God is all the things He says He is, and He is them for all eternity, past, present and future. He is them to us, individually and collectively as the church, and His Word is settled forever. [Psalm 119:89]
In fact, the instant the words 'I AM...[fill in the blank] came out of His mouth, He was that very thing! He cannot lie, because the second He speaks, His words become reality! His names were not only a description of Who He was, but in declaring them, He became the substance of each name!
And because our new self is created in the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness of the truth [Ephesians 4:24], we are also the things He says we are now. He is the great I AM...we are I am's, too! In Ephesians 5:1 we are told to be imitators of God, as beloved children! Therefore, we are to be like Him! I John 4:17 says '...as He is, so also are we in this world.'
Be like Him
We are one Spirit with Him—He is in us, and we are in Him. [ref Stop Begging—It's Inside!] In fact, Peter writes '...for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.' [1 Peter 1:23] We are born of the same seed planted in the womb of a young virgin, 2000 years ago!! He is the Word, and we are the Word multiplied!
In fact, The Father Himself told us how to change our lives...'Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."' [Joel 3:10] The books of Psalms and Proverbs are filled with references to the power of our speech—and Jesus told us to talk to mountains and trees.
Can you see it? God, the Great I AM is telling us to proclaim who we are...'I am a mighty man!' 'By His stripes, I am healed.' He told us to see the unseen—the already accomplished promises of God--and speak them into existence! We are told to '...put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.' [Ephesians 4:24]
Glory?
It is imperative that we develop a consciousness of who and what we are now—eternity is not a time-oriented existence.
Colossians 1:13 says the we have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son. These things have already taken place, and we are eternal beings, recreated in our Father's image! We are everything that He says we are now, and satan is forever defeated in our lives now!
2 Corinthians 3:17,18 says: 'Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.' What this means is this: as we behold His glory, we are transformed into the same image by the power of the Holy Spirit. Same image! Hallelujah!
In fact, just before His death, Jesus prayed for us. "The glory which You have given Me, I have given to them, that they may be on, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world my know that You sent Me, and love them, even as You have loved Me.'
Yes, in the Old Covenant, God said that He would not give His glory to another [Isaiah 48:11], and we here that preached on a regular basis. But we are not another! We are one with Him and He has already given His glory to us!!
The whole idea of salvation was to bring many sons [Gr. Huios, meaning offspring of man] to Glory! Jesus was the last Adam, and the Firstborn of Many Brethren!
The Great I AM spoke the Word—the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us. Then the Word multiplied and grew daily.
Now
Therefore, realizing that we are now members of the kingdom of God, we are to walk by faith and not by sight. Faith is sight it is seeing into the kingdom of God, and walking by what God says instead of walking by natural sight, which is fixed on a dying and decaying fallen world.
It is the eternal view, from God's viewpoint. He sees our needs met now, and so should we. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, and Romans 10:17 says it comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. This is spiritual hearing, hearing what Jesus says to you—rhema, or the spoken word of God, which comes out of logos [the written word of God].
It is His will that we awaken from our sleep and become strong sons and daughters, administering His Kingdom on the earth [Ephesians 1:10]. He desires that we come to the place where we see everything that He has said is true now, and has called us to reign in life through the One, Christ Jesus. [Romans 5:17]
