Stuck a bit in your prayer routine? Need to expand your view of God? Yearning to grow in your faith? Try this: think about the different merciful qualities of God and then use them in your prayer. Take just one, say it a few times to yourself. Then try another. And another.
Obviously, the qualities of God are many. Sometimes I find myself drawn to a certain one because it mirrors something I need in my life at that moment. Reassurance, forgiveness, understanding, support. How comforting it is to know that God is so much bigger than me.
Here are just a few of the adjectives—with a Bible verse that helps support that quality. If the word itself is not enough. Try focusing on the verse. It’s fun as well as enlightening.
1) Infinite. “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!” (Romans 11:33). Scratching your head about something in your faith life? Try taking just a step back and look at God with wonder.
2) All-powerful. “Ah, Lord God! It is You who made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for You” (Jeremiah 32:17). Nothing. Got that? Pray it. Live it. Nothing is too hard for God!
3) Good. “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (Psalm 119:72). I often have to remind myself that the Psalms, in their original incarnation, were all sung. When you sing something, it can speak to your spirit with surprising depth. Even if you just hum, “Good.”
4) Loving. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1John 4:7-8). Remember that old song, “Love Makes the World Go Round?” We know it. We feel it in our lives. And that greater love that is guiding it.
5) Unchanging. “Long ago You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You endure…” (Psalm 102:25-26). Imagine that. God is long-lasting beyond our belief. Beyond even the existence of the heavens and the earth.
Long-time Guideposts contributor Elizabeth Sherrill often says, “The only prayer God can’t answer is, ‘Don’t let anything change.’” Our lives here on earth are constantly changing. There is one thing that doesn’t change.
6) Wise. “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens; by His knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew” (Proverbs 3:19-20). I tend to assign wisdom to all sorts of brainiac scientists, researchers and scholars. I am unspeakably grateful for the ways in which they have improved our lives. Just think of the medical breakthroughs that have extended our longevity. But there is a heavenly wisdom that is beyond any of our understanding. I need that in prayer.
