“Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes.” —Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The world’s population is around 8.2 billion. Most people will ask two questions: Who am I? and Who is God?
Years ago, I hitched my wagon to a Star with my three sons aboard. Saddle up and ride with me for a moment. There’s a salve for your soul in the saddle bags.
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By age 40, the young man was among the most influential people on earth. He grew up in a royal family with education, power, wealth, and fame. He was so strong that he killed a man with his bare hands.
By age 40, all of that was stripped away. He works for his father-in-law on the back side of a barren land. He becomes the meekest man on earth.
When he was 80, his natural gifts and pride had long since faded. God can now use him, for His strength is made perfect in a man’s weakest (2 Corinthians 12:9).
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The old man named Moses stands before a burning bush on Mount Sinai. The bush is not consumed, for God is there, and He is never diminished. God called from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” God knows his name.
God tells Moses, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moses is afraid and hides his face.
God uses three first-person verbs: He has seen, heard, and knows. God is not blind, deaf, or ignorant of our situation, needs, fears, disappointments, or perplexity. He reveals to Moses he will be the man who will deliver his people, the Israelites, from bondage. Moses knows there are hundreds of thousands of them in slavery. The Egyptian pharaoh is the most powerful man on earth. How can any man accomplish this task?
“Who am I? ” Moses asked. Eighty-year-old Moses has a speech impediment and walks with a staff.
“I will certainly be with you,” God said. Moses would discover that was all he needed. With that staff, he parted the Red Sea, delivering the Hebrew people from bondage.
But God does not answer the question, “Who am I?” Moses will find the answer to that question by discovering who God is and following His commandments. It is no different for any of us.
Who shall I say sent me? Moses asked. “I AM WHO I AM,” God said. Moses is to tell them, “The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent him.” (Exodus 3:7-8, 13-14).
Moses discovered that God is a person with a name, and he knows his name. God sees, hears, understands, and cares, and that truth applies to all of us.
God has no beginning nor an ending. He is not a created being. God is from everlasting to everlasting, the Creator of the universe and everything in it. He is the Lord God Almighty, yet he knows Moses by name. He knows your name.
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He is Moses’s personal God with a name that sees and knows all. He is not a mythical higher power, stone statue, animal, bird, tree, or cosmic dust. God is a person who created us in His image with a spirit. God created the Universe by speaking it into existence. He alone can create something from nothing. There is no other God.
Many would prefer a non-personal god, though, one that does not judge our actions. A mythical higher power does not see our behavior and would not or could not punish us.
God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, is a God of love. But He is also the soon-coming King of kings who will judge His rebellious creation, man. He has given us an owner’s manual, a rule book, and His inerrant and infallible Word of God, the Bible. Is your life not running well? Read your owner’s manual.
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I have seen many friends and strangers perplexed throughout my life, wondering who they were as Moses did. They read self-help books and are told that an abundant life is achieved through positive thinking or medication. In college, transcendental meditation was the rage to find peace naturally.
I started Operation Warm Heart in 1991. During this time, I met many folks. They had sought the purpose of life through drugs and alcohol. This initiative feeds and clothes the needy. Vietnam shell-shocked many lives.
Randy Willis speaking at The Salvation Army in Austin
Today, I see many empty folks with a hole, a vacuum, and an emptiness they cannot fill. They are seeking the answers to the questions: why was I born? What is my purpose in life? Who am I? Who is God? Is there a God? Sadly, some have ended their lives through alcohol, drugs, and suicide.
The answers cannot be found in medication, education, or friends. It cannot be found in family, sex, drugs, or alcohol. Success, money, fame, and awards are not the answer either. Even religion does not provide the answer. The answer to my identity can only be found in a one-on-one personal relationship. This relationship is with the One who created you and me in His image. The Great I AM is the One. The Word of God reveals that this is Jesus.
I AM is the pre-incarnate Christ in the burning bush. Jesus settled that issue when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). Abraham, the Founder of Judaism, lived 430 years before Moses. God gave Moses his marching orders and the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.
The Gospel of John contains seven “I am” statements by Jesus.
I am the bread of life (6:35).
I am the light of the world (8:12).
I am the door (10:7).
I am the Good Shepherd (10:11, 14).
I am the resurrection and the life (11:25).
I am the way, the truth, and the life (14:6)
I am the true vine (15:1).
The scriptures record that God takes our tears and puts them in a bottle. He hears the cry of a baby stuck by a pin. God attends the funeral of every sparrow who falls to the ground. The hairs on our heads are numbered, not just counted. Jesus is the Great I AM, and He loves you.
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But things did not begin well with Moses’s tasks. In Psalms 106:23, “They made a golden calf, took off their clothes, and danced naked like heathen around that image.” Sounds familiar. Satan will send many golden calves to take Jesus’ place.
I’m sure I’ll see a dozen “golden calves,” some half-naked, clicking through the TV channels this week. Mama used to say, “Everything that glitters, Randy, is not gold.” It took me a while to learn what she meant.
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Humble yourself before the Great I am, Jesus. Read His love letter to you, the Bible. Trust Him. Watch as He Parts the Red Sea in your life. He delivers your family and others from the bondage of sin. Put your faith, hope, dreams, family, and future in His hands.
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Jesus said in John 10:10: “The thief [Satan] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Give yourself to Jesus, and you will find your purpose in life and discover the most exciting destiny. Let your journey begin by saying yes to Christ—today.
You will never regret that decision.
Jesus is God. He is the Lord of Creation.
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23
“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” Colossians 1:15-16
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The most famous 25 words ever spoken: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Place your faith in Jesus. Accept Him today as Lord and Savior by praying:
“Heavenly Father,
I pray to You, asking for the forgiveness of my sins.
I confess with my mouth. I believe that Jesus is Your Son. He died on the cross at Calvary so that I might be forgiven of my sins.
Father, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead. I ask You to come into my life and be my personal Lord and Savior.
I turn from my sins and will surrender to your will throughout my life.
Your word is truth. I confess with my mouth that I am born again. I am cleansed by the blood of Jesus!
In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen!”
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Randy Willis Brown Santa
Randy Willis Texas Baptist Children’s Home Round Rock, Texas
Randy Willis Dell Children Medical Center Austin, Texas
Randy Willis’s Operation Warm Heart: Randy, Aaron, Adam and Josh Willis feeding and clothing the needy.
