Lesson 11 - Nothing is Impossible with God

(Lesson 11)

Nothing is Impossible with God

“O great and mighty God whose name is the LORD” Jeremiah 32:18

Discussion Guide:

This lesson is all about the attributes of God. God is all knowing (omniscient), all powerful (omnipotent), and He is everywhere (omnipresent). He is all loving, all merciful, and perfectly just. There is nothing beyond the knowledge and providence of God. He is the creator of everything in the universe. He created all things out of nothing and only He is eternal. He always was and always will be. He created all things through Jesus Christ. We owe our existence to God and we should be grateful for the gift of life that He bestowed on each one of us. As the saying goes, “God is good, all the time!” Evil things do not come from God. Although God is all powerful, He does not take away our free will. He wants every human being to love Him freely and never forces anyone to enter into a relationship with Him. Why a completely good and holy God allows sin and the existence of evil are mysteries that are ultimately beyond human understanding. We must always pray with confidence to the father and we must have faith that He loves us in whatever circumstance we may find ourselves.

Discussion Points:

· Man has limited knowledge, but God knows everything

· God is everywhere at all times in history

· No matter how powerful man thinks he is, it is nothing compared to God

· God’s mercy and love are more powerful than any sin we can commit

· There is nothing that God is unable to do or unable to prevent

· God can change the hearts of even the most evil people

· God is infinitely just and compassionate at the same time

· We can never fully understand God but He revealed Himself through Jesus Christ

· God knows each of us by name and He knows everything about us

· God sustains our being because of His love for us

The Attributes or Qualities of God


God is Absolutely Perfect
God is Infinite in Every Perfection
There is only One God
The One God is the True God and the Only God
God Possesses an Infinite Power
God is Absolutely Faithful
God is Absolute Goodness in Himself and in Relation to Others
God is Absolute Moral Goodness or Holiness
God is Absolute Beauty
God is Absolutely Unchangeable
God is Eternal
God is Immense and Absolutely Immeasurable
God is Everywhere Present in Created Space
God's Knowledge is Infinite
God Knows All Things in the Past, the Present and the Future
God is Almighty
God is Infinitely Just
God is Infinitely Merciful


Nothing is Impossible with God

“O great and mighty God whose name is the LORD” Jeremiah 32:18

Opening Prayer:

Lord God, You are the King of heaven and earth. Thank you for calling us to be Your children for all eternity. Give us the grace to always love You. Amen.

Theme:

What are the attributes of God? There is nothing that God cannot do and nothing He does not know. God is everywhere. He loves us and wants us to freely love Him. He is infinitely merciful, compassionate and just.

Bible Readings:

Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Jeremiah 32:17-20 Lord GOD! It is thou who hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thy outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for thee, who showest steadfast love to thousands, but dost requite the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed; whose eyes are open to all the ways of men, rewarding every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings; who hast shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and hast made thee a name, as at this day.

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

Explanation of the Bible readings: The prophet Isaiah emphasizes the vast difference between the mind of God and the mind of man. When he says that God’s ways are as high as heaven in relation to our ways, he is saying that the difference is infinite. God can forgive perfectly and love perfectly. He can create out of nothing and he can work miracles. Jeremiah tells us of the awesome power of God. He can move the hearts and minds of whom He chooses and He can measure all of the intentions of the human soul. We judge from outward appearance while God sees the heart. Finally, John tells us that all things were created through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the author of life. He was with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity. He reveals the Father to us in his sacred humanity. Jesus Christ knows all of our emotions and circumstances not only because He is God and He created us, but also because He lived among us as a human being. God understands our problems! He is worthy of all praise and glory!

Job 42:2 Job tells us that God can do anything
Luke 1: 37 The angel Gabriel testifies to God’s power
John 1: 43-51 God knows what is inside the heart

Catechism of the Catholic Church:

216 God's truth is his wisdom, which commands the whole created order and governs the world. God, who alone made heaven and earth, can alone impart true knowledge of every created thing in relation to himself.

268 ….We believe that his might is universal, for God who created everything also rules everything and can do everything. God's power is loving, for he is our Father, and mysterious, for only faith can discern it when it "is made perfect in weakness".

He does whatever he pleases

269 The Holy Scriptures repeatedly confess the universal power of God. He is called the "Mighty One of Jacob", the "LORD of hosts", the "strong and mighty" one. If God is almighty "in heaven and on earth", it is because he made them. Nothing is impossible with God, who disposes his works according to his will. He is the Lord of the universe, whose order he established and which remains wholly subject to him and at his disposal. He is master of history, governing hearts and events in keeping with his will: "It is always in your power to show great strength, and who can withstand the strength of your arm?

You are merciful to all, for you can do all things

270 ….God reveals his fatherly omnipotence by the way he takes care of our needs; by the filial adoption that he gives us ("I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty"): finally by his infinite mercy, for he displays his power at its height by freely forgiving sins.

271 God's almighty power is in no way arbitrary: "In God, power, essence, will, intellect, wisdom, and justice are all identical. Nothing therefore can be in God's power which could not be in his just will or his wise intellect."

The mystery of God's apparent powerlessness

272 Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes seem to be absent and incapable of stopping evil. But in the most mysterious way God the Father has revealed his almighty power in the voluntary humiliation and Resurrection of his Son, by which he conquered evil. Christ crucified is thus "the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." It is in Christ's Resurrection and exaltation that the Father has shown forth "the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe".

273 Only faith can embrace the mysterious ways of God's almighty power. This faith glories in its weaknesses in order to draw to itself Christ's power. The Virgin Mary is the supreme model of this faith, for she believed that "nothing will be impossible with God", and was able to magnify the Lord: "For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name."

277 God shows forth his almighty power by converting us from our sins and restoring us to his friendship by grace. "God, you show your almighty power above all in your mercy and forgiveness. . ."

278 If we do not believe that God's love is almighty, how can we believe that the Father could create us, the Son redeem us and the Holy Spirit sanctify us?

Faith words:

Omnipotent: The power of God to do anything in or out of the natural order.

Omnipresent: God is everywhere. God is both transcendent and immanent (to exist or remain within). Both totally "other" and "above" the physical world, but also right here at hand.

Omniscient: Having total knowledge; knowing everything


Reflection Questions:


Where do you witness the power of God in the world around us?





Are there any circumstances that make you wonder why God does not intervene?





What comes to mind when you contemplate that God knows your thoughts?

St. Augustine

From The Confessions

"Since, then You fill heaven and earth, do they contain You? Or, because they do not contain You, do You fill them, and yet something remains over? And where do You pour out what remains of You when the heaven and earth are filled? Or, indeed, is there any need that You who contain all things should be contained by any, since those things which You fill, You fill by containing them? For the vessels which You fill do not sustain You, since should they even be broken You would not be poured out. And when You are poured out on us, You are not cast down, but we are uplifted; nor are You diluted, but we are drawn together. But, as You fill all things, do You fill them with Your whole self, or, as all things cannot altogether contain You, do they contain a part, and do all at once contain the same part? Or has each its own proper part-the greater more, the smaller less? Is, then, one part of You greater, another less? Or are You wholly everywhere while nothing altogether contains You?

What, then, are You, O my God-what, I ask, but the Lord God? For who is Lord but the Lord? or who is God save our God (Ps. 17:32) ? Most high, most excellent, most powerful, most omnipotent ; most piteous and most just; most hidden and most near; most beautiful and most strong, stable, yet contained by none; unchangeable, yet changing all things; never new, never old; making all things new, yet bringing old age upon the proud without their knowing it (Job 9:5); always working, yet ever at rest; gathering, yet needing nothing; sustaining, pervading, and protecting; creating, nourishing, and developing; seeking, and yet possessing all things. You love, yet do not burn; are jealous, yet free from care; You repent, yet do not suffer; are angry, yet serene; You change Your ways, leaving Your plans unchanged; You recover what You find, without ever having lost it; You are never in want, while You rejoice in gain; never covetous, though requiring interest.' That You may owe, more than enough is given to You; yet who has anything that is not Yours? You pay debts while owing nothing; and when You forgive debts, You lose nothing. Yet, O my God, my life, my holy joy, what is this that I have said? And what does anyone say when He speaks of You? Yet woe to them that keep silence, seeing that even they who say most are like the dumb."