I AM WHO GOD SAYS I AM – PART ONE

Welcome back, friends. Today, we are going to speak on something that is dear to my heart; and I believe, when we are done, you will find that it is dear to your heart. And the title of the message is: I Am Who God Says I Am.

We have two scriptures. The first one is Genesis 17, from verse one.

Genesis 17:1-5

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. ²And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” ³Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ⁴“As for me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

The second scripture is from Judges Chapter 6, from verse 11.

Judges 6:11-14

¹¹Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belongs to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. ¹²And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” ¹³Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” ¹⁴Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hands of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

PRAYER:

We pray now, dear Lord, that Your Spirit would speak to the hearts of us all, especially to my friends reading this, in Jesus Name. Amen!

I am who God says I am

You know, friend, that it is only God who can say and has said, I Am who I AM. In order words, God is the only One who can say: I Am who I say I Am. And you know, this is His covenant Name which was revealed to Israel through Moses in Exodus 3. In that scripture, God appeared to Moses; and He sent Moses back to Egypt to deliver the Children of Israel.

And Moses said, if I go now, who would I say sent me? And God said to Moses: that’s in –

Exodus 3:14:

“I Am who I Am.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the Children of Israel, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’”

God is the I Am. Only God can say, I Am who I Am. And this is from where we get His Name Jehovah – the Self-Existent One: and Who, by implication, is the Self-Sufficient One

– I Am Who God says I Am.

Whereas God can say I Am who I Am, you and I can only say, I am who God says I Am. And this is all that matters. It does not matter who you say you are. In this part of the world, we come across people, from time to time, who are full of themselves. And they are quick to ask you, do you know who you are talking to?

It does not matter who you say you are; it does not matter who people say you are – and in fact: it does not matter who the devil says you are.

You know, Satan maligned Job, in Job 1-6-11. In Zachariah 3:1-4, he also maligned Joshua the Priest. What he said these two men were was not true. But what mattered was what God said that these servants of His were.

What matters, friend, is who God says you are.

Recall the conversation Jesus had with His disciples, in the region of Caesarea Philippi, in Matthew 16. Jesus asked them, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? There were so many different persons – so many things people said about Jesus. Some said, You are Elijah; some said, You are John the Baptist who came back to life; some said, You are Jeremiah; some said, You are one of the prophets. And Jesus turned to them and said, But who do you say that I, the Son of Man, am? The answer did not come from Peter. I know you would say, Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God – No: because Jesus said, Peter, that did not come from flesh and blood. That’s not from a human being, but my Father in heaven revealed that to you. Which means then, that what mattered was what the heavenly Father said about Jesus Christ.

If you choose to define yourself, or you permit people or even the devil to define you, one of two things will happen:

1. You may end up having an inflated ego. You may end up having a false impression of who you are, causing you to become arrogant, self-deceived and self-conceited.
2. Or, you may have a sense of self-worth that is damaged. You may develop a poor self-image, leading to depression, a feeling of hopelessness, and even suicidal thoughts.

Don’t allow people to define you; and don’t try to define yourself; and don’t allow Satan to define you. Just listen to who God says you are.

There was a young man in England (I have told this story before) who committed suicide, because he did not like his self-image. He did not like what he saw. How he defined himself when he looked in the mirror, he did not like what he saw of himself. And he committed suicide. And the reason he committed suicide was because he did not like the shape of his nose. But those who knew him did not find anything wrong with his nose.

I am who God says I am. And you are who God says you are. And who God says you are is what you will become, if only you will believe. I know, friend, you must be saying Amen to that. The first passage we read about Abraham in Genesis 17, we find that Abraham, ultimately, eventually, became who God said he was.

Genesis 17:5

⁵No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.”

I want you, friends, to picture Abraham in a party, at a friend’s house, the following day. When it was his turn to introduce himself, he did not say, I am Abram. He used to say that. But now God had said to him, you are no longer Abram. So when it was time for him to introduce himself, he said, I Am Abraham – I am father of great multitudes of people.

Picture a friend of Abraham cutting in and saying, but Abram; and Abraham said, no – not Abram but Abraham. He said, ok: Abraham. Please pardon me. You do not have any child and your reproductive clock and that of your wife stopped long ago. Abraham-Abram-Abraham how come you say you are a father of multitudes of people? Abraham replied: I am who God says I am. And that is what he became; because he ended up becoming a father of multitudes of people: biological as well as spiritual multitudes.

Friend, would you believe God? Will you listen to God to find out who He says you are?

We will search the scriptures when we come back next time to see exactly who God says you are.

I am who God says I am. And I find who God says I am in the pages of the bible.

Why don’t you spend time and search the scriptures, and find out what God says about you, and believe Him – and you will become who He says you are?

Let us pray.

PRAYER:

Faithful Father, I’m praying now that You would reveal to my friends who they are, from Your own standpoint. May they not take from men; may they not take from themselves; may they not take from the devil, the assessment of who they are. Please, help them to see themselves from your standpoint; for only what you say, who you say we are is what we ultimately become, and that will be to the glory and praise of Your Name, a blessing to Yourself and to others who will come in contact with them. Grant this, O God, we pray in Jesus Name. Amen.