"Character of God" Study Guide
Our view of God’s character affects our whole life. If we truly know God for who He is, we will trust Him. And if we trust Him, we will follow Him. If we believe God is truly good and sovereign, our hearts and minds will be ruled by a peace that passes understanding. But if our view of God is not correct, we will not trust Him, follow Him, or believe His promises. Our minds will be plagued with worry, rather than ruled by peace. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we study the character of God.
These verses do not provide an exhaustive study on each character trait of God. Our hope is that it gives you a place to learn about God, to examine your picture of Him for accuracy and to inspire more study of Scripture.
Many of God’s attributes overlap with each other. You will find common themes running through these studies. It is impossible to isolate one attribute from the others. God’s grace drives His forgiveness; His goodness and mercy complement each other; His steadfastness and faithfulness go hand-in-hand. You will not find one of God’s attributes which contradict another.
Our vision for this Bible Study Plan is to help you see God for who He really is. As you read the scriptures given for each day, we pray they will lead you to a firm belief and confidence in God’s character.
"Prayer" Study Guide
Our first Bible Study Plan was on God’s Character. Our view of God’s character affects our whole life. If we do not have an accurate belief about who God is, our prayer life will be like what James describes in James 4:2-3: we either will not pray, or we will pray selfishly.
When we know Who God is and have a personal relationship with Him, we will want to spend time with Him in prayer. That is the first goal of this Bible Study Plan – to get you to want to spend more time praying. The second goal of this plan is to give examples and directions on how to spend more time in prayer.
Throughout this study, you will read Scriptures that either model or give reason to pray one of twelve different types of prayer. The order of these prayers in our study is intentional. It is fitting to start our times of prayer in adoration. Next, we have praise and thanksgiving. Then, we move on to meditation and listening. I will not continue through the list of all twelve types, since you can see the pattern. When you are spending a significant amount of time in prayer, following this order in your prayers is good.
After you read the Scriptures each day, take time to journal your thoughts and prayers on the lines below. If you want to see God work on your behalf, journal your prayers, then look back over them in the coming weeks. I pray that God will meet you in your time of reading His Word, and your prayer life will grow in both quality and quantity.
