I enjoy watching my yard change shapes and colors as the sun comes up and can't help but praise and thank God for that blessing too. By the time I reach the bottom of the first cup, it's light enough to read so I get the second cup and pull out my devotional and bible. After reading the "dailies" and spending a little time in Romans, I pull out a list of "confessions" or as I like to call them, the "I Ams". This is a list of personality and character traits and basic truths that we as Christians are or at least should be realizing we are in Christ. The list comes with scripture references to help "see if these things are true".
I'm about half way down the list with I am blessed, I am set free, I am strong in the Lord, I am, I am, I am....and it is then the Spirit speaks to me and leads me to Exodus 20:7 the third of the ten commandments, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain....." I have to ask just what he's talking about because I'm not "god damnin'" anybody or anything and even with more texting lately, I'm not "OMGin'" if I can help it. So why is the Spirit throwing a "thou shalt not" at me? As an answer He takes me to Exodus 3: 13&14
13 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?” 14 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.’ ”
Moses realizes that God's people can be a stubborn, questioning bunch so "the God of your fathers" might not be enough to get them moving. He asks what is God's name and the answer is "I Am". Strongs definition of Jehovah is #s 1961/1933 " to be, to become, to exsist, self-exsistent, to have, to happen, or I Am. So when the bible, the Word of God, inspired by God/ Holy Spirit, calls God; Jehovah Jireh(provision/provider) God is saying" I am provision, I will provide".When it reads Jehovah Rapha (health, healing, healer) God is saying," I am health and healing," or Jehovah Shalom(peace), "I am Peace" and the definition of Shalom is "nothing missing, nothing broken".
Now here's the head slap. If we, you and I, say "I am so poor I can't even pay attention,or I am so sick, I'll never get well, or I am worried about this or that...", are we not taking the name of Jehovah, I Am, in vain?
A nugget to chew on. Strong's definition of vain;1891 be worthless, 3576 to lie, deceive, 5014 to be hollow; be foolish, 7386 empty, 8267 untruth; sham, 1500 without reason or effect, 2756 useless, 2757 fruitless discussion, 2761 to no purpose, 3150 meaningless talk, 3152 profitless, futile, and many more.
I have to ask, "How can I or how dare I compare my "I Am" to God's "I Am"? And the Spirit takes me to Genesis 1:26; Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion.....We are made in God's image and likeness. His words can(and should be) our words and our words should be His words.
Alrighty then. If we, you and me, are to say "I am so poor,or I am so sick, or I am worried about this or that., we are, by definition, taking His name, Jehovah/Yaweh/ I Am, in vain. Aren't we? We are saying that our "I Am's" are greater than God Jehovah's name, and His "I Am" is a sham, empty, useless, meaningless talk etc., etc.,etc. It might make you want to think about what you say and how you say it.
When Jesus' disciples ask Him to teach them to pray He said in Luke 11:2 “When you pray, say:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name......." Hallowed means; holy and honored, 4720 sanctuary of deity, 6942 to be, make clean, 6944 sacred place or thing, 37 to purify or consecrate.
His name, Jehovah,/Yaweh /I Am, is Holy, to be honored. pure, and sacred. To contradict what He says with our own "I Am" is attempting to take away from Him and that just cannot and should not be.
It's funny, there are hundreds if not thousands of self-help books in the world from hundreds of authors and the majority of them if not all, tells us if we change our words we can change our lives. If we change the way we think, speak and ultimately act, we will change our lives. If we were to "do a 180" and go from negative to positive in thought word and deed, our lives can't do anything but improve. And that is the "secular" world speaking for the most part. Some of the "self-help" authors do have Christian/religious backgrounds but the presentation is secular.
The bible has been telling us these things for several thousands of years, long before the term "self-help" was first used. But if we were to do as it says and agree with God and His words, think as He thinks, and speak as He speaks, to the world, we will be religious fanatics or we're blasphemous heretics to the religions that are happy with their small slice of their biblical pie.
I had heard a teaching once from a man from Africa. The one thing I came away with from his message was. "There are the facts and there is the truth" The fact is that you may not have enough money right now to pay your bills, but the truth is that "your needs are met according to His riches in Glory". The fact may be that you have a temperature of 103 with a hacking cough, but the truth is,"by His stripes, you were healed". The facts may be that you are depressed, angry and confused, but the truth is, "the peace of God which passes all understanding keeps and preserves your heart and mind." and "you have the mind of Christ and hold the thoughts feelings and purposes of His heart."
All this because; God's name is I Am Provision, I Am Health and Healing, and I Am Peace. and so much more.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God in Vain.
My proof reader/wife says she likes and agrees with what I just wrote. She really had only one correction and that had to be a first. The question she had for me was, "What are you going to do with it?". Well I'm going to post it for all to read or anybody that wanders by the blog to read. She says "No, how are you going to apply it to your life?" "God gave it to you." I hate it when she does that! Sometimes the greatest distance anything can travel is from the head to the heart, about 12+ inches. Practical application is difficult but not impossible. I am trying and will continue to try to make this a part of my life.I know I can do it just as can you because the truth of word of God says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and "The greater one lives in me, and greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world." Beside that my God, Jehovah(I Am)-Nissi, my victory and my banner, says I can.
Jehova-Nissi; God gives us
victory against the flesh, the world, and the devil.Our battles are His battles
of light against darkness and good against evil
Ex.
17:15-16, Deut. 20:3-4, Isa. 11:10-12, Eph. 6:10-18
As a side note, post script and/or addendum; The X3 in the title is for the fact that I had totally lost the first two attempts to get this down. Ordinarily after two attempts I would have been aggravated, irritated and some other "ated" words and would have quit. This wouldn't get out of my head, so X3 it is! .
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