Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty (El Shaddai); walk before Me and be blameless. Genesis 17:1.
God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them. Exodus 6:2-3.
“Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty (Shaddai)?” Job 11:7.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I called Myself “El Shaddai (אל שדי)” to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To Moses I made Myself known as YHWH (יהוה) and he referred to Me and wrote about Me using My Name as YHWH. When Abraham talked with Me you will see he called Me “Lord (Adonai) God (Elohim)” but he taught his son Isaac the Name “Shaddai.” Genesis 15:2, Genesis 28:3.
We continue our study of knowing Me by knowing My Name with Life Lesson No. 9: El Shaddai.
You see El Shaddai translated as “God Almighty,” and so I AM, but that is not what the word Shaddai means. שדי simply means “enough.” El (אל) is translated “God” and is the singular of אלהים which is also translated “God,” Elohim reveals the Three Divine Persons of the Godhead in one word and El signifies Me, the Father as Shepherd. So “El Shaddai” means God is enough. Do you recall that I told My apostle Paul that in every trial and situation My grace was sufficient for him? When you have Me, you have everything—a sufficiency for all you need and an abundance for every good work. I AM enough for every situation—I AM the answer. I have the answers. Nothing is too wonderful, too hard for Me. Nothing is impossible for Me. In Me, in My Word Jesus, are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Everything was made by Me and is sustained by Me. All times are in My hand.
While Shaddai (שדי) means “enough” in the sense of I am the source of all good and of overflowing sufficiency, the word shad (שד) refers to the breasts of a nursing mother, which is the only food of an infant and is more than sufficient for all the nourishment of the baby. Do you recall that My apostle Peter wrote in the Spirit, “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” 1 Peter 2:1-3. The Word is the food by which you grow. My Words are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. My Words are not idle words, they are your life. If you do not remain in My Word and let it remain in you as a branch in a vine, you will dry up and wither away.
And My prophet Isaiah in the Holy Spirit wrote, “Be joyful with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who love her; be exceedingly glad with her, all you who mourn over her, that you may nurse and be satisfied with her comforting breasts, that you may suck and be delighted with her bountiful bosom.” For thus says the LORD, “Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you will be nursed, you will be carried on the hip and fondled on the knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.” Isaiah 66:10-13. And here I was speaking both of the earthly Jerusalem, that has been raised up again and rebuilt, and the heavenly Jerusalem of Revelation 21-22. And there I will wipe every tear from your eyes. Jerusalem is a plural word.
My Name “Shaddai” speaks of Me as the all-sufficient One—the source of all good things and of every perfect gift in your life. James 1:17. It tells you that I AM more than sufficient to meet ALL your needs. If you seek Me and My Kingdom first, all else is added to you. From Shaddai flows, as spiritual milk, all that you need for life and godliness that you may grow into the perfect person you were created to be in Christ. I AM able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. 2 Corinthians 9:8.
When I first introduced Myself as El Shaddai to Abraham, his name was still Abram and My promise to him of a child by Sarah had not yet manifested. Why? Because when he and Sarah (then Sarai) did not see how that was going to happen they decided to do it another way than what I had told them. This will always end in disaster because the end does not justify the means when the means you are using are sinful and not what I directed. So thirteen years after Ishmael was born I put Abram back on the track by introducing Myself to him as El Shaddai. He did not have to look around to see how his help was to come, he had only to look to Me, El Shaddai. And knowing Me by this Name and by Me changing what he and his wife were called changed everything. He became fully persuaded that what I said I had the means to perform, that is, I was more than able to perform. Shaddai. The more than enough God. And you know that is true, just consider when Jesus made the water into wine. Yes, 180 gallons of wine. And Abraham and Sarah did have a son when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 90 years old, and she had been barren for all her younger years as well. Nothing is too wonderful for Me—for El Shaddai. Indeed, when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob blessed their sons to be fruitful and increase they used My Name “Shaddai.”
Let us return now to when I revealed the name “El Shaddai” to Abraham (then Abram). When Abram was ninety-nine years old, I appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai; walk before Me, and be pure (tamin). I will cut My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.” Abram fell on his face, and I talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” Genesis 17:1-8.
I told him several things here that go with My Name of El Shaddai. First to walk before Me. Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. Isaiah 30:21. You walk in My light when you walk before Me and My light cleanses you. In My light you see light. Also, when a parent teaches the child to walk, when the child is ready, the parent launches out the child in front of them as they follow behind. And I am more than able to keep you from stumbling, and make you stand in the presence of My glory blameless with great joy. Jude 1:24. Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Isaiah 49:15. I watch over you. I go before you to make a way, I am with you to carry you through, and I come behind you as your rear guard. Isaiah 52:12.
And under the name of “Shaddai,” I cut Covenant with Abraham and his seed, blessed him to multiply and live a fruitful life, and I changed his name from Abram (אַבְרָ֑ם) to Abraham (אַבְרָהָ֔ם) to match My prophecies over his life so that he would call himself the things yet to be. And it was then he became fully persuaded that what I said would come to pass. Romans 4:18-22.
And I also changed name of Sarai (ruler) (שָׂרָ֑י) to Sarah (princess) (שָׂרָ֖ה) and so she came to be, submitting to My Word and to her husband (remember Hagar was her idea when her name was Sarai). And how did I change their names? Simply by inserting the letter “Hei (ה)” into each of their names. If you recall Hei means “grace” and I have two Hei letters in My Name YHWH (יהוה). I shared them with My covenant friend, Abraham, and his wife, Sarah. And by faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Me faithful who had promised. Hebrews 11:11.
The next time My Name Shaddai is used is when Isaac blesses Jacob, “May El Shaddai bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” Genesis 28:3-4. Again you see the God of more than enough, of a fruitful life filled with increase. In Blessing I shall bless you, and in multiplying I shall multiply you.
The next time El Shaddai is used it is spoken again by Me. When Jacob left Laban to return to the land of Canaan, I blessed Jacob with My presence again at THE PLACE he had named Beth-el where I first appeared to him as he fled from Esau and went to find his bride. And there, at Beth-el, I blessed him as El Shaddai, and as I had done for Abraham, I gave Jacob a new name. I changed his name from Jacob, which means “supplanter and cheat,” to Israel, which means “prince of God.” I told Jacob, “Your name is Jacob; you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” And I went on to say, “ I AM El Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your seed after you.” Genesis 35:10-12. Fruitful from your source, El Shaddai.
And Jacob, when he was about to die, blessed his sons, and when he blessed Joseph, Jacob used My Name “Shaddai,” “From the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty (Shaddai) who blesses you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.” Genesis 49:25. Joseph, the prince among his brothers, received the blessing of El Shaddai from Jacob.
My Name El Shaddai is such a meaningful and powerful Name of blessing that the first letter of Shaddai became the formation in which the priests would hold their hands to bless the people. Shaddai starts with the Hebrew letter shin (שַׁ) which is pronounced “sh.” The priest would hold the index and middle finger together and the ring finger and little finger together while holding the thumb separate and join the hands at the thumbs and then chant the blessing I spoke to Moses to teach to Aaron and the priests, “The LORD bless you, and keep you; the LORD make His face shine on you and give you His grace. The LORD smile upon you and give you peace (shalom).” Numbers 6:24-26. And I told Moses this would put My Name on the sons of Israel, and I then would bless them. Numbers 6:27.
I love you. I AM more than enough to meet ALL your needs and beyond that, all the desires of your heart. I AM El Shaddai, walk before Me in the light of My love and I will keep you from stumbling and make you stand in the presence of My glory blameless with great joy. Jude 1:14.