I AM & I am too

When I first began to talk to the Almighty I would ramble on and on and imagined that I was making great strides after reading how to books or going to prayer meetings. I listened to many explanations about the God who wanted my attention. There was an occasion in the scripture when the disciples asked the Lord to teach them to pray and I listened in as Jesus broke it down into understandable terms. First acknowledge Him, know who He is, accept His will in the earth that you are made of and believe His promises. Ask for only the minimal items to sustain your life and realize that you are only forgiven to the degree that you are willing to forgive others. Request the ability to avoid being deceived while trusting that He is able to keep you safe in this dangerous world. Not once in that instruction is there a list of mental affirmations or detailed petitions for changing our government or societal ills. There is no step by step seminar recipe on how to get God to respond our parochial expectations. In the heart of it there is no positive confession, repetition, or neatly framed verses taken out of context to support our assumed conclusions. Jesus is the I AM answer to every prayer in spite of any imagined concept of who we think He is and here are a few of them that you may be familiar with. Jesus said; I am the True Vine. I am the Way. I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the Light of the world, the Bread of Life and the Messiah. He also said I am with you always even to the end of the world.

There are a few I am’s that arrested my attention in the Psalms also. When I didn’t know how to pray, I would say what David said and that was my approach as I saw so many similarities to what I had been anxious about or when my sin was getting the best of me. Notice in Psalm 31, 38, 39 and 69 for example, that in those passages alone the words I, me and mine appear over 230 times. Not once in any of those passages do you find David asking for financial aid or a better job. He didn’t dwell on his neighbor’s welfare or spend any time blessing Saul, the Senate or the Supreme Court. He didn’t present himself as a patriot nor did he rebuke the devil and seldom quoted the words of Moses. He talked straight up. David didn’t claim to have the answer to anything and mostly complained about everything and was often negative in his words and phrases. He said; I am troubled, I am bowed down, I am feeble and I am ready to fail. With many similar words David said I am a stranger, forgotten, and weary and I am like a broken vessel.

In conclusion I am also come into deep water and I am full of heaviness because I have been over prescribed in the philosophy and mechanics of prayer. I’ve gone to churches where the pastor has his regular voice and a preaching voice. I suspect he believes the Lord will respond if he exaggerates and embellishes the moment with extreme emotion. Our praying voice should be the same as our everyday voice and silence is the better part of prayer as it’s the quiet moments that open the heart up. It’s not the length of time spent before the Lord and although I do admire the one who is fervent for more than an hour, in the end it is the position of the heart. To have a Bible open when praying is optional but the Lord is known to answer; “it is written.” Paul used the phrase I am on one or two occasions and I believe I am too. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain;.. 1 Cor 15:10a.. As you search the scriptures you may find that you identify from time to time with this kind of praying and can confess that; Jesus is the I AM and like David was, I am too.

T. LaVigne