Thinking Rightly About God

A.W. Tozer

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
        The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man's spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshipper entertains high or low thoughts of God.
        Without doubt, the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the thought of God, and the weightiest word in any language is its word for God. Thought and speech are God's gifts to creatures made in His image; these are intimately associated with Him and impossible apart from Him. It is highly significant that the first word was the Word: "And the Word was with God, and the Word was God." We may speak because God spoke. In Him word and idea are indivisible.
        That our idea of God correspond as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.
        A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.
        The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems, for he sees at once that these have to do with matters which at most cannot concern him for very long; but even if the multiple burdens of time may be lifted from him, the one mighty single burden of eternity begins to press down upon him with a weight more crushing than all the woes of the world piled one upon another. That mighty burden is his obligation to God. It includes an instant and lifelong duty to love God with every power of mind and soul, to obey Him perfectly, and to worship Him acceptably. And when the man's laboring conscience tells him that he has done none of these things, but has from childhood been guilty of foul revolt against the Majesty in the heavens, the inner pressure of self-accusation may become too heavy to bear.
        The gospel can lift this destroying burden from the mind, give beauty for ashes, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. But unless the weight of the burden is felt, the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and no burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.
        Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes God is other than He is--in itself a monstrous sin--and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.
        Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place. "When they knew God," wrote Paul, "they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
        The followed worship of idols fashioned after the likeness of men and birds and beasts and creeping things. But this series of degrading acts began in the mind. Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true.
Perverted notions about God soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long career of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church confirms it. So necessary to the Church is a lofty concept of God that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it. The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.
        The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him--and of her. In all her prayers and labors this should have first place. We do the greatest service to the next generation of Christians by passing on to them undimmed and undiminished that noble concept of God which we received from our Hebrew and Christian fathers of generations past. This will prove of greater value to them than anything that art or science can devise.

Excerpted from "Why We Must Think Rightly about God," in The Knowledge of the Holy -- The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life, by A.W. Tozer, Copyright 1992, Harper Collins Publishers, San Francisco. Used by permission.

1Jehovah The name of independent being--"I AM WHO I AM"--only belongs to Jehovah God. As we consider His greatness, we fall down in fear and awe of the One who possesses all authority.

Exodus 3:13-15
¹³Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, `What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" ¹⁴God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.'" <sup>15</sup>God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, `The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

2 Jehovah-jireh Jehovah- jireh is a God who constantly provides. Just as He provided yesterday, He will provide tomorrow. He grants deliverance, from sin, the oil of joy for the ashes of sorrow, and eternal citizenship in His Kingdom.

Genesis 22:9-14
⁹When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. ¹²"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." ¹³Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

3 Jehovah-rophe Jehovah- rophe means Jehovah heals. God alone has the remedy for the healing of mankind. The gospel is concerned with the physical, moral, and spiritual healing of mankind.

Exodus 15:22-26
²²Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. ²³When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah. ) ²⁴So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?" ²⁵Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. ²⁶He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."

4 Jehovah-nissi With Jehovah-nissi, "God our banner," we may go from triumph to triumph and say, "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Exodus 17:8-15
⁸The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. ⁹Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands." ¹⁰So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. ¹¹As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. ¹²When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up--one on one side, one on the other--so that his hands remained steady till sunset. ¹³So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. ¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." ¹⁵Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner.

5 Jehovah-M'Kaddesh Jehovah-M'Kaddesh is God who sanctifies. A God separate from all that is evil requires that the people who follow Him be cleansed from all evil.

Leviticus 20:7-8
^7"`Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. ⁸Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.'"

6 Jehovah-shalom Jehovah- shalom is perfect peace. God could never give to others a peace that exceeds understanding if He Himself were not perfect, unfailing peace.

Judges 6:16-24
¹⁶The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." ¹⁷Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. ¹⁸Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you." And the LORD said, "I will wait until you return." ¹⁹Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak. ²⁰The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And Gideon did so. ²¹With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. ²²When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" ²³But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." ²⁴So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

7 God is self- sufficient He is the One who contains all, who gives all that is given, but who Himself can receive nothing that He has not first given.

Acts 17:24-28
²⁴"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. ²⁵And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. ²⁶From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. ²⁷God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ²⁸`For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, `We are his offspring.'

8 God is eternal Because God live in an everlasting now, He has no past and no future. God dwells in eternity, but time dwells in God.

Psalm 90:1-2
¹Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. ²Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

9 God is infinite We cannot speak of measure, amount, size, or weight and at the same time be speaking of God, for He is beyond measurement. God has no beginning, no end, and no limits.

Romans 11:33
³³Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

10 God is immutable All that God is, He has always been. All that He has been and is, He will ever be. He cannot change because He is perfect and will remain perfect.

Psalm 102:25-28
²⁵In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. ²⁶They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. ²⁷But you remain the same, and your years will never end. ²⁸The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you."

11 God is omniscient God knows all that can be known. His knowledge includes every possible thing that exists, has ever existed, or will ever exist.

Psalm 139:1-6
¹O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. ²You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. ³You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. ⁴Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. ⁵You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. ⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

12 God is wise All God's acts are done in infinite wisdom. He always acts for our good, which is to conform us to Christ. Our good and His glory are inextricably bound together.

Proverbs 3:19-20
¹⁹By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; ²⁰by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.

13 God is omnipotent God has power. Since God is also infinite, whatever He has must be without limit; therefore, God has limitless power. He is omnipotent.

Jeremiah 32:17-18, 26-27
¹⁷"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty."
²⁶Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ²⁷"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?"

14 God is transcendent We must not think of God as highest in an order of beings. This would be to grant Him eminence, even pre-eminence, but this is not enough. He is transcendent--existing beyond the created universe.

Psalm 113:4-5
⁴The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. ⁵Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,

15 God is omnipresent God is everywhere--close to everything, next to everyone. "'Do not I fill heaven and earth?' declares the Lord."

Psalm 139:7-12
⁷Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. ⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. ¹¹If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," ¹²even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

16 God is faithful Our hope for the future rests upon God's faithfulness. Because He is faithful, His covenants will stand and His promises will be honored.

Psalm 89:1-8
¹I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. ²I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself. ³You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, ⁴`I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.'" ⁵The heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. ⁶For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings? ⁷In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him. ⁸O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

17 God is good The goodness of God is what disposes Him to be kind, benevolent, and full of good will toward all creation.

Psalm 119:65-72
⁶⁵Do good to your servant according to your word, O LORD. ⁶⁶Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands. ⁶⁷Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. ⁶⁸You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. ⁶⁹Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart. ⁷⁰Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law. ⁷¹It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. ⁷²The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. >Yodh

18 God is just God rules with absolute justice. Not fooled by appearances, God is fair, equitable, and impartial in all of His judgements.

Psalm 75:1-7
¹We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds. ²You say, "I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge uprightly. ³When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm. ⁴To the arrogant I say, `Boast no more,' and to the wicked, `Do not lift up your horns. ⁵Do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak with outstretched neck.'" ⁶No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man. ⁷But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.

19 God is merciful God's compassion is infinite and inexhaustible. In the mercy of His provision in Christ, He took upon Himself the judgment that was due us. He waits and works now for all people everywhere to turn to Him, not wanting any to be lost.

Deuteronomy 4:29-31
²⁹But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him. ³¹For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.

20 God is full of grace Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines Him to grant merit where it is undeserved and to forgive debt that cannot be repaid.

Ephesians 1:5-8
In love ⁵he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace ⁸that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

21 God is love God's love is so great that He gave His only Son to bring us into fellowship with Him. God's love not only encompasses the world but embraces each of us personally and intimately.

John 4:7-10
⁷When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" ⁸(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

22 God is holy God's holiness is not simply the best we know made infinitely better. God is absolutely untainted. His holiness stands apart--unique, unapproachable, and incomprehensible.

Revelation 4:8-11
⁸Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." ⁹Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: ¹¹"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

23 God is sovereign God is in control of our lives. His sovereignty is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation. To be sovereign, God must be all- knowing, all-powerful, and absolutely free.

1 Chronicles 29:11-13
¹¹Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. ¹²Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. ¹³Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

24 God is judge God demonstrates His perfect moral being--and assures us that He is not indifferent to the world's moral struggles--by His commitment to judge all mankind with impartiality.

Hebrews 12:22-29
²²But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, ²⁴to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. ²⁵See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? ²⁶At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." ²⁷The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, ²⁹for our "God is a consuming fire."

25 God is wrathful God's wrath is never capricious, self-indulgent, or irritable as human anger often is. Instead, it is a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil.

Nahum 1:2-8
²The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. ³The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. ⁴He rebukes the sea and dries it up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade. ⁵The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. ⁶Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him. ⁷The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, ⁸but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of [Nineveh]; he will pursue his foes into darkness.

26 El-Shaddai The name El- Shaddai, "God Almighty," is best understood as God who is all- sufficient and all-bountiful--the source of all blessings, fullness, and fruitfulness.

Genesis 49:22-26
²²"Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. ²³With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. ²⁴But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, ²⁵because of your father's God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb. ²⁶Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

27 Adonai The name of God as Adonai call all God's people to acknowledge themselves as His servants, recognizing His right to command them as the Lord of their lives.

2 Samuel 7:18-20
¹⁸Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? ¹⁹And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD? ²⁰What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign LORD. "

28 Elohim Elohim is the great name of God signifying supreme power and sovereignty and a covenant relationship that He is ever faithful to keep.

Genesis 17:7-8
⁷I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."

29 God is Creator God brought forth all that is out of nothing. From chaos, He brought forth order. "He has made everything beautiful in its time."

Hebrews 11:3
³By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

30 God is Father The Creator of the universe cares for each one of us as if we are the only child He has. Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father." The Spirit of God taught us to cry, "Abba, Father," as in the intimacy of the family.

Romans 8:15-17
¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

31 God is Jesus Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God by whom and for whom all things in heaven and earth were created. Through the peace purchased by His blood, shed on a cross, all creation is reconciled to God.

Colossians 1:15-20
¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

32 God is our life God created us for Himself, and on the cross He saved us from spiritual death so that we might live with Him forever. "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory."

1 John 1:1-2
¹That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ²The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

33 God is our light Jesus, as God, is the light that dispels the darkness of falsehood and ignorance, of evil, sin, and death. When we walk in God's light, we walk in fellowship with one another.

1 John 1:5-7
⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

34 God is the Church's head God the Son, Jesus, is the head of the Church. The head--as the part of the body that sees, hears, thinks, and decides--gives the orders that the rest of the body lives by.

Ephesians 1:22-23
²²And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

35 God is the Holy Spirit The Spirit comforts and counsels the people of God and leads them in the way of truth. Through His Spirit, God also convicts the world in regard to sin, righteousness, and the coming judgment.

John 16:5-15
⁵"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?' ⁶Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. ⁷But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; ¹⁰in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. ¹²"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. ¹⁵All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

36 God reveals Himself God longs for a personal relationship with each of us. Through His Word and His Spirit, He makes Himself known. When we seek Him, He responds by encountering us in small or large ways.

Jeremiah 29:12-13
¹²"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." [declares the LORD]

37 God indwells us Jesus, who was a man among men, returned to His divine glory and through His Spirit now dwells in every man and woman who believes in Him.

John 14:21-26
²¹Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." ²²Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" ²³Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. ²⁵"All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

38 God seals us God seals His children with the Spirit. He marks us as God's own and changes the quality of our lives as we receive His light, love, and joy.

Ephesians 1:13-14
¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory.

39 God is our Comforter Jesus called the Holy Spirit the "Comforter." Paul wrote that the Lord is "the God of all comfort."

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

40 God is our intercessor Knowing our temptations, God the Son intercedes for us. He opens the doors for us to boldly ask Him for mercy. Thus, God is both the starting point and ending point of true prayer.

Hebrews 4:14-16
¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.