Excerpted from Mind Garden of Eden
“13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name? Then what shall I tell them?” 14 “God said to Moses, “I AM who I AM (some verses say I Will be what I Will be). This is what you are to say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, “The Lord (The Hebrew for Lord sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for I AM in verse 14) the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I AM to be remembered from generation to generation.”
Maybe you’ve read this a billion times maybe you’ve never read it. To me it basically states that, I AM, is God’s name. So, I had to research it. You see, back in the day when I used to go to the Kingdom Hall (another long story) I AM being God’s name was stated as an untruth, and we were told God’s Name was Jehovah. Not knowing any better I accepted it and lived it. I didn’t look up what the translation of Jehovah is. I AM. When I left that church, or should I say when they kicked me out, thank goodness, I went to other religious beliefs and pretty much everyone set up God as benevolent but a separate being I should pray to and be saved by. Some called God, Jesus. I didn’t look up what the translation of Jesus is either. I AM. So many years later and reading my own bible from a metaphysical stand point instead of a literal historical one, I found out, I AM, is God’s name. Okay but what does that mean for us?
Well, upon examining one of the ten commandments which states, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain ,” I got the, ”Whoa! Now it makes a whole lot more sense, the all come overs came over me. We cannot take God’s name, I AM, in vain. It is impossible to do it. Thou shalt not do it because we literally can’t do it. Whenever and whatever we are stating after we say I AM, we are conditioning God within to become THAT. So by examining in the ten commandments Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, if God’s name is I AM well it’s quite impossible to do it. I AM is always present with us. It’s impossible to use it lightly or off-handedly or in vain without outwardly expressing our minds condition.
You try it. Stop saying I AM. Stop thinking I AM. We are forever using God’s name. And it is not in vain because we just cannot do it. We all believe we are something. Rich, poor, healthy, wealthy, free, loved, happy we are forever conditioning our lives with our I AM statements about ourselves. It’s not something you can do lightly or in vain. I AM, is God and it’s also what we call ourselves. The statement, “I AM stupid,” conditions God within us. It conditions us to believe accept and know, “I AM stupid.” The statement, “I AM loved,” conditions God within us to believe accept and know I AM loved. That is why calling with God’s name, calling from God’s name instead of calling upon God’s name became a huge Eureka moment for me.
“You can use it for anything in the world. You are told if you blaspheme against his name you must be stoned to death, as told us in Leviticus 24:16: “Anyone who blasphemes against the name I AM,” and the name has already been revealed in Exodus. Exodus 3 revealed the name. Now if you blaspheme against this name, stone him to death. One who was born of a Hebrew woman who knew an Egyptian man, cursed the name of God, and they listened to see what God would say to do to such a man: stone him to death. Stone does not mean that you take stones and throw at him, as people will do. The stones are the literal facts of life. How could I blaspheme against the name of God? With God all things are possible, so his name is “I AM.” And I dare to say: “I am unwanted; I am poor; I am ill; I am completely ignored in this world.” Well, this is blasphemy against God. For it is not what I really want in this world, or for anyone else that I love. So here I am blaspheming against God. I am told in John 8: “Except you believe that I am he you shall die in your sins.”
“Sin” is missing the mark. If I don’t believe that I am the man I want to be, I remain where I am at that moment of not daring to assume that I am the man that I want to be, and remain in that limitation, so I die, missing the mark. So the being you really are – if the second revelation is true (and I can tell you it is true, that his name is “I AM”) – it doesn’t mean you worship something on the outside when you say, “I am.” And the day that you actually contact it as though the “I-thou” concept was within yourself, you feel who you really are.
Can you go any place where you can leave behind your “I AM”? Where can you go in this world where you will leave behind your only power in the world, “I AM”? “Those who know thy name put their trust in thee.” Not in the bank, not in their social position, their financial, intellectual, or any other position. “Put their trust in thee,” Who are you? “I AM.” So everyone who came here tonight brought that name with them. When you leave here you are going to take it with you. Maybe you don’t know you carried it with you. You can have a treasure and not know you have it. If I had a billion dollars deposited in the bank but I didn’t know it, I could die of starvation for want of a dollar; and yet I could sign a check if I knew I had it, and would withdraw it for my earthly need. – Neville Goddard, His Name, 1953
In my first trial of using I AM Statements I didn’t believe them. So I began with one brick at a time until I became firm in my belief–especially with the, “I AM God,” statement. So I took something I could believe and stated that repeatedly. “I AM beginning to know I AM God.” That worked and felt good to me.
Neville gives an awesome I AM exercise to do before you actually begin to condition your I AM statements with anything, in his book Your Faith is Your Fortune. I will share it here.
“To rise to the level of any state is to automatically become that state in expression. But, in order to rise to the level that you are not now expressing, you must completely drop the consciousness with which you are now identified. Until your present consciousness is dropped, you will not be able to rise to another level. Do not be dismayed. This letting go of your present identity is not as difficult as it might appear to be. The invitation of the scriptures, „To be absent from the body and be present with the Lord” [2 Corinthians 5:8, Corinthians 5:3, Colossians 2:5], is not given to a select few; it is a sweeping call to all mankind. The body from which you are invited to escape is your present conception of yourself with all of its limitations, while the Lord with whom you are to be present is your awareness of being.
To accomplish this seemingly impossible feat, you take your attention away from your problem and place it upon just being. You say silently but feelingly, „I AM”. Do not condition this awareness but continue declaring quietly, „I AM – I AM”. Simply feel that you are faceless and formless and continue doing so until you feel yourself floating.
„Floating” is a psychological state which completely denies the physical. Through practice in relaxation and willfully refusing to react to sensory impressions, it is possible to develop a state of consciousness of pure receptivity. It is a surprisingly easy accomplishment. In this state of complete detachment, a definite singleness of purposeful thought can be indelibly engraved upon your unmodified consciousness. This state of consciousness is necessary for true meditation. This wonderful experience of rising and floating is the signal that you are absent from the body or problem and are now present with the Lord; in this expanded state you are not conscious of being anything but I AM – I AM; you are only conscious of being.–Neville Goddard Your Faith is Your Fortune.”