A Sanctuary wherever...: I AM...

I AM...two of the most powerful words in the universe. What you say or put after those two words shapes and defines your life and even the world around you and how you see your world. The " I Am" of the Creator spoke the worlds into existence and was that most holiest of names not even to be verbalized or fully written by the Jews - the name He gave them as He called out their identity as a nation and people.

Not long ago I was talking to my mom about affirmations, what I've been learning about speaking truth over my life and obeying the Scriptures to speak even that which is not as though it is. To declare the person I desire to be and those attributes I desire to walk in but am not fully because our words have power and when we speak these out loud, and repeat them over and often, we begin to believe, be intentional about being and walking in those very things. This isn't just the power of positive thinking but that where we put our thoughts and then our spoken word, we put effort and intention toward and rise up into those things that God has foreseen and called out within us to be.

In fact, before Jesus started His ministry, He spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness, solidifying His identity and the purposes and pursuits of His Father. And the passage says that at the end of 40 days, He was hungry, but ready, and the Enemy came to Him, questioning from the very first, His Identity, saying that if He was who He said He was, He could turn the stones into bread and feed Himself. Jesus reply? Something like this: "Bread isn't life, I AM LIFE because I Am the Word that proceeded from the Father. You have to be connected in to the Father to have life, and I Am." Again Satan questioned his true identity, and again Jesus affirms His true identity: "I Am the Lord your GOD - you shouldn't tempt me." Finally, Satan, not able to shake His identity, offered to let Him abdicate it for temporary wealth and power. Jesus declared, "Away from me, I Am alone the worthy object of worship and servitude. What is seen here is temporary. I Am One with the Father forever worshipped and served." No, these aren't the exact words He used, but they are the concepts by which He defeated Satan. And it is His truth and identity and the identity we have through Him that allows us to vanquist the Enemy of our souls and our enemy within. If we lay claim to the statements that He speaks over us, we align ourselves with who He says He is and who we are, it could just changed the world! It did for the disciples and many others through history. It lifts our heads and our eyes, aligns us with a high and holy and beautiful and good calling.

Some of my own affirmations:

1. I am a child of the Living God

2. I am brave and courageous

3. I am motivated

4. I am a woman of peace

5. I am a giver of love

6. I am joyful

7. I am wise beyond my years

8. I am the manager of my time

9. I am fully accepted and favored by God

10. I am a powerhouse of action and multitasking

11. I am engaged in loving people hard and deep