59. What characteristics of God are shown in the Bible?

How can knowing God better help you on your Bible study journey?

In this episode, Whitney walks through the importance of studying God's character and explains how understanding His attributes can completely transform your Bible study experience.

You'll learn practical ways to recognize God's characteristics throughout Scripture and begin building a stronger biblical foundation.

Also, you will be educated about all of his characteristics (there are 22 total!) in a way that will deepen your faith.

If You've Been Asking Questions Like:

• How can I get more out of my Bible reading?
• Who is God, really, and what is He like?
• What are the characteristics of God?
• Where are God's characteristics shown in the Bible?
• When is it important to understand God's attributes?
• How can I feel more connected to God?
• What should I be looking for about God when I read the Bible?

Then this episode is for you!

What next step are you taking on your Bible study journey?!

1. Bible Study Made Just for You is a 6-week 1:1 coaching program with Whitney where you stop just reading the Bible and start living it out, so you become transformed.

2. The Bible Study Made Simple community is where you learn about the Bible and stay consistent in it, so your faith grows as a Christian woman.

3. The Bible Study Made Simple guide is where you learn what to do every time you read the Bible, so you actually understand it.

4. These are the best Bible study tools on Amazon that will help you start reading the Bible with confidence for free.

5. Follow Whitney on TikTok or Instagram @stepintoboldfaith for simple Bible study tips, encouragement, and practical help to grow in your faith.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Have you ever read a passage in the Bible and thought, why would God do that? Or where is he in all of this? Or what does this actually tell me about him? One of the biggest reasons that Christian women really struggle to understand the Bible is because they're reading individual stories without understanding who God is throughout the entire Bible or within that individual story. So today I am super excited because I decided that we are going to start a brand new biblical context series where we're going to be going over important things that you need to know in order to really do great in Bible study. And so today we are kicking off that new series by talking about one of the most important foundational concepts of Bible study. And that's understanding the characteristics of God. Because once we know who God is, the Bible starts to make a lot more sense and we can really grow our faith and become a lot more connected to Him. And personally, this is something that I have really, really focused on throughout my Bible study journey is trying to understand who God is. And it's just helped me so much. And it's been extremely eye-opening. So by the end of this episode, you'll learn why understanding about God's character is essential for Bible study, how God's characteristics provide context for scripture, where to find examples of all these characteristics throughout the Bible, how knowing who God is changes the way that you read his word, and how this can transform your relationship with the Bible. So welcome to Step Into Bold Faith. This is the podcast for Christian women who want to learn how to make Bible study feel simple so it transforms their lives and grows their faith. I'm your host, Whitney, a fellow Jesus lover, wife, mama, and your Bible study bestie. And I'm so glad that God brought you here today. So I had the idea for this biblical context series while I was on a bike ride praying, talking to God. And I am doing a really awesome Bible study right now through my church with a bunch of my girlfriends, and it is all about the life of David, which has been super interesting. It's one of the ones from the Daily Grace Co. And I highly recommend it. It's awesome. And within this Bible study book, at the very beginning of the Bible study book, it talked about the attributes of God. And I was like, wow, these are so good. We need to, I need to get on the mic and talk about this on the podcast because I feel like everyone needs to know all these attributes because they are seriously so good. I cannot wait to explain all of them in just a little bit. But they personally, I mean, I always have looked for God's character throughout the Bible when I'm doing Bible study. It's a big part of my Bible highlighting. When I highlight in yellow, I find all of the characteristics of God. But it was so cool seeing them out, like laid out on two pages. And so really being able to have that visual and just seeing like one after the other, it was just so, so helpful. So I can't wait to help you with this too. So before we start the actual teaching portion of this episode, I always talk about what Bible study tools you'll need. So in order to really understand God's character, I highly recommend you get a physical Bible that you love that you feel really connected to. And I also suggest that you do Bible journaling with a journal or within your actual Bible and get some Bible highlighters too. Because, like I said, that's been one of the biggest ways that I can actually pick out all the attributes on my own when I'm doing independent Bible study because I have one color specifically for that. So those are the three things that I highly recommend. But if you want to see all of the tools that I recommend, make sure to head to the link in the show notes. And I have it within my Bible study made simple guide. In that guide, it's so awesome. It's only $5 and it will literally tell you a step-by-step process to do Bible study along with all of the characteristics about God that you could find through doing that Bible study highlighting method. So you're definitely gonna want to grab that guide, especially while it's on sale. It's so helpful. So many people have been grabbing it. I think like over 10 women already have grabbed it. So make sure to go grab that. Super good. So now we are gonna get into the teaching portion of this episode. So we're gonna start out with who actually needs this information. So this episode and learning about the characteristics of God is especially for you if maybe you read the Bible but you struggle to understand it. You often wonder what passages actually mean. You want to know God more personally. You want your Bible study journey to feel more deep. You want to stop just reading stories and start understanding the bigger picture of what's happening throughout the whole Bible. Or maybe you want to feel more confident interpreting the Bible and actually, again, understanding it. So, why is this even important to understand God's character? It's because we have been given this amazing tool and this amazing resource to use to our full advantage. But if we don't know the author, if we don't know the person who wrote it, how are we gonna take full advantage of it? Understanding the author's backstory and all of their characteristics and what they've gone through and how they are always helps us to understand books so much better, right? The same thing is the same with the Bible. The Bible isn't even ultimately about us, too. It's about God, right? Every story, every command, every promise, every miracle that's talked about within the Bible, it's all revealing something about his character. So when you understand who God is, the Bible becomes easier to understand. Difficult passages make more sense. Your trust in God grows, your faith becomes stronger, application becomes easier because you are connected to the person who ultimately wrote it and breathed life into the Bible, into these people, right? Who wrote all of this? So that is why it's also super important for us to be understanding this, is to really understand the bigger picture within Bible study. Okay, so now we're gonna get into the really juicy good part. What are the characteristics of God and where are they seen in the Bible? So again, I absolutely love this reference page from the Daily Grace Company because it literally we're gonna go over each one and where you can find them in the Bible. So we are gonna start with number one. Number one, the first attribute of God is eternal. God has no beginning and no end. He always was and always is and will always be. So you could find this in Revelation, in Isaiah. There are so many different passages about God being eternal. So number two is faithful. God is incapable of anything but fidelity, he is loyally devoted to his plan and his purpose. And you can find this in Deuteronomy or 2 Timothy. So good. I love that one so much. Like he is loyally devoted to his plan and his purpose. Like, so good. Okay. Number three, good. God is pure. There is no defilement in him. He is unable to sin, and all he does is good. And you can see this in Genesis and in the Psalms. So interesting. We love this so much. So there, he is unable to sin. So that means that every single thing that God does is good. So crazy. Like I read that and I was like, it totally makes sense, right? But it's nothing, it's something I've never really thought about. Okay. The fourth one is he's gracious. God is kind, giving us gifts and benefits we do not deserve. And that's so true, right? Like he gives us so much. One of my favorite lines I was reading in a book the other day was about the fact of him being so gracious to us and thinking back on my life before I was a Christian, before I was a believer, he just gifted my family beautiful children. He gifted us this beautiful house. He gifted us so many things that we did not deserve. We weren't even following him. We didn't even believe in him. And he just did it out of the like goodness and kindness of his heart because he is so gracious. And that's something I thought about. And you can find this in 2 Kings or Psalms or Isaiah. Okay, so number one, two, three, four, five is holy. God is undefiled and unable to be in the presence of defilement. He is sacred and set apart. So good. He is holy. You can see this in Revelation, Leviticus. So number six is incomprehensible. God is high above and beyond human understanding. He is unable to be fully known. Isn't that so beautiful as believers that we believe in something so powerful and amazing that we are unable to even fully ever know about? So crazy. And you can see this in the Psalms or Isaiah or in Romans. So number seven is immutable. God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and forever. And you can see this in Samuel, in Romans, and James. I love that one too, so much. Like he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If he was good to you yesterday, if he provided for you, if he healed that illness, if he stopped you from doing something bad, right? He's gonna keep doing that. And again, going back to even him being faithful, like his plan and his purpose, he is low, loyally devoted to that. His plan and his purpose for you has not changed, you know? And so we gotta remember that. We gotta stay strong in our faith. So that was number eight. So number, no wait. That was number one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. That was number seven. Okay, immutable was number seven. Number eight is infinite. God is limitless, he exhibits all of his attributes perfectly and boundlessly. He is limitless. Like there is no nothing is impossible with God. That is the title of a book I'm reading right now, and it is so good. It is so good. And it's literally talking about all these different stories in the Bible and how God, like nothing is impossible for God. He shows up over and over and over again, and he is just so good. And you can see that he's infinite in Romans and Isaiah and the Psalms. Number nine is jealous. God is desirous of receiving the praise and affection he rightly deserves, which is so true, right? We see that he's jealous a lot, especially in Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. I just got through those sections and I saw that a lot. But it is true. Like, if I was like the true source and I deserved all the recognition and all the praise, I would be jealous too. I'd be like, what are you doing over there worshiping that nonsense when it's all about me? And he should be doing that. So here we go. That was number nine. Number 10 is just. God governs in perfect justice, he acts in accordance with justice. In him, there is no wrongdoing or dishonesty. Again, there is no wrongdoing or dishonesty. That is all the devil. Those are all lies. We don't believe that. And we can see this in Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Isaiah. He is loving. This is number 11. One, two, three, four, eleven. Number 11. It's hard to keep track with all these numbers. They're not numbered. I should have numbered them before I started this episode. He is loving number 11. God is eternally, enduringly, steadfast, steadfastly loving and affectionate. He does not forsake or betray his covenant love. Isn't that so beautiful? He loves us so much. We can see this in John mainly. So good. He's so loving. Okay, and then number 12 is merciful. God is compassionate, withholding from us the wrath that we deserve. He is so compassionate. We do deserve to just get stepped on all day and all night for all the nonsense and all the tricks that we pull and all the sin and all the horrible things that we think about and decide to do. But you know what? He is so merciful and he is just so good. We can see this in Titus and in Psalms. All right, we're going on to 13. Omnipotent. God is all powerful, his strength is unlimited. Again, going back to all things are possible with God, right? Like his strength is unlimited. How crazy to have unlimited strength. Like again, going back to even the incomprehensible. We can't even, we can't even fully know, right? It's it's just unlimited. We can see this in Matthew, Job, and I think Jeremy. Okay, now we're on to 12, 13, 14. Omnipresent. God is everywhere. His presence is near and permeating. And we can see this in Proverbs and Psalms and Jeremy. So the omnipresent, I was thinking about this the other day, how it's like you could be in one corner of your house and he's there, but then you go to another corner, he's still there. I have been just thinking about and talking to so many women who are waiting to pray, like when they're alone with him somewhere. It's like, why are we waiting to pray all these big prayers when he's literally everywhere, any time of the day or night, people like he's in your car. He's with your kids right now. He's with me, he's with your husband, right? Why are we waiting to pray all these big prayers when he's everywhere, anyways? Just do it now. You know, it's like tap into his presence wherever you are. Like my favorite places to tap into God's presence are like literally in the car, on my bike, in the bath, in the shower. I'll have full-on conversations with him anywhere I go because I know he's literally, I'll be literally speaking in tongues at in a line if I'm like annoyed about somebody in front of me or something going on. I'm like, God, just get me through this right now. And I will literally be praying, speaking in tongues in line. I don't even care if someone hears me. Okay. That was 12, 13, 14. Okay, number 15 is omnisci omniscent. Omniscent. God is all knowing. There is nothing unknown to him. God has one of my favorite clips of this person I just saw on social media the other day, this really good pastor. She was like, God has seen you at the club. He has seen you doing that. He has seen you watching that. He has seen you doing all these things. And you know what? God still loves you. And it is so true. God is all-knowing, he knows everything, and there is nothing unknown to him. And we can see this in John and in the Psalms. Love that. Okay, God is patient. And this is number 16. God is long-suffering and enduring. He gives ample opportunity for people to turn towards him. Isn't that so true? We have our whole lives to be believers on this side of eternity and to make the decision to follow him. He gives us ample time. He does. And we can see this in Romans, 2 Peter, and the Psalms. Okay, that was 16.17 is self-existent. There's a lot of these people. I think we're gonna be going into it, but I just love this so much. I thought that this was so good and so powerful. Self-existent. God was not created, but exists exists by his power alone. God created himself. Like it's so crazy. So crazy. Okay, we can see this in John and then in the Psalms. So that was 17, 18 is self-sufficient. God has no needs and depends on nothing, but everything depends on God. Isn't that so true? Every single thing that we do and every single part of us, we depend on God, but nothing depends on him. Could you imagine all the pressure if if someone was like, Yeah, you're gonna have no needs, but every single thing is gonna depend on you. Like what? I'd be like, um no, thank you. I'll like take some needs. And we see this in Acts and Philip Philippians, Philippians. Philip Philippians? I think so. Okay, sorry. Okay, 16, 17, 18, okay, 19. Sovereign. God governs over all things. He is in complete control. He is in complete control. Why are we trying to control things when we are not the ones in control, people? We it literally tells us that he is sovereign over all things. We can have a plan, we can do our best to have a positive attitude, to show up, to do what we need to do, right? But he is in complete control. And we can see this in first chronicles and in Psalms. Okay, the next one, number 20, is truthful. God is our measurement of what is fact. By him, we are able to discern true and false. And isn't that the whole point of the Bible? The whole point of the Bible is to give us an instruction manual of what we should be doing and what we should not be doing. And we are able to discern true and false through God's presence and character. And this is seen in John and in Romans. Okay, that was 20. 21 is wise. We only have like two more. Wise. God is infinitely knowledgeable and Judicius, Judicious, Judicious? I can't even, you guys, I have been struggling with speaking lately. I don't know what is going on, but I just feel slow and so tired these days. Judicious with his knowledge. And we can see this in Isaiah and Proverbs. He is so wise, and he is so wise. And then the last one is wrathful. God stands in opposition to all that is evil. He enacts judgment according to his holiness, righteousness, and justice. And isn't that so true? Always it's like the the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth kind of thing. Like he is so righteous, and so he will enact justice and judge people, but it's deserved because he stands in opposition to all that is evil. So that was in John and Romans. Okay, that's all of them. I'm gonna go through it one more time because I know that was like a lot. Like just the the names one more time. Okay, so number one, eternal, number two, faithful, number three, good, number four, gracious, number five, holy, number six, incomprehensible, number seven, immutable, number eight, infinite, number nine, jealous, number ten, just, number eleven, loving, number twelve, merciful, number thirteen, omnipotent, number fourteen, omnipresent, number fifteen, omniscent, number sixteen, patient, number seventeen, self-sufficient existent, number eighteen, self-sufficient, number nineteen, sovereign, number twenty, truthful, number twenty one, wise, and number twenty two, wrathful. So I know that was a little bit longer than normal, but I just thought it was so good, and all of those were so important. I did not want to like skip any of them or make this shorter because I thought they they were all so important. We need to understand the full, all of the characteristics of God, right? So we're almost to the end of this episode. So here again, how can this transform your Bible study? So understanding all these attributes of God, you can really start to see what this reveals to you, right? Like in it, when you understand who God is, you can start to trust him more. You can start to understand the Bible more, you can start feeling more connected to the Bible because you know who wrote it. You start recognizing more themes throughout scripture, you can begin seeing that the Bible is connected to the bigger story. And this is just one of the best ways to make Bible study really feel more personal and meaningful because you really are building a relationship and really trying to understand the author. So, again, during this episode today, we talked about why understanding God's character actually matters, how it provides context for scripture, what all are the characteristics of God and where can you find them throughout the Bible, and how this changes the way that you study the Bible. So next time you go to open your Bible, start to write down all of the characteristics that you notice and focus just on getting to know him, seeing which of these characteristics you feel more most connected to and that you really want to try to focus on and try to see in your daily life as you're as you're even just living your life. Say you're, you know, at the grocery store doing something. It's like, how can we bring in these attributes of God into your own life and not just let it be like, well, God's like this, but how can you become more like Jesus? How can you become more like God, right? And I know you can do it. I believe in you. And a lot of this is just you becoming aware of it, right? Like all of us becoming more aware of our actions and what we're doing and asking God for help, right? So if this episode helped you, I want you to know that understanding about God's character, it's just one piece of effective Bible study. And if you want all of the pieces to actually having effective Bible study, you need to join the Bible study made simple community. And this is a community where you'll learn how to understand the Bible, how to stay consistent in it, how to apply it to your everyday life, how to ask the right questions, how to recognize what God is revealing through his word, how to study scripture with confidence. Because Bible study isn't just about understanding one piece of the puzzle, it's about having all the pieces that are connected together. So if you would like the support, the guidance, the community of Christian women who are learning about the Bible together, we'd love to welcome you inside. So definitely take advantage. The link to join us is in the show notes. And now let's end in our prayer. God, thank you so much for all these wonderful attributes that you possess, Lord. We are just so grateful for you and your presence and the truth that you're able to speak into our lives through all these characteristics, Lord. Help us become more like you through knowing these characteristics, Lord. Help us to see these characteristics when we're reading your word. Help us to live them out, Lord. Help us to become more like Jesus. We just love you so much and we are just so grateful for you, Lord. And we will worship you and just sustain us and protect us and provide for us and do all the things that only you can. In Jesus' name, amen. So until next time, thank you so much for coming along the journey with me. And let's keep stepping into bold faith together. And don't forget to join the Bible study made simple community. Okay, bye.