The Power of I Am: Two Words That Will Change Your Life Today

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This book is dedicated to my wife, Victoria, who inspires me and fills my life with love and light, and to my children, Jonathan and Alexandra, who continue to amaze me and fill my life with joy. I am grateful to God for bringing us together as a family and for showing me that I am blessed.

In this book I offer many stories shared with me by friends, members of our congregation, and people I’ve met around the world. I appreciate and acknowledge their contributions and support. Some of those mentioned in the book are people I have not met personally, and, in a few cases, we’ve changed the names to protect the privacy of individuals. I give honor to all those to whom honor is due. As the son of a church leader and a pastor myself, I’ve listened to countless sermons and presentations, so in some cases I can’t remember the exact source of a story.

I am indebted to the amazing staff of Lakewood Church, the wonderful members of Lakewood who share their stories with me, and those around the world who generously support our ministry and make it possible to bring hope to a world in need. I am grateful to all of those who follow our services on television, the Internet, and through the podcasts. You are all part of our Lakewood family.

I offer special thanks also to all the pastors across the country who are members of our Champions Network.

Once again, I am grateful for a wonderful team of professionals who helped me put this book together for you. Leading them is my FaithWords/Hachette publisher, Rolf Zettersten, along with team members Patsy Jones, Billy Clark, Becky Hughes, and Megan
Gerrity. I truly appreciate the editorial contributions of wordsmith Lance Wubbels.

I am grateful also to my literary agents Jan Miller Rich and Shannon Marven at Dupree Miller & Associates.

And last but not least, thanks to my wife, Victoria, and our children, Jonathan and Alexandra, who are my sources of daily inspiration, as well as to our closest family members who serve as day-to-day leaders of our ministry, including my brother, Paul, and his wife, Jennifer; my sister Lisa and her husband, Kevin; and my brother-in-law Don and his wife, Jackelyn.

L
acy was a beautiful young lady who seemed to have everything going for her. She was smart, attractive, and came from a loving family. As we visited in the lobby after a service, she was friendly and had a pleasant personality. I thought if anybody would be happy, it would be her. But I soon realized it was just the opposite of what I thought. Lacy began to describe how she wasn’t fulfilled; she was lonely and she perceived her coworkers as more talented. She made statements such as, “I am unattractive. I am unlucky. I am a slow learner. I am always tired.”

After five minutes of listening to Lacy, I knew exactly what was holding her back. Her “I am”s. What follows those two simple words will determine what kind of life you live. “I am blessed. I am strong. I am healthy.” Or, “I am slow. I am unattractive. I am a lousy mother.” The “I am”s coming out of your mouth will bring either success or failure.

All through the day the power of “I am” is at work. We make a mistake and out of our mouth tumbles, “I am so clumsy.” We look in the mirror, shake our head, and say, “I am so old.” We see somebody who we think is more talented and whisper under our breath,
“I am so average.” We get caught in traffic and grump, “I am so unlucky.” Many times we wield the power of “I am” against ourselves. We don’t realize how it’s affecting our future.

Here’s the principle.
Whatever follows the “I am” will eventually find you.

When you say, “I am so clumsy,” clumsiness comes looking for you. “I am so old.” Wrinkles come looking for you. “I am so overweight.” Calories come looking for you. It’s as though you’re inviting them. Whatever you follow the “I am” with, you’re handing it an invitation, opening the door, and giving it permission to be in your life.

The good news is you get to choose what follows the “I am.” When you go through the day saying, “I am blessed,” blessings come looking for you. “I am talented.” Talent comes looking for you. You may not feel up to par, but when you say, “I am healthy,” health starts heading your way. “I am strong.” Strength starts tracking you down. You’re inviting those things into your life.

That’s why you have to be careful what follows the “I am.” Don’t ever say, “I am so unlucky. I never get any good breaks.” You’re inviting disappointments. “I am so broke. I am so in debt.” You are inviting struggle. You’re inviting lack.

You need to send out some new invitations. Get up in the morning and invite good things into your life. “I am blessed. I am strong. I am talented. I am wise. I am disciplined. I am focused. I am prosperous.” When you talk like that, talent gets summoned by Almighty God: “Go find that person.” Health, strength, abundance, and discipline start heading your way.

But how many of us, when we get up in the morning, look in the
mirror and the first thing we say is, “I am so old. I am so wrinkled. I am so worn out.” You are inviting oldness. You’re inviting fatigue. Do us all a favor; stop inviting that. Dare to say, “I am young. I am energetic. I am vibrant. I am radiant. I am fresh. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” That’s one of the best anti-aging treatments you could ever take, and it costs you nothing!

Some people have never once said, “I am beautiful. I am attractive.” They’re more focused on their flaws and what they don’t like about themselves and how they wish they had more here and less there. When you say, “I am beautiful,” beauty comes looking for you. Youth comes looking for you. Freshness comes looking for you. Nobody else can do this for you! It has to come out of your own mouth.

Ladies, don’t go around telling your husband how unattractive you are. You should never put yourself down, and especially don’t put yourself down in front of your husband. You are his prize. To him you are the most beautiful woman in the world. Why would you want to tell him anything different? The last thing he needs to hear is how bad you think you look. Don’t put those negative thoughts in his mind. It’s not going to do him or you any good to discredit yourself. If you keep telling him how bad you look, one day he may believe you.

But when you say, “I am beautiful,” not only does beauty, youth, and freshness start coming your way, but on the inside your spirit also comes alive. Your self-image begins to improve, and you’ll start carrying yourself like you’re someone special. You won’t drag
through the day feeling less than or inferior. You’ll have that spring in your step, that “You go, girl!” attitude. Beauty is not in how thin or tall you are, how perfect you look. Beauty is in being who God made you to be with confidence. If you’re a size 4, great. If you’re a size 24, great. Take what you have and make the most of it.

God made you as you are on purpose. He gave you your looks, your height, your skin color, your nose, your personality. Nothing about you is by accident. You didn’t get overlooked. You didn’t get left out. God calls you His masterpiece. Instead of going around feeling down on yourself, unattractive, too tall, too short, not enough of this, or too much of that, dare to get up in the morning and say, “I am a masterpiece. I am created in the image of Almighty God.”

David said in Psalm 139, “God, I praise You because You have made me in an amazing way. What You have done is wonderful.” Notice David’s “I am”s. He was saying, not in pride but in praise to God, “I am wonderful. I am amazing. I am a masterpiece.” That goes against human nature. Most of us think,
There’s nothing amazing about me. Nothing wonderful. I’m just average. I’m just ordinary
. But the fact is there is nothing ordinary about you. You have a fingerprint that nobody else has. There will never be another you. Even if you have an identical twin, somebody who looks exactly like you, they don’t have your same personality, your same goals, or even your same fingerprints. You are an original. When God made you, He threw away the mold. But as long as you go around thinking,
I’m just average. I’m just one of the seven billion people on the earth. There’s nothing special about me
, the wrong “I am” will keep you from rising higher.

Rather than being down on ourselves and discrediting who we are and focusing on all of our flaws, I wonder what would happen if all through the day—not in front of other people but in private—we were to be as bold as David was and say, “I am amazing. I am wonderful. I am valuable.” When you talk like that, amazing comes chasing you down. Awesome starts heading in your direction. You won’t have that weak, defeated “I’m just average” mentality. You’ll carry yourself like a king, like a queen. Not in pride. Not being better than somebody, but with a quiet confidence, with the knowledge that you’ve been handpicked by the Creator of the universe and you have something amazing to offer this world.

That’s what happened to a lady in the Scripture named Sarai. She had to change her “I am.” God promised Sarai and her husband, Abram, that they would have a baby. But Sarai was eighty years old, way past the childbearing years. Back in those days, if a wife couldn’t conceive and give her husband a child for some reason, even if it was the husband’s fault, the wife was considered to be a failure. She was looked down on greatly. There was a sense of shame in not being able to conceive a baby. This is how Sarai felt. She was eighty years old and never had a baby. She felt as though she had let Abram down. Her self-esteem was so low. I can imagine some of her “I am”s: “I am a failure. I am inferior. I am not good enough. I am unattractive.”

Yet Sarai has this promise from God that as an older woman she
was going to have a baby. God knew that it would never come to pass unless He could convince Sarai to change her “I am”s. It was so imperative that she have this new mindset that God actually changed her name from
Sarai
to
Sarah
, which means “princess.”

Now every time someone said, “Good morning, Sarah,” they were saying, “Good morning, Princess.”

“How are you, Sarah?” “How are you, Princess?”

“Would you pass me the ketchup, Sarah?” “Would you pass me the ketchup, Princess?”

She heard this over and over. Those words got inside her and began to change her self-image. Sarah went from “I am a failure” to “I am a princess.” From “I am unattractive” to “I am beautiful.” From “I am ashamed” to “I am crowned by Almighty God.” Instead of hanging her head in defeat, in embarrassment, she started holding her head up high. From “I’m not good enough” to “I am a child of the Most High God.” From “I’m inferior” to “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Her new attitude became: “I am amazing. I am wonderful. I am a masterpiece.”

And ladies, as was true for Sarah, you may have had a lot of things in life try to push you down—bad breaks and disappointments, maybe people have even tried to make you feel as though you just don’t measure up or you’re not quite attractive enough. You could easily let that seed get inside, ruin your sense of value, and cause you to live inferior. But God is saying to you what He said to Sarai, “I want you to change your name to Princess”—not literally, but in your attitude. You have to shake off the negative things people have said about you. Shake off the low self-esteem and the inferiority and start carrying yourself like a princess. Start walking like a princess. Start talking like a princess. Start thinking like a princess. Start waving like a princess!

Instead of whispering, “I am inferior. I am less than,” you start
declaring, “I am one of a kind. I am handpicked by Almighty God. I am valuable. I am a masterpiece.” When you get up in the morning, don’t focus on all your flaws. Look in the mirror and dare to say, “I am beautiful. I am young. I am vibrant. I am confident. I am secure.” You may have had some disappointments. People may have tried to push you down, but quit telling yourself you’re all washed up. Do as Sarah and say, “I am royalty. I am crowned with favor. I am excited about my future.” This princess spirit got inside Sarah. It changed her self-image. I’ve learned you have to change on the inside before you’ll see change on the outside. At ninety-one years old, against all odds, she gave birth to that baby. The promise came to pass.