We can learn what and how to pray to God from his very Word—even from the example of his own Son.
Articles on God the Father
155 results found
10 Key Bible Verses on God’s Sovereignty
When life feels out of control, it can be comforting to remember that we're never out of the sight of our Creator—and he never loses control.
10 Key Bible Verses on God’s Faithfulness
But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
What is righteous vs. unrighteous anger? What does the anger of God look like? Glean insight about the right time and application for anger by reading these verses and commentary.
What Does the Bible Say About God as Our Father?
Graciously, our heavenly Father shares the wonder of his fatherhood with us men. To be a father, therefore, is a sacred privilege and a high calling.
10 Key Bible Verses on God’s Holiness
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim
10 Key Bible Verses on the Incarnation
Read about God’s condescension and wonder anew at his redemptive plan for humanity this advent season.
10 Key Bible Verses on Trusting God
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream.
10 Things You Should Know about Theophanies
A theophany is a visible display to human beings that expresses the presence and character of God.
10 Things You Should Know about God’s Communicable Attributes
God's communicable attributes show us how to reflect God as Christ did.
5 Questions about God’s Design for Gender
What is at stake in God making us male and female? Nothing less than the gospel.
The crass references to hell we hear in everyday conversation shouldn’t dull the agonizing awareness all believers should have of the pains of hell.
Is Making Decisions All about Knowing God's Will?
Before we can make decisions, it is helpful to have a robust biblical understanding of the nature of God’s will.
10 Things You Should Know about the Trinity
God wants us to learn about and consider the Trinity. Here are 10 things you should know.
A common objection to unconditional election is that it’s unfair. Paul directly answers this objection in Romans 9, and Jesus indirectly answers it in Matthew 20.
What Did Jesus Teach about Prayer?
As mediator, Jesus brings us to God, but he does so by pouring out his Spirit upon us so that our own prayer life is to replicate his prayer life in terms of how the Holy Spirit binds us to our Father in heaven.
Is It Fair for God to Judge Those Whom He Predestined? (Romans 9)
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
10 Things You Should Know about God’s Attributes
When we speak of his attributes, we must keep in mind that because his essence remains undivided, his goodness is his power. Or, God’s love is his power is his eternity is his immutability is his omniscience is his goodness, and so forth.
4 Questions about the Attributes of God
His almighty power makes it possible for him to reach out to us in love and to save us from our sins. This is why the attributes of God matter.
An Attribute of God That Isn’t Discussed Enough
To talk about the aseity of God, then, is to say that God is from and of himself. He is completely self-originating and dependent on nothing other than himself.
5 Questions about the Ten Commandments
We should love the law because we love Jesus, and because Jesus loved the law.
Is It Fair That God Hardens Hearts?
Is it fair that God accomplishes reprobation by withholding grace and by hardening hearts, blinding eyes, and deafening ears? It is crucial to remember two truths.
We tend to project our natural expectations about who God is onto him instead of fighting to let the Bible surprise us into what God himself says.
According to the entire witness of Holy Scripture, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not three gods. Nor are they some confederation of the one God with lesser gods. These three are the one God.
10 Key Bible Verses on God’s Providence
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will . . .
Was the Trinity Torn Apart at the Cross?
Jesus's quoting of Psalm 22 on the cross has been a source of wonder and speculation. What can and can’t we say about this cry?
Why Elisabeth Elliot Changed Her Beliefs about Finding God’s Will
Elliot had left Ecuador with a changing understanding of God’s will. Circumstances had forced her to look long and hard at her beliefs about God’s guidance.
J. Alasdair Groves, Winston T. Smith
The issue isn’t really whether or not God has emotions but what they are like. Does God experience emotions the way we do?
The term sovereignty does not contain the idea of purposeful action, but the term providence does.
What Did Jesus Teach about Limited Atonement?
There are a number of texts demonstrating that when Jesus lived, died, rose, ascended, and interceded, he did so for a particular group of people. Read what Jesus says about this.
How Can An All-Knowing God Not Remember My Sin?
Can an all-knowing, omniscient God ever truly forget? Is it not an essential element in being God that nothing ever slips his mind? Could God ever not remember?
Does Scripture Teach that Jesus Is Fully God?
One of the most debated, and at times perplexing, aspects of belief in the Trinity is the question “Does Scripture actually teach that Jesus is fully God?”
3 Times You Should Disobey Authority
No human authority is absolute. Authority is always relative to the assignment given by the Authority Giver.
How Can God Be Both Righteous and Sovereign over Evil?
Everything that happens unfolds according to God's plan, without exception. But If God planned all things that ever come to pass, how is he not also the author of sin?
Orthodoxy and Heresy Orthodoxy means right doctrine or belief. In one very important sense it is essential to salvation. Although we are saved entirely by the grace of God, not on the basis of the …
Podcast: The Freeing Reality that You Are Not Enough (Jen Wilkin)
Jen Wilkin discusses God-given limits as created beings, reflecting on why the common refrain that we should look inside ourselves for meaning and purpose is so misguided.
The Role of Prayer and Missions in Salvation
Prayer and evangelism are both part of the plan—the all-embracing, all-pervasive, unstoppable providence of God is the only hope for making our efforts effective.
4 Questions about Our Suffering
Why are we to rejoice in our suffering? Why do we suffer in the ways that we do, and why do some suffer much more than others? Why doesn’t God usually answer our prayers for him to end our suffering?
10 Things You Should Know about the Incarnation
The Son, who is in eternal relation to the Father and Spirit, willingly humbled himself and chose to assume a human nature in obedience to his Father and for our salvation (Phil. 2:6-8).
A Thought Experiment to Help Recalibrate Our Beliefs about the Trinity
Matthew Y. Emerson, Brandon D. Smith
The way we talk about God’s acts often divides the persons of God in a way that is contrary to our confession that God is one God in three persons.
How Do I Follow Jesus When He Is Not Here?
Jesus knew that he would not always be on earth, so the command that we follow him was relevant not only for his physical days on earth but for all time.
10 Things You Should Know about the Holy Spirit
When you find your mind wandering or getting lost in the details of pneumatology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit), just call back to mind the basic Christian confession that there is one God in three persons.
Why It’s Both Possible and Impossible to Know God
Joel R. Beeke, Paul M. Smalley
It is possible to know God because God has made himself known. Our knowledge of God is real but never exhaustive.
What Does It Mean that Jesus Is Prophet, Priest, and King?
Jesus has one office, that of Messiah or Christ. He is the anointed one, the one mediator between God and man, the Savior. But this office has three aspects to it: those of prophet, priest, and king.
The Trinity Transforms the Church into a Community of Love
Just as the church is the glorious gift of love from God the Father to Christ the Son, so the church, as the body of Christ, reflects that Trinitarian love and beauty outwardly to the world.
Fearing God Is a Matter of the Heart
The fear of God is not a state of mind you can guarantee with five easy steps. It is not something that can be acquired with simple self-effort.
Why We Dare Not Seek God without Christ
The true and living God is too much for us to bear, to handle, to conceive, to adore, to know, to trust, to understand, and to worship. The Incomprehensible One is simply too much for us in every conceivable way.
10 Things You Should Know about Christmas
The primary purpose for observing Christmas is remembering Jesus’s birth.
Christ in All of Scripture – Genesis 1:26-28
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
4 Reasons to Let Go and Trust God
We can trust God to manage the future without our help. It is none of our business.
A Historical Person Maybe you have never really thought about who Jesus is, or whether his claims have any implications for your life. After all, we’re talking about a man who was born in the …
Mary J. Moerbe, Gene Edward Veith Jr.
Scripture is clear that all earthly fatherhood finds its origin in our heavenly Father, but it also reveals more than that.
3 Times Jesus Told Us He Was God without Saying It
“Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” The scribes aren’t wrong: the only person with the right to say these words is God himself.
10 Things You Should Know about God's Incommunicable Attributes
God's incommunicable attributes belong to him alone.
Our Friendship with God Is a Two-Way Street
Most Christians know that they are supposed to do some basic things: go to church, avoid sin, read the Bible, and pray. But what do any of those things have to do with being God’s friend?
3 Privileges of Intimacy with the Father
As God's children, we inherit God’s glorious new world. But more than that, we inherit God himself.
In the Beginning God Created a Priest
While priesthood is not defined or assigned until Sinai, we can see how priesthood in Israel finds an original pattern in Genesis.
Though God receives our offerings, he isn’t looking for our outward offerings that give back to him what he gave us in the first place.
What glory right here, right now, has captured your heart, and how is it shaping the way you respond to the situations, locations, and relationships in your life?
Why Doesn't God Do More to Convince Us of His Existence?
If the Christian God exists and loves us, and if our eternal destiny hangs in the balance, why isn’t the evidence for his existence absolutely undeniable?
Actually, Goodness and Mercy Don’t Follow Us
When we see it or experience it personally, human goodness can be truly amazing. It can be life-giving and liberating. So, too, steadfast love.
What Does God Have to Do with Math?
What does God have to do with mathematics? The two subjects have everything to do with each other.
Christian Theology Began When Jesus Called God His Father
It is no exaggeration to say that Christian theology began when Jesus called God his Father and taught his disciples to do the same.
5 Truths about God’s Unity of Simplicity
God’s unity of simplicity means that God is one with himself, selfsame and indivisible in his being and operations, and God is not composed of parts.
10 Attributes of God Viewed through the Lens of Truth
Let’s explore how various attributes of God are displayed in his truthfulness. “Attributes” of God are terms describing who he is.
The Shepherd Can Lead You through the Valley of Darkness Because He’s Been There
Our great familiarity with Psalm 23 as a whole might cause us to miss the stunning way the shepherd leads the sheep for his name’s sake.
The Presence of God for the Christian Life
If we know the presence of God as it is expressed across the pages of Christian scripture, it can and will transform the way we understand and live our Christian lives.
Why Partial Obedience Is Disobedience
Do you find joy in obeying your Lord? Do you treasure his commands? Do you recognize the protective wisdom of the boundaries he has set for you?
4 Privileges We Enjoy as Friends of God
Our friendship with God isn’t just a vague concept filed away in heaven, it’s a permanent and stable reality that gives shape and structure to our lives.
Should We Pray in, for, or to the Holy Spirit?
While it is possible for Christians to pray to the Spirit, for the Spirit, and in the Spirit, the Bible overwhelmingly focuses on one of these.
10 Things You Should Know about the Atonement
Through his death on the cross Jesus accomplishes reconciliation, victory, removal of shame, justification, adoption, propitiation, glorification, healing—and much more!
We were made for closeness to others and to God through Christ, and yet it doesn’t always feel as though we can grasp God’s nearness to us.
God Doesn’t Love You Because You’re Special or Good
God loves his people despite their sin against him. He loves them before they love him back, and before there’s anything in them worthy of his love. But his love doesn’t stop there.
Sin is deceptive, both in its capacity to tempt us to follow its lead and in the way it confuses and clouds our thinking.
What Can We Learn about God’s Anger from Jesus?
When Jesus is angry, he is right to be angry; the cause of his anger is right, and he expresses his anger rightly.
God bestows many gifts on his children. Some of these gifts are titles and privileges; others enable us to be diligent for the work of God’s kingdom. But whatever we accomplish, we do so by the grace of God.
9 Notable Quotes from Providence
The providence of God is his purposeful sovereignty by which he will be completely successful in the achievement of his ultimate goal for the universe.
Podcast: How to Create a Plan for Family Worship (David Murray)
Why and how should we implement a routine of family worship? What are the reasons it's hard for families to remain consistent and see fruit?
Matthew Y. Emerson, Brandon D. Smith
The eternal communion of Father, Son, and Spirit is the grounds for our communion with him and one another. Our triune God, simple and perfect for all of eternity, has always been the one God.
The Psalms Are Both by and about the King
Bruce K. Waltke, Fred G. Zaspel
Fundamentally, the Psalms are both by and about the king. The Psalter can be thought of as a royal hymnbook, and its individual psalms have the house of David as its subject matter and point of reference.
Hopelessness Leads Us to the True Hope of Christmas
God created our lives to be propelled and directed by hope, and he meant our capacity for hope to drive us to him.
The Longing of Every Human Heart
There is no emotion, no experience, and no quest more authentically human than love.
A Vital yet Neglected Attribute of God
The patience of God does not today receive the emphasis it should, especially in preaching.
“Why Have You Forsaken Me?” Understanding Jesus’s Cry on the Cross
Matthew Y. Emerson, Brandon D. Smith
The crucifixion is a good case study in showing how a careful Trinitarian framework can help work through thorny issues related to the Trinity and salvation.
Life is a war for glory. Even those of us who have rested in Jesus to bring an end to our battle for glory still fight skirmishes in which we feel our reputations are at risk.
On the side of God’s infinity, there is a complete chasm between God on one side and man, the animal, the flower, and the machine on the other. On the side of God’s infinity, He stands alone.
To know the attributes of God is to not only know God, but to know what God is like. To know what God is like is to know what God is toward us. More pointedly, to know God is to know Christ.
Fulfilling Your Personal Definition of Happiness Is Not God’s Goal
Our agenda, our definition of what a good God should give us, is a life that is comfortable, pleasurable, and predictable; one in which there’s lots of human affirmation and no suffering.
The Most Shocking Story We've Ever Heard
You will never find anything so shocking, so strange, so weird and spellbinding as the story of the incarnation of the Son of God.
God's Intention Was a World Full of Diversity
Where do our differences come from? How should we think about them? And what do we do with them when we meet them? To answer those questions, we need an origin story.
What is God's Ultimate Purpose?
Do you want to ponder a question that has roots that stretch so far back into eternity past that we will never come to the end of them? How about this: What is God’s ultimate purpose?
Generosity is the calling card of all who are recipients of the generous good news of salvation through Christ.
What It Means That God Is Rich in Mercy
Nowhere else in the Bible is God described as rich in anything. The only thing he is called rich in is mercy. What does this mean?
We won’t be able to overcome our insecurities if we do not have a biblical understanding of who God is and respond appropriately to that understanding.
10 Key Bible Verses on God’s Immutability
The Bible teaches that God does not change. Read ten verses that emphasize the immutability of our Father in heaven “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
How Creativity Can Fuel Your Worship
If God created us in his likeness, wouldn’t he make us with creative minds and hands? What if engaging in creativity could draw us into deeper worship of our Creator God?
4 Distinct Ways That God Is Unchangeable
God is unchangeable in his essence. He is unalterably fixed in his being, so that not a particle of it can be lost from it, not a mite added to it.
John Piper shares a helpful guide for how to pray over the Word in the fight for joy.
Praying to Our Father Is a Spiritual Privilege
To pray with intimacy to God as father is not a human right; it is a spiritual privilege. It is a privilege for the people of God who have been born again by the Spirit of God.
Are God’s Attributes Relevant Today?
Most of us take God’s attributes for granted and seldom think about them specifically. They may be hard to fathom, but they matter greatly for our relationship to him.
Podcast: The Human Need to Connect (Ed Welch)
Ed Welch discusses the human need for relationship, reflecting on the epidemic of loneliness in our world today, and offering advice for the person who feels God is distant.
You Live in a God-Entranced World
The world is not a machine that God made to run on its own. It is a painting, or a sculpture, or a drama.
In the book of Jude, our heavenly Father threatens the church to keep her from being dragged away from his love.
Our craving for love is good, for we were made to be known intimately and loved faithfully. However, when misplaced, this craving becomes deeply destructive.
10 Key Bible Verses on God’s Mercy
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Podcast: Hear What God Has Truly Done with Your Sin (Sam Storms)
Sam Storms talks about how God deals with our sin, once and for all.
Encouragement for a Fatigued Caregiver
Caregiver fatigue is real. For someone going through this, there is still hope, joy, and merit to your service.
Jesus Will Deliver Us from the Wrath of Jesus
Against the backdrop of coming judgment, the second coming of Christ is pictured as a rescue of his people. He is coming to save us from God’s wrath.
Jesus is king. Jesus obeys. How do we hold those two truths together? And what does it teach us about any authority we’ve been personally given?
Teaching Your Kids Gratitude in the Media Age
Media doesn’t create a sense of entitlement—a sense of “I deserve”—but it fuels that belief by holding in front of our eyes what others have and do.
We live in an angry world, and most of it is obviously destructive. But anger is not intrinsically evil, essentially evil, or necessarily evil.
A Narrative of Hope in the Darkness of Tragedy
The sovereignty of God is not some debatable proposition; it is the assurance that your child’s death is not a meaningless accident.
Our faith should be strengthened as we consider God's providence—how our loving father carefully governs our lives. As you study providence, there are five principles that you should keep in mind.
3 Aspects of Our Job as Priests
The heart of the priestly job description is fellowship with the Lord, enjoying his hospitality and protection, living in his house. May we never think that our obedience is the essence of life in Christ.
Saul Had an Extraordinary, Supernatural Conversion—and So Did You
Isn’t it interesting how God saves people? And whom God saves? And how he changes them? It’s often the people we least expect and in a way we would never expect.
No One in Our Lives “Always” Acts a Certain Way—Except God
Every. Single. Day. Always. The Lord has no off days and no half-hearted days. No days where instead of pursuit he dawdles in his goodness or forgets to follow in his mercy.
The Real Reason God Judges Evil
God’s dazzling beauty and loveliness can’t allow sin to coexist with him; doing such would compromise his holiness, his very being.
Christmas marked the beginning of God’s most successful setback.
Apart from God, man gets himself into all sorts of spiritually dangerous and eternity-threatening situations.
What Is Our Friendship with God Supposed to Look Like?
We think that communion with God, or friendship with God, is some sort of secret, mystical, spiritual experience, but it's not as complicated as we might be tempted to think.
Can I Really Have Friendship with the Triune God of the Universe?
Because of everything that God has done for us in Christ, we can shockingly have a relationship—a friendship—with God.
How to Improve in Our Reasoning
All our knowledge imitates God’s original knowledge. And this imitation is mysterious, because God’s knowledge is mysterious.
Why It Matters that God Is Our Father
God is our Father at the level of creation and at the level of redemption.
R.C. Sproul on Human Tragedies and Divine Purposes
R. C. Sproul shares how human tragedy has a divine purpose.
Pursue God, Not Just His Blessings
God’s blessing is not contingent upon whether we live in material wealth or whether we live in material poverty because we can learn to be content.
The Story of Jesus Guarantees How Your Story Will End
We all work to make the plot that we have written for ourselves come true. But grace introduces another author.
For Warfield, Every Christian Is a Theologian
If life grows out of understanding, then it follows that a firm grasp and robust appreciation of Christian truth is of primary importance to Christian living.
“She Is Different”: Reflections on Peace
Peace describes the heart that knows it is safe in God. The third virtue of the fruit of the Spirit is all about what God’s love and joy have accomplished for his people—“peace with God” (Rom. 5:10).
Podcast: Understanding the Presence of God (Ryan Lister)
What does the Bible say about the presence of God, and how does it relate the Christian life?
Podcast: Why Is Making Decisions So Hard? (Aimee Joseph)
Aimee Joseph discusses why we struggle to make decisions, where God's will fits in to the topic, and how we can work on our efforts to make God-honoring choices in everyday life.
11 Notable Quotes from None Like Him
God is wildly different from us, and this is for good reasons—one of which is to teach us humility before him.
God’s word and his holiness ought to bring us to our knees in fear, reverence, and obedience. And they ought to make us ask for a mediator—someone to act as a go-between for us and God.
Podcast: 5 Attributes of God We Too Often Neglect (Mark Jones)
How should we understand God in his fullness—both near to us as our Father and yet above and beyond us as our Creator?
How Grace Lets You Have It All
The more you understand the magnitude of God’s grace, the more accurate will be your view of the depth of your unrighteousness; and the more you understand the depth of your unrighteousness, the more you will appreciate the magnitude of God’s gift of grace.
When God’s Provision Isn’t What We Expected
After Jesus’s first show of miraculous power in the Gospel of Mark (his healing of a man with an unclean spirit), the amazed people turn to each other and say, “What is this?”
In justification God does not merely decide unilaterally to forgive us our sins.
Reading the Bible Gathers a Family from Every Tribe and Tongue
Without the Bible, there would be no ingathering of God’s people, and without the Bible, there would be no beautification of the bride. So everyone who enters the people of God by faith comes by the word.
We need to know that we are not in charge and we need to know how to submit to God as the one who is in charge.
Podcast: Is the Sabbath Still Relevant for Christians? (Guy Waters)
Guy Waters discusses God's original purpose for the Sabbath, how the idea of Sabbath rest recurs throughout the Old and New Testaments, and whether the Sabbath is relevant for Christians today.
The Measure of God's Love (Toward Those Worse Off Than Frogs)
The measure of God’s love for us is shown by two things. One is the degree of his sacrifice in saving us from the penalty of our sin. The other is the degree of unworthiness that we had when he saved us.
As humanity proved incapable of fulfilling God’s purposes from the very beginning, God, in his grace, became present to do what man was unable to do.
Podcast: Without Judgment, Life Doesn’t Make Sense (Tom Schreiner)
Tom Schreiner discusses what the Bible really teaches about hell and the final judgment, and why it's worth thinking about, even though it's hard.
Podcast: An Overlooked Problem of Atheism (Mitch Stokes)
Mitch Stokes talks about the many problems with an atheistic worldview—including logical holes that skeptics often prefer to ignore.
How does "God's glory in salvation through judgment" relate to the moral, ethical, social, economic, and political issues in our culture?
Your marriage, like mine, is imperfect. But your imperfect marriage is amazing, more than you might think.
Is Beauty an Attribute of God?
Beauty is clearly an attribute of God. That’s why the psalmist sometimes uses the term “beauty” to describe God.
Preview: ‘Demystifying Decision-Making’ by Aimee Joseph
We are pleased to offer a special preview of Aimee Joseph's new book, 'Demystifying Decision-Making: A Practical Guide.’
Podcast: Does God Choose Who Will Be Saved? (Robert Letham)
Robert Letham talks about predestination, God’s sovereignty, free will, how it all fits together, and how these doctrines are a great source of encouragement for the believer.
Podcast: How Does Life Change If God Is Actually My Friend? (Mike McKinley)
Mike McKinley talks about what it means for us as Christians to be friends of God, about the friendship that Jesus had on earth, and about what it looks like for us to lean into our friendship with God.
Jonathan Leeman on The Church and the Suprising Offense of God's Love
Is church discipline biblical? Jonathan Leeman wrote The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love to help Christians start taking their membership in their local church seriously . . .
Sex, Strategic Righteousness, and Eternal Purposes
John Piper calls us to not be like the world, but to instead to be like Boaz and Ruth.
How God Brings Us to Glory: A 5-Day Devotional Reading Plan
God doesn’t just require holiness; he promises it to his people, he bought it for them, and he brings it about in their hearts and lives.
Podcast: Enjoying Food, Sports, and the Rest of God’s Good Gifts (Joe Rigney)
Joe Rigney talks about the biblical command to love God and turn away from idols, and he discusses how to navigate the confusing task of being in the world but not of it.
Podcast: Have We Domesticated the Cross? (Jeremy Treat)
Jeremy Treat talks about how the doctrine of atonement is often misunderstood by believers and unbelievers alike and about the impact that it should make on our day to day lives as followers of Christ.
Podcast: What Was the Trinity Doing on Christmas Day? (Matthew Emerson and Brandon Smith)
Matt Emerson and Brandon Smith explain what the doctrine known as the inseparable operations of the Trinity is all about.