Dear Friend,

All satisfaction, joy, and power in the Christian life come from knowing God and His Son. The Bible says,

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2).

Everything we need in the Christian life is in Christ. This wonderful Person, Jesus Christ, lives in the heart of every believer, but not every believer understands who Christ really is. The Gospel of John was written that we might know who Jesus Christ really is. This book of the Bible emphasizes two great truths: 1) that Jesus Christ is God, and 2) that Christ Himself is the One who meets all our needs.

It will help us understand who Christ really is if we learn about one of His names. He is the great “I AM.”

The name “I AM” is a name which belongs exclusively to God. God Himself said that this was His name. To understand the meaning of this name, we must go back to the time when the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt.

God chose a man named Moses to lead His people out of Egypt and into the land which God had promised them.

Moses was in the wilderness tending sheep when God appeared to him in a burning bush. The bush burned with fire, but it did not burn up.

God spoke to Moses from the burning bush and told him to go back to Egypt and lead the children of Israel out of slavery and bondage.

Moses was afraid the people would not believe that God had sent him. He said, “When I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you’; and they shall say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

God said, “I AM THAT I AM…thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). The name “I AM” is a very special name which belongs only to God.

When God said that His name was “I AM,” He meant that He is the God who has always existed and always will exist. But there is another meaning to the name “I AM.” It is really an unfinished sentence like this: “I AM _______________.”

It was as though God was saying to Moses, “Moses, I am the Almighty God. I am the One who will meet all your needs. You will need courage to do this great work I have called you to do; I AM your courage. You will need wisdom; I AM your wisdom. You will need strength; I AM your strength. You will need patience; I AM your patience. I AM whatever you need.”

Moses believed God and he depended on God to be all that he needed. What was the result? The Bible tells us that God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt “with a mighty hand.”

Jesus Christ is the great “I AM.”

The Jews understood fully that the name “I AM” belonged only to God. No prophet or king, however great he might be, would dare to use this name for himself. It is a name which belongs exclusively to God; yet Jesus took this name for Himself. John records Jesus’ astounding claim that He is the great “I AM.” Here are our Lord’s own words,

“…if you believe not that I AM… you shall die in your sins.”

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I AM…”

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.” John 8:24,28,58

In taking to Himself the name “I AM,” the Lord Jesus was declaring these two great truths:

• That He is indeed God.
• That He is the One who meets all our needs.

If Jesus were not really God, it would have been a terrible thing for Him to claim to be God. But He was and is and always will be God. Jesus said,

“I and My Father are one,” and “He that has seen Me has seen the Father…” (John 10:30; 14:9).

When Jesus Christ came into this world as a man, He laid aside His glory and privileges as God. But when He went back to Heaven, He resumed all His glory and privileges as God. He is now the glorified Man at the right hand of the Father, with all power in Heaven and in the earth.

Jesus Christ is the One who meets all my needs.

How does God meet all my spiritual needs? He meets all my spiritual needs by giving Christ to me, to live in me. Everything comes to us from God, but it comes through Christ.

We need to see that we have everything in Christ, who is now seated at the right hand of God. In giving us Christ, God has given us everything we will ever need.

• Christ is my power. The Bible says that Christ is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). I am able to say with the apostle Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
• Christ is my wisdom.He is “the wisdom of God.” When I need wisdom, I should turn to Him. He knows exactly what I should do and He lives in me.

• Christ is my love. Love is a Person—Jesus Christ! Christ is the One who loves all people. He lives in me now and He is my love.
• Christ is my peace. The Bible says, “For He [Christ] is our peace.” Before He left this world, Christ told His disciples,

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you…” (John 14:27).

• Christ is my joy. The Bible says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.” We may not always be able to rejoice in our circumstances, but we can always rejoice in the Lord—in Christ. We can rejoice in who He is and what He has done for us.
• Christ is my patience. In myself I do not have much patience with other people, but Christ has come to live in me and He is my patience. The Bible says,

“Strengthened with all might, according to His [Christ’s] glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Colossians 1:11).

• Christ is my satisfaction. Christ said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven.” Bread represents that which satisfies us. Christ is our “living bread”—the One who perfectly satisfies us.

Everything is in Christ, and Christ is in me.

Everything I need in the Christian life is in Christ. The question is: How do I get these things down here?

The answer is: I get them by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of Christ.” The very same Spirit that is in Christ Himself is in me!

Everything I need is in Christ, and Christ is living in me by His Spirit. Christ is the Source, the Joy and the Strength of my new life. I live by faith in Him. The apostle Paul said,

“I have been crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

How do I apply these wonderful truths in my life?

There are three simple steps that will transform your life: 1) Know the truth, 2) claim the truth, and 3) live the truth. Let us consider these.

Know the truth.

Jesus said,

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

The truth is that the Man Jesus Christ has been exalted to the throne of the universe, and He lives in me by His Spirit. I have in Him everything I need to live for Him here. The Bible says,

“For in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him…” (Colossians 2:9-10).

Claim the truth.

Jesus Christ, my Savior, is now glorified and exalted at the right hand of God. He is not only my great Savior, but He is my Friend, the Source, the Joy, and the Strength of my new life.

I must not only know the truth, but I must obey it and claim it for myself by making it personal. It is not just, “Christ lives in the hearts of His believers,” but “Christ lives in Me!”

It is not just “Christ loves His believers,” but “Christ loves Me!” The apostle Paul made it personal. He said, “The Son of God loved Me and gave Himself for Me.”

Christ living in me means that I have the privilege of living moment by moment in a warm, personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is my Friend, and He is seated at the right hand of God. I am not concerned about what others may think of me. Christ loves me, and I love Him. Knowing Him is better than anything this world has to offer.

The wonderful thing about having Christ living in us by His Spirit is that every believer can have Christ all to himself!

Live the truth.

This simply means that I depend on Christ in me. He is God. He is the One who created the universe. Christ in me is sufficient for anything!

Satan says, “You will not make it. You cannot live the Christian life!”

I say, “Lord Jesus, You are God and You live in me. You are sufficient for anything that happens to me today. I am trusting You to live Your life through me.”

The most important relationship in your life is your relationship with Jesus Christ. To enjoy daily fellowship with Him, you must spend time with Him, reading and meditating on His Word and talking to Him in prayer. How much do you love Him?

One of the great secrets of a life of victory is spending time alone with the Lord each day, in the study of His Word and in prayer. This is called a “Quiet Time.”

Once they had conquered the land of Canaan, the children of Israel failed to honor God. They would turn away from Him and fall into sin. God would judge them by allowing an enemy nation to come in and oppress them. They would repent and cry out to God, and God would raise up a deliverer who would defeat the enemy.

This cycle happened six times! One of these happened in the days of Gideon. The Bible says,

“The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years” (Judges 6:1).

The Midianites were desert bandits who came from the Arabian desert to raid the farms of Israel. Untold thousands of bandits would come out of the desert, steal their food and their animals, destroy the land, and then run back into the desert.

This went on for seven years! Finally, the people repented of their sins and pleaded with God to send them a deliverer. The angel of the Lord [Christ in the form of a man] appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor!” Gideon must have been shocked. He was timid and fearful, and he certainly did not see himself as a mighty warrior.

Gideon said, “Oh, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are the miracles which our fathers told us of?” The Lord replied, “Go in your strength, and you shall save Israel…Have not I sent you?”

Gideon said, “Oh my Lord, how shall I save Israel? My family is poor in Manassah, and I am the least in my Father’s house.” The Lord answered, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites as one man” (Judges 6:16).

Gideon had run out of excuses. He had the two things needed for victory—the call of God—“Have not I sent you?”, and the promise of the Lord to be with Him—“Surely I will be with you.”

Gideon was still fearful. He asked God to give him a sign. Gideon said, “I will put a fleece of wool on the ground, and in the morning, if it is wet with dew and all the ground around it is dry, then I will know You will save Israel by my hand.”

In the morning, the ground was dry around the fleece, but the fleece was so wet that Gideon wrung a full bowl of water out of it.

Gideon asked God for one more sign. He would put the fleece out as before, but this time let the fleece be dry in the morning and the ground around it wet. In the morning it was so. Gideon was satisfied. He now knew that the Lord was with him.

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