God is a real being, but not made of physical stuff we can see or touch.

John 4:24; Luke 24:39; 2 Corinthians 3:17

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God is spirit. That means God isn’t made up of physical stuff like we are. He doesn’t have a body made of skin and bones and cells and atoms. You can’t weigh him on a scale, zoom in on him with a microscope, or bump into him with your shoulder. God is a real being, but he isn’t made out of things we can see or touch or smell. He is spirit. And because God is spirit, he is greater than anything in the physical world he made.

Because God is spirit, he normally cannot be seen.

Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; John 1:18

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God is invisible. Because God is spirit, he doesn’t have a body like ours that we can see with our eyes. We can’t look across the room and spot him sitting in a chair. We can’t take a picture of him or point to a place in the sky and say, “There he is!” But invisible doesn’t mean pretend. God is real, even though we can’t see him. And even though God is invisible, he has done many things to show us what he is like. He showed his power through mighty miracles, and best of all, he sent his Son Jesus into our world. Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

God has always existed and will continue to exist forever.

Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 40:28; 1 Timothy 1:17

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God is eternal. That means God has always existed, and he will always exist. He was already there before the mountains, before the earth, before the stars, and even before the beginning of our universe. If we tried to draw God’s timeline, it would stretch forever into the past and forever into the future. God was never born, and he will never come to an end. He is forever old, and he will be around forever.

God has no limits. He completely fills heaven and earth.

Psalm 147:5; Romans 11:33; Isaiah 40:12–13

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God is infinite. That means God has no limits. You can measure a table or a room or even a mountain, but you can’t measure God. There is no ruler long enough, no tape measure big enough, and no number high enough to describe how great he is. God is forever big in every direction. He fills every inch of heaven and earth, and there is no place where he runs out or comes to an end. God is bigger than big, greater than great, and endless in every way.

God is all-powerful. He can do anything he wants to do.

Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 19:26; Revelation 19:6

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God is omnipotent. That’s a big word that means God has all power. A battery can give power to a toy so it can move and blink and make noise, but God’s power is much, much greater than that. He created the universe with the power of his voice. He split the Red Sea in two. He knocked down the walls of Jericho. Jesus even stopped a storm just by speaking to it! Nothing is too hard for God. He can do anything he wants to do.

God is all-knowing. He knows everything there is to know.

Psalm 139:1–4; Hebrews 4:13; 1 John 3:20

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God is omniscient. "Omni” means all. The “scient” part is related to the word "science" and has to do with knowledge. When we say God is omniscient, we mean God knows everything. If you tried to write down everything God knows in a book, you would never finish. You would just keep writing forever and ever and ever, because there is no limit to his understanding. God knows every star in the sky, every fish in the sea, every thought in your head, and every word before you say it. There is nothing God needs to learn, nothing he forgets, and nothing hidden from him.

God is in all places. He is everywhere all at once.

Psalm 139:7–10; Jeremiah 23:23–24; Proverbs 15:3

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God is omnipresent. "Omni” means all. The “present” part means that someone is "present," or in a place. God is omni-present because he is in all places at once. He isn’t stuck in one country or one city or one room. He is here with us, and he is across the ocean, and he is up in the sky, and he is deep in the sea, all at the same time. You could point to any spot on a globe or map, and God would be there. There is nowhere we can run where God is not already present.

God cannot be destroyed. He will live on forever.

1 Timothy 1:17; 1 Timothy 6:15–16; Psalm 102:26–27

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God is immortal. That means God cannot die or be destroyed. People are mortal, which means we are able to die. Even the strongest, smartest, most famous people in history all come to the end of their lives. But God is not like us. He is immortal. You could take a million armies with a million tanks and a million bombs, and they still couldn’t kill God. They couldn’t even leave a scratch! God never gets old, never gets weak, and never comes to an end. When Jesus died on the cross, it wasn’t because he stopped being immortal God. It was because he had become a real human being with a mortal human body that could really die.

God is always the same. He never changes his mind.

Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Hebrews 13:8

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God is unchanging. That means God always stays the same. Human beings are constantly changing. Babies grow into kids, kids grow into grown-ups, and sometimes nice friends even change into not-so-nice friends. But God doesn’t change. He doesn’t need to change because he is already perfect. There is no possible way for him to get any better! God is the same powerful, wonder-working God he has always been. He is the same God who stopped the sun in the sky, helped David defeat a giant, and shut the mouths of lions to save Daniel. And because God is unchanging, we can be sure he will keep every promise he has ever made.

God is completely pure and free of sin.

Isaiah 6:3; 1 Peter 1:15–16; Revelation 4:8

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God is holy. That means God is sinless. He is totally, completely, perfectly pure, free from any sin. Even the nicest person you know has sinned. They are not holy like God is. They have told lies or lost their temper or complained or disobeyed. But God is not like us. There is no sin mixed into him at all. He never thinks anything sinful, says anything sinful, or does anything sinful. God is 100% clean, 100% pure, and 100% free from sin. To emphasize how holy is, the Bible calls him "holy, holy, holy."

God is never evil or bad. He always does what is right and best.

Psalm 34:8; Psalm 119:68; Mark 10:18

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God is good. The Bible says it over and over and over: “The Lord is good.” That means God isn’t ever bad or evil or cruel. Everything he does is good, and everything he does is for our good. If we had to give God a rating for how good his plans are, he would get five stars every time. Actually, he deserves a million stars! Sometimes we face tough times when we feel sad or sick or scared, and we might wonder if God is really being good to us. But even then, God is working all things together for the good of those who love him. One day, when we see his whole plan, we won’t say, “God, you could have done that better.” We’ll say, “God, your plan couldn't have been any better!"

God hates sin and punishes evil because he is good.

Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:28–29; Nahum 1:2–3

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God is a consuming fire. That doesn’t mean God is actually a giant fireball in the sky. It’s a word picture the Bible uses to show us what God is like. A consuming fire is a fire that burns so hot, it gobbles up everything in its path until nothing is left. And when God calls himself a consuming fire, he is showing us how he feels about sin. God doesn’t just dislike sin. He hates sin. His hatred of sin burns like a consuming fire, and because God is holy and just, he will punish sin. This is a scary, but important, truth about God.

God cares for his people with a steadfast, never-stopping love.

1 John 4:8–10; John 3:16; Romans 5:8

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God is love. That means God isn’t just loving; he is the very definition of love. If you looked up love in a dictionary, there should be a picture of God! But God’s love isn’t just some squishy, squeezy, teddy bear cuddly kind of love. It is a never-stopping, never-quitting, save-you-from-death kind of love. Even though God haaaaaates sin, he looooooves sinners like you and me. And he showed that love by giving his only Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. God loved us so much that he gave his Son to save us from forever death.

God always judges fairly and rightly. He rewards good and punishes evil.

Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 89:14; Romans 3:25–26

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God is just. That means God always does what is fair and right. He is a God of justice. A good judge doesn’t punish innocent people or let guilty people go free. A good judge gives actions what they deserve. And God is the Judge of the whole earth. He sees every person, knows every thought, hears every word, and judges every action. God never cheats. He never gets confused. He never makes a wrong decision. When people do good, God knows. When people do evil, God knows that too. And because God is just, he will always treat every person fairly and give every action exactly what it deserves.

God is kind to people who do not deserve it.

Exodus 34:6–7; Psalm 103:8–13; Ephesians 2:4–5

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God is merciful. That means God shows kindness to people who don’t deserve it. If you were speeding down the road and a police officer pulled you over, justice would be getting the ticket you deserve. But mercy would be the officer giving you a warning instead. That’s what mercy is: kindness instead of the punishment we have earned. Because of our sin, we deserve forever death. But God didn’t give us what we deserve. He gave us Jesus. On the cross, Jesus took the punishment for our sins so we could receive forgiveness, kindness, and forever life with God. Even though we were sinners deserving of forever death, Jesus took our place so we would receive the gift of forever life.