The kids are going back to school. For my daughter it's a new school. High school. And it can be very daunting.
We spent some time the night before her first day playing a game of encouragement. We basically took it in turns to say encouraging things to each other.
I got a bit carried away, and started talking about God's 'Omni' characteristics.
It's so amazing, I thought I'd share these very pieces of encouragement.
These do not of course fully explain these characteristics, they are just small facets of them.
Omnipotence (from Latin: Omni Potens: "all power") is unlimited power.
God is all powerful. Yep, easy one, got it. But what does that mean? If you are in need and pray, God doesn't just get His eye dropper out and measure out a tiny part of His power to help your need. No, God aims ALL His power at your situation. His power is perfect and complete. It never runs out, never needs to replenished, He never needs a rest for it to build up again. When He helps, He helps completely, and He hasn't then emptied Himself of power, He still has all power to help anyone else.
Omniscience is the capacity to know everything infinitely
God knows everything. Again, easy. got it. Next. It means God knows everything there is possibly to know about everything in existence. He will never be surprised by something He didn't know. We will never learn something He doesn't know. We just learn things that he allows to be revealed to us. I guess that's what science is. Our learning of his revelations on creation. He knows everything about you, every thought, motive, word spoken. He sees all the secret things.
Omnipresence is the property of being present everywhere.
This one could freak you out. To explain this one to the kids I drew a line on some paper. Marked the beginning of the line as birth, and the end as death. I then marked lots of different events along this line, such as: first time to walk, first word, starting nursery, first day at school, first day at college, first job, getting married, having kids, being a grandpa/granny, being called home to be with Him.
Then I asked the kids, where Jesus was on this timeline? They pointed to various events, but I drew a circle outside of the timeline and said He's there. He's outside of time. Because He's outside of time, He can see all events at once, and can be in all places at once (at every time).
So, right now, he's there at your birth. Right now, He's there when you walk. Right now, He's there at your first day of school, ready to help you, preparing things for you. Right now, he's there at your first day of work. Right now, he's there at your bedside calling you 'come home'.
Absolutely beautiful.
