How many of us get to the end of the day, the end of the month, even the end of the year, and think to ourselves, “That’s it? It went so fast! What did I even accomplish?”
What if, instead, you could feel satisfied that you were fulfilling your true purpose and calling in life? What if you could know, without a doubt, that your efforts weren’t wasted?
One of the best ways to pursue God’s dream for our life is to study Him. For every challenge we face, for every decision we make, there’s an attribute of God to help us.
One of the best ways to pursue God’s dream for our life is to study Him.
Joni Eareckson Tada has said, “If you’re hurting or confused, find one of God’s great attributes and, as Spurgeon says, use it ‘as… a great battering ram with which we may open the gates of heaven.’”
I’ve assembled a survey of ten attributes of God—ten “battering rams”—to bring you into the presence of the God of the universe. As you grow in your understanding of Him and develop a deeper intimacy with Him, you can experience His holiness, faithfulness, power, sovereignty, and other attributes at work in your life. It’s a journey you won’t regret.
God Is Holy
If we don’t understand the holiness of God, we might think of ourselves as reasonably good people. But when we observe the holiness of God, we will never argue that point again. The standard of all morality is God’s absolute, perfect, unsullied holiness. Anything else can never begin to compare with a holy God. Each of us falls short of His standard.
So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Isaiah 6:5
God Is Faithful
God’s faithfulness allows us to have total confidence in every promise He has written down for us in His Word. It frees us from the grip of anxious worry. The Bible says, “He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). His promises, which cover every moment of our lives, are as certain as His character. Jesus is “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead” (Revelation 1:5), and His resurrection is the sign and seal of God’s power to guarantee His Word to us. The Bible ends with the ringing declaration: “These words are faithful and true” (Revelation 22:6).
He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23
God Is Omnipotent
God’s omnipotence (all-powerful nature) is as necessary to our daily lives as electricity is to a light bulb. As human beings, if we aren’t connected to the powerlines of God’s omnipotent grace, we’re in deep trouble. And if we aren’t living daily in His power, we’re poor testimonies of the Christian faith. We need His power for victorious Christian living and effective Christian service.
When we align our lives to His perfect will, we have access to His power.
His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. 2 Peter 1:3
When we align our lives to His perfect will, we have access to His power.
God Is Eternal
Because God is eternal, He lives outside of time and controls it. He controls the changing seasons and history as well as the chronology of the lives of His people. The Bible says, “It is appointed for men to die once” (Hebrews 9:27). God knows the day of your birth. He knows the day of your death long before it happens. He is in control of the times and the seasons of our lives. As the psalmist says, “My times are in Your hand” (Psalm 31:15).
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. Psalm 139:16
God Is Changeless
God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He provides unshakable stability, like a mountain of granite in a desert of sand.
When we are afflicted, overwhelmed, tempted to complain, unable to sleep, and encircled by our enemies, we can turn our eyes to Him who is always the same, whose years have no end. When our world spins too fast and changes too much, we need to contemplate the immutability of our God. His promises, purposes, provision, and personality cannot and will not change.
Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment…. But You are the same, and Your years will have no end. Psalm 102:25-27
God Is Good
When I say “God is good,” I’m referring to His perfection and His excellence. But the more I’ve studied this word in the Bible, the more one central concept seemed to jump out and capture my mind: God’s goodness conveys His generosity. God’s quality of goodness means far more than His generosity, but it certainly includes His infinitely generous attitude toward us. By nature, He longs to bring blessing and joy to all His creatures.
I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Psalm 145:5-9
God Is Omniscient
When we say God is omniscient, it means He knows everything there is to know. There is nothing God does not know—no secrets, secret thoughts, secret plans, secret longings, nor secret fears. God knows every thought that flashes through our minds. The flimsiness of our excuses will vanish before His throne because He sees the reality and the totality of who we are and what we’ve done. That’s why Jesus Christ came to earth, lived a perfectly righteous life, died publicly before the entire world, and rose again in victory. When we realize we cannot hide from God nor conceal our sins from His all-knowing eyes, it leads us to confession and, through Christ, to forgiveness. The Bible says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. Psalm 147:5
God Is Sovereign
When I understand the sovereignty of God—that He controls everything—I am no longer able to read my Bible as a mere student. I begin to read it as a servant. I cease to be content with learning what the Bible says; I yearn to understand what God, the Sovereign of the universe, is telling me to do. My response becomes “Yes, Lord!”
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Genesis 18:25
God Is Omnipresent
Let’s not run from Him, but to Him.
That God is omnipresent means He is everywhere, and there is nowhere He is not. God is omnipresent in His universe, yet He dwells with and among His people. He will never disappoint you, and the Bible tells us to “draw near to God” (James 4:8). Let’s meditate on His presence when we’re tempted, when we’re troubled, and when we’re tasked with the work of His kingdom. Let’s not run from Him, but to Him.
I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. Psalm 139:7-10, NLT
God Is Loving
God loves us as we are. He never asks us to get rid of our baggage before He accepts us. To be sure, when He moves in and begins to rule in our lives, He cleans up a few things here and there. He erases the past through His forgiveness, and He begins to create in us what is pleasing to Him. We are transformed over time by grace. But from the beginning, at the very inception, and continually, and throughout eternity, we have a God who looks at us just as we are, and He says, “I love you.”
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Why would we ever chase our dream without the help of our holy, faithful, omnipotent, eternal, changeless, good, omniscient, sovereign, omnipresent, loving God? By drawing close to Him, we can live a life with no regrets.
