For every problem we face, there’s an attribute of God to help us.

Are you concerned about a loved one far from home? God is there too. Are you worried about the future? God already knows what tomorrow holds. Are you distressed about world events? God is powerful, sovereign, and in control of all things. Try praying the attributes of God and your prayers will gain a new focus.

Joni Eareckson Tada 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.’”

Today, 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 we grow in our understanding of God and develop a deeper intimacy with Him, we experience His holiness, faithfulness, power, sovereignty, and other attributes at work in our lives. It’s one 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 if we get a glimpse of the holiness of God, we will never argue that point again. The standard of all morality is God’s absolute, perfect, unsullied holiness. Anything that falls short of that can never measure up for fellowship with a holy God. And that includes me. I’m in that group and so are you. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

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, and that 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 power lines 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

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. The Bible says, “My times are in Your hand” (Psalm 31:15).

That gives us confidence in tomorrow because, as the old saying goes, “We don’t know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future, and we know He holds our hand.”

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, complaining, unable to sleep, and encircled by our enemies, we must 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 talking about His perfection and His excellence. But the more I studied this word in the Bible, the more one central concept seemed to jump out and capture my mind. It seems to me that 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 or secret thoughts. No secret plans. No secret longings. No secret fears. Every thought that flashes through our minds, God knows instantly. The flimsiness of all our excuses will vanish before the throne of God 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 openly 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 merely as a student. I have to read it as a servant. I’m not just trying to learn what the Bible says, but I’m trying to find out what God, the Sovereign of the universe, is telling me to do. And I have to respond with, “Yes Lord!”

Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Genesis 18:25

God Is Omnipresent

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 leave you or forsake you, and the Bible tells us to “draw near to God” (James 4:8). Let’s learn to meditate on His presence when we’re tempted, when we’re troubled, and when we’re tasked with the work of His kingdom. Don’t run from Him; run to Him. Exalt in the One who has promised to never leave you or forsake you.

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. He takes us as we are. 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 working within 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