7 Qualities of God That Will Motivate You

Is there anything in your life you wish you could change? Your job, your internal strength, your marriage, your ability to handle pressure? Your faith or your confidence to pursue your dreams? 

Most of us desire change at some point or another, sometimes because we want to move forward in our lives or career or sometimes because we have hit a low point and we want to get out of it. This is where the qualities of God come in.

But change can be difficult. Do you really believe you can change your life?

Throughout the Bible we read about a God who has the power to change not only our lives but our hearts, our families, and our destiny. As we work toward tackling these life changes, let’s look at 7 qualities of God that will inspire and motivate us to persevere.

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1. God transforms

Saul turned and left Samuel. At that very moment God transformed him—made him a new person! And all the confirming signs took place the same day.

1 Samuel 10:9 MSG

A transformation is a dramatic change – not an incremental adjustment to our behavior. Making change in our lives is difficult, and left to ourselves we tend to make little headway on changing our habits.

God has the power to transform anyone into a totally different person. In what areas of your life do you want and need God to transform you? Take time to actually write down the answers to this question. We usually have many areas we want to change, but don’t often take time to admit them and ask God for help.

2. God is powerful

19 I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used 20 when he raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right side in heaven.

Ephesians 1:19-20 CEV

God can change anything and everything about us. If the power that raised Christ from the dead and brought him back to life lives in us, then there’s nothing in us that can’t be changed.

The question is, do you want God to change you? Or are you comfortable the way you are? Do you allow God to change you? Or are you proud and trying to change yourself?

If you’re not changing, the problem is not with God. He remains as powerful as he was the day he raised Jesus from death. He will use that power in your life too, if you will let him.

3. God helps

We don’t have the right to claim that we have done anything on our own. God gives us what it takes to do all that we do.

2 Corinthians 3:5 CEV

With God’s help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes.

Psalm 60:12 NLT

Is your focus on God, or yourself? The challenge with change is that we tend to focus on ourselves and what we can do, instead of on what we can do with God’s help. Focusing on our own abilities is dangerous because no one is perfect.

In the 2015 Disney movie Tomorrowland, protagonist Casey Newton quotes to her discouraged father a Cherokee story:

There are two wolves who are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. The question is: which wolf wins?

The one you feed.

Anonymous

Where do you focus your energy? On searching for God, working to be close to God, and asking him for help? Or on yourself? When we focus on ourselves we end up feeding the “darkness and despair” wolf because we will inevitably see all our shortcomings and mistakes.

What would it look like for you to feed light and hope more than darkness and despair? Maybe it’s reading more of the Bible daily, or memorizing scriptures, or spending more time praying. Decide to change something simple this week to focus more on God than yourself.

4. God fulfills his promises

Are you so foolish? You began by the Holy Spirit. Are you now trying to finish God’s work in you by your own strength?

Galatians 3:3 NIrV

22 The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. 23 The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.

Galatians 4:22-23 NLT

5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.

Jeremiah 17:5-6 NLT

Over and over again in the Bible we see that God can be trusted because he always finishes what he starts. Sometimes though we can trust ourselves and try to take over what we really should be trusting God to do. We may go to church and do all the right outward things, but completely rely on our own strength.

In that case it’s especially easy to become deceived and lose faith, because we are trying to change in a spiritual setting but totally without God.

5. God gives strength

3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Psalm 32:3-5 NIV

Nothing saps our faith in change and our faith in God like sin does. Our conscience gets affected by a lot of things, including not just our actions but our desires, thoughts, and attitudes.  Sin saps our strength, but God restores it.

God doesn’t add burdens to our lives, he relieves our guilt so we can be strong. What sins are on your conscience today? Make time to pray about them so God can relieve your guilt and restore your strength.

6. God is faithful

[7] There is no gift of the Holy Spirit that you don’t have. You are full of hope as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again. [8] God will keep you strong to the very end. Then you will be without blame on the day our Lord Jesus Christ returns. [9] God is faithful. He has chosen you to share life with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:7-9 NIrV

Even when we are unfaithful, God is faithful. Despite our sins, he is still faithful. Gratitude for God is a powerful motivator. God doesn’t want us to be motivated by dutifulness or guilt or just doing the right thing, but by gratitude for his incredible kindness and patience.

Spend time praying about how God has taken care of you in your life. What prayers has he answered? Who has he sent into your life to help you when you needed it most? How does God’s faithfulness to you personally make you feel?

7. God gives us tools

This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

Colossians 1:6 NLT

We don’t change people – God changes people. The Bible changes lives. God gives us the scriptures as tools we need to change our lives and to help others – and we don’t have to do it by our own effort.

When was the last time you memorized a scripture about an area you wanted to change and decided to obey it every day? Trying to change without the power of the Bible will only be frustrating and discouraging, but with God’s help any area of our lives can be different.