I believe that you mistake the concept of God with God him/herself, e.g. "I think God is this," versus (in God's own words) "I am."
Correct. Since I'm an atheist, when I say "gods", I only mean the concept. There are no real gods or goddesses. I only care about the concept of gods because they're powerful, useful and dangerous, and nonexistent gods are not powerful, useful or dangerous.