Originally published on June 26, 2009 as The Great I AM and later re-published in 2011 and 2012 as The I Am Principle. This is once again updated and improved, and even longer than before!
I AM
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] Eternity is not linear and not uni-directional!
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! Here are just a few:
Jehovah Jireh—The Lord will Provide
Jehovah Shalom—The Lord is Peace
Jehovah Tsidkenu—The Lord our Righteousness
Jehovah—The Lord my Banner [military reference]
Jehovah Ro'i—The Lord my Shepherd
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. [see 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.
One great example is Gideon...God's angel called him 'valiant warrior' when he was anything but. [Judges 6:12] And a valiant warrior is exactly what he became. But remember, there is no time in eternity, and eternity is forward and back, up and down. So he was really a valiant warrior, even before the angel gave him the Word of the Lord. His works were finished from the foundation of the world!
God changed Abram's name to Abraham...the Father of a multitude when he had no children. [Genesis 17:5] Ditto the above—he was made a Father of a multitude BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD!
[sorry for shouting, but it's really just too much to think about sometimes]
And then there's Peter...Jesus called him 'Rock' when he was the most volatile of His disciples! Unstable and impulsive, Jesus called him what he was created to be, or more exactly, was FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD!
Think about the prophecies in the Old Testament...each one calling Jesus what He would be, even though He was yet to come. And so it is with us...God has called us many wonderful things in the Word that
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.” “I AM the righteousness of God in Christ!” 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]
Always remember…1) His works were finished from the foundation of the world [Hebrews 4:3] and 2) ALL the promises of God are YES in Him! We are the I AM of His Word because we are one Spirit with His Word! [John 1:1, Revelation 19:13; 1 Corinthians 6:17]
Hallelujah!
Just Be
Just be. Be what the Word says, just because it says so, because it is forever settled, finished from the foundation of the world.
Just be. Don't try to be, or have. Just be. Be healed, be rich, be love. Be One Spirit with the Lord. Be seated in heavenly places in Him...
God doesn't have love, He IS love. He doesn't have power, He IS power. Jesus doesn't have the Word, He IS the Word...and we are the Word multiplied, His Body in the earth.
And He has decreed exactly what we are, just as He decreed "Light, be!" in the beginning.
Be the Word.
Paradigm Shift
What we need is a paradigm shift in our thinking. Instead of thinking the same old way we did before the New Birth, it’s time to put on the Mind of Christ. Put it on, on purpose, because according to 1 Corinthians 2:16, it is is a present possession.
How do we put it on? The same way everything is accomplished in the Spirit…see the unseen—believe—and speak. Also known as FAITH! See it as real today in the unseen realm of the Spirit and speak it out. Faith is the assurance, of things hoped for or expected…the conviction or evidence of THINGS NOT SEEN. [Hebrews 11:1, author’s notes]
Did you know that ‘By His [the Father’s] doing you ARE IN Christ Jesus, Who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption…’
It was God’s doing, and became is past tense. Which means we qualify for every promise related to those traits because we ARE those things now.
Jesus said it clearly in Matthew 5:48…”Therefore, you are to BE perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul re-phrased it a little: ‘…in Him you have been made—past tense—complete…’ [Colossians 2:10]
Furthermore, words are spirit, spoken forth into the natural, or physical, realm.
We know this because Jesus said that His words were spirit [John 6:63] and we know that unclean spirits come out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet as well. [Revelations 16:13]
It’s not just Jesus’ words that are spirit…ALL words are spirit. And they have a creative effect in the natural, physical world. But His words are LIFE as well…zoe, the absolute fulness of life, belonging to God, real and genuine [from NAS Greek Lexicon].
Proverbs 18:21 says death and life are in the power [Hebrew yad, or hand] of the tongue!
Out of the heart we bring forth things, both good and evil, through the mouth. [Matthew 12:34,35; Luke 6:45]
This is what we must come to understand to put the I AM principle into action. [see Think Like Jesus]
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]
Hallelujah!
Read Be the Ball, Think Like God, Think Like God 2, Keys of The Kingdom, Decreed, Meditations & Confessions, Substance, Partakers of the Divine Nature, One [more]
