The Lord Almighty-2

 Introduction

Genesis 17:1 “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.”

            Over here we see that the Lord God introduces himself as an Almighty God. The Hebrew word ‘Elshaddai’ would mean the Lord almighty. In the above passage we see the Lord who is an almighty God makes a covenant to Abraham. In Genesis 17:2 ‘And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.’ Here our Lord promises to bless Abraham in a multiplied manner. The hands of the Lord almighty blessed the entire generation of Abraham. Even in our lives, the almighty will remove all the hindrances and bless us. We the children of God will experience the power of the almighty in our lives.

I The Lord speaks with Abraham and leads him

Genesis 22:1 “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.”

In this 22^nd chapter, we see the Lord God speaks to Abraham twice. We read in Genesis 22:15 ‘And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,’ We see the Lord God called Abraham from the heaven. When there is a call from our Lord God, there is an important blessing on purpose. In Genesis 21:34 ‘And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.’ Our Lord God made Abraham to stay in the land of Philistines for quite long time. Abraham had a lot of questions in mind as to why he was put in this strange land. As a matter of fact, he was worried. But the almighty Lord had different plans for him. Our Lord God knew what he was going through and he started to speak to him. The chapter 22 was like the climax for the purpose that God had on Abraham. Our Lord almighty pitched in and he led Abraham.

In James 1:13 ‘Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:’ Our Lord God does not tempt his children but he tests. The work of temptation proceeds from Satan. This is clearly explained in I Corinthians 7:5 ‘..that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.’ When we are tested by our Lord, we will be blessed at the end. But when Satan tempts us, the result will not be favorable. Our Lord God tests us to know the amount of faith that we have on him. This is recorded in Exodus 20:20 ‘And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.’ Whenever we are tested by our Lord God, we should know that there is purpose behind it. And we should know that our Lord will definitely bring in an elevation. Interestingly, in Deuteronomy 8:2 ‘And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.’ The passage reveals that we are tested to know the level of submission on the name of the Lord almighty. We should pray to our Lord God that he gives us grace to be able to yield fruitful results when we are tested.

II First call – He saves Isaac

Genesis 22:11-12 ‘And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.’

We see here the Lord God calls Abraham. This was the first call. The Lord almighty asks Abraham not to put his hand on his son Isaac. This test proved the faith of Abraham and later he became the father of faith. The Lord almighty saved the life of Isaac. When Abraham was on the verge of putting the knife on his son, the Lord almighty barges in and stops it immediately. The Lord was concerned about the generations of Abraham and he had a lot of plans on Isaac. In Genesis 22:17-18 ‘That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.’ Even in our lives our Lord has many plans for us. Even though we deviate, our Lord will direct us into the right path. We should know that nothing and nobody can stop the plans of our father God.

In Genesis 22:12 ‘And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.’

            Here the Lord God shares his testimony concerning Abraham. Our Lord himself shares it. Even in our lives, our Lord God should share his testimony concerning us. As recorded in James 2:22 ‘Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?’ the faith of Abraham gets whole by his deeds. Even we the children of God should exhibit our faith by our good deeds. In James 2:26 ‘For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.’

III Second call- Reward for his work

In Genesis 22:15-16 ‘And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:’

            We see the Lord God calls Abraham for the second time and gives him blessings in abundance. Our Lord expected few things in the life of Abraham and he fulfills it. And as a result, he was led and blessed by the hands of the Lord God. Even in our lives, our Lord God expects many things and when we make it a point to prove it, we will be blessed abundantly.