 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” (John 6:51)  Feast on Him today.

A SMALL MEASURE OF FAITH

“AND JESUS SAID TO HIM, ‘IF YOU CAN?  ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO HIM WHO BELIEVES.'  IMMEDIATELY THE BOY’S FATHER CRIED OUT AND SAID, ‘I DO BELIEVE. HELP MY UNBELIEF!”  MARK 9:23-24

Jesus comes down from the mountaintop to find chaos at the bottom.  The scribes are arguing with the 9 disciples left behind because they could not heal a son possessed by an unclean  spirit.  The boy would be thrown to the ground, “rolling around and foaming at the mouth”.   (Mark 9:20)  He had been thrown into the fire to be burned.  He had been thrown into the water to be drowned.  And the demon had made the boy mute so that he could not even cry out in his pain.

As Jesus hears the story from the father, He states, “O unbelieving: apistos:  “unfaithful, faithless” (G571) generation, how long shall I be with you”.  

The father then says to Jesus, ‘…if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us!’ And Jesus said to him, ‘if You can?’.  “All things are possible: dynatos: “able, powerful, mighty, strong.” (G1415)  to him who believes.”: pistaeo: to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in. (G4100).  (Mark 9:23) 

Jesus is asking the father to move from unbelief to belief, telling the father not only is it possible, but the healing will be done with great power and might and strength as only Jesus can do.  But hasn’t the father already demonstrated faith in the fact that he brought his son to Jesus to be healed? And when Jesus couldn’t be found, the father then asked Jesus’ disciples to heal his son instead.

The father’s response to Jesus: “I do believe”: pistaeo: to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in. (G4100). 

 “Help my unbelief!”: apistia: “want of faith; weakness of faith.” (G570)

Back to back. Belief mixed with unbelief.  The Amplified Version says it this way:  “ Lord, I believe!  Constantly help my weakness of faith!”  

This is not a flat statement by the father, by the way.  This is a desperate plea for help mingled with tremendous emotion here.  “The father cried out”: krazo: “to croak the cry of a raven cry out loud.” (G2896)  It is deep anguish.  It is the same word used by the people shouting to crucify Christ. (Matt 27:23) It is the same cry of Christ on the cross. (Matt 27:50)

There must have been much discouragement over the years. The father had been rescuing his son from the waters and the fires and comforting him after each seizure since his son was young.  Can you imagine his exhaustion of constantly being on the alert for the safety of his son?  Can you see the anguish on the father’s face of watching his son being thrown to the ground time and time again? Can you touch and feel the burn scars on his face or hands? Can you hear the boy gasping for air after the demon tried to drown him? Can you relate to the great discouragement to bring your son to the disciples and they could not heal him?  We would have quit asking after experiencing disappointment for so many years, but the father was still asking.

The father brought all of his unbelief and all of his anguish to Jesus.  He held nothing back.

Charles Spurgeon’s comment on this verse:

“Some unbelief lingered, though faith was supreme. Learn from this that a measure of doubt is consistent with saving faith; that weak faith is true faith, and a trembling faith will save the soul.” (Sermon 1033 delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on January 28, 1872)

God never asks us for mighty faith.  Instead He asks us to place our weak faith in the palm of His hands and He will do the mighty deed through us and for us.  Jesus only asked for our faith to be the size of a mustard seed. (Luke 17:6)  It is noteworthy that a mustard seed is 1/16 of an inch in diameter—smaller than a poppy seed, a peppercorn, or a clove. 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Submitting our free will is the part we have to play in faith.  But then even God takes what we think is ours and

·         gives us each a measure of faith (Romans 12:3)

·         increases our faith (Luke 17:5)

·         justifies us by faith (Romans 5:1)

·         introduced us into grace by faith (Romans 5:2)

·         is the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)  

“Faith is nothing that we do in our own power or by our own resources.  In the first place we do not have adequate power or resources.  More than that, God would not want us to rely on them even if we had them.  Otherwise salvation would be in part by our own works, and we would have some ground to boast in ourselves.”  (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Ephesians…page 60)

After the father’s confession of belief mixed with unbelief, Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit to “come out of him and do not enter him again.” (Mark 9:25) He then took the boy by the hand and raised him up.  Intellectual argument of the scribes with the disciples did not heal the boy.  Neither did the disciples heal the boy by relying on their own power instead of relying on the spiritual power of prayer.  Only a desperate plea from a father, who only had a little bit of faith left, and a trust that even then he could confess his lack of faith to Jesus, was the one who demonstrated belief that Christ was the one to believe in for this miraculous healing. 

How about you?  Are you stuck in unbelief towards the person of Christ?  Then take a step of faith and trust in Him.  Do you have faith in Christ?  Then how many times have you believed in an all loving, all powerful God, but have not believed that He can step into your specific , seemingly small situation and bring wholeness and healing?  Or is it easier for you to believe for others but not for yourself? Recommit faith to your circumstance. Bring all your emotion and lack of faith to the Father and He will resupply your faith.  “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. (Hebrews 11:1)   

"We are too slow to trust God and too quick to trust ourselves"—Randy Alcorn

 

COUNT THE COST

“WHOEVER DOES NOT CARRY HIS OWN CROSS AND COME AFTER ME CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.  FOR WHICH ONE OF YOU, WHEN HE WANTS TO BUILD A TOWER, DOES NOT FIRST SIT DOWN AND CALCULATE THE COST TO SEE IF HE HAS ENOUGH TO COMPLETE IT?  OTHERWISE, WHEN HE HAS LAID A FOUNDATION AND IS NOT ABLE TO FINISH, ALL WHO OBSERVE IT BEGIN TO RIDICULE HIM, SAYING, ‘THIS MAN BEGAN TO BUILD AND WAS NOT ABLE TO FINISH.”  LUKE 14-27:30

Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee.  He said to Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.  Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.” (Matthew 4: 19-20).  The same event was repeated down the shoreline with James and his brother, John.  It says of these two sons of Zebedee, “Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.” (Matthew 4:22).  These disciples left everything to follow Jesus:

·         their  families

·         their homes

·         their businesses

·         their course in life

To be a disciple of Christ today, we are to learn from their example and do the same.  When Jesus stated, “Follow Me” is literally translates “Keep on following Me”.  It is an ongoing command.  It is a decision for a lifetime, not just a moment in time.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are given forgiveness of sins and eternal life, which are both free gifts from God.  Many times our response is an emotional one that lasts a brief span in time.  But Jesus wants us to keep on keeping on with our wills and with our lives to follow Him, grow in Him,  and serve Him.  At the moment of our rebirth, He also lavishes us with His Holy Spirit and with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places to equip us to run the race each and every day afterwards.  Although He has freely blessed us with His love and His abundant grace, He asks something  from us in return:  to love Him with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind and all our strength.  He wants us to love Him above everything else:  relationships, plans, dreams, directions, goals, wealth, comfort.  He wants us to say “Yes Lord” no matter what the cost. 

This is the lesson Jesus teaches us in Luke 9:23: “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”    Notice that He says this to “them all”, not just a select few.  Notice also that He says you must take up your cross, not someone else’s cross. 

What is my cross? Many times it is something of this world that is a blessing, but it gets in the way of my first love.  Later, in the same chapter of Luke, three would be followers give excuses or walk away because the price is too high that Jesus is asking.  They each bring up their own crosses: comforts of home, comforts of wealth and riches, comforts of family.  They counted the cost and found it too costly.  Jesus could see through to each of their individual hearts and knew what the stumbling block would be to follow Him and serve Him above all else.

Is He asking YOU to give up the security of your home?  Probably not, but if so, would you sell it and give some away to the poor who have no shelter or place to lay their head?  Is He asking YOU to give up wealth and riches?  Probably not, but if so, would you sell your investments on Wall Street and invest instead in your church and ministries around the world that are serving Him?  Is He asking YOU to leave your family, like Abraham did?  Probably not, but if so, would you say goodbye to your mom, dad, brother, sister, and say yes to the mission field because the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few?

“Jesus calls us to abandon our own agendas, what we have deemed will please and fulfill us, so that we can embrace the kind and quality of life that only he gives.  This is not about adding Jesus to the life we are living.  This is about making Jesus our life.  This is about putting our plans for our lives to death so that the abundant life he offers has room to take root and grow.  And death is always painful.  This is not an extreme brand of discipleship only for go-getters.  This is the call for everyone who chooses to be a follower of Jesus.”  --Nancy Guthrie, The One Year Book of Hope.

 It cost Him everything.  Why do we think it costs us nothing?

 “Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.  Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.  It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.  It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because  it justifies the sinner.  Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ‘Ye were bought at a price’, and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.  Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.  Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”—Diettrich Bonhoeffer,  The Cost of Discipleship.

How about you?  Are you a true follower? Are you counting the cost daily to lay down your life and follow Jesus?  Are you running the race out of love and devotion for what He has done for you?  Are you obedient to the call?  Or are you giving excuses why you cannot?  Calculate the cost, and then do it anyway.  The richness of a life filled with Christ’s love and walk with Him is worth more than anything of this world that you could ever sacrifice. 

 

THE GREAT I AM...CONTINUED

“THEN MOSES SAID TO GOD, ‘BEHOLD, I AM GOING TO THE SONS OF ISRAEL, AND I SHALL SAY TO THEM, ‘THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS HAS SENT ME TO YOU.’ NOW THEY MAY SAY TO ME, ‘WHAT IS HIS NAME?  WHAT SHALL I SAY TO THEM?’  GOD SAID TO MOSES, ‘ I AM WHO I AM’; AND HE SAID, ‘THUS YOU SHALL SAY TO THE SONS OF ISRAEL, ‘ I AM HAS SENT ME TO YOU.”  EXODUS 3:13-14

“JESUS SAID TO THEM, ‘TRULY, TRULY, I SAY TO YOU, BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS BORN, I AM” JOHN 8:58

Jesus equated Himself as God when He declared, “I AM HE.” (John 8:18, 24)  This was the same wording used by God when He spoke to Moses and said to tell the Israelites His name was “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:13-14) To claim this was blasphemy in the eyes of the ruling authorities of the nation of Israel, the punishment for such a statement being death.  Jesus was declaring that He existed with God before time began, before the stars were created, before Abraham was born.  

In John Chapter 1, verses one and fourteen it states: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”   Then, throughout the Gospel of John, there is a running thread of the great I AM who walked and taught among the nation of Israel and the surrounding areas.  These are statements by Jesus Christ Himself:

·        “I AM THE LIVING BREAD” that came down out of heaven…” (John 6:48). 

·        “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12). 

·        “I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP.  All who come before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.”  (John 8: 10:7-8) and “if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)

·         “I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD; the good shepherd lays down His life for His sheep,” (John 10:11) “and I know my own and My own know me.” (John 10:14)

·         “I AM THE SON OF GOD”.  “I and the Father are one”. (John 10: 36,30)

·         “I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”  (John 11:25)

·        “I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  (John 14:6)

·        “I AM THE VINE, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

 

Our God is such a practical God!  While Jesus ministers on this earth, He gives us word pictures in His teachings that helps us understand our invisible God made visible.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life:  He laid down His life for us, but then He was resurrected and rose from the grave 3 days later! Eternal life springs forth from Him.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life:  He came so we can have life and have it abundantly. He always speaks truth into our hearts, guides and directs our footsteps, and gives us life everlasting. No one comes to the Father but through Him.  Jesus is the door: If we open our hearts to Him, we have the privilege of entering His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.   Jesus is the Good Shepherd:  He restores our souls, guides us in the paths of righteousness, and leads us beside quiet waters to be nurtured by Him.  He gives us everything we need for godliness and provides us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, including His Holy Spirit to guide and direct us.  Jesus is the light of the world: He delivers us from darkness, brings everything into His Light, and works all things together for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.  Jesus is the vine: We can do nothing apart from Him, but when we abide in Him and walk with Him, we have purpose and meaning to our lives and bear much fruit for His glory.  Jesus is the bread of life:  He is our manna from heaven. We break bread together when we open up His Word daily and feast on Him. 

How about you?  What is the first thought you have when you hear the name “Jesus”?  To think of Him as only a good Teacher or a great Prophet is impossible after you have read His claims of being Emmanuel, God with us.  Either He is God in our midst or He is not. So you have 2 options.  Do you want to call Him a blasphemer and pick up stones to kill Him, oppose Him, and dismiss His claims?  Or do you want to answer “yes” to the question Jesus is asking you, “Do you believe this?”  (John 11:25). If you do, then you will enter into a personal relationship with the God of this Universe through His Son, Jesus Christ. You will have communion and fellowship with the God of Glory.   Why not enter into abundant life filled with joy and wholeness today?  He is knocking at the door of your heart.  Answer His call by praying and allowing Him to enter in. If you already have, then celebrate His goodness and mercy, rededicating your heart to Him and praising His name for all the blessings He has bestowed on you; rejoice in His goodness and your relationship with Him today and every day.