Unity Church of Castro Valley
Sunday Message for June 22, 2008
I AM
Today we are talking about the "I AM." I AM is the name of God and it is the name of the Christ within us. (Exodus 3:13-15) "But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" {14} God said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" {15} God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your ancestors, 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 title for all generations."
It is impossible to conceive of anything other than the Word of God being that which sets power in motion. God speaks and it is done! God is Self-Existent. God is Word, God is Law, God is Spirit. God is the 'I AM.'
And this is also the only name that we as individuals have. I AM is your actual identity. It is your spiritual name. It is the identity of your spiritual self. I AM is your Christ essence. I AM is your true identity.
THE ONLY NAME YOU HAVE
So would you say to yourself, "My true nature is fear." Or "The very essence of me is sick and tired" Or maybe, "Poverty is God's will for me." Of course you wouldn't, because you know the power of your words. You know that what you declare is what you create in your life. And yet, many of us are doing just that - when we follow the words 'I am' with something less than God's will for us. How often have you said "I am so afraid" or "I am sick and tired" or "I am too poor" or "I am too old" ?
We hear these kinds of statements all the time. But these are very dangerous statements to be making. They are dangerous because they contain the two little words "I am." And your "I AM" is the name of the God nature in you. It is who you are at your Christ essence, it is your true identity.
So if you want to make 'I am' statements, let them be like these. Just close your eyes for a moment, and see if this doesn't feel like the true essence of you:
Be still and know that I am God. I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God within me. I am the Principle of Peace within me. I am the manifestation of Love within me. My mind is poised in peace and beauty. All sense of fear or doubt is gone. I rest in calm trust and rely on Spirit to bring good into my experience.
I contend with none, argue with none, and am filled with wonderful peace and light. There is no uncertainty about my future and no fear as a result of my past. I live in an eternal Now which is filled with good alone. Goodness and beauty follow me. Peace and joy accompany me. Happiness and wholeness fill my entire being with the realization of love and perfection. Amen
I AM THAT I AM
Now doesn't that feel more like the truth of you?
The great mystics like Jesus have taught that as we enter into the One, the One enters into us and becomes us and is us. They have taught the "Mystical Marriage," the union of the soul of man with the Soul of God, and the Unity of all Life. And yet even in this Unity there is an individualization.
Tagore said that the individual is immersed in, but not lost in, Nirvana. The highest mental practice is to listen to this Inner Voice and to declare Its Presence. The greater our awareness of this Indwelling I AM, the more fully we will live. When we are dwelling in the I AM, we are letting the Mind of God express through us, "The Father that dwells in me, He doeth the works." This was Jesus' declaration, and it should be ours.
Jesus was in touch with his I-AM-NESS. He proclaimed himself to be the way, the truth, and the life because he understood that God dwelt in his own soul. Scripture is filled with Jesus' statements of identity. He said "I am the bread of life," "I am the light of the world," "I am the resurrection and the life," and "I am the Alpha and the Omega."
With any I AM statement you are naming yourself. You are calling on the universe to identify you with what you are claiming and then to help you to produce that claim in your life. Your I AM is your true identity. In fact, it is your only identity. You are the only one that can direct the energy of these words to a universe waiting to do your bidding.
So let these be your 'I am' statements. Just close your eyes for a moment, and see if this doesn't feel like the true essence of you: I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God within me. This inner mind of mine is now Divine and complete. It has no worries and no fears. It is whole, complete and satisfied. I look back over all previous experience and find that it was good, very good. I look toward the future and find that it is good, and very good. I look at the present and find that it is also good, and very good. God is in all, over all, and through all. Amen
PRAYER
The essence of prayer - and of all true religious philosophy - is an inner realization of the Presence of Perfection within. It is the Voice of God proclaiming: "I am that which thou art; thou art that which I am." I am is a holy declaration. When Moses asked God's name, he was told "I AM is my name for ever." God's name is I AM.
And I AM is the name we use when referring to ourselves. Jesus very clearly described God and the kingdom of God as being within us. He said that the Father and we are one. God is the I AM of us, the Christ of us.
"I Am" has a dual meaning. It is both individual and universal. So, when you say "I Am" and follow it with a negative statement - you are breaking the third commandment. "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."
So let these be your 'I am' statements. Just close your eyes for a moment, and see if this doesn't feel like the true essence of you: I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God within me. I am the spirit of confidence. I am poised in love and reason. I am the perfect truth and the complete presence of beauty. I am Christ, the Son of the Living God within me. Amen
WHO AND WHAT I AM
So when you say "I am" - this is what you are really saying: It is your identity. It is what you are claiming for yourself. It is how you are identifying who and what you are. What you say after the words "I am" reflects your state of consciousness. It reflects your own idea of yourself. And what you think, will be projected into the physical world. What you say after "I am" is what you are linking to God's name. And God's name, I AM, is not a static concept because God is always creating. So it is how we use our I AM that creates the circumstances and events of our life.
It becomes very important to speak only words that we want to see, physically, in our lives. What we attach to our I AM is directing the creative power of infinite Mind. And it is our choice, whether that will be negative or positive. We can name our I AM fear..... or peace, sickness.... or wholeness, poverty... or abundance, despair... or inspiration. This becomes the power of God in action in our lives - by way of our choice.
So, let your I AM be the Christ child. Let this Christ consciousness be born anew in you this month. Talk, live, act, believe and know that you are a center in the One God. For when we say "I am," it is God proclaiming His own Being.
Spirit is always flowing into us and expressing Itself through us. To practice the Presence of God is to awaken within us the Christ Consciousness. Christ is God in the soul of man. The resurrection is the death of the belief that we are separated from God. Then we can awake to Life and realize that "I Am is in the midst of thee."
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