Post Sunday Devotional October 12

Exodus 3:13-15 “Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Moreover God said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.'

It has been a great past six weeks and I pray that all of you have had the opportunity to see a little bit better who this God is that you have invited into “His Place” in the center and heart of your life. He is that God who if allowed to be that heartbeat of your life will bring about the change in your life that we talk about on almost a weekly basis.

Over the six weeks we brought out a different aspect, a different attribute of God. Grace, Justice, Faithfulness, Omnipresent (ever fully present everywhere at all times), omnipotent (all powerful) and Holiness. It is who God was yesterday, who He is today and who He will be tomorrow. We can count on that and He has invited us on a journey with Him, invited us into His Kingdom, and invited us into an opportunity to get to know Him.

When God appeared before Moses years before and called Moses to go back to the children of Israel and bring them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, Moses asked a very good question. Well, who do I tell them sent me? Good question because if I were to come to you out of the blue and say, OK, it’s time to pick up and move you would want an explanation and when I told you who sent me to do this, you would want some credentials. You would want to know that this drastic change that is about to occur in your life is well backed, well led, well financed and carries with it some FDIC insurance if you know what I mean.

So God’s response the resume He put forth.

“I AM WHO I AM.”

It is not some sarcastic response or some flippant answer to tell Moses that it doesn’t matter what His name is. It is a powerful, passionate statement to Moses to let the people know that He is the God that made the promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the past. So I was the God that was, I am the God that is now here in the present and I will be the God that carries you into the future. I AM.

I AM He that does not change.
I AM He that is with you when you feel abandoned.
I AM He that hears your prayers.
I AM He that receives your tears.
I AM He that formed you.
I AM He that will protect you.
I AM He that gives you purpose.
I AM He that sacrifices my best for you.

You can add to this list. The point is God has always been and always will be. We might get bored with this “churchy” statement but He is the only immovable foundation, the only one true constant source of life and the only secure keeper of eternity that exists and we can ALWAYS rely on that because He is I AM.
He is the one that has welcomed us into His Kingdom to spend our lives getting to know Him. It is a wonderful privilege.

When we are invited to someone’s home, we do not go expecting to run the show when we get there or to define who our hosts will be when we get there. In fact we normally bring a gift to show our appreciation of our host’s hospitality because we understand that they have gone to great lengths to open up their home to us, cooking, cleaning, paying great attention to details, etc. We gladly accept a tour of their home and listen as they share stories about certain pictures on the walls or unique objects on the mantle or tabletops. The more time we spend with our host we hear of their past and learn who they were, we see how that has brought them to make certain decisions on how they live in the present and we learn of their dreams for a future. All this takes time, but it is part of being human, relating to one another, laughing with one another, comforting one another, encouraging one another and challenging one another.

Our God, the I AM is a relational God and He has called us into a relationship with Him. He is the God that we left behind in our past, but the God that found us in the present and the God that has life for us, a changed life for us from this day into the future. That is His memorial unto us. We can count on that as we being the process of getting to know Him.

As you welcome Him into “His Place” remember you have welcomed Him into the very core of yourself, you are His temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

Think about that for a bit and as one songwriter sang:

“The same power that conquered the grave lives in me, lives in me…”

Questions to Ask Yourself

Jesus said the following… Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (money).”

1.How many “masters” can you have taking up the heart of your life?
2.What may be some of the other “masters” in your life that is stopping or stunting the change God desires in your life?
3.What then should you now do?