Miscellaneous Writings

When God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, “Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them. The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me. What is His name? what shall I say unto them?

“I Am,” spoken with a downward tendency, is always false, always “in vain.” The seventh commandment says, “Take not the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” And Jesus said, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

If you speak the “I Am” falsely, you will get the result of false speaking. If you say, “I am sick,” you will get sickness; “I am poor,” you will get poverty; for the law is, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” “I Am,” spoken upward, toward the good, the true, is sure to outpicture in visible good, in success, in happiness.

Does all this sound foolish to you? Do you doubt that such power goes with the speaking of that name? If so, just go alone, close your eyes, and in the depth of your own soul say over and over the words, “I AM.” Soon you will find your whole being filled with a sense of power which you never had before—power to overcome, power to accomplish, power to do all things.

Says the Psalmist, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and are safe.” They who think rightly about the power of the I Am, spoken upward, just simply have to run into it, as into a strong tower or fortress, and they are safe.

Did you ever go into a meeting where the drift of all the “testimonies” given was the I Am spoken upward—“I am happy to be here,” “I am glad I am a Christian,” “I am hoping and trusting in God,” etc? Attend such a gathering, and almost before you know it, you will find yourself lifted entirely above all your troubles and anxieties. You leave such a meeting with a feeling of joy and lightness, and a consciousness that you have the power to overcome all the home troubles and worries; and you go, singing and confident, toward the very fire which, an hour before, seemed about to consume you.

Dear friends, you who at times feel almost discouraged, you who are being continually “sand-papered” by the petty worries and anxieties of life, just try for one week always saying the I Am upward, toward the good, and see what the result will be. Instead of saying, “I am afraid it will rain,” say, “I hope it will not rain;” instead of “I am sorry,” say, “I would have been glad had it been so and so;” instead of saying, “I am weak and cannot accomplish,” say, “I Am, because Thou art; I can accomplish, because I Am.” You will be astonished at the result.

The Christ, speaking through Jesus, said to the Jews who were boasting of being descendants of Abraham: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.” And Paul, writing to Timothy, said: “Let everyone who nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” Let everyone who speaks the I Am keep it separated from iniquity, or from false speaking. Let it be spoken always upward, never downward.

Jesus also said, “Whatsoever ye ask in my name”—that is, in the name I Am—“He will give it you.” Whenever you desire—not supplicate, but desire, speaking the “I Am” upward—He will give what you ask. Every time you say, “I am happy,” you ask in His name for happiness. Every time you say, “I am unhappy,” you ask in His name for unhappiness. “Hitherto,” He said to the disciples, “ye have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Is not this just the trouble? Hitherto what have we been asking “in His name”? Have we been asking for health or sickness, for happiness or unhappiness, for riches or poverty, by the manner of our speaking the I Am?

Have we spoken it upward, toward the good, or downward toward the not good? That which we have been receiving will tell the story. Jesus said if they asked rightly in His name, their “joy would be full.” Is your joy full? If not, then give heed to your asking.

Suppose a messenger is sent out from the executive mansion at Washington, to do certain things in the name of the President of the United States. These three little words, “In his name,” invest the messenger with the full power of the President, as far as the closing of that service is concerned.

“Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God the Father,” said Paul, in writing to the Colossians. Whatever we do heartily and sincerely in the name of Christ or the I Am carries with it the power of the I Am to accomplish—a power from a higher source behind us, as the presidential messenger receives his power from a higher source. All power is given unto Christ. Doing all things “in His name” puts aside our mortal personality and lets the Christ do the work. When Moses, with a sense of his personal insufficiency for so great a work, shrank from it, saying, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue, the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”

In Edward Everett Hale’s story, “In His Name,” a story of the Waldenses seven hundred years ago, it is no fairy tale that invests the words, “In His Name,” with such magic power. This little password carried all who went on errands of good safely through the most dangerous places. Locked doors were readily opened at the sound of the words. Soldier, sentry, officers of the guard, all gave way respectfully and instantly before it. Men were willing to leave their homes at a moment’s notice and plunge into the greatest hardships “for the love of Christ and in His name.”

Ministering today “in His name,” I say unto you, troubled one, anxious one, weary one, Be strong! be of good courage! be hopeful! The world—the mortal—is overcome already. The Christ, the I Am, speaking through Jesus, has spoken it, saying, “I have overcome the world.”

“To him that overcometh”—that is, to him who recognizes that already the world is overcome by the I Am, that there is nothing in all the universe but the I Am—“will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and on that stone a new name which no man knoweth, saving him who receives it.”