THE
I AM
Exodus 3:14
And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM ."
We could preach a thousand sermons on these five small words, but the important
thing to me is these words are always in the present tense.
That means that they are in the NOW.
Sometimes as believers we begin to look at God in the past tense, the I
WAS. We see and read of all the
wonderful things that God used to do. We
read of the miracles that God preformed. How
He parted the Red Sea, fed the children of Israel with Manna, how the dead were
raised and the lame were healed. All
we see is the God of yesterday, the I WAS. It’s
easy to believe in the God of yesterday.
Then many times we see God as the I WILL BE.
We look at and believe for the things that God is going to do. Things
that will take place in the future. How
we will have eternal life in heaven, how there are mansions prepared for us
there, with streets of gold. It’s
easy to believe in the God of tomorrow.
But, God said, “I AM,” that means right now, this minute, not yesterday, not
tomorrow, but right now, TODAY.
In the book of John, chapter 11 we find the story of the death of Lazarus.
Lazarus and his sisters were friends of Jesus, they were His followers.
Today we would say that they were Good church members, believers.
But Lazarus had died. I
won’t go into the whole account, what I want to
look at is what took place when Jesus arrived.
John 11:20-21
20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met
Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.
21 Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother
would not have died.
Martha did what many Christians
do today, she laid this tragedy on Jesus. It
was His fault, if He had been there, He could have changed things.
Lord, if you had been there, if you had come when I called, if you had
answered my prayers when I wanted. Sound
familiar. THE GOD OF YESTERDAY.
If we read the next verse, John 11:22, But
even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." We
see that she believed that Jesus could change the situation.
Even as Jesus told her who He was, John
11:23-24, Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha
said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the
last day." You see, she
believed in the God of tomorrow. She
believed that things could happen tomorrow, that things would be better
tomorrow. Like many Christians today
she believed in the I WILL BE.
The God of tomorrow.
Let’s see what Jesus said, John 11:25,
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in
Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me
shall never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord,
I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the
world." Jesus said, “I
AM”, I am life today, I am what you need today, I am here to handle your
problem today, not tomorrow, TODAY. Then He ask her, “Do you believe this?”
She said, she believed He was the Christ, the Son of God, but did not say she
believed He was the present day RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.
She could not believe that Jesus was who He said He was today.
To many of God’s people are believing the same way today.
They believe in Jesus, they believe that when they get to Heaven that all
their needs will be met and that their bodies will be healed. They believe in
the God of tomorrow.
The scripture goes on in verse 35 and says,
“ Jesus wept.” I
believe He wept because the people He was so close to, the people that claimed
to believe who He was, the ones that He ate with, stayed with, spent time with
did not know or understand who He was.
Which God do you believe in. Do you
believe in the I WAS, the God of yesterday.
Maybe you believe in the I WILL BE, the God of tomorrow.
The one that will make things better tomorrow, the God of the future.
Why not believe in the God of now, the “I AM.”
The God who wants you blessed,
wants you healed, wants you to live a life of abundance now, the GOD OF TODAY,
the I AM.
Dewayne
