Attributes of God (part 2)

Infinite: God is limitless. He is limitless in knowledge, space, time, love, power, etc (the omni’s). Never say, “I cannot…” when it comes to God’s use of you. He is not a finite being. We don’t have to worry about God not being able to provide. He is never going to run out, end, die, or not know something. He is everlasting.(Ecc. 3;11; 1 Kings 8:27; Ps. 147:5; Ps. 145:3)

Invisible: God cannot be seen by human eyes. He is a Spirit and outside of His creation. God reveals Himself to us through His creation, and through special manifestation, but nobody as every truly seen Him. We would die if we did. We are not. My God is not just another part of this creation. He is above it. He is a Spirit. He is too great to see. (John 1:18; 1 Tim. 1:17; Ex. 33:20)

Jealous: Just as God fully enjoys and is pleased with Himself He is protective of His honor. He is above His creation and considers it dishonoring to be compared with any of His creation, though He still reveals Himself through it. He alone is worth of honor. Our God is above and beyond His creation and isn’t to be compared or worshiped as a part of it. We will give honor to Him because He is great! (Ex. 20:5; 1 Cor. 4:7; Is. 48:11)

Justness: All His ways are justice. Everything God does is right and good. Someone once said, “This is God’s universe. He does things His way. We might think we have a better way, but we don’t have a universe.” Just because there are things we may not like about God or the things He does doesn’t make them bad or wrong. We can always trust that God will do what is right and good because He is always right and good. (Deut. 32:4; Gen. 18:25; Rom. 3:25,26)

Love: 1 John 4:8, God is love. He is always giving Himself to others. Love is selfless and self giving. God gives us himself (love), He gave us His son, and He gives us His Spirit. He is always giving and abundantly giving. We know our God loves us, and we want to reflect God’s love to the world. Who doesn’t want to be loved? (John17:24; 1 John 4:11; John 13:35)

Merciful: God pours out His love on the afflicted. His heart goes out to those in need. The lord’s mercy is great! (2nd Sam. 24:14) Not that we deserve mercy from God, but He gives it anyway. Our God cares. He cares when we are afflicted, oppressed, burdened, and distressed. He cares and doesn’t do nothing about it. (Matt. 5:7, 2 Cor. 1:3-4)

Omnipotence: God is able to do all of His will. There is nothing that God wills that He can’t do. Nothing is too hard for Him. (Jer. 32:17) Nothing is imposable with God. (Luke 1:37) He is the almighty. (2 Cor. 6:18) He is infinite in power! We have total confidence In God because He is totally capable of doing all things. (Gen 18:14; Matt 19:26)

Omnipresence: God is not limited by time/space. He does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with His whole being, all the while maintaining a difference in different places. Nothing can contain Him. (1 Kings 8:27) Nothing is hidden from Him. (Jer. 23:3,24) We don’t ever have to worry about getting out of God’s reach, or going where He cannot find us. There is nothing that we will run into that He has not foreseen. (Rev. 4; Is. 6)

Omniscience: God is perfect in knowledge; Job 37:16. He knows himself and all things fully and completely. He knows everything past present and future. He is never surprised by the outcome of any event. Nothing is hidden from Him. When we trust in Him and follow Him faithfully we can have peace of mind because we know that He knows what is happening. He knows all the details. He already has everything planned out. Furthermore He knows everything there is to know about us. He knows my thoughts. He also knows our actions and words before we do; Ps. 139:4. We need to be honest with Him because He already knows how we feel, what we are thinking and what we are going to do. (1 Cor. 2:10,11; Heb. 4:13)

Patience: (long suffering) He is slow to anger. This is connected with God’s mercy, love, kindness, and compassion. He has perfect timing in all things. We are called to imitate God/Jesus in their patience. It is part of the fruit of the spirit. We are to trust God and His timing. This doesn’t mean that there will be smooth sailing along the way, but we do know that our God knows all things and He knows the best way and time to go about everything. Being patient takes tremendous faith in and submission to God. (Ex. 34:6; Ps. 86:15; 1 Timothy 1:16; Rom. 8:25)

Peace: God is not a God of confusion but of peace; 1 Cor. 14:33. There is no chaos in God. He has a plan and there are no problems in it. He has everything already worked out. He is always in control. When God is in control of our lives we will have peace. Again, this doesn’t necessarily mean smooth sailing, but rather that we have faith/trust that He knows what He is doing so we have nothing to worry about. We can trust Him to take us anywhere under any circumstances. (Rom. 15:33; Phil. 4:9; Heb. 13:20; Gal. 5:23)

Perfection: God possess all excellent qualities and lacks nothing desirable. He is complete in Himself. He lacks nothing in all of His attributes. Anything and everything God does, says, etc. is not only good but also right. Matt. 5:48, Jesus tells us to be perfect as God is perfect. We can trust God because all that He does is right and good. We can submit to Him for that reason as well. All that He leads us through He does for a good and perfect purpose. (Ps. 18:30; Deut. 32:4)
Righteousness: God defines righteousness. He always does what is right and good because He is the standard for what is right. There are no contradictions in Him or His word. We can trust His word to be true because He says it and proves it. We have searched and found Him to be true. We can stand on His word no matter what the cost because we are standing on truth. (Deut. 32:4; Gen. 18:25; Job 40:2,8; Rom. 9:20,21)

Self Sustaining: God does not need anything in all of creation, yet all His creation can still bring Him honor and joy. He is above His creation (Acts 17:24,25). Though He does not need me, He still chose to love me. He has always loved me and always known me (John 17:24). He has always been. He is the ,”I AM WHO I AM”. We know that we can depend on our God who is self sustaining. He is truly amazing because even though He doesn’t need it we can still bring Him joy and honor. (Acts 17:24,25; John 17:5; Rev. 4:11)

Sovereignty: God’s exercise of His power/rule over His creation. This attribute must not be looked at separately from the rest of God’s attributes as it is often taken out of context. He is the all-powerful one, and all that He does is good. He will do what He pleases/what He sees fit. We can trust that my God will make His will come to pass. (Is. 46:10; Dan. 4:35; Eph. 1:11; 1 Timothy 6:13-15)

Spirit: John 4:24, God is spirit. He doesn’t have size or dimensions, He is not made of matter like the rest of creation, and He is far above the rest of creation. God actually forbids us to think of Him in relation to anything else in creation. Our spirits are also different in that they were created and can only be in one place at a time. Our God is not just another part of this universe. He is unlike anything else. He is above all things. (Ps. 139:7-10; Ex. 20:4-6; John 4:24)

Triune: God is 3 in 1. He is Father, Son, and Spirit. All are one as God, yet also separate all of the time. There is nothing in all of creation that is exactly like God. Nor would I like to compare Him to any part of His creation. The closest I’ll come is to say we are made in His likeness with a body, soul, and spirit. (Gen 1:26,3:22; Ps.45:6,7; Is. 6:8; John 8:58)

Truthfulness: God is the one true God, and all of His knowledge and works are both true and the final standard of truth. God is the definer of truth. His truth is absolute. Alistair Begg said it best, “Truth is truth is truth.” God is truth. He is perfect in knowledge and infinite in power. What He says goes, and it is good. God doesn’t lie. He is worth following and trusting in. (John 17:3; Jer. 10:10,11; Job 37:16)

Unchangeableness: God is unchanging in His being, perfections, purposes and promises, yet He does act and feel emotions and acts and feels differently in response to different situations. In His perfection He does not need change. He does however respond differently to different situations. [Jonah and Nineveh/Intersession with Moses]In these instances, God doesn’t change but rather uses situations to provoke certain attitudes/feelings from people. (Ps. 102:25-27; Mal. 3:6; James 1:17; Ps. 33:11; Matt 23:19)

Wisdom: God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals. He knows what is best and wants what is best and knows how to go about getting what is best. This is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If we want to be wise we must trust in God and His direction for our lives. It is only after we “lean not on our own understanding” but trust God in all things that we will start to see the wisdom of God. (Rom. 16:27; Job 9:4; Ps. 104:24; 1 Cor. 1:21,27,29)

Wrath: His wrath means that he intensely hates all sin. He cannot be around it, so much so that he punishes sin. “for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men” His wrath is just, perfect, immeasurable, and eternal. (Deut. 9:7; Rom. 1:18; 1 Thess. 1:10; Rom. 5:10)