Tag Archives: provider

The Great I Am

Last week a friend posted on Facebook, “Please say a prayer for my family right now.” I happened to look just as it was posted. My day was beginning, but I knew inside something was going on that was serious. I stepped out into the hall and not knowing what to pray for simply prayed, “God, this family needs you right now. They need you to be the Great I Am. If they need you to be their healer, be their healer. If they need you to be their protector, be their protector. Whatever they need you to be, I ask that you would be. Right now they need you to be their very present help in a time of need. Be their I Am of what they need.”

With that, I had to return to my work. I continued to lift them up throughout the morning. As I did, I kept thinking of that Initial prayer. I haven’t really prayed that before. Something began to click as I thought back to Moses in the wilderness. God had asked him to go lead the Israelites out of their captivity in Egypt. He protested to God in Exodus 3:13, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors sent me to you,’ they will ask, ‘What’s His name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God responded, “Say this to the people of Israel: I Am sent me to you.”

He went on to say other names to tell them too, but that one has always stood out partly because I never really understood. I always thought, “What did God mean by ‘I Am’?” I believe He meant that He is who they needed Him to be. They needed Him to be their deliverer that day. They needed Him later to be their guide. Still later on, they needed Him to be their provider. I like how the Amplified version records what God said. He said, “I Am who I Am and I will be what I will be.”

Today, wherever you are, whatever you’re facing, God is who He is and will be who He will be to you. If you need a fortress from your circumstances, He will be that for you. If you need peace, He will be your peace. If you need hope, He will be your hope. If you need healing, He will be your healer. If you need help, He will be your very present help in your time of need. If you need provision, He will be your provider. If you need strength to face the day, He will be your strength.

I can tell you that my friend needed God to be healer for a family member. Her father in law had what looked like a stroke. During the time of everyone praying, God became his healer. There are no more signs of the stroke or effects. God came down in that situation as He said He would and restored him to who he was before the stroke came. If God did that for him last week, He can meet your need this week. He still listens to our prayers and is still the Great I Am.

Who do you need Him to be for you today? I’ll pray with you.

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Jehovah Jireh

This week I’m going to do a little something different. I’m going to focus on a few names given to God in the Bible and what they mean to us. Some of them you may have heard of and others you may not have. The first one that I want to look at is the one that is probably the most popular: Jehovah Jireh. Every time I hear that name, my mind starts to play that old song we used to sing in church.

The lyrics say, “Jehovah Jireh. My provider. His grace is sufficient for thee. My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Glory. He will give His angels charge over thee. Jehovah Jireh careth for thee.” The song may be old, but the truth in it is everlasting. God will supply all your needs when we act in obedience to His voice.

The place in the Bible where this name for God comes from is Genesis 22:14. Abraham had been asked by God to sacrifice his son through whom the promise was to come through. I’m sure Abraham wondered about that. I know I would have. My thoughts would have been, “God, didn’t you promise that my descendants would outnumber the stars? Yet, now you are asking me to sacrifice the only way that is possible.”

If Abraham ever thought like that, you wouldn’t know it. He knew that if God could help he and his wife conceive miraculously in their old age, God could do above and beyond anything he could imagine. God had been true to His word so far, so why not trust Him this time? If you’re like me, your memory with God is short term. I forget all the things He has done for me and start to doubt.

Isaac was a little curious too. He asked his dad, “I see we have the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham, in faith, answered, “God will provide.” They kept walking all the way to the mountain that God showed him. He then set out the wood, tied Isaac up and placed him on the altar. As he lifted his knife to kill the son of promise, the angel of The Lord called out and stopped him. He then provided a ram for the sacrifice.

I think it’s interesting to note that Abraham kept walking to the mountain trusting God. Many times we sit and wait for God to provide before we are willing to step out in faith. Abraham traveled several days and had to build the altar before God provided what Abraham was trusting Him for. Our faith and trust in God’s ability to provide shouldn’t be passive. It should be proactive. We should continue to do what He called us to do and not sit still until He answers.

God is looking for obedience from us. He wants to provide for our needs, but we have to be in the place of His provision. The ram was caught by his horns at the top of the mountain, not at the base camp. Go where God has told you to go, do what God has told you to do and speak what God has told you to speak. It is in that place of action, that place of sheer faith and trust in God that He will provide for you. Jehovah Jireh, God will provide.

*Author’s note: I’m well aware of the ongoing discussion of Jehovah versus Yahweh. These posts are not intended to be a discussion ground for that debate, but rather to focus on who God is and what He promised to do.

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