The Healing Word

Announcer: Welcome back to The Healing Word. Today, Pastor Jack Morris continues "Don’t Laugh at Impossibilities," Part 2 in our series, "The Names of God." We return to the name El Shaddai, God Almighty, and discover how God's promise to Abraham reaches all the way to us. From Revelation Chapter 7, we'll see how you and I are living proof that God always keeps His word.

Pastor Jack Morris: Did you know that you are the spiritual seed of Abraham? And that you are part of the fulfillment that God made, for you came from Abraham just as Isaac, as Jacob, as David, and now you have become children of God, the new Israel by faith?

And here is the final fulfillment of it. We're only the partial fulfillment of it, but in Revelation Chapter 7, beginning at verse 9, John looks into heaven by the Holy Spirit and he said, "After this I looked and before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands, and they cried out with a loud voice."

Now, this is what you're going to say someday. Here is the script. You are going to stand before the throne of God, children of the New Covenant, the very covenant that God made with Abraham. You're going to die and go to heaven or be raptured and go to heaven, but you're going to stand and this is what you're going to say with a group of people, an innumerable group of people, a people that cannot even be counted, there are so many of them.

It all started in Genesis Chapter 12 and Genesis Chapter 17 with a promise that God made for Abraham. You see, you are part of a plan. You didn't know it. You thought you were just born. You thought your mother and dad fell in love and you started with a gleam in your dad's eye and one thing led to another and here you are. Not at all. You are part of a divine plan that is ultimately going to climax in heaven with you saying these words.

Look at verse 10. And they cried out in a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb." The scripture says when you say that and that heavenly host says that, all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four elders, living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying in response to what you said, they're going to say, "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever, Amen!"

Can you say, "Praise the Lord"? Now that's where we're part of a great scheme. God just didn't crank the universe up like you would an old alarm clock. You crank it up, you sit it over there somewhere, and you leave the house and you go somewhere and it's off by itself just ticking away. God just didn't crank up the universe and people start being born and things start happening. No, God had a very divine plan and we're moving. There's a goal out there and I just read it to you from Revelation Chapter 7, and we're moving in that direction.

The word "El" means God Almighty. And nothing, hear it now, nothing will stop His plan. There is no power that can stop His plan. This is the way it is and this is where we're going. Abraham can laugh, you can laugh, I can laugh, the world can laugh, but God's plan is going to be fulfilled exactly because He is Almighty. There might be some might and power in the world, but there is only one that is Almighty, and He has the control and that's the direction we're going in.

I'm so thrilled to be part of something that is going someplace, something that is happening, something that is coming right out of the very heart of God's love. Now the word Shaddai means the all-sufficient nourisher. Shaddai occurs 48 times in the Old Testament. 24 times it's derived from a Hebrew word that is translated—are you listening?—breast. B-R-E-A-S-T, breast. He is Almighty God of strength. He is a tender God who is Almighty but who nourishes us like a mother.

He's unstoppable, this God. Listen to it now: the strong one to deliver, the tender one to nourish and satisfy. Now look at the word under point B number one. "El" meaning—you can write in the word—Almighty or all-powerful. "Shaddai" meaning all-sufficient nourisher. But what does this mean to us? Point C: in a very practical way, what does this mean to me right now? I know the promise now and I know what's going to happen then. I read it to you from Revelation Chapter 7.

Now in a very practical way, what does the name El Shaddai or God Almighty tell us about God and His desires for us today? Number one, you can write in the word strong. "El" meaning God who is all-powerful and Almighty, meaning He will work with us. He will fight our battles for us. He will defeat our enemies for us. He will conquer our foes. And in knowing Him, we will never know defeat.

Now, not that you're not going to lose some battles and have some setbacks and some disappointments. That will happen. But in your heart, you will know that there's a greater plan, a greater scheme of things that God is in control of, even when I'm disappointed. This is what He's trying to say. Everything isn't going to just roll along perfectly after you become a Christian. On one occasion, Jesus was talking to the people of Israel and He talked about them being subjects or slaves of Rome.

The people of Israel stood up and they said, "We're not the slave of anybody." But they were. They were paying taxes to Rome. They said, "We are the seed of Abraham, we're not anybody's slave." What were they saying? "We may look like slaves, we may pay taxes like slaves, but in our heart, we're free men. We're children of God." That's what He's saying. You may have problems in this world, and as the man sang the song, you may fight viruses during the week and things may come along and setbacks to get you down, but in your heart, you know who you are.

You know whose you are. You know what plan you're of. You know that you're not here and all of life is just one great long string of capricious things. No, you are part of a heavenly divine plan, a design. That's it. You're part of a design. And regardless of what happens, you can say, "I tell you, I'm disappointed, I'm discouraged, I feel beaten down, but in my heart, I have victory because I'm going to heaven. I'm a child of God. My name's in the book. He has His hand on me. He has a plan for me."

You have that kind of confidence because you know Him through Jesus. You know God Almighty, El Shaddai. He is the strong one. Look at the second point. It says there: write the word all-sufficient. Shaddai. We talked about the word "El" meaning strong, now "Shaddai" meaning sufficient. And you might go ahead and write down number three: nourisher. God as Shaddai is telling us that He is "El" with all this power, "Shaddai" pouring this power into us.

He is not Almighty just for Himself, to please Himself, to entertain Himself, that He's going to go out there and say, "Oh, I think I'll have a nice day today. I'm going to fling a few more stars. I'm going to plant a few more planets." No, He's not doing anything now for Himself, but for us. He is "El" the Almighty, "Shaddai" to pour the Almightiness our way and give the Almightiness to us. Meaning He is the one who is our all-sufficiency.

Now Sarah received life into her dead reproductive organs. God poured this Almighty "Shaddai" life into her even when she was old and tired and at the age of 90. Now listen to this—I'm going to read Romans Chapter 4, verse 19 through 21. Abraham staggered not at the promise of God and did not consider his own body or the body of Sarah as good as dead, but was fully persuaded. Think of this: fully persuaded. Say those words: fully persuaded.

That's when God starts doing His thing, when Abraham becomes fully persuaded. Not half persuaded, not thinking, "Well, it might work, it might not work." You take that attitude, I guarantee, God guarantees—hear me now, this is a promise—it will not work. But when you take the Word of God and you believe the Word of God and you become fully persuaded that God is El Shaddai, I'll tell you, you can speak to mountains and they'll go into the sea.

And when you're fully persuaded, nothing will be impossible unto you because you have become part of the El Shaddai plan and God is pouring forth His Almightiness. He was fully persuaded that what God promised, God was able to perform. Now friend, God lacks nothing that you need. That's why He revealed Himself to Abraham as El Shaddai, God Almighty. That's why He inspired Moses to write this book.

Put it down: "I don't only want to be El Shaddai to Moses. If so, why write it and give it to the people of the world that are going to come out of the world and follow Me?" But God says, "There's going to be a host that's going to come out of the world and follow Me, and I want them to know that I'm not just El Shaddai to one man, but I'm El Shaddai to every man and every woman that comes from his loins." That sand, that dust that is innumerable, the stars that are innumerable, I'm El Shaddai to Abraham, and you are Abraham because you are part of His covenant.

Look at the scripture. It says in Philippians 4:19, Paul knew that he was of this plan. He was, he knew that he was of this heavenly race. He knew that he was a stranger and a foreigner in this world. Paul knew that he was going to heaven. He knew that he was part of something greater than the here and the now. God wants you to know that equally as well. And so Paul wrote these words in Philippians 4:19: "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Now listen to it. "My God shall supply," meaning we certainly don't know what's going on tomorrow or in the future. We may have some plans, but we can't guarantee. But the word "shall" is futuristic. My God shall supply. God controls the future. It's in His hand. He is El Shaddai now. He'll always be El Shaddai. He is God in whom there is no shadow of turning. He is God who changes not. Paul says, "My God shall supply all your need."

What's your need? What's your need in your life today? In your home today? In your heart today? We were at the retreat—I named it the wrong thing, I should have called it a seminar. It was more like a workshop with some of the department heads and workers of the church yesterday. Two men came to me and asked me if I had a prayer request, not a prayer request for the church but something for myself. Well, I was so stunned. People don't usually come and ask me. My mind just went blank. I couldn't think. We all have needs. We all will continue to have needs.

And as those needs are taken to the Lord, and if you know the Lord as a God Almighty, as the El Shaddai, you can pray those needs with full confidence right into His hands, knowing that His power is going to come to bear. And when you pray that need into His hands, just like that man in the New Testament that took that little boy to Jesus, and that little boy had those seizures. Jesus touched him immediately. El Shaddai, God Almighty, supplying your every need.

I wouldn't want to be a dad or mother in this world without Jesus in my heart and in my home to help me with my kids. But God is saying, "I want you to know Me." That's why He's revealing His name to you. "I want you to know what to call Me. I'm God Almighty, and I'm your Father. And I'm going to touch your babies and I'm going to touch your spouse and I'm going to touch your employment and I'm going to touch your life and I'm going to touch your thinking and I'm going to touch your finances. My God shall supply all your need."

You have but name it. And I still can't think of anything to pray about about myself. I can think of a hundred things about the church to pray about. But I know that my needs are all supplied in God through Christ. My insufficiency is an opportunity for His sufficiency. Do you have insufficient strength? Do you have insufficient finances? Do you have insufficient know-how? My God shall supply all your need. He is the all-sufficient one. Say all-sufficient.

The third one is nourisher. You've already written that down, right? He is a nourisher. This is the second part, the Shaddai, where we get the word breast. The word breast comes from the word Shaddai or the first part of the word shad, S-H-A-D. The idea of giving forth one's own life and strength. Oh friends, dear friends, listen. God is trying to say something to us today. We never thought about God feeding us from His breast.

What God is using this analogy is that He's saying, "I want something to come right out of Me into you. I'm not going to reach out there and grab some power and then fling it into you. I'm going to reach right in here and grab some power, part of My own heart, and put it into you, just like a mother that comes from the mother nourishing the child." Something out of God has come into you. That's what He is saying.

"And I'm going to keep pouring out of Me into you. I'm not going to look somewhere else, and I don't want you to look somewhere else to get your strength and your help. It's going to come right out of Me. I'm going to nourish you. I'm going to feed you until I take you through this life." And you're going to be strong, nothing's going to defeat you, nothing's going to get you down. And if something knocks you down, I'll get you back up again. I'm going to keep feeding you right out of My own very breast, out of My own very heart. I'm going to be the Almighty Father to you, but I'm going to be just as tender as a mother to you. I'm going to take care of you.

I think a lot of us would stop worrying if we knew that God was mothering us in that fashion like He does. The idea is God wishes to nourish you with Himself, with His own sustenance. This is the pouring forth of Himself to you. You know, life robs us. Life is a thief. Life steals. Life takes away. And you come in here and sometimes you have a good voice, you're ready to sing, and all of a sudden, living out there and mixing with other people and their viruses—you caught it. Life steals your voice. Life steals your strength. Life takes your energy. Life takes your youth. Life takes everything. And we're working so hard thinking that life is giving. You're under a big illusion.

You get sick and you're getting older and you're going to die and life's going to take you right back into the jaws of the earth again. And you're gone back as empty as you came in. Life is a thief and a robber. And God is saying, "But I want to nourish you. I want to nourish you until you are strong with spiritual life, until you are brought into My very presence."

I want to tell you a story. It's an old Greek story. It's a mother who went into the field to tend the sheep, and she took her baby with her. And she was on a high cliff, and she put the baby down so it would just crawl around while she would tend the sheep. And she turned after a few moments—you know how you can turn your head away and your child is gone. Does that ever happen to anybody? She turned and looked back, and the child was right at the precipice, right at the cliff, right ready to go over.

And the mother froze. The mother was afraid to step forward because if the baby thought she was joking, they'd pull back, one move and over it would go to its death. And the mother froze. And the old Greek parable says that after a moment, she bared her breast and the baby crawled toward her.

You see, this is what God is trying to say to you. "I want to show you something of Me that you've never seen before. A nourishment and a strength. You're My darlings, and I love you, and I want to impart to you. Come to Me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." You ask the mother, the infant knows contentment at her breast. Come. There is spiritual food, there is rest, and God is saying, "I want to impart it to you. From My very heart, I want to impart this to you."

Now I must close, but there are two more things under point D. What are the two things we must do to experience this special blessing of El Shaddai, God Almighty? Write down number one: empty. Write down the word empty. If you're full, you can't feed a full baby, can you? You just can't pour and fill a glass that's already full. You have to be empty, and you have to know you need Him. You have to know you're empty, that you're no match for the world. You have to realize that the world is a thief and a robber, and the world's going to take away from you.

When you know this and you know how empty you are, the scripture tells us in Ruth Chapter 1 of Naomi, how that Naomi came back. She said to her people, she said, "I went out full, but the Almighty"—and that's the very word, El Shaddai—"brought me back empty." And when she came back empty and when she realized her emptiness and when she acknowledged her emptiness and when she confessed her emptiness, Boaz comes on the scene, who is a type of Jesus Christ, and fills her with abundance. Friend, you have to know today that you're lost before you can be saved. You have to know you're a sinner before you can confess. You have to know you're weak before He can make you strong. But when you know that and you acknowledge that, then the strength will come.

Announcer: What God promised, He fulfilled, and you are part of that fulfillment. If you're learning to trust God more daily, Pastor Morris' devotional ebook, "A Year of Weekly Devotionals," can help anchor your faith week by week. Donations to The Healing Word are always appreciated, and you can hear this message again or discover many more at thehealingword.com. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message.