The Power of the Word: The ‘I Am’ Statements of Jesus

2014 J A Russell. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NJB are from The New Jerusalem Bible, copyright © 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.  Reprinted by Permission.

All Scripture readings are from The New Jerusalem Bible

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Published by AuthorHouse 11/07/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9370-0 (sc)

       978-1-4969-9377-9 (e)

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CONTENTS

In Him Is Found the Fullness of God

I Am The Way

I Am The Truth

I Am The Life

I Am The Light of the World

I Am The Resurrection

I Lay Down My Life

I Am He

I Am The Bread of Life

The Water That I Give

I Give You My Own Peace

I Am The Gate

I Am Humble

I Am The Good Shepherd

I Am Your Friend

I Am The Alpha and The Omega

I Am The Word

I Am The Son

Freely

I Am With You

I Am The True Vine

Rabbuni

I Make My Home in You

I AM

I Am Saviour

The Word Made Flesh

I Am The Lord Your God

Music

Jesus said ‘I am the bread of life.

No one who comes to Me will ever hunger;

no one who believes in Me will ever thirst.’

Jn.6:35

‘I Am’

In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. (Col.1:19). Just as the face of one clock tells us many different times, so from the Heart of One God we draw many graces for our different needs.

In Jesus, the Father gave His fullness so that we may live life in His Presence; the Father has given the Son so that, through faith, whatever our circumstances as His Beloved children in Christ, we would know and receive His mercy, His blessing, His guidance and love. God has told us this is so; we have His Word with us to believe. Jesus said ‘I AM.’ Jesus is the Word; the Word was with God; and the Word was God. We have God’s Word for all He said and we can trust Him to fulfil His own promises.

In Christ, the Father has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of Heaven. (Eph.1:3). God would not create a world for those He loved without giving all that is necessary for them, just as no one would expect new born babies to fend for themselves but would provide for all their needs.

Truth sets us free; and the truth is that if we trust in God, as God, in all His fullness, then we can expect to receive from everything God has to offer. God is all He says He is; God cannot lie. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end and everything that is in between.

If we believe the Lord is our Master, our Teacher, our Good Shepherd, our King, our Saviour and our Healer, we can ask from all He can give, from all He is. If we believe the Lord is Master and Teacher, we can expect Him to instruct us, to enlighten us, and lead us into the mysteries of His everlasting Kingdom. If we believe the Lord can heal us, we will receive His healing, in whichever way He sends it. If we believe He is Shepherd we can pray to Him to keep and protect us in this life and lead us safely to the next. If we believe He is King we can truly praise Him and rejoice in our place with Him in the courts of Heaven. Through Baptism we are made co-heirs with Christ; through Baptism God has united all His children letting us on earth join the worship of Him with the angels and the saints in Heaven.

Through Him, we can rejoice throughout the world in Him as the Way, the Truth, the Resurrection and the Life.

His Fullness. If on earth we narrowed our choice to just a minimum and for instance chose only to listen to a solo performance and never to an orchestra, if we see only our land without interest in another part of the world, if we look at only the old and never the new, or only the new and never the old, we isolate so much of all that is, cutting out so much wonder of God’s gifts to us all in His Creation. Similarly, God has given such wealth in His love for us, so much splendour to view, so much treasure to draw, so much that surrounds us. God is everywhere.

And God has given us every spiritual blessing we might ever need for this journey on earth.

For God has given Jesus in Whom we find such fullness, from Whom we draw life, and with Whom we share Light.

Truth sets us free. If we put our trust in all God is, then we can expect to draw and receive help from all He is in every aspect of our lives.

If someone believes God is tiny, as if held captive by disbelief, he shall never see Him as He really is.

If a person thinks God is not All-Powerful and therefore incapable of coping with the troubles of the world, he shall never trust God enough to live without fear.

God’s ways are not our ways. He sees His Eternal plan; by the power of the Holy Spirit we can put our will into God’s hands and enter His design for mankind. From the Third Person of the Holy Trinity we draw strength, courage and wise counsel, helping us to live as God’s Beloved children by power purchased through the Precious Blood of the Lamb.

If we only ever looked at the clock at midday, then we shall only ever see the clock telling us it is midday. If we look at the Father in Christ we see His fullness.

If we believe our Lord is Master, Shepherd and King and Saviour and Healer, we can expect His wisdom, His care, His rule, His salvation and His healing, with His Divine love poured into our open hearts.

Jesus said ‘Before Abraham ever was, I AM.’ (Jn.8:58). If we believe Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, we know He is before and after, and can ask and receive all He can give from all He is, knowing He is Risen and is with us and is alive. If we believe He is Healer we can trust and expect Him to heal.

Revealed by the Spirit. People might think of God as remote, as Someone waiting behind tiers of angels, hidden by mystical courtiers with barriers of holiness separating Him from His people. God gave Jesus to us to reveal Who He is, to show Himself as our loving Father, caring for each individual, the Someone who cares for our every thought, knows our every heart-beat, and hears our every prayer. Jesus opened up the way for us by His Cross; in Heaven everything shall be complete with all the struggling of this life’s journey done.

Jesus has opened up the way for us to come to the Father through Him, to come to know the Father, to receive the Father’s love through His Son.

Jesus promised to send the Advocate, the Paraclete, the very Presence of God to be a permanent Guest in our souls as a constant Source of life and grace.

Jesus said ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who issues from the Father, He will be My witness. And you will be My witnesses.’ (Jn.15:26-27). Jesus promised the Holy Spirit is with us ‘for ever.’ (Jn.14:16).

There is no turning with God, no shadow of change. His light does not diminish but as we persevere in His way He leads us by His light and draws us ever-closer, as we ever-shed layers of self; He creates us ever-more into His likeness and the image He sees in us from all time. God sent His Son that we might know Him and bear witness to Him as we draw from His grace and from all the powers of Heaven. God came to be with us. God came to stay with us. God comes to meet us and to dwell in us.

The two disciples who met Jesus in the breaking of bread, (Lk.24:13-32), after their journey to Emmaus, would have had many thoughts to share with each other of that experience. It is a great privilege to share another person’s relationship with the Lord, to walk alongside another in their journey with the Master who is Lord to both; to share insights given to another by the Master of Divine Truth can be faith building for a journey that will continue on earth till we reach Heaven for ever.

It must have been an unforgettable experience for the three disciples who were with Jesus when He was transfigured and to hear Him talking with Moses and Elijah. (Mt.17:2-3). And it must have been truly wonderful there to hear the words of the Father to the Son and on many occasions throughout the Gospels to hear the words of the Son in prayer to the Father.

If we listen to a conversation as people debate a subject they may, by their manner, unwittingly tell us more about themselves and less about the subject they are debating. Our Lord spoke openly about the Father for He wanted us to know the Father as He knew the Father, for to know the Father through Jesus is to come to share in their Divine nature for He and the Father are One. To strengthen us in this Divine life, Jesus gave Himself, the Word, and left Himself in the form of bread and wine.

If a mother of young children knew she was dying