The “I AM” God

In our contemporary Christian culture there is a fading view of the power of God. We tend to view God as the One who did mighty acts and magnificently worked in and through people’s lives in the past. Certainly during the days of the Bible, God was at work! In fact, we even anticipate that God will be at work in the future. Once the end times are initiated with the Rapture, God will certainly, again, be about the business if working in and through people’s lives in magnificent ways. What about now? Is God still working in and through lives in magnificent ways? Is He doing these special things now?

We tend to view God as “I Was” and as “I Will Be.” We do not view Him as “I Am.” Our expectations of how He will work in OUR lives are really very low. I would venture to say that the average Believer today has, in fact, NO expectations for God to work magnificently in and through our lives! Some of the contributing factors which have led us to such low expectations of God are our prayerlessness, our Biblical anemia, our affluence and apparent lack of need, our lack of zeal for worship, and more. Rarely, is the average local church poised ready to see God move in magnificent ways in and through our lives. We expect nothing to happen and that is exactly what we get . . . nothing!

It is unfortunate, yet encouraging to note, that Believers of all ages have had a propensity to be this way. In Acts 12:6-17, the church called a special prayer meeting to entreat the Lord for Peter’s release from prison. Indeed, even while they were praying, God answered and affected His release. He came to the house where they were gathered and was greeted at the gate by Rhoda the servant. She reported this to the praying crowd in the house. Their response is disappointing, yet familiar.

They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” Even in the midst of the first century when God WAS doing magnificent things, the praying church really did not expect that God actually would act. Are we any different?

The facts are that God was, will be, and IS working magnificently in and through lives!!!! He wants us to be praying like mad for His will to be accomplished and for it to be accomplished in and through US!!! Not the super-saints that have mountain sized faith, but rather, in and through US, the saints with seed sized faith.

Will He move? Do we even truly expect that He will? Can He do such things as truly cause our local church to grow in spiritual maturity and in numbers? Can He do such things as provide a building or land for our church? Can He do such things as save our lost loved one whose life is in a mess? How about cause a revival in the northwest corridor? Do we even expect Him to move at all or is our deep down honest thought like the Believers in Rhoda’s day, “You are out of your mind!”

He is not just the God of “I Was” or even just the God “I Will Be” but He is the God, “I AM.”

What do we expect from I AM??!!