You Cannot Fake the I AM

Anyone can say, “I am God.”
It rolls off the tongue easily—especially in a world filled with spiritual language, mystical echoes, and self-declared awakenings.

But unless you have been crucified with Christ,
unless you have truly passed through the fire of ego death—
you do not know the I AM.
You may quote it… but you do not embody it.

Because the true I AM is not a slogan—
it is a cross.
It is not a declaration of self-importance,
but the dissolution of self entirely.
It is the death of everything false,
everything grasped, defended, or performed.

To awaken to God is not to exalt the ego—
it is to die to it.
To walk the narrow way of the Lamb,
the path where the illusion of separation is consumed
and the only thing that remains…
is Love.

The kind of Love that lays down its life.
The kind of Love that needs no stage.
The kind of Love that doesn’t say “I am God” to be admired—
but simply burns quietly in union.

You cannot bypass the silence.
You cannot skip the surrender.
You cannot fake the flame.
There is no crown without crucifixion.
There is no union without undoing.

The I AM is not a throne for pride.
It is a furnace of flame—
where only those who love God more than self
will rise.

Many will use the language.
Few will carry the wound.

Because God cannot be mocked.
And only the Lamb is worthy.

—Joe Restman