Understanding the peniel experience of Abraham
Everyone that God ever had a close relationship with, will surely have the peniel experience where he or she will surrender self for it to be properly dealt with and be put under full subjection to the Will of God in one’s life. Self cannot allow anyone to have a proper walk with God. Self has a way of resisting the Will of God to be properly be infused into a person’s life.
The place of peniel is the place of personal encounter with God. This is a place set apart for God. This is a point where one is in need of deep intervention for a complete change in character and attitude, after he or she has come the conclusion that he or she cannot help oneself. Then he or she needed the supernatural intervention to cause things to be the way God had purposed them to be even before the foundation of the world.
If God cannot take full control of one’s life, He cannot trust the person to its fulness
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.
2 – And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3 – And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4 – As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5 – Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6 – And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7 – And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8 – And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
9 – And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
10 – This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11 – And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
12 – And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
13 – He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 – And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
15 – And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
16 – And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
17 – Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
18 – And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19 – And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
20 – And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21 – But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
22 – And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
23 – And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
24 – And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25 – And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26 – In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
27 – And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.” (Genesis chapter 17 verses 1 to 27)
God has a limit to which He can flow with a man He has not dealt with. There are baggage in a person’s life which will not want to yield fully to the leading of God in one’s life. God cannot compromise His standards because of anyone. If God cannot take full control of one’s life, He cannot trust the person to its fulness. We must understand that anyone who desires to be used by God must encounter the peniel experience.
You don’t have to doubt the ability of God Almighty.
From the scripture above, this was not the first time God came to Abraham, God first approached Abraham in a vision and began to talk to him about how great He is going to make him. And then, Abram doubted how possible he could be a father of great nation and he is still childless at his old age. That is the fact but God wanted to deal with the consciousness that Abraham should come to believe that there is nothing God Almighty cannot do. You don’t have to doubt the ability of God Almighty.
1 – “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2 – And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 – And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
4 – And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.” (Genesis chapter 15 verses 1 to 4)
Circumcision would not have been possible if self is still on the throne
It was at the place of peniel that Abram’s name was changed to Abraham. You can notice that it was not man that changed his name, it took the supernatural for his name to be changed. That does not only affect him, to take it further Sarai’s name was as well changed to Sarah proving she is going to be the mother of many nations. It was at paniel experience that Abraham believed God so much that he had to completely believe God in everything.
It was after the peniel encounter that Abraham fully yielded himself and that of his household to be able to undergo circumcision. That was a very painful experience at that moment, because self has been dealt with, everything is possible. Circumcision would not have been possible if self is still on the throne. Self must be dethroned for the Will of God to be perfected in the life of anyone who desires to have a genuine walk with God Almighty.
Conclusion:
“That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 20)
It calls for a price to have a genuine walk with God. You can come to God the way you are but God cannot use you the way you are. You can walk to God at your will but you have also be willing to submit your will under the Will of God. One’s will cannot prevail over God’s Will and the person still believing to be used by God. Self must completely surrender for God to flow fully with anyone. It calls for a huge price on the part of Abraham to attract the name, the God of Abraham.
