The Attributes of God 2 – Christian Training Online

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD 2 by Don Rogers

(Thirty plus years ago God put Don Rogers in my life. He trained and mentored me in spiritual ministry. When he was no longer able to minister, I had the privilege of taking over his “Spiritual Warfare Ministries.” He wrote many fine articles about spiritual warfare. I have edited and printed one below.)

In order for us to correctly relate to God, we must understand Him as He is. Too often bad experiences with authority figures in our lives give us a wrong picture of God. This blog is to help us understand Who and what God really is.

God’s Moral Attributes-

God is Holy – [Leviticus 11:44-45; 1 Samuel 6:20; Psalm 22:3; Isaiah 40:23; Ezekiel 39:7] God is separate from all moral evil that we call sin. God’s throne is established on the basis of His holiness, so His holiness is the regulative principle of His love, His power and His will. (Psalm 47:8; 89:14; 97:2) Even though God loves each of His creatures dearly, He cannot compromise and make exceptions regarding the issues of sin, because it would be inconsistent with His holy nature. That is why Jesus had to make the supreme sacrifice and die for our sins. Only He could pay the price for sin by becoming the once and for all, perfect, unblemished sacrifice.
God is Righteous and Just – [2 Chronicles 12:6; Ezra 9:15; Nehemiah 9:33; Isaiah 45:21; Daniel 9:14] The righteousness and justice of God issue out of His holiness and are demonstrated in His treatment of His creatures. Regarding His righteousness, He instituted a moral government in the world, provided just laws for His creatures and attached sanctions accordingly. Regarding His justice, He executes and enforces His laws bestowing rewards and punishments. God’s

righteousness makes known the parameters he expects his creatures to live within. God’s justice brings us to accountability and directs us toward those parameters He has set.

God’s Goodness – Mark 10:18
The Love of God – moves God to share Himself. Love is an expression of His nature. His love is always unconditional to all. Through His love God communicates His goodness to His creatures. (1 John 4:8,16) Through His love, God seeks to draw us closer to Himself. When God gave His Son to die for our sins, we became the recipients of the ultimate expression of God’s love.
The Grace of God – is His disposition to show favor to His creatures that is suited to each person’s needs and capacities. It is God’s unmerited goodness extended to those who do not deserve it. (Ephesians 1:6-7; 2:7-9; Titus 2:11; 3:4-7) Every person experiences God’s grace constantly, whether they realize it or not. God’s grace provides opportunities to seek Him and receive from Him.
The Mercy of God – considers the individual who is bearing the consequences of sin, is in a pitiable condition and in need of divine help. It is God’s goodness shown to those in misery and distress, even though they do not deserve it. God’s mercy is bountiful to all of us. (Deuteronomy 5:10; Psalm 57:10; 86:5) God’s mercy cannot override His justice though. His mercy is constantly being exercised unconditionally.
The Long-suffering of God – is that aspect of His virtue that bears with the wicked in spite of their continued disobedience. In essence it postpones, for a time, the merited judgment in order that the sinner may have the opportunity to repent and be saved.
The Truth of God – is the foundation of all knowledge. He is the source of all true understanding. God is truth in that He is perfectly genuine. We see that genuineness in the scriptures as He discloses the bad with the good. God’s revelations of Himself are true and can be depended on.

What He has revealed is neither exaggerated or idealistic. What God promises can be appropriated through faith and obedience. Because He is truth, He will do what He says. Because He is truth, He is accurate and faithful. Only truth can set us free and keep us free as we respond to it in faith and obedience.

We are constantly being confronted with thoughts and ideas that impugn God’s character. Like Adam and Eve, we are faced with a crafty enemy who wants to distort our view of God and undermine and destroy any kind of a quality relationship with Him. As long as the enemy is able to plant questions in our minds and we consider them, he will be able to instigate anger and foster doubt in our lives. As long as these thoughts influence us, our relationship with God will be greatly affected.

The Freedom God Allows – God has given man freedom to exercise his will. Because of this freedom, each has permitted sin in his life. As a result of sin, suffering has touched mankind on many levels. But God in His wisdom knew that if freedom was not a reality for each of us, love would not be manifested. Love is a choice that each of us has to make, to give and to receive. God could have programmed us to be perfect, but we would never be able to love Him or anyone else. Without freedom, we are not truly unique individuals. So God sacrificed a lot to make our uniqueness possible so that we might have the opportunity to respond to His great love.

In conclusion, a proper understanding of God’s nature helps each of us to relate to Him in a more personal way. The most personal way of relating to God is as a Father. Hopefully, from our study each may be able to conclude that:

We have a secure and unchanging Father – He has no limitations, so He never becomes defensive in His relationship with us. He is always truthful and does what He says He will do.
We have a concerned Father – Every issue is important to Him and He is ALWAYS there for us even though it may appear otherwise.
We have a loving Father – He loves us on the basis of who we are, not on the basis of how we perform. He desires the very best for each of our lives, according to His will and wisdom. He wants to provide us with those things that will help build us up spiritually and strengthen our relationship with Him.
We have a protective Father – He watches over us and will not let us be tempted beyond our ability to bear it. He has provided a Comforter to help us get through the difficult times in life. Praise God for who He is! How blessed we are to have such a caring and loving Father! Thank you, Jesus, for taking my place on the cross and giving me Your example of how I should live! Thank you, Holy Spirit, for enabling me to experience the presence and the power of God in my life!

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