Are you in a dry, cracked desert today? Without much hope and in despair thinking about tomorrow? My heart has been there, friends, and I long to help each of you.
My very favorite Scripture in the Bible is when God tells Moses His name to share with the Israelites. This is one of the most powerful Scriptures we can ever tuck into our hearts.
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”
God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the 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, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.”
Exodus 3:13-15
I AM WHO I AM.
God is. He is “I AM.” Present tense.
Think about this statement and all that it encompasses. There is not one thing that “I AM” misses. He is everything we need. “I AM” speaks of action, right?
He speaks, the Spirit acts and things are accomplished.
This week I saw these words in a different light.
Instead of focusing on God as “I AM” and His ability, we often flip these two words around saying, “Am I?” focusing on our inability.
And guess what happens when we do this?
Fear settles in and gets comfortable. Doubt plays a sneak attack. Insecurities choke us.
Do you struggle with fear that creeps in and catches you unaware? Doubt? Insecurities? I’ve struggled with all three – fear, doubt and insecurities – more times than I’d like to admit. The fear that you are not capable of living up to the calling on your life (Am I able?). The doubt that you won’t be able to meet all the obligations for which you’ve committed yourself (Am I able?). The insecurity that you aren’t able to be who others need you to be – you aren’t a good wife, husband, mother, father, daughter, son (Am I able?).
While we could go on and on with these “am I” questions, do you see the common theme?
Each of these examples focus on us and our efforts and do not focus on God at all.
In my own personal experience with fear, doubt and insecurity, I have to ask myself one very important question. What is the root of these things? I believe the answer is unbelief in my heart. The opposite of fear is faith. So fear must be rooted in unbelief in God’s ability because we know that faith is rooted in belief in God’s ability, right? Am I? Or I AM!
Jesus addresses unbelief in the book of Mark. Let’s take a look:
A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I ask your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
“O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
Jesus asked the the boy’s father, “How long as he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
“If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that the crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
Mark 9:17-25
Unbelief caused this father to say to Jesus, “If you can?”
Don’t we still ask God this same thing today? “If You can?”
We doubt and have unbelief that He can help us in our troubles. If we are honest with ourselves, we may think that our problems are just too big for God. Perhaps we think they are too small to bother Him with. Or maybe we think that He is not interested in our problems because we are not worthy. We simply aren’t seeing Him as “I AM.”
How can we fix this unbelief in HIS ABILITY?
I believe the answer is simple. Let’s make a new habit of praising Him for doing all we ask even before we see it manifest in our lives. Let’s dig into His Word with a deep, raw hunger to know Him better as “I AM.”
I heard Joyce Meyer say once that habits take 6 weeks to take root within us. Let’s commit to turning all of our thoughts of fear, doubt and insecurity over to Him for the next six weeks.
When we turn these thoughts over to Him, let’s do so with praise, adoration and worship in our hearts. I believe when we do this, even if our circumstances do not change, our hearts will change and things will look differently to us.
We will begin to see true transformation.
Isn’t it exciting that in just 6 short weeks, we can be well on our way to a transformed life? I’m all in. Are you?
If you’re willing to accept this challenge, here are some tips for making this work for you:
- Get a journal and every morning write these words: “Today I CHOOSE to turn all my fears, doubts and insecurities over to God.”
- At the end of the day, jot a little note in your journal about how successful you were in doing #1. Don’t allow condemnation to get you down if you didn’t do as well as you wanted. Each day is a new day with promised new beginnings (Lamentations 3:22-23).
- Start writing little praise notes to God in your journal. If you need help, ask Him to help you think of those things for which you can offer praise. He will:)
- At the end of each week, write a little note about how your thoughts have changed.
- Finally, write down all encouraging words that you receive from everyone around you. People will start to notice a difference in you and they will comment. Jot each of these down. These comments will build your faith as you read them over and over.
At the end of the 6 weeks, go back over your notes and you’ll be amazed at the transformation you see in yourself.
Your desert will start looking like a beautiful garden.
Be sure to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail! I’d love to hear from you regarding this challenge. I’m happy to help you along the way. I want nothing more than to see all of our lives transformed day-by-day to reflect the very image of Jesus Christ! As we do, belief will overcome unbelief in our hearts. There’s not room for both:)
Stay in the Light and Love always,
Eva
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