““1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.””
All through the bible from Genesis to Revelation, there is a common level of God’s expectation for any one whom God wants to use. There are many expectations and although we will mention them passively, our focus for 2026 will be on OBEDIENCE and SURRENDER.
1. An invitation to Partnership: God shows up to Abram and requested that he walk before him (Genesis 17:1). Abram was not a novice to God, he had encountered God in the past, so this encounter was not strange. He was a 99-year-old man, and at this time, he was called Abram (Father). Transformation was about to happen, his relationship with God was about to change levels, but God placed a price tag on it: “walk before me faithfully and be blameless”. Before God placed his demand, he ensured that Abram had a revelation of his nature. God said, “I am God Almighty” ( El Shaddai in Hebrew)”. God presents himself as the supreme power, all-powerful, sufficient, and capable of executing all his promises. God wanted Abram to put his faith in what God was saying, to trust and believe that he is God who can do anything. This revelation was crucial and provided an assurance so Abram would know God as well as the fact that God was not just making a statement. Abram was ready to honor God’s invitation.
2. Expectation: God was calling Abram into partnership-covenant (Genesis 17:2) relationship between the two of them but wanted him to walk before him faithfully and blameless (Genesis 17:1), meaning God wanted to keep his eyes on him, to be in control. God’s demand was very specific, and it was up to Abram to respond in obedience and surrender to the plan or stay in the old and limited glory. God was calling Abram into another level of fellowship that required faith, commitment, dedication, devotion, seriousness, determination, and total dependence on God etc. 1 Corinthians 1:9 “ God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” This was a covenant relationship. God is a faithful God and knows how to keep his word and wanted Abram to be faithful as well as blameless. 1 Peter 1:15-16 “ 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” This was a call to walk in humility, total surrender, obedience, integrity, holiness, and purity. Walking before God meant total nakedness, transparency, loving the Lord in all totality. James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” Deuteronomy 6:5 “ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Abram had a choice to reject what God wanted from him, but he chose obedience. God wanted to monitor every step that Abram was taking, the exact things that we humans hate. Psalm 34:15 “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.”
3. Respond-A step of faith: Abram responded by falling facedown before God (Genesis 17:3). Abram took a bold step of faith, not even knowing what to expect, he gave in his all. His falling face down was a sign of total allegiance to God his creator, the Lord almighty. This was not unusual but a display of his response to God other times-Obedience Faith. No wonder he is not only known as a father of nations but also a man of faith. Hebrews 11:8-10 “8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Abram demonstrated an act of surrender, obedience, reference, humility, considering himself as nothing before the almighty God-El-Shaddai. He did not ask questions, he did not look at his age, or circumstances around him but he went ahead to walk in obedience. Amos 3:3”Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” He was entering into a partnership of holiness as has been seen with other servants of God in the bible like Noah and Job. Genesis 6:9b “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” Job 1:1 “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” When Abram fell facedown, God read his heart, knew that Abram can be trusted. God went ahead to reveal to him all what was in his heart for Abram. Psalm 26:2 “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind.” Falling facedown before God indicated that Abram had nothing to hide from God, he considered himself as nothing, he presented himself nicked before him for whatever God wanted to do with him. This is the definition of brokenness, humility, surrender, and total obedience. This posture of Abram was what provided the channel for the mighty encounter with God in his life that conveyed historical transformation and blessing to Abram and generations after him.
4. Benefits of Abram’s Obedience: God began to pronounce covenant blessings upon Abram (Genesis 17:4-8), as soon as he saw the posture of Abram’s heart. God solidified his covenant with Abram with a major transformation and blessing by giving him a new identity; a name change from Abram (Father) to Abraham (Father of many nations). Fruitfulness will be his portion, nations and kings will be born out of him, and his descendants will possess the land. This was a mark of a promise to be fulfilled, the almighty God making himself known as the one who rules creation. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 “ 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule overall. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.” The rest of Gensis 17 displays all the blessing extended to his wife and everyone in his household and generations to come. The promise of the birth of Isaac was also solidified.
In the narrative above, we can see that Abram later called Abraham decided for himself to pursue God. He did not look at anything of his past, the wealth he had acquired, the shame he had endured etc. Each time he had an encounter with God was another chance to consider himself as nothing. Until we can take this POSTURE OF OBEDIENCE AND TOTAL SURRENDER, it will be difficult for God to invest his glory in us and use us efficiently and effectively. The Apostle Paul explained this very well. Philippians 3:7-14 “7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 8 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” The Apostle Paul had to come to this same realization and place of total surrender as well as by putting away anything of his past to gain only one thing that mattered for life-CHRIST ALONE.
Obedience and surrender imply saying no to what makes you comfortable or profitable. It is stepping out by faith into unfamiliar paths guided by the Holy Spirit. It is a lonely step when others are saying no, looking at you as if you have lost your mind. It is a journey without return. When Abram fell facedown and surrendered in obedience (Genesis 17: 2), it was not just about that moment but all his life present and future and that is why when God tested him again in Genesis 22 to offer his only beloved son Isaac, he did not hesitate. Genesis 22:3 “Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.” Abraham had grown in the Lord to know him when he speaks. This command to offer Isaac was another pure obedience and allegiance to God. His faith was been tested, and he had built confidence in the one who called him. Hebrews 11:19-19 “17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.”
God’s call to every believer is that we present ourselves holy and blameless before him as expressed in Colossians 1:22“But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Every believer must be working towards this goal without which it would have been a wasted effort being a believer.
IN 2026, GOD IS CALLING US TO WALK BEFORE HIM AND BE BLAMELESS. It is a choice we each must make like Abram, either to take a step of faith in OBEDIENCE AND SURRENDER or to maintain the old ways of doing things. God wants to order and guide our steps into his path to prevent us from taking the wrong one. His goal is to redirect us to the path that brings him glory and blessings to us. Therefore, if God is directing, irrespective of whatever it looks like, feels like, accepted by others or not etc. we must put our faith in him to obey, surrender, and trust him rather than look at or depend on the opinion of a man.
Some Practical Steps to Consider
A. Obedience opens the universe for God’s power to act where human reasoning gives up. It is a process; therefore, we must mustard faith to take the first step. 2 Corinthians 5:7 “ For we live by faith, not by sight.” Taking a step of faith is a risk but this is also life. We must trust God for who he says he is and what we believe him to be rather than what we see or sense. Hebrews 11:6 “ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
B. Invest in Knowing and Devotion to God: A proof of knowing God is in keeping his commands. Keeping his command means walking in obedience and yielding to whatever he says. One cannot obey what one does not know or understand. Therefore, we must invest time dwelling in the word and presence of God. 1 John 2:3-5 “3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him.” It is more than just intellectual knowledge or mere reading the bible and having a regular church identification as a Christian. It is a deep personal relationship and coming into contact with the Spirit of God where God’s reveals his character and grant the grace to walk in that understanding like in the case of Abram Genesis 17:1. Daniel 11:32 “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” Jeremiah 9:24 “but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.” Deep spiritual revelation and knowledge of God is the catalyst that steers anyone to venture into a step of faith that looks very impossible in the eye of men. “Those who know their God shall be exploits”. This is a kind of knowing, like a mother and the baby, even in the dark, she knows the sound of her baby and can sense in the baby’s absence that the baby is carrying. This is trusting God beyond human understanding, where even in the middle of the storm, one is anchored in the truth of who God is. 2 Timothy 1:12 “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” This means having spiritual knowledge of God and standing on his promises without compromise. Knowing God on a personal and intimate manner enable us to stand steady against anything that threatened our faith.
C. Draw Near to God in Sincere Prayers, Worship and the Word: James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” When we create an atmosphere that is aromatic to the presence of God, we invite him into that atmosphere and when he comes in, he saturates it. Revelation 21:3 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” If God’s dwelling place is with a man and God also desires that we walk in obedience and humility, therefore he will not dwell with just any man but the one ready to fall face down as nothing. Hebrew 10:22 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water”. The state of the heart must be true and full of faith. This is not an invitation for an unbeliever, but a true believer who is ready to submit and walk in obedience. We are invited into a deep and committed relationship with the creator of heavens and earth, because we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit through our new life and identify in Christ.