I AM

Truths: I am a woman. I am petite. I am olive skinned. I am the fourth child of five. I am living in the Midwest. I am a taxpayer. I am a senior.
These are all truths. I AM these things, they are absolutes! It is not that I "might" be a woman;" "I could be a resident of the Midwest;" "I may be the fourth sibling born of five;" "it's a possibility I am a senior" ... NO, I AM! Period.

Here are ten of many "I AM"s of God:
1. John 8:58 "Before Abraham was, I AM."
--(IN THE BEGINNING was the Word and the Word became flesh and lived among us. He is eternal. Was, Is and is to come. The Almighty)
2. John 14:6 "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
--(He is the only Truth. No man comes to the Father but by HIM.)
3. John 15:5 "I AM the Vine, you are the branches."
--(We need to be rooted in Him alone and must depend on Him for nourishment to grow.)
4.Revelation 1:8 "I AM the Alpha and the Omega."
--(He owns time. Everything runs on His timing: by Him, with Him, through Him.)
5. John 11:25 "I AM the Resurrection and the Life."
--(There is no existence in heaven without Him. His resurrection overcame hell and death)
6. John 8:12 "I AM the Light of the world."
--(In Him is no darkness at all. Heaven has no need of the sun for Jesus, the Lamb, is the light thereof.)
7. John 6:35 "I AM the Bread of Life."
-- His WORD is our sustenance. We cannot grow, know His instruction, or overcome sinning without renewing our minds in it!)
8. Revelation 17:18 "I AM alive forevermore and have the keys of hell and death."
--(Jesus is KING. It is Jesus alone who determines who enters heaven and who will be cast down.)
9. John 10:11 "I AM the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."
--(He loved us enough to die for us that we might have Life.)
10. John 10:9 "I AM the door. If any man enters by me he will be saved ..."
--(Jesus is the only way, the only door, the only path, the only entrance into heaven.)

Just as it is an absolute truth I am a woman, these scriptures regarding Jesus are absolutes as well. " There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him [through John's testimony] everyone might believe. He was not the Light, but he came to bear witness of the Light." John 1:7 AND, "This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down: and we know his testimony is true." (John 21:24). The above statements were made by John for one reason ...that you might believe JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY. Jesus was Truth. He was Light. He lived among us. He was crucified, died, was buried and then resurrected (overcame death) for YOU so you could live forever with Him if you believe. There is no other Door. There is no other Way. There is no other Light. There is no other Shepherd. This was and is the truth John testified to. The same John whom the Bible said was sent by God and that his testimony is true! Exodus 3:14 is an amazing statement by God Himself to Moses. God said, "I AM that I AM." God told Moses to go to the children of Israel and say, "Tell them I AM has sent me to you."

GOD IS THE ALL IN ALL. The "I am that I am" He said. He was JESUS IN THE FLESH who came to earth to show us, tell us, guide us, instruct us how to find our way to God. Think of that! JESUS WAS GOD HIMSELF (taking on the flesh of man). Why is that so hard to believe? He is GOD! He can do anything! Look to the heavens. See all the stars? The Moon? The planets? The sun!! The sun is roughly 109 times the diameter of the earth. Did you know about 1 million of our earths could fit inside the sun? And that is just the sun. They're all hanging up there by design! If God could make that, do you not believe He could cause Himself to be conceived inside of Mary's womb without a man, to then be born, enter this world as Jesus, live as we do so that He could show us the way Home? WHY? Jesus had to become a man (yet sinless GOD) to be able to bleed and die to redeem us. The only way to do that was to have a body... a body in order to pay the penalty for sin (Hebrews 10:1-8). And that, because without the shedding of blood as the great I AM tells us, there is no remission of sins. Jesus had to become flesh, a human (yet still God) to satisfy His own demands to eradicate sin. We cannot enter His Kingdom in a sin state. And face it, we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) --that is a fact, an absolute. Every single human being has strayed from God. Every one of us at some point has, therefore, spurned God. Paul said of every person in Romans 2:10 " It is written, none is righteous, no, not one, no one understands; no one seeks God." That was true of me once as well. God (as the man Jesus Christ) came to rule, reveal, and redeem.

To the unbeliever, to those of the world, to those yet without Christ, do you see your need for Jesus? Do you recognize He is the only redemption available to you? It is only through His sacrifice and His grace that you can be saved because all have sinned because of our Adamic nature--that proclivity to commit sin. When Adam and Eve defied God, they sinned and they died "spiritually." That means they, AS WITH US, became separated from our Creator. And by so doing, they as well as us, lost fellowship and communication with God because SIN SEPARATES US FROM A HOLY GOD. It is only in Christ we can be made one with God again and have the holy, sinless, original spiritual image restored back to us (VERY IMPORTANT TO READ John 17:22, Colossians 1:27). How can this happen for those separated from God? Believe Jesus is God, the great I AM. Be sorry you have rejected Him all this time. Confess it. Repent of the sins you have committed through life and vow to follow Him. Begin reading your Bible. His Word will transform you. It will instruct you how to live and it will begin revealing Gods wisdom, knowledge, and instruction. Your desires to commit the sins you once did begin to fade and lose their appeal as His Holy Spirit works in you. Feast on that Word as much as you can. After all, He said, I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE. It has the power to keep you and sustain you to the end. Until next time...
-Pat-