At Christmas 2008, my wife, my family, and I, along with many members of the extended family, had gathered at my mother’s home for the festivities of the season.
My dear mother of Afro-Caribbean descent is an unusual woman as women; I won’t go into that fully here, but a hallmark of his character is the fact that he has a very magnanimous heart, and on this particular Christmas he had bumped into a couple of slightly dodgy looking boys from a local nursing home, and had decided to invite them to join us in sharing our Christmas dinner.
The day was uneventful but a little bit of my dear mother must have been transferred to my brother and me and we were both eager to make these guys feel at home, we ended up in a conversation and the young man I chatted with started to express to me some of your pain. I remember listening to this man explain the hopelessness and worthlessness he felt, yearning to give this man a sense of his own worth. I spoke animated with emotion and true faith in what I was saying knowing that the possibilities that are enclosed in a human life are limitless, if we only see what it was worth.
James Allen in his book ‘As a Man Thinks’ makes the poignant statement; “The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do.” But it wasn’t long after this conversation that the thought struck me, if what I said to this guy was true for him, it was true for me as well.
And this is not the problem, I became very aware of my own feelings of inadequacy, my own limiting beliefs and my own fears of the unknown. The feeling that I myself was not living up to my full potential brought with it two compelling emotions, one of dissatisfaction and frustration, the other of possibility. If I simply applied what I told that child to my life, what my life would be like, who would I be, what could I do, what would I have.
The church I started attending after recently moving to London had a practice that I was not very familiar with, before the pastor delivered the sermon, he would make a statement, together with the congregation, whose first words were “This is My Bible, I am what it says I am, I have what it says I have, I can do what it says I can do, this morning I will be taught the word of God, etc. be familiar with this from ministries like Joel Osteen. At first, the ritual just seemed, well, a ritual, but when I began to contemplate the meaning of these words, I realized that I needed to establish in my life: ‘What does the word of God say? I am, I have and I have. can do. ‘Many Christians can locate the negative side of these statements, so I suppose many of us are trapped in unproductive and fruitless lives, but applying this in the spirit that was intended; a positive confession, a dec Prayerful prayer to set the tone for our receptivity to God’s word for practical application. I decided to look at these points and here is a short description:
Who says the word of God that I am?
First, the word of God says that I am created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis Chap. 1:26). And in the Psalms, David says, “We are wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139v14). As New Testament believers, Paul says that if we are in Christ, we are made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians Ch. 5:21). And that we are a new creation, (2 Corinthians Cap 5v17). God calls his people ‘His Children’. (1 John Cap 3v2). We know from Scripture that being His child also makes us ‘joint heirs with Christ’. (Rom Cap 8v17). The Bible goes on and tells us that He calls us His friends. (Juan Cap 15v14-15). This means that we are intimately connected with our creator. And we are more than Winners. (Romans Cap 8v37). Who I am? I am an amazingly created being, with characteristics and traits like those of God, despite my many deficiencies, faults and failures, I am newly created in His justice, and therefore I am also his son and joint heir with the Son of God, who He has made me His friend. And in him he has enabled me to overcome all spiritual obstacles and for that reason he has called me more than a conqueror.
What does the word of God say that I have?
God’s word gives me a task, to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. (Genesis Cap 1v29). Understanding that every place that the sole of my foot steps on, God has given it to me. (Josué Cap 1v3). I am blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians Ch 1v3). And as we said before, I am a joint heir with Christ, therefore I have an inheritance, of more value than any rich relative is capable of leaving me (Ephesians Ch 1:11). God’s word tells me that His blessings are for this life and the next, immeasurably more than I could ask or think. (Ephesians Cap 3v20). If I accept what Jesus came to give me, I have life and that in abundance (John Cap 10v10).
What does the word of God say that I can do?
So in light of this, how should we live then? What does the word of God say that I can do? It says that I can do everything in Christ who strengthens me (Philippians Cap 4v13) It says that I have authority over the birds of the air and everything that moves on the earth (Genesis Cap 1v28) It says that I have conquered (1 John Cap 2:13) . He says I can do it. (Philippians Chap 1v6). He says that I can tell this mountain to take off and it will. (Matthew Cap 17v20). What does practically mean? It means that I can live a life free from worry and fear; I can live a life that is not dominated by limitations and ‘box thinking’. I can accomplish what God has put me on earth to accomplish. And God will be with me, a friend more united than a brother.