How to Understand God's Character

With the way the world is, people can easily become confused about the character of God. The Bible says that Satan is "the ruler of this world," so any pain or hardship we face, is brought about by Satan, not God. God allows difficult things to happen to us, but the Bible promises that "God works all things together for the good of those who love Him." The true character of God is that He is good, patient, kind, loving, merciful and holy. Here are more attributes of God's true character.

Steps

1. Understand that God is the creator of the world, and that He is all powerful and perfectly wise. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." That is, in the beginning of our time, but God has always existed. He is not a created being; He simply is. As God said to Moses, "I am that I am" meaning that He always has been.
⦁ No being alive is as powerful as God. Isaiah 40:28 says, "The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
⦁ God is all wise. No being is more intelligent than God. The Bible says that "His ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts." We cannot fully understand why God allows the world to be the way it is, because we do not have his mind. We just need to trust Him, even though we don't understand everything.

2. Know that God is omnipresent. This means that God is everywhere at the same time. God the father is not a body; He is a spirit. He is in every place at the same time. It could be said that God is so big that His spirit takes up the entire universe. He is not sitting somewhere up in heaven, way off at a distance somewhere. God is all around us. His one Spirit is all around us at all times.
⦁ David says in Psalm 139:7-8, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there." God's Spirit is everywhere. You cannot go anywhere that God is not.

3. Recognize that God is love. The only thing that the Bible says that God is through and through is love. Love is his quintessence; or it is the essence of who and what God is.
⦁ 1 John 4:8 says, "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." This is referring to true love. In Greek there are four words for love; one means family love, one is friendship love, one is romantic love, and then there is agape love which is the love that is from God. It is perfect love and it is supreme. This love is unconditional; meaning that no matter what we do, God will still always, always love us. Why? Because we are his creation.
⦁ God loves us no matter what, just like a parent loves their child no matter what, because they created them, in a sense. Christian or non-Christian, God loves you no matter what you do. Romans 8:38 says, "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God." Amen!

4. Contrary to what many think, know that God really does not want anyone to go to hell. Satan might feed people the lie that God wants people to go to hell but the Bible says differently, and the Bible is the truth. 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." God's wish is that everyone on earth would repent and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but God also gives us free will.
⦁ God will not force us to love Him, because he knows that would not be real love. God wants us to come to Him through our own wills. He will not force us to follow him. Just like you wouldn't want someone to fall in love because you forced them to, so it is the same with God. We want people to love us of their own choice; so does God.
⦁ Those who will go to heaven are those who love God/Jesus and those who don't will be those who don't.

5. Know that God is only good and any good thing is from God. 1 John 1:5 says, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." Darkness in the Bible represents evil and light represents good. This is saying that God is perfectly good and there is no evil in him at all. Also, any good thing is from God. James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." This includes our children, good food, comfortable beds etc. Every good thing that we have in this life is from God. We should be thanking him constantly for all the good things he has given us rather than complaining about the bad things.

6. Understand that God is loving, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, at peace and full of joy. Galatians 5:22 says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." This is the fruit of God's Holy Spirit, because these are the essential qualities of God himself.
⦁ God is perfectly loving; no being alive can love us like God can. God is patient with us; He puts up with a lot more from us than he has to. God is kind with us; He sent his son to die for us. God is good; there is nothing evil about God. God is faithful; He follows through on his promises. God is gentle; He cares about us and listens to our prayers. God is at peace; He is fully confident and has nothing to worry about because he is God. God is full of joy; God is not depressed or sad. He is very much alive and well.

7. Know that God always wants to help us, strengthen us, and protect us. God says in Isaiah 41:10, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Satan wants us to fear, but God does not. God wants us to be at peace. If God is with us we have nothing to fear. The Bible says, "If God is for us, who can be against us." People may be against us, but it won't matter, if God is for us. Amen.
⦁ God tells us to not be "dismayed," this means do not be depressed. Since God is our God and he is good and he is loving, we should have nothing to be depressed about. God wants to renew our strength so that we can "soar on wings like eagles."
⦁ God also wants to help us and protect us. Psalm 18:30 says about God, "He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him." God protects us from Satan and from evil when we take refuge in Him. When we ask God for help, he will protect us. Psalm 91:11 says, "He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways." When we pray and seek refuge in God, he sends his angels to "guard us" in all our ways.

8. Know that God loves every single person in the world. The most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." God did not have to send His son to die for us, but he chose to because of how much He loves us. He wants to save us from our sins, if we would only believe in Jesus.
⦁ God wanted Jesus to die so that we would not have to face the penalty for our sins. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, because he was absolutely perfect; he never sinned. The next verse, John 3:17 says, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
⦁ Some say that the belief about Jesus is narrow minded. Some say that it is judgmental or condemning to say that Jesus is the only way. But on the other hand, it is very freeing. In what other religion does the god of that religion offer his people a free gift of salvation? None. In any other religion you have to prove yourself; you have to work your way to heaven. Christianity is the only one that says that God already paid the price and that the only thing we need to do is put our faith in Jesus' free gift of salvation.
⦁ It is not mean to say that Jesus is the only way, it is very good news. God shows his immense love for us in sending his son for us and making it so easy for us to be saved. However, that is why some don't believe, because it seems too good to be true. It seems too easy. But it is. It just really is that simple.

Tips

⦁ If you are not a believer, you can pray to receive the free gift of salvation if you want. Simply say, "Jesus I repent of my sins. Please come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior."
May God bless you! :)