The Omnis: Delving into the Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Omnipotence of God

Our God is Awesome: Encountering the Greatness of Our God. This book, penned by Dr Tony Evans, changed my life. I read it about 10-15 years ago and it's still guiding my understanding of who God is and what he's like. In his uniquely understandable and relatable Dr. Evans introduced me to God by describing God's attributes. I moved from having a head knowledge of God to a growing heart knowledge of God. Are you seeking a deeper connection with God? Join us as we explore three of God's attributes the Omnis: omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience. Discover how these attributes offer hope, strength and guidance from God, even in the midst of adversity. Well, welcome everyone.

I'm your Jacqui Adewole, and this is the Bible Basics Podcast, where weekly, we break down the Bible into understandable, bite-sized chunks. What do I mean by attribute? Attribute means a characteristic or feature that uniquely describes another person. In the case of God, attributes refer to his character, his nature. Three notes about God's attributes before we really get into this. First, god's attributes are eternally permanent. This means they have always and will always belong to God. He is forever the same. Second, God is simple. This means simple as opposed to complex. Simplicity means God is not made of parts. All that is in God is God. His attributes are not parts of God, like a slice of pie. They are all 100% of God. His attributes can't be ranked one higher than another. All of God is all of his attributes, in their entirety. And third, each attribute we ascribe to God applies equally to God the Father, god the Son and God the Holy Spirit, because they are one.

Okay, now let's look at the Omnis, omni? I hear you asking what in the world is Omni? Well, I'm glad you asked. Omni is a prefix from the Latin for "all. Now let's examine what the three attributes theologians refer to as the Omnis are. Omni-presence, also known as Ever-Present, signifies that God is present everywhere at all times. Omniscience, or all-knowing, meaning that God possesses complete and infinite knowledge. And omnipotence, meaning all-powerful. This refers to God's unlimited power and ability to do anything.

To delve deeper into these concepts, let's open our Bibles to the Book of Psalms, chapter 139, verses 7-10. I'm quoting from the NIV Bible translation. Where can I go from your spirit, where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you're there. If I make my bed in the depths, you're there. If I rise up on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea. Even there, your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

This passage beautifully illustrates the omnipresence of God. No matter where we go, God is there with us. This brings comfort and reassurance, knowing that we are never alone, but don't forget. It also lets us know that he sees our sin. Additionally, it's essential to note that God is not contained in any one area. When King Solomon was building the temple he acknowledged in 2 Chronicles 2-6, (also found in 1 Kings 8-26-27), he said" but who is able to build the temple for him since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build the temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him? This implies that there is no special place we need to go to have access to God's presence. We can meet Him anywhere. We also can't flee or hide from God's presence, as we saw in Psalm 139-10, which we just read, no matter where we are, we're never away from God. We can worship Him, praise Him and pray to Him anywhere, because he's there. There's no place in the universe where God does not exist, I might add. That's internally and externally, which leads me to the next attribute omniscience.

In the book of Isaiah, chapter 46, verse 10, we read "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times. What is still to come, I say my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please. This verse highlights God's perfect knowledge of the past, present and future events. He knows everything that has happened, is happening and will happen. Psalm 139:4 says Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely. David proclaimed that God knows what we're going to say before we even say it. Our future, as well as the past and present, is completely known to Him. Listen to this. Great is our Lord in mighty power. His understanding has no limit. That's Psalm 147:5, and Matthew 10;30 states and even the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Whoa, say what. This doesn't mean God counted the hairs on our head. No, because that was suggested at some point in the process of counting. He didn't know how many there were. Instead, it means that every strand of hair is assigned a number. I don't know about you, but that blows my mind. Oh, hair number 4,586 just fell out. He assigned numbers to every strand of hair on my head and your head. Wow, are you able to begin to consider the enormity of God's attributes, but we aren't finished.

The third Omni is his omnipotence. Jeremiah, chapter 32, verse 27, says, "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? This verse declares his limitless power. There is nothing, not one thing, too difficult for him to accomplish, whether it's parting the Red Sea, healing the sick, raising the dead or creating the earth in seven literal days, god's power knows no bounds. God has the power to do everything he desires to do. He is unlimited and can do all things.

Scripture supports this truth in other passages, like Matthew 19:26, where Jesus instructs his disciples, "\\ With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. And Psalm 60:11 declares One thing God has spoken two things I have heard. Power belongs to you, god. As we reflect on these attributes of God, let's remember that they reveal his nature and character to us. His omnipresence reminds us that we are always in his loving presence, no matter where we are. His omniscience gives us confidence that he knows what is best for us and has a perfect plan for our lives. And his omnipresence assures us of his ability to intervene in our lives and bring about his purposes.

I want to close with a quote from Dr Tony Evans. "When life's challenges hit you, when you're facing something you've never faced before, god says I am omniscient, I know what you're facing, I'm omnipresent, I'm with you as you face it and I am omnipotent, I can do the job. So are you going to trust yourself or trust me? Without me, you can do nothing. Thank you for joining us today on the Bible Basics Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, informative or inspirational in any way, would you please share with someone you know who needs to hear it? You can do that by sharing the podcast's website, bible-basics. org, or you can click on the Share button right where you're listening now. For those of you listening on YouTube, go ahead and like, subscribe and leave us a comment. In closing, may the grace and peace of God be with you now and always.