"I Am"

by Don Hatfield

incomprehensible. It is too high for me to be able to understand it. It is beyond me for it belongs to the I Am.” Gabe smiled and said, “He is Omniscient.” I said, “What?” Gabe said, “That word describes in one word all that we have been saying. Omniscient means that God is perfect in that He knows all things, including things before they happen.” I said, “Yes, David was right when He said I cannot attain to it. I knew exactly how he felt.”

  Gabe said, “Do you want to keep going Don? Or have you had enough?” I answered, “Gabe, I have never been so thrilled or hungry in my life. I am learning to know Him. I am learning about Him. I think I could go on forever.” Gabe smiled and said, “You will. Here is the next thing we will talk about. He is Omnipotent. Meaning first of all that nothing is too difficult for Him. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 17.” I found the verse and read it out loud to Gabe. Here is what I read, “Ah Lord God! Behold, thou has made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” I said to Gabe, “Why in the world is that word, Ah! Placed there with an exclamation mark.” Gabe said, “Don, there is nothing in the Bible that was not meant to be there. Here we have a picture of a man realizing again just how powerful and majestic His creator is. Jeremiah looked at all that was around him and exclaimed, Ah! That word is and expression of wonder, awe and understanding. Jeremiah looked and the Lord God revealed to Jeremiah’s spirit His might and His power in creation. That word Lord in that sentence is used in place of the word Yahweh which in Jewish was a term of reverence. Jeremiah said behold or look thou Yahweh has made the heaven and the earth. He has made them with His great power and might. In seeing this he sees that there is nothing beyond His power. Yahweh has shown Himself to be marvelous and extraordinary. Don, do you believe that God opened the Rea Sea so that the children of Israel could walk through.” I responded with a yes. Gabe then asked me, “Don, do you believe that Noah built an ark and only he and his family were saved.” I again nodded, yes. Although I was nodding yes inside of me there was a nagging. I knew what it was but did not want to say it aloud. Amazingly, Gabe ask me one more question and I was stunned at what he asked. He looked at me and asked, “Don, is God opening your Red Sea? We both just claimed that He is all powerful. Again, I ask is He opening your Red Sea.” I finally responded and said, “No, for I pray and nothing happens. I read and get nothing. I have gotten more out of our talk today than I have gotten in a long time. Tell me if you know. What is the problem?” Gabe said, “Take heart Don for you are no different than others for all come from the same root and that root is Adam. People are missing the point of their salvation. They get saved and are bombarded with all the things they think they are supposed to do. It is not long before they began to seek the gifts that the Lord gives instead of the one who gives the gifts. God gave gift after gift to the children of Israel. Did it satisfy them?” I knew that the answer was no and said so. Gabe then said, “If you believe that God is all powerful and I know you do. If you believe that by His word He holds the Sun and the Earth in place. I also know that you believe that. Then Don, where do you think that He wishes to display His power? I stood there looking at all of creation. I could feel the Sun shining on me. I could see a gentle breeze rustling the leaves of the trees. I know that this was a display of His marvelous power. Then it came to me in a way that nothing has ever come to me before. I cannot explain it except to say that I knew that the God of creation, the Son of forgiveness and the fellowship of His Spirit spoke to me. In a moment I realized how wrong my outlook about my Redeemer was. I turned to Gabe and with a choked voice said, “He wants to display His power in me. He wants to express Himself through me.” Gabe softly said, “Turn to the Book of Philippians Chapter 3 and verse 10.” I did so and began to read this, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death.” Gabe said tell me about that verse Don. I looked at those first five words and they spoke volumes. I said to Gabe, “He foremost wants me to know Him. He wants me to become acquainted with Him. Most of the time I think treat Him as an object forgetting or not even realizing that He is a living person living inside of me. He lives in my spirit and influences my conscience. He speaks to my spirit for I do not think He speaks so much to my mind. The more that I will seek Him the closer and closer we will become. Then I will began to just know what He wants. As I began to know Him I began to experience the power of His resurrection. What does that mean Gabe?” Gabe said, “The power of His resurrection here on earth means that you began to experience a moral power and excellence of the soul. If you seek Him you will began to have victory over sin and the more you seek Him the more you will have victory over yourself. His gift to you is His resurrected Son. His resurrected Son not only here and in you but also a resurrection to eternal life when you die.” I looked and Gabe and said, “Glory to God He lives in me. I see it! I see it! It is His grace in me that will give me victory for I am no longer under the law but under grace.” Gabe laughed and said, “Yes, it is to His glory and because of His grace. Tell me about the rest of the verse?” I came back down to earth and looked at the verse. It said not only that I would know the power of His resurrection but also the fellowship of His sufferings. I did not like that word sufferings. I just stood there looking at the verse. Then I heard Gabe gave a soft chuckle. He then said, “Ah, so you do not like that word sufferings. I did not think that you would. Let me say this about it. First of all the word fellowship means to have intimacy with and a joint participation in. There are times when we will be allowed to experience some of that which Jesus felt as He walked here on this earth. It is a necessary fellowship and cannot be avoided. Most try to avoid it but they are robbing themselves of the joy, peace and deliverance that comes from it. Don, we cannot chose the place of our sufferings nor the manner in which it comes. But if we are true believers then it will come. Look at the last part of the verse and see the reward that comes with it.” I did and read the following. Being made conformable unto His death. I look at the verse and a joy and peace began to fill me as I realized that I had the privileged of becoming like Jesus. I look at Gabe and said, “I am going to be like Him. I am going to be conformed to and receive the same image as He. It may take all of eternity but if I will yield to Him I will become like Him. There is no promise of earthly treasure in those words. There is no promise of earthy fame in those words but there is the promise of Him. Gabe, He is the greatest gift of all. Glory to God.” Gabe, clapped his hands and said Glory to God. Then He said, “I think I see a little resemblance to Him.” Tears welled up in my eyes and all I could say was, “That is the greatest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank You.” Gabe then said, “So, let me ask you a question. Do you think that God is all powerful?” I started to answer yes but then a thought came to me. Something I had never thought of before. A new way of looking at something. I said to Gabe, “Yes Gabe not only do I believe it but I know it. Oh, I know that He can part the Red Sea and make the Sun stand still. Those are but small things. Let me tell what makes me believe that He is all powerful Gabe. He can change me. He can take one who is concerned only with himself and change Him into the image of His Son. That is power. That is power beyond anything that one can think or pray. To see that one such as myself can be transformed. Yes, I believe that He is all powerful. Praise His holy name.”

  Gabe said, “Your eyes are beginning to open to your Father. Shall we see if we can open them a little more?” Yes I said let’s get them as wide open as we can. Gabe then said, “Lets look at our Father at the Creator for there are many who say that there is no creation. They somehow think that all of this came to be by itself. I know that we talked about God being the I Am but lets look at a few things that He say about His creation. Turn to Genesis 1:1.” I of course knew this verse as most do. I knew that most folks had heard it or read however I turned there just to see what Gabe would say about it. After turning there I began to read it out aloud to Gabe. �
�In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” I stopped and looked at Gabe. He then said explain that verse to me. I said to Gabe what is there to explain. He then said, “Okay, tell me what that word beginning means to you.” I said well it is where something begins or starts.” Gabe just looked at me. I knew that he was waiting for something else then this thought came to me. I said to Gabe, “This is just the earth’s beginning. This is not Gods beginning for He has none. What He has created is separate from Him. Beginning is a term we use for something that was not and has started at some point. It is not a word that we can use in reference to God.” Gabe then said,” what about the word created.” By this time I was again amazed as I tried to comprehend a little of my creator. I then thought about that word created and replied, “I do not know how to express this but I am going to try even though it is beyond my limit to do so. God took nothing and yet everything is