4 Truths About God Everyone Needs to Know

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If most people knew who God really is, and the nature of His thoughts, intentions, and His heart for each of us, how differently the world might look. So many of us are either raised with no religious upbringing-deriving our concept of God from hearsay or the media-or have experienced a religion full of rules and rituals, instead of love and truth. Of all the many disappointments and injustices life brings, the biggest tragedy just might be for any person to walk this life without knowing God, personally. The good news is God does everything possible to get our attention and guide us back to Him. He’ll speak through nature, our dreams, experiences, and coincidences to get our attention towards Him. He knows so many of us are lost, fearful and struggling even if all looks swell from the outside, and He wants nothing more for us to experience peace and goodness. Here are some of the greatest truths about God that every heart needs to know.

He doesn’t want to change you.

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He just wants to better you. Before knowing God, many friends have admitted their hesitancy towards God stemmed from a fear they’d have to change who they are, what they do with their time, and their less than holy habits. It was hard for them to see how their personalities would fit the “Christian mold,” which is a lie we’ve been fed to make us feel shamed and guilty around Him. But when we realize God only has the best thoughts and plans for you, all of the habits or vices you worry about losing slowly become less desirable. Your pride, self-consumption, need to relax through binging on entertainment, alcohol, shopping, and on and on, simply diminish as you become more of who you were made to be. He doesn’t want our personalities, and identities to change, but He wants to expel the things that so often weigh us down-fear, ego, doubt, so we come back to the versions of ourselves we were created to be.

His dreams are even bigger than ours.

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One of the most uplifting verses in the Bible is perhaps John 10:10: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” because the word ‘abundant’ in Greek means “exceeding what we expect.” God wants to us to succeed, and He wants us to go further, do more, be better, dream bigger than we limit ourselves by our own thinking. The more we experience God’s blessings and provision, the more we realize He loves to surprise us with even bigger answers to prayer, and unexpected, seemingly impossible solutions to problems and challenges. We might all just get to heaven and kick ourselves learning how much more God wanted for us, or had in store, if we really believed and trusted Him enough to take more risks, step out in faith, and believe He could really make even our greatest dreams come true.

He’s not judging you.

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No wonder churches are empty. Who’d ever want to hang out with someone calling you a mess up all the time? But this is really what so many are brought to believe about God-that He’s up there with a critical eye, just waiting for us to disappointment Him, or rolling His eyes with each repetitive sin…”heeeere she goes again!” The absolute truth is that He loves us, but hates sin– not because He’s sick of us screwing up, but because sin not only holds us back from being who we were created to be, but it keeps us from being close to Him, which keeps us from being truly peaceful and content. Sin stands in the way of the perfect, loving relationship we’re meant to have with God, similar to a healthy happy marriage that’s meant to grow, last, and serve as a continual source of love and support for each other. God loves us too much to leave us in our own sin, which is why Jesus saved the adulterous woman from being stoned in John 8:11, but also tells her to “go, and sin no more.” We tend think of sin as the big commandment type of offenses like adultery, cheating, stealing and killing. But so many other sins like pride, gossip, jealousy and even worry, are really the big ones that bring us down and keep us enslaved to negativity and the weighty suffocation of “self.” Change and discipline often feel unpleasant and even painful in the moment, but God will never stop convicting us of wrongful thinking, behaviors and patterns for our own good. He doesn’t judge out of vindication; He’s trying to free us from sin and separation from Him-our only hope at lasting peace and joy.

He’ll never give up on you.

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Never. So many of us have this wrongful sense of guilt that we’ve screwed up too much, or army crawled our way out of one too many sinful patterns or ruts, to the point where we’ve exhausted His grace and mercy. Such a lie. Lamentation 3:22 says His faithfulness never ends, and His mercies never end. He keeps no record of wrong. Think of the last time you experienced a great blessing and closeness with God. He knew you were gonna screw things up, or fall off the spiritual wagon just one week, month, or year later, and yet He still lavished on His goodness. The second we start believing how valued and precious we are to Him, is when we’ll experience so much more power and victory over shame and struggles that hold us back from the victorious life that’s ours for the taking.