Abraham And The Revelation Of El Shaddai (Part II)
March 2025
“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.”
—Gen. 17:1
Last month, we dealt with progressive revelation as God revealed Himself to Abraham as El Shaddai, meaning “Almighty God.” This month, we want to look at the second part of Genesis 17:1, “walk before me, and be thou perfect.”
By the use of the word walk, the Holy Spirit is speaking of one’s life and living. The Lord here is telling Abraham that the way to walk before the Lord and be perfect is by faith—actually, perfect faith. We see in Abraham’s situation with Hagar that his faith was imperfect. He doubted the Lord and tried to help the Lord, which always leads to failure. Perfect faith carries the idea that one’s faith must rest completely in the Lord.
For us today, it means that our faith must be completely in who Christ is—the Son of God—and what Christ has done—He died on Calvary’s cross for our salvation. The object of our faith must be 100 percent in Christ and Him crucified.
The second point is that our walk cannot be what it should be without the power of almighty God. This power is the Holy Spirit living and working in us and through us.
In Romans 8:1, Paul spoke of walking “after the Spirit.” Walking after the Spirit can only happen if one’s faith is right, for the Holy Spirit can only work through the finished work of Christ. Walking after the Spirit produces a life of power, holiness, and victory. Walking after the flesh produces failure. Let me say it this way—walking after the flesh is Abraham and Hagar, which produced Ishmael. Walking after the Spirit is Abraham and Sarah allowing God to bring forth Isaac.
Walking after the Spirit is impossible if we try to live this life outside of perfect faith in Christ and Him crucified.
We must place our faith in Christ and what He has done for us at Calvary. This must be done on a constant basis with us knowing and understanding that everything we receive from God comes to us through Christ and the cross. When we understand that, when our faith is properly placed in Him, that faith will produce a perfect walk.
The word perfect does not mean sinless perfection. It means “guileless,” which means“genuine, honest, sincere,” or “true.”
True faith or perfect faith always leads to us walking after the Spirit.
We must never forget that without the Holy Spirit working in our lives, there will not be any spiritual growth in our lives. Actually, the Holy Spirit functions in every aspect of one’s salvation and one’s sanctification.
Most Christians think that doing spiritual things is walking after the Spirit. That sounds good, but it is incorrect.
Walking after the Spirit refers to the fact that we do what the Spirit of God does. And what is that? It is the cross of Christ that gives the Holy Spirit the legal means to do all that He can do for the believer. Therefore, placing our faith in the cross of Christ and keeping it there gives the Holy Spirit the freedom to carry out His work in our lives, which is to rid us of all sin and to give us victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil.
That is walking after the Spirit.