The God whom we worship, contact, enjoy, and serve calls Himself, the God of Abraham, the God of a person. What did Abraham experience of God so that God would call Himself as his God?
Are we experiencing God as the God of Abraham today so that God would also call Himself, our God? Is God only the God of your parents or the God of those who brought you to Christ, or did God become your God?
The extent to which the God of Abraham becomes our God is the extent to which we experience the God of Abraham. Our God is not merely the God of the universe, the Creator of heavens and earth, and the God of the heavens; our God is the God of a person, a personal God, and He can be experienced in many aspects in all situations we face day by day.
When we open to Him and He speaks to us, we can experience Him in a certain way; when God doesn’t speak to us, we can also experience His secret care and secret writing of His history within our history.
We need to advance in our spiritual experience from merely having God’s appearing and calling to learning to live by faith, learning to enjoy God’s grace so that everything we do would be by the grace of God, and even to the stage in which we are “the friend of God”, intimately conversing with Him concerning the things on His heart.
Today we would like to see how Abraham experienced God as the God of all-sufficiency (the El-Shaddai), the God with His human friendship, and the God with friendship in humanity. Our God is the all-sufficient God for us to enjoy and experience as the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Our God is the God with His human friendship, coming to us on a human level to fellowship with us, converse with us, and open His heart to us so that He may have a friend who prays for what’s on His heart. Our God is the God with friendship in humanity, secretly taking care of us and rescuing us from the enemy’s usurpation, answering the prayers of many interceding saints. Oh, what a wonderful God we have!
The God of Abraham is El-Shaddai, the God of All-Sufficiency
Gen. 17:1-2 And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him, I am the All-sufficient God; Walk before Me, and be perfect. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.
After Abraham learned the hard way that God rejects what he can produce by the efforts of his flesh, God appeared to him and told him, I am the All-sufficient God; Walk before Me, and be perfect. (Gen. 17:1)
Abraham experienced God as the God of all-sufficiency in His third appearing to him. God is the all-sufficient One in being the God of circumcision to cut His chosen people’s natural man in the flesh that they may become God’s new creation (Gal. 4:22-31).
After 13 years of silence, God appeared to Abraham and strengthened His covenant with him by requesting that Abraham would be circumcised (Gen. 17:1-21). This shows that we as believers in Christ need to have our old man in the flesh put to death through the application of Christ’s crucifixion so that our new man would be germinated in His resurrection to make us His new creation (see Gen. 22:1-10; Col. 2:11; Gal. 5:24; 1 Pet. 1:3; 2 Cor. 5:17; Phil. 3:3).
God is the all-sufficient One to us for us to walk in His presence, enjoying Him constantly with His all-sufficient supply, so that Christ may be brought forth from us not through our fleshly effort but through God working Himself into us day by day.
El-Shaddai refers to the Mighty One “with an udder”, the all-sufficient One who always supplies us bountifully to walk before God and be perfect. Our God is “the Mighty One with an udder”, the all-sufficient God to be the One who nourishes us, gives us strength and supplies us bountifully with all His riches for us to live Christ by grace (see Phil. 1:19-21; Gal. 3:2; John 1:16).
We need to let the cross of Christ operate in us to kill and terminate our old man in the flesh, and in His resurrection, we will be a new creation, the corporate seed of Abraham, the sons of Abraham born through grace. God has promised and He even entered into a covenant with us: Christ will be brought forth in us and He will be our full enjoyment of the all-inclusive good land.
How can this be possible? It is through death and resurrection, by the grace of God, and in the Spirit! We need to exercise our spirit to reject the efforts of our flesh and simply enjoy God as grace, the all-sufficient One with the bountiful supply; as result of enjoying God as grace we will live Christ and express Him spontaneously and effortlessly, and Christ will be the good land in which we walk, labor on, and enjoy for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Lord, keep us enjoying the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ so that we may live Christ and express Him by the grace of God. Thank You for being the Almighty God with an udder, the all-sufficient God who works Himself into us to bring forth Christ in us for the fulfillment of Your purpose. You are the all-sufficient God as the God of crucifixion to terminate our natural man int he flesh and the God of resurrection to germinate our new man for the new creation! We praise You and we simply enjoy You as such a One!
The God of Abraham is the God with His Human Friendship
In the fourth stage of Abraham experiencing God, God was to him the God with His human friendship coming to Him on a human level to converse with him and fellowship with him.
When God first appeared to man it was in the case of Adam, and He asked, Where are you? (see Gen. 3:9) But in Gen. 18-19 God came to Abraham as a man, on the level of humanity, conversing with him as with a friend (see 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23).
Abraham gave Him water for his feet, his wife cooked a meal for them, and he walked with God, conversing with Him as with a human friend. Abraham experienced God in His human friendship, and God opened up to him His intention to judge Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family lived.
We need to advance in our experience of Christ to the point that we are the friend of God and He and we converse about everything, having the unveiling of His heart and His intentions.
God is not merely looking for someone to work with Him or for Him; He wants a friend, someone He can open His heart to and who would echo the desire of His heart back to Him for Him to accomplish it.
The God of Abraham is the God with Friendship in Humanity
Unbeknownst to Abraham, God sent His angels into Sodom and rescued Lot from the coming judgment upon that city. To Abraham, God was the God with friendship in humanity in sending his nephew Lot (and his family) out from the overthrow of Sodom (Gen. 19:29; 12-22).
God remembered His friend Abraham and worked secretly (without letting Abraham know what He was doing) to save Lot and his family from the coming judgement. He didn’t speak to Abraham about what He was doing – He simply cared for His elect in secret, and Abraham fully trusted in God.
As believers in Christ, all things work together for good to us who love God, those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28-29). God may not say much to us about what He’s about to do, but as we converse with Him and pray for the people He puts on our heart, He will do something – and we trust Him that all things work out for good to those who love Him!
We believe that He who called us has also justified us, and He will also glorify us! The God of Abraham is our God, and He is the God with friendship in humanity, remembering our prayers of intercession for those whom He puts on our heart.
Thank You, Lord, for coming to us on a human level to be our friend. We don’t want to rush our time with You. Lord, speak to us. We open to You to be pure in heart that we may see God. Unveil us to see what’s on Your heart. Tell us what You are about to do and we will intercede for the ones You have chosen! Lord, may we be considered to be Your friend. We want to be the friend of God as our father Abraham was. Thank You for everything. We love You!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-Study of Romans (msg. 7), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 8 / msg 8, The God of Abraham seen in His dealings with Abraham.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Oh! Vast Unmeasured Portion, / Oh! Bountiful Supply, / In light the saints enjoy Thee, / And Thou dost reign thereby. / Within the Father’s bosom / Beloved Son Thou art; / The sweetness of the Godhead / To us Thou dost impart. (Hymn on Christ our Portion)
# Thou art my God—the All-Sufficient One, / Thou canst create for me whate’er I lack; / Thy mighty hand has strewn the lonely track / With miracles of love and tender care. (Hymns #671)
# Thou art the sinner’s friend, / So I Thy friendship claim, / A sinner saved by grace, / When Thy sweet message came. / Mine! Mine! Mine! / I know Thou art mine; / Savior, dear Savior, / I know Thou art mine. (Hymns #317)
# The Lord will silently plan for thee, / Thou object of omniscient care; / God undertakes Himself to be / Thy Pilot through each subtle snare. (Hymns #674)
Great post. It's good to be reminded of how comes to us in our humasn condition and in a personal way.
It's also worth considering that God came to Abraham in order to call him for a specific task. He was called to be the one through whom God's blessing would reach to the nations. God chose this human person to be his representative in creation. How amazing!