cannot supply my need, I must pass on in further
search of help from another source."
"And we, 7 ' say the tired, discouraged feet, "are
also glad that in a far off land, He gave the weary
rest ; and they, who had well nigh lost the faith and
trust in their fellow-man, found truth and grace in
Him.
"But you say He is afar off now? That we live
in a different dispensation? His promises were
largely for the Jewish people anyway ? Then there 's
not much for us here, so we walk past your door
seeking elsewhere a haven of rest and hope."
"And we," the glad, young, joyous feet, send up a
rippling echo from the pavement, "we are in search
of something that can give us joy and happiness to-
day. You say God 'used' to make His little ones so
happy that they danced and shouted for joy. We,
too, want joy ! Not the joy that 'used' to be but joy
of heart today. As it is taken away from the church,
we seek it in the world."
"And we," say the heavy, groping, lonely feet,
"are bereaved and seek comfort and rest. For us
the shades of night are falling. The knowledge that
Christ 'once' dried tears and bare the heavy load is
blest indeed, but Oh!, we of today need succor now.
Preaching 'The Great I WAS' can never satisfy our
longings, WE NEED 'THE GREAT I AM.'
' ' The Great I AM ' 'why yes ! That 's it exactly !
That's what this old world needs. A Christ who
lives and loves and answers prayer today. A Christ
who changeth not but is the same today as He was
yesterday, and will be evermore. A Christ whose
power knows neither lack nor cessation. A Lord
Fifteen
whose Name is "I AM" forever, even unto all genera-
tions.
When the Lord bade Moses go, call the children of
Israel from the flesh pots and bondage, sin and sick-
ness of Egypt, Moses inquired of Him, "When they
shall ask who sent me? and What is His Name?
what shall I say unto them?" and He said 1 , "Thus
shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath
sent me unto you. This is my Name forever, and this
is my memorial unto all generations."
Oh, what a wonderful Name ! What a wonderful
promise ! Glory ! Glory ! to God !
Moses did not need to go about apologetically and
say, M 'The Great I WAS' hath sent me unto you, His
name is 'I WAS' because He 'used' to do great things
long ago. He expended the last of His power in
creating the heavens and the earth and all that in
them is. He is quite far off now and the necessity
for this miraculous manifestation of His power is no
longer needed, seeing that all things have now been
created. He does not do mighty works today but
please come, follow and obey the message of 'The
Great I WAS. ' :
Why, I doubt whether they would have followed
such a call. The message which Moses bore rang
clear and firm "I AM hath sent me." He walked
with assurance. The solid rock was under his feet.
His God was a living God a miracle-working God.
Moses knew his business was to preach and deliver
the message God had given him. "The Great I AM"
had contracted to back up that message with signs
following. ' ' I AM I AM I AM ! ' ' rang in the ears
of Moses every step he took.
Ah ! It gives a servant of God some heart to know
Sixteen
that "I AM" hath sent him. No more apologizing.
No more hanging the head and resorting to earthly
means; no more trembling and fear of failure, no
dread now that the crowds will not follow ! Head
erect, footsteps firm and full of assurance, earthly
temple clad with a robe of the majesty and tender-
ness of the Father, hands pointing unhesitatingly to
the w r ay, voice ringing clear and authoritative "I
AM, I AM hath sent me unto you" !
" 'I AM' lives today. He will tabernacle in our
midst. 'I AM' will deliver us from our enemies. He
will guide us by His hand. 'I AM' will feed us with
the bread from the heavens and give us water from
the rock. 'I AM' will deliver us from the sickness
and the diseases of the Egyptians, saying, 'If you will
walk in My ways and keep My statutes none of the
diseases which have been put upon the Egyptians
shall come nigh you. 'I AM' will lead us into the
promised land
Oh, the blessed assurance, the authority, the majes-
tic glory of the name "I AM !" No wonder the chil-
dren of Israel left the flesh-pots and the bands that
bound them. No wonder the weary eyes of the toiler
looked up with new interest and hope. No wonder
that hands which had hung down were lifted and the
feeble knees made strong when Moses could promise
them that when the Lord said unto those which were
weak, "Be strong and of good courage, for the Lord
will do great things," He meant just what He said.
He did not have to say, "The Lord 'used' to do great
things," but could triumphantly declare, "The Lord
'will' do great things; for He is 'The Great I AM,'
and though heaven is His home, the earth is His foot-
stool where He answers the prayers of His people."
Seventeen
During Moses' ministry, the sick were healed, the
lepers cleansed, the plague stayed.
Oh, Moses how we envy you, the great commis-
sion, GO ! call my people out of bondage into liberty ;
out of darkness into light ; out of sin into holiness ;
out of sickness into health ! But tell us, just when
did the day of supernatural, miraculous manifesta-
tion of the power of God end? When did "I AM"
become "I WAS?"
Why, little children, "I AM" hath never changed!
His power is just the same in this thy day as it was
in the days of yore. Did He not say, "This is My
Name forever even unto ALL generations"? They
who have faith shall see the lightnings of His glory
flash in power of answered prayer today, as in the
days of old. Elijah and Elisha lived in a day when
doubters said the miraculous had passed away and
"I AM" had become "I WAS." But through faith
and prayer they proved His name to be "I AM" unto
their generations. After the ascension of the Only
Begotten of the Father, Jesus Christ, the disciples
proved that "He who was dead is alive forevermore"
the Great I AM, who saves and heals and baptizes
with the Spirit's power.
On and on through the centuries, though surround-
ed by unbelief and skepticism; there have always
been the Elijahs and the Peters who have proved
that "I AM" is His Name even unto their generation.
John Wesley believed that Christ was not only to
save but to heal the sick in his day. In his biography
he tells of the lame made to walk, cancers which
melted away and even a lame horse made whole
Eighteen
through answered prayer; thus proving "I AM" to
be the Lord's Name even unto his generation.
Then surely He has not changed at this late hour !
Surely, He is the same today. Elijah, Peter, John
Wesley and an army of others who had heard and
obeyed the message, "Thus shall you say I AM hath
sent me/ 7 were ridiculed and persecuted by those
they loved the best. Even so today, though it means
being despised and misunderstood, get alone in the
wilderness of quiet and stillness before God. Seek
His face till your soul is kindled with the flame of
love from the burning bush. Get your authority
from God. Inquire of Him, "When they shall ask
who sent me and what is his name ? what shall I say
unto them?" Hear His reply, "Thus shalt thou say
unto them, 'I AM' hath sent me" and let it ring in
your soul forever, louder, clearer, more wonderful in
its revelation of the ever-living Christ with each new
step and turn of the way. Victory is assured and
the only solution to the problem of drawing the mul-
titude is to lift up, not the dead, but the living
Christ; not the Great "I WAS" but the Great "I
AM."
Thanks ! Thanks ! for that message, dear Lord.
The clouds of uncertainty are dispelled the shades
of night rolled back. We see Thee in a new and
glorious light, even as the Sun of Righteousness with
healing in Thy wings. "I AM" is Thy Name today
and shall be evermore !
"I AM the Lord, I change not."
"I AM the Lord that hath chosen thee and called
thee by thy name."
"I AM come down to deliver thee and to bring
Nineteen
thee up into a good land and a large ; unto a land
flowing with milk and honey. ' '
"I AM (not I WAS but I AM) the Lord that heal-
eththee."
"I AM He who was dead but am alive forever-
more."
"I AM Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end, the first and the last."
How the "I AMS" of the Lord come rolling in, like
the billows of a full, o 'erflowing sea, whose tide rises
higher toward down-bending heavens.
Glory ! Glory ! My own poor heart is running
over like a tiny cup that would seek to hold the
ocean! God is speaking in my ears, "I AM THAT I
AM.' 7 The earth resounds with His voice. The
eternal hills and the mountains swell the song, "I AM
shall be My Name f orevermore. ' ' And away up yon-
der the glorious stars of the heaven echo back again
"Even unto all generations this shall be my
Name." Angels and cherubim bend low over heav-
en's balustrade and sing a new song of inspiration
"Go forth, my child, and this thy cry shall be, 'I AM
I AM hath sent me unto thee'."
Again. I see the steepled church. But now the
scene is changed.
"Pat! Pat! Pit-a-pat" -The street that lies be-
fore it is still with people filled But they are no
longer passing "by"- The crowds are passing "in."
They fill the pews and the galleries. They stand in
the aisles and climb to the window sills. They pack
the doorways and stand on the stairs. The streets
and the lanes are filled. The Gospel nets are full to
the bursting and there is no more room to contain
the multitudes that throng the place.
Twent}'
And out o'er the heads of the people I hear the
message ring :
"Awake! thou that sleepest, arise -from the dead!
The Lord still lives today. His power has never
abated. His Word has never changed. The things
He did in Bible days, He still lives to do today. Not
a burden is there He cannot bear nor a fetter He
cannot break.
"Here bring your sins, He'll wash them away.
Here bring your sicknesses He'll heal you today.
We serve not a dead but a living God not 'I WAS,'
but 'The Great I AM.'
"Come young, come old; come sad, come glad;
come weary and faltering of step ; come sick, come
well ! come one, come all unto i The Great I AM. '
There is food for the hungry, there is strength for the
faint ; there is hope for the hopeless, and sight for
the blind."
"Pit-a-pat! Pit-a-pat!" Faster and faster they
come ! The church is o 'erflowing ; they are filling the
streets. Their faces are shining; in their eyes the
light of hope has been kindled by the taper of faith
through the preaching of "The Great I AM."
They are reaching out their hands for forgiveness,
for the healing of the crippled and sick. They are
thirsting for the joy of salvation; hungering for the
Bread of Life. They are seeking the power of the
Holy Ghost and something practical which can meet
the immediate and pressing need of the great today,
and fit them for the morrow. And they have found
the source of sure supply in the church the house of
God from under whose altar and o 'er whose thresh-
hold runs the ever deepening stream of life. They
seek no further, through the briers of the world
Twenty-one
they have found "The Great I AM" and sing:
"Wisdom, righteousness and power,
Holiness forevermore
My redemption full and sure,
Christ is all I need."
Burdens are lifted, tearful weeping eyes are dried,
the sick are healed, the crooked made straight. Sin-
guilty hearts are cleansed and made holy. Empty
water-pots are filled with wine. And the cold, world-
ly church has risen from the dust in garments glister-
ing, white. With oil in their lamps and sheaves in
their arms they worship "The Great I AM."
Twenty -two
A Double Cure For A Double Curse
When Satan entered the purity of the Garden of Eden,
in the form of a serpent, two "angels of darkness" fol-
lowed hard on his trail his coming brought the double
curse of Sin and Sickness.
When Christ came into the dying world to redeem it
from the curse, there came in His blessed footsteps "two
angels" of light and hope His coming brought the double
cure, Salvation and Healing.
In the beginning the world emerged from under
the hand of God, good, and pure and perfect.
In the Garden of Eden, the most perfect spot in a
perfect world, He placed the perfect man and woman,
Adam and Eve, whom He had formed from the dust
of the ground and into -whose nostrils He had
breathed the breath of life.
In innocence and purity they dwelled 'neath the
flowing boughs and trailing flowers of rich fruit-la-
den trees. Busy bees droned contentedly in the per-
fumed air as the golden, mellow sunlight of a perfect
day filtered through the dense green foliage of leaf
and branch and splashed upon a floor carpeted with
violets, moss and lichen. Birds of rich plumage flit-
ted from tree to tree, and high above it all a songful
lark sprang high into the open heaven showering the
air with musical praise.
Into the tranquil beauty of this garden which His
own loving hand had planted, God loved to walk in
the cool of the day, communing with man whom He
had made after His own image, and filled with His
breath Divine.
How peaceful their abode ! How blessed their
communion ! How blissful their freedom of body,
soul and- spirit ! Theirs but one requirement faith
in the Word of the Father and obedience to His com-
mand.
search of help from another source."
"And we, 7 ' say the tired, discouraged feet, "are
also glad that in a far off land, He gave the weary
rest ; and they, who had well nigh lost the faith and
trust in their fellow-man, found truth and grace in
Him.
"But you say He is afar off now? That we live
in a different dispensation? His promises were
largely for the Jewish people anyway ? Then there 's
not much for us here, so we walk past your door
seeking elsewhere a haven of rest and hope."
"And we," the glad, young, joyous feet, send up a
rippling echo from the pavement, "we are in search
of something that can give us joy and happiness to-
day. You say God 'used' to make His little ones so
happy that they danced and shouted for joy. We,
too, want joy ! Not the joy that 'used' to be but joy
of heart today. As it is taken away from the church,
we seek it in the world."
"And we," say the heavy, groping, lonely feet,
"are bereaved and seek comfort and rest. For us
the shades of night are falling. The knowledge that
Christ 'once' dried tears and bare the heavy load is
blest indeed, but Oh!, we of today need succor now.
Preaching 'The Great I WAS' can never satisfy our
longings, WE NEED 'THE GREAT I AM.'
' ' The Great I AM ' 'why yes ! That 's it exactly !
That's what this old world needs. A Christ who
lives and loves and answers prayer today. A Christ
who changeth not but is the same today as He was
yesterday, and will be evermore. A Christ whose
power knows neither lack nor cessation. A Lord
Fifteen
whose Name is "I AM" forever, even unto all genera-
tions.
When the Lord bade Moses go, call the children of
Israel from the flesh pots and bondage, sin and sick-
ness of Egypt, Moses inquired of Him, "When they
shall ask who sent me? and What is His Name?
what shall I say unto them?" and He said 1 , "Thus
shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath
sent me unto you. This is my Name forever, and this
is my memorial unto all generations."
Oh, what a wonderful Name ! What a wonderful
promise ! Glory ! Glory ! to God !
Moses did not need to go about apologetically and
say, M 'The Great I WAS' hath sent me unto you, His
name is 'I WAS' because He 'used' to do great things
long ago. He expended the last of His power in
creating the heavens and the earth and all that in
them is. He is quite far off now and the necessity
for this miraculous manifestation of His power is no
longer needed, seeing that all things have now been
created. He does not do mighty works today but
please come, follow and obey the message of 'The
Great I WAS. ' :
Why, I doubt whether they would have followed
such a call. The message which Moses bore rang
clear and firm "I AM hath sent me." He walked
with assurance. The solid rock was under his feet.
His God was a living God a miracle-working God.
Moses knew his business was to preach and deliver
the message God had given him. "The Great I AM"
had contracted to back up that message with signs
following. ' ' I AM I AM I AM ! ' ' rang in the ears
of Moses every step he took.
Ah ! It gives a servant of God some heart to know
Sixteen
that "I AM" hath sent him. No more apologizing.
No more hanging the head and resorting to earthly
means; no more trembling and fear of failure, no
dread now that the crowds will not follow ! Head
erect, footsteps firm and full of assurance, earthly
temple clad with a robe of the majesty and tender-
ness of the Father, hands pointing unhesitatingly to
the w r ay, voice ringing clear and authoritative "I
AM, I AM hath sent me unto you" !
" 'I AM' lives today. He will tabernacle in our
midst. 'I AM' will deliver us from our enemies. He
will guide us by His hand. 'I AM' will feed us with
the bread from the heavens and give us water from
the rock. 'I AM' will deliver us from the sickness
and the diseases of the Egyptians, saying, 'If you will
walk in My ways and keep My statutes none of the
diseases which have been put upon the Egyptians
shall come nigh you. 'I AM' will lead us into the
promised land
Oh, the blessed assurance, the authority, the majes-
tic glory of the name "I AM !" No wonder the chil-
dren of Israel left the flesh-pots and the bands that
bound them. No wonder the weary eyes of the toiler
looked up with new interest and hope. No wonder
that hands which had hung down were lifted and the
feeble knees made strong when Moses could promise
them that when the Lord said unto those which were
weak, "Be strong and of good courage, for the Lord
will do great things," He meant just what He said.
He did not have to say, "The Lord 'used' to do great
things," but could triumphantly declare, "The Lord
'will' do great things; for He is 'The Great I AM,'
and though heaven is His home, the earth is His foot-
stool where He answers the prayers of His people."
Seventeen
During Moses' ministry, the sick were healed, the
lepers cleansed, the plague stayed.
Oh, Moses how we envy you, the great commis-
sion, GO ! call my people out of bondage into liberty ;
out of darkness into light ; out of sin into holiness ;
out of sickness into health ! But tell us, just when
did the day of supernatural, miraculous manifesta-
tion of the power of God end? When did "I AM"
become "I WAS?"
Why, little children, "I AM" hath never changed!
His power is just the same in this thy day as it was
in the days of yore. Did He not say, "This is My
Name forever even unto ALL generations"? They
who have faith shall see the lightnings of His glory
flash in power of answered prayer today, as in the
days of old. Elijah and Elisha lived in a day when
doubters said the miraculous had passed away and
"I AM" had become "I WAS." But through faith
and prayer they proved His name to be "I AM" unto
their generations. After the ascension of the Only
Begotten of the Father, Jesus Christ, the disciples
proved that "He who was dead is alive forevermore"
the Great I AM, who saves and heals and baptizes
with the Spirit's power.
On and on through the centuries, though surround-
ed by unbelief and skepticism; there have always
been the Elijahs and the Peters who have proved
that "I AM" is His Name even unto their generation.
John Wesley believed that Christ was not only to
save but to heal the sick in his day. In his biography
he tells of the lame made to walk, cancers which
melted away and even a lame horse made whole
Eighteen
through answered prayer; thus proving "I AM" to
be the Lord's Name even unto his generation.
Then surely He has not changed at this late hour !
Surely, He is the same today. Elijah, Peter, John
Wesley and an army of others who had heard and
obeyed the message, "Thus shall you say I AM hath
sent me/ 7 were ridiculed and persecuted by those
they loved the best. Even so today, though it means
being despised and misunderstood, get alone in the
wilderness of quiet and stillness before God. Seek
His face till your soul is kindled with the flame of
love from the burning bush. Get your authority
from God. Inquire of Him, "When they shall ask
who sent me and what is his name ? what shall I say
unto them?" Hear His reply, "Thus shalt thou say
unto them, 'I AM' hath sent me" and let it ring in
your soul forever, louder, clearer, more wonderful in
its revelation of the ever-living Christ with each new
step and turn of the way. Victory is assured and
the only solution to the problem of drawing the mul-
titude is to lift up, not the dead, but the living
Christ; not the Great "I WAS" but the Great "I
AM."
Thanks ! Thanks ! for that message, dear Lord.
The clouds of uncertainty are dispelled the shades
of night rolled back. We see Thee in a new and
glorious light, even as the Sun of Righteousness with
healing in Thy wings. "I AM" is Thy Name today
and shall be evermore !
"I AM the Lord, I change not."
"I AM the Lord that hath chosen thee and called
thee by thy name."
"I AM come down to deliver thee and to bring
Nineteen
thee up into a good land and a large ; unto a land
flowing with milk and honey. ' '
"I AM (not I WAS but I AM) the Lord that heal-
eththee."
"I AM He who was dead but am alive forever-
more."
"I AM Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end, the first and the last."
How the "I AMS" of the Lord come rolling in, like
the billows of a full, o 'erflowing sea, whose tide rises
higher toward down-bending heavens.
Glory ! Glory ! My own poor heart is running
over like a tiny cup that would seek to hold the
ocean! God is speaking in my ears, "I AM THAT I
AM.' 7 The earth resounds with His voice. The
eternal hills and the mountains swell the song, "I AM
shall be My Name f orevermore. ' ' And away up yon-
der the glorious stars of the heaven echo back again
"Even unto all generations this shall be my
Name." Angels and cherubim bend low over heav-
en's balustrade and sing a new song of inspiration
"Go forth, my child, and this thy cry shall be, 'I AM
I AM hath sent me unto thee'."
Again. I see the steepled church. But now the
scene is changed.
"Pat! Pat! Pit-a-pat" -The street that lies be-
fore it is still with people filled But they are no
longer passing "by"- The crowds are passing "in."
They fill the pews and the galleries. They stand in
the aisles and climb to the window sills. They pack
the doorways and stand on the stairs. The streets
and the lanes are filled. The Gospel nets are full to
the bursting and there is no more room to contain
the multitudes that throng the place.
Twent}'
And out o'er the heads of the people I hear the
message ring :
"Awake! thou that sleepest, arise -from the dead!
The Lord still lives today. His power has never
abated. His Word has never changed. The things
He did in Bible days, He still lives to do today. Not
a burden is there He cannot bear nor a fetter He
cannot break.
"Here bring your sins, He'll wash them away.
Here bring your sicknesses He'll heal you today.
We serve not a dead but a living God not 'I WAS,'
but 'The Great I AM.'
"Come young, come old; come sad, come glad;
come weary and faltering of step ; come sick, come
well ! come one, come all unto i The Great I AM. '
There is food for the hungry, there is strength for the
faint ; there is hope for the hopeless, and sight for
the blind."
"Pit-a-pat! Pit-a-pat!" Faster and faster they
come ! The church is o 'erflowing ; they are filling the
streets. Their faces are shining; in their eyes the
light of hope has been kindled by the taper of faith
through the preaching of "The Great I AM."
They are reaching out their hands for forgiveness,
for the healing of the crippled and sick. They are
thirsting for the joy of salvation; hungering for the
Bread of Life. They are seeking the power of the
Holy Ghost and something practical which can meet
the immediate and pressing need of the great today,
and fit them for the morrow. And they have found
the source of sure supply in the church the house of
God from under whose altar and o 'er whose thresh-
hold runs the ever deepening stream of life. They
seek no further, through the briers of the world
Twenty-one
they have found "The Great I AM" and sing:
"Wisdom, righteousness and power,
Holiness forevermore
My redemption full and sure,
Christ is all I need."
Burdens are lifted, tearful weeping eyes are dried,
the sick are healed, the crooked made straight. Sin-
guilty hearts are cleansed and made holy. Empty
water-pots are filled with wine. And the cold, world-
ly church has risen from the dust in garments glister-
ing, white. With oil in their lamps and sheaves in
their arms they worship "The Great I AM."
Twenty -two
A Double Cure For A Double Curse
When Satan entered the purity of the Garden of Eden,
in the form of a serpent, two "angels of darkness" fol-
lowed hard on his trail his coming brought the double
curse of Sin and Sickness.
When Christ came into the dying world to redeem it
from the curse, there came in His blessed footsteps "two
angels" of light and hope His coming brought the double
cure, Salvation and Healing.
In the beginning the world emerged from under
the hand of God, good, and pure and perfect.
In the Garden of Eden, the most perfect spot in a
perfect world, He placed the perfect man and woman,
Adam and Eve, whom He had formed from the dust
of the ground and into -whose nostrils He had
breathed the breath of life.
In innocence and purity they dwelled 'neath the
flowing boughs and trailing flowers of rich fruit-la-
den trees. Busy bees droned contentedly in the per-
fumed air as the golden, mellow sunlight of a perfect
day filtered through the dense green foliage of leaf
and branch and splashed upon a floor carpeted with
violets, moss and lichen. Birds of rich plumage flit-
ted from tree to tree, and high above it all a songful
lark sprang high into the open heaven showering the
air with musical praise.
Into the tranquil beauty of this garden which His
own loving hand had planted, God loved to walk in
the cool of the day, communing with man whom He
had made after His own image, and filled with His
breath Divine.
How peaceful their abode ! How blessed their
communion ! How blissful their freedom of body,
soul and- spirit ! Theirs but one requirement faith
in the Word of the Father and obedience to His com-
mand.