If a non-believer asked us Who God is, what would we say? This devotion is an overview of some of the characteristics of God.
Nuggets
- We have to believe Who God is.
- God is in all because He created everything; therefore, He has control over all.
- God has to be powerful to just speak and raise His arm and everything comes into being.
- He wants to bless His disciples, and He wants worldview people to become His disciples so He can bless them.
- Even though God loves us unconditionally, that doesn’t mean He gives us pass when we don’t follow His laws and commandments.
This year, we are looking at self-discipline. We are using Vincent’s The Lesson of Ripeness sermon to look at the need to grow in our relationship with God. We morphed learning enough to be a teacher into determining some areas we need to grow so we can be mature disciples.
We are looking into solidifying what we believe. When we witness, we need to be prepared to explain what we believe and why we believe it (rather than saying that is what we grew up believing).
In this category, we are going to look at what we really believe about God. We could take a long time and a lot of devotions to try to explain who God is. So, this devotion is just going to skim the surface.
As I usually do, though, I want to start this series with an overview. Then we can start looking at some questions that come up.
Can God See Us If We Are Sinners?
Does God Really Forgive and Forget Sin?
Let's Put It into Context
“Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God — which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe” (I Thess. 2: 13 NLT)
We talked in Is God Real? that the Bible doesn’t really give us evidence that God exists. It starts out, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” Gen. 1: 1 NLT). We just have to take it on faith that He does exist and created the universe — including us.
Faith is the belief that the doctrines stated in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them. I can see why God asks that of us.
We have to take the focus off us and what we know and understand to put it on God We have to focus on Who He is and what He can do. His ways and thoughts are higher than our (Isa. 55: 8-9). He wants us to focus on His understanding, not ours (Prov. 3: 5-6).
Let’s take a look at a few things.
God Is Everlasting
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (I Tim. 1: 17 GNT)
Thomas gave us two foundations of faith. We have to believe Who God is. God was not created. “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding” (Isa. 40: 28 NLT).
God has always been here and will always be here. He has no beginning or end. He is not going to die.
God Is Sovereign
“Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to you. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and you are exalted as head over all” (I Chron. 29: 11 CSB)
The Holman Bible Dictionary states that “sovereignty means that God is in all and over all.” The Psalmist put it this way. “The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD” (Ps. 24: 1 CSB).
God is in all because He created everything. “For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days …” (Ex. 20: 11 CSB). The only clue about how God made things is that we are told over and over again that “Then God said” and gave instructions on what to create.
We are also told that He stretched out His arm. “Oh, Lord God! You yourself made the heavens and earth by your great power and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!” (Jer. 32: 17 CSB).
After God spoke and raised His arm, we have no idea how His words came into being. We don’t know how long it took to come into fruition.
All we know — all we need to know — is God spoke with raised arm, and things were created. The how isn’t as important as the Who.
God’s creation is a testament to Him. “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God” (Rom. 1: 20 NLT).
If God created all, He has control over all. He has the say of how things are allowed to go.
God Is All-Powerful
“How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!” (Ps. 147: 5 NLT)
God is all-powerful. He has to be powerful to just speak and raise His arm and everything comes into being.
Also, God has to be powerful because He rose Jesus from the grave. “He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens” (Eph. 1: 20 CSB).
That power is at work in disciples. “Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us” (Eph. 3: 20 CSB).
God Is Good
“The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation” (Ps. 145: 9 NLT)
God loves us — even worldview people. He wants to bless His disciples. He wants worldview people to become His disciples so He can bless them.
We’ve talked before about how God loves non-believers. We said that God loves all people; however, He will only reward those who have admitted their sins, believed on His Son Jesus as Redeemer, and confessed Him as Sovereign Lord.
Just because God does love worldview people doesn’t mean He will give them a pass into heaven. Admission to heaven is not earned through good works. At the end of the age, Jesus will when judge people and distribute rewards and repayments.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
God Is Holy and Righteous
“But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts” (Isa. 5: 16 NIV)
Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and pure. It speaks more to our status with God. Righteousness is the result of a solid relationship with God built by a sincere life of conscientious obedience to God’s laws and commandments. It is more the right principles under which we live.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
God Is Love
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (I Jn. 4: 8 ESV)
God loves us unconditionally. No, that doesn’t mean He gives us pass when we don’t follow His laws and commandments.
It means God loves us as a parent would. “For the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights” (Prov. 3: 12 NLT). He sends us to time out — or worse — when we need it.
How Do We Apply This?
We said that Thomas gave us two foundations of faith. The first was we have to believe Who God is. We haven’t touched on the second one.
The second one is we have to figure out what God is to us. He is the Giver of life whether we acknowledge that or not. But is He our Father?
Just knowing about God isn’t enough. We have to admit our sins, believe on Jesus as Redeemer, confess God as Sovereign Lord, and demonstrate that commitment by following our job description.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Remember, the whole reason we are talking about this is to become mature disciples and prepare for witnessing. These are the questions we are using for this series.
- What does the Scriptures say?
- What do I believe?
- Why do I believe the same/differently than the Scriptures?
- What are the talking points when witnessing to a non-believer?
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
God wants us to know Him. He wants to restore our relationships with Him. It is up to us.
Sovereign God. You are Creator of the universe. You are all powerful, holy, and righteous. Yet You love us and have provided a way for our relationships with You to be restored. That restoration is only available to us if we admit our sins, believe that You sent Your Son Jesus to die so that His blood could pay the price for our sins, and confess You as Sovereign God. You are powerful enough to raise Him from the grave — because You love us. Lord, we submit our lives to You. Amen.
What do you think?
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In our family devotions we just finished a 15 day series about the attributes of God. Your post fits really well with what we talked about. Thanks for this resource!
Great! Glad to be a resource.
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