"Because He Said So! Discovering who the I AM says I am"

The I AM says I am alive!

“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5

In the 1980s Dunkin Donuts came out with a commercial that lends itself beautifully to our topic today. The advertisement began with a chubby middle-aged man, Fred the Baker, aka The Time to Make the Donuts Guy, turning off his alarm clock before dawn. As he leaves his house, he grabs his hat and shuffles out the door saying, “Time to make the donuts!” In the next scene we see Fred returning home at day’s end saying, “I made the donuts!” This repeats many times over during the 30-second ad until Fred meets himself coming and going. Funny as it is, I believe that we behave much like the "Time to Make the Donuts" guy. We are taking the same steps day after day after day. We "schedule in" our quiet time and prayer time with hopes of wrapping it up in timely manner so that we aren't running late for work or in hopes that we can get in bed a little earlier. We say the same prayers, in the same way, day after day. And we are happy with these habits; they are comfortable! But I have to ask you ladies, is this a routine or a rut?

Today I want to challenge us to step out of our comfort zones and to break the hypnosis of the hum drum. “This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’” (Ephesians 5:14). We need to stop doing the same old things the same old ways we’ve always done them. Over the last few days we have discovered that we are forgiven, innocent, and free. We’ve claimed the promises of God and celebrated the fact we are a new creation in Him being transformed daily. We heard the words, we are healed! So why then would we live the same ordinary “Time to Make the Donuts” kind of life? I don’t know about you, but I think this is exciting! It gives me a skip in my step! And I don’t want to sluggishly shuffle through my schedule anymore. I want to be vibrant and alive and full of Christ and His light! The only way to accomplish this is to let go of the muck of the mundane and to depend on Him with a childlike trust to find the joy and peace that only He can give. These questions remain. Do you believe that you are created to be fully alive in Christ? Are you willing to step outside your comfort zone and do things that you’ve never done in ways you’ve never done them? Are you willing to let His light shine through you in ways you have possibly never imagined? Let's strive to have a relationship with Him and do life with Him in ways that go beyond our "scheduled" quiet time each day.

Let’s step out of our comfort zone together. I mean, after all, isn’t that what this study is all about? It’s about changing our thoughts and our words and to truly begin believing that He has called us to live more fully in Him. Routines can become ruts...even in our prayer life and relationship with God. So today, shake up your faith journey a bit, make the most of every minute, and declare in Christ’s name, “I am alive…because He said so!”

Additional Scripture: John 3:6; Romans 6:8-11; Romans 8:10-11; Ephesians 5:14-16; Colossians 2:13; 1 Peter 2:4-5

Dear Lord,

I praise You today for all that You are; You are the Creator of the Universe, the King of kings and Lord of lords. You are the I AM! I know that You created me on purpose for a purpose. I am who You say I am. The enemy wants to hold me back from living out the calling You have placed on my life. Lord, saturate my mind with the truth of Your Word so that I may remember that my identity is found in You and only You. Remind me throughout the day, when the world comes tumbling in, that You are in control. Reveal Your will in my life as I only want to please You. No matter how difficult my day becomes I will remember that I can do all things through You (Phil 4:13). In Jesus' name. Amen