Reassurance is the action of removing someone’s doubts and fears.
As someone who wakes up most mornings with a lot of worries, that sounds pretty good to me.
Everyone experiences doubt and fear; it’s part of being human. So we all need reassurance—from people around us but even more so from God. As the Bible talks about, people can be fickle and change their minds. However, God never changes who he is (Numbers 23:19). God is reliable and his reassuring qualities never change.
But this made me ask myself, if God is so unchangeably reassuring, why do I so often walk around full of doubt and fear even after I spend time reading the Bible and praying?
I don’t know about you, but I can get really stuck in my emotions. It can be hard to change the way I think. In these moments it helps to hear reassurance from someone I trust, but I have to make a conscious decision to listen and believe what they say. It’s then that I can change my way of thinking and allow my heart to be reassured.
Similarly, to be reassured by God’s qualities, we must first make a decision to read the Bible and to listen and believe what God says. Like in any relationship, if we are going to be reassured, we have to open our heart and mind to be influenced so that we can trust and believe.
God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:24 Amplified Bible
At first glance, the phrase “God is spirit” can seem confusing. But I love this description of God because it helps me understand that if I am going to have a reassuring relationship with him I need to be spiritually minded.
I can’t see God physically, but I can connect with him when I decide to set my mind on spiritual things—like God’s incredible power as the Source of life. A large part of being reassured by God is acknowledging the truth of his power and being reverent before him.
We can practice this by starting each day with a morning quiet time with God. Listening to God by reading the Bible and talking to God through prayer are essential components of spending time with him, but before you do those things, take time to think about who you are connecting with.
Allow yourself to reflect on who God is and while doing so, ask yourself this question:
- In what areas do I need God’s reassurance today?
Let’s take a look at just ten of the many reassuring qualities of God you can think about as you start each morning.
God is powerful.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega [the Beginning and the End],” says the Lord God, “Who is [existing forever] and Who was [continually existing in the past] and Who is to come, the Almighty [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all].”
Revelation 1:8 AMP
For me, this is one of the most inspiring and reassuring qualities of God. Sometimes I get stuck thinking about all my mistakes or feeling overwhelmed and worried about completing my to-do list. In these moments it helps me to slow down and think about how powerful God is.
When I remember that God’s power, plan, and purpose are so much bigger than anything I am obsessing over, I am able to put my worries aside and find peace.
Amazingly, God doesn’t experience time in the same way we do. So God can be with us in every little moment and yet beyond us in his timeless and boundless existence.
God is all knowing and all powerful. Even when we are experiencing temporary troubles, we can know and remember that God is bigger than what we are going through, and find inner peace.
Pause and reflect
- What challenges or situations have been filling your mind lately?
- How would it help your day today to remember that God is bigger and more powerful than you?
Take action
- Make a list of things to pray through each day. Ask God boldly for the things you need, knowing he is powerful enough to do anything. Practice thinking about how God is in control and working through any challenges you may be facing.
God is with and within you.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
Romans 8:14-16 NLT
One of the great gifts God gives us at baptism is his Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:38). That means God’s Spirit is within us all the time. We are never alone because God is always with us and helping us.
In other parts of the Bible, we learn that the Holy Spirit guides us (John 16:13), comforts us (John 14:26 AMPC), reminds us of spiritual truths (John 14:17), and produces in us a loving, fruitful life (Galatians 5:22-23). We can decide to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit by obeying the truth of the Bible, loving God, and loving others every day.
This passage in Romans tells us that when God gives us his Spirit he is “adopting us as his children.” His Spirit joins with ours to show that we are intimately connected with him. That means we don’t have to be fearful in our relationship with him. We can have the security of knowing that just as a loving father always guides and cares for his children, God will do the same for us.
Pause and reflect
- How well do you listen for God’s guidance and direction in your life?
Take action
- Pray about how you feel knowing that God is with you and working in your life.
God listens
but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
Psalm 66:18-20 NIV
Another important quality about God is that he listens to us. Our prayers matter to him. Even when we feel guilty, we can talk to God with an honest and humble heart and know he will not reject us or turn away from us (check out Psalm 51 for a great example of this).
It’s reassuring to have this confidence that God wants to be close to us and hear how we are really doing. When we come to God in honest prayer, we can be sure he is listening and hears us.
Pause and reflect
- How do you feel knowing that God listens to you?
- What are some things you could be honest and real about with God today?
Take action
- Meditate on God’s loving attentiveness and make sure to tell him the things you thought about in the previous question!
God is comforting
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NIV
Whenever I feel down or discouraged, it helps to know that God wants to comfort me. And one of the most meaningful ways we can feel God’s comfort is through Jesus.
Because Jesus lived on earth as a human, faced all kinds of temptations, and endured the sufferings of the cross, he can understand and sympathize with the pain and hardships we experience. He has compassion on us in our struggles, and this is something that brings me great comfort.
Something else that is very reassuring about God’s comfort is that it is shareable. When we experience God’s comfort and compassion, we will be fully equipped to give the same comfort to people around us in their troubles.
Pause and reflect
- What are some areas of your life in which you need to experience God’s comfort?
Take action
- Who is someone in your life who could use some compassion and encouragement? What could you do today to comfort them in their time of need?
God chooses and believes in you
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
John 15:15-16 NIV
God doesn’t need to have a relationship with us, but he chooses to be in relationship with us. Like a loving father, he created us and desires to be close to us. And like a friend, he chooses to make himself known to us.
Each of us is uniquely chosen and appointed by God for a special purpose. He believes in us. He decided beforehand the exact time and place that we would exist so that we could do good and bear fruit in the world.
It’s incredibly inspiring to know that God entrusts us with his purpose and believes in who we can become.
Pause and reflect
- How would it change your day today to believe that God chose you for a special purpose and believes in you?
Take action
- Ask a spiritual friend for their input on how you can live out God’s purpose.
God provides
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:25-26, 33 NIV
But then I recall all you have done, O LORD; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
Psalm 77:11 NLT
I often start my day with my anxious thoughts and worries. I think to myself, “When will I be able to finish that errand?” or “How will that conversation go later?” And like the scripture mentions, I can also worry about my daily needs.
But God reassures us that he knows our needs and he will take care of them. As we put God first in our heart and life, he will help us and provide for us.
Psalm 77 also shows us that it is important to remember all the ways God has taken care of us in the past. When praying about my needs and worries, I find it helpful to reflect and be grateful for the ways God has provided for me in the past and continues to provide for me now.
Pause and reflect
- What areas of your life do you tend to worry about the most?
Take action
- When you feel stuck in worry, decide to pray in gratitude for the ways God has already provided for you.
God is compassionate
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
Psalm 103:11-13 NLT
Sometimes I can carry around guilt and have a hard time letting it go, especially when I see the ways my sins have hurt the people closest to me.
It’s really refreshing to know that God’s love isn’t conditional on how good we are at not sinning. Actually, it’s the opposite; the more we see our sin, the more we can see and feel God’s love and forgiveness. Every day can be a reminder of the ways God removes our sin and has compassion on us.
Pause and reflect
- How do you tend to handle feelings of guilt and shame?
- How do you think God wants you to respond when you feel guilty or see your sins? How can you embrace that response today?
Take action
- Choose to pray about and trust God’s compassion toward you.
God brings healing
Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits; Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you [lavishly] with lovingkindness and tender mercy;
Psalm 103:2-4 Amplified Bible
God is a God who heals. He heals what cannot be healed by anyone or anything else, and he delights in doing it too. He specializes in doing the impossible and miraculous.
God can heal our physical diseases, and the Bible is full of incredible examples of this. But it’s also important to remember that many of the physical struggles we experience are part of having a human body made of flesh and blood (see 2 Corinthians 5:1-5).
Our human strength is limited and our physical bodies are not meant to last forever. But the good news is that once we are aware of this, we can welcome God’s supernatural power in our lives and look forward to experiencing heaven with him.
Since our physical bodies are naturally limited, the type of healing power of God that reassures me most is actually his ability to heal me emotionally and spiritually.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
James 5:16 NIV
God can heal us from the spiritual “diseases” of sin, and the painful consequences these sins produce in our lives. This is true for both the sins that have been done to us as well as the sins we have committed.
God heals us from the sins that eat away at our conscience. He heals us from the ways these sins cause us to feel shame and distance ourselves from people. And he frees us from the shackles of slavery to these sins and the imprints and scars they leave on our heart, conscience, and life.
God also heals us emotionally when our hearts have been broken:
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3 NIV
In this world, we will have troubles (see John 16:33), and sometimes these troubles come with pain and heartache. Fortunately, there is no pain or emotional wound too big for God. He can heal us when we can’t figure out how to heal ourselves.
With God on our side, we don’t have to live our lives afraid of possible pain. God’s supernatural healing power can heal us in any experience we go through.
Pause and reflect
- What kind of healing do you need in your heart and life?
Take action
- Admit your need for help (to yourself, to God, and a close friend).
- Pick a friend whose relationship with God you respect. Ask them to help you find healing with God through prayer and the Bible.
God loves you
Beloved, let us [unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience]. The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love.
1 John 4:7-10 Amplified Bible
[He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.] By this the love of God was displayed in us, in that God has sent His [One and] only begotten Son [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind] into the world so that we might live through Him.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath].
It always amazes me to really see the love of God. God is the originator and the sole source of the unfailing love that we all desire as humans. He is the end of our pursuit of things like validation, security, acceptance, meaning, and fulfillment in life.
We can see God’s love most clearly through Jesus. God sent his Son into the world to bring salvation and forgiveness not when we were at our best, but at our worst. God decided to display his great love in the moments we not only had nothing to offer, but even when we were actively turning against him.
This quality is most reassuring when combined with the humility that comes from remembering who we are without God and being aware of our sins. God’s love turns the story of sin from one that brings guilt and shame to one that brings love and joy. It is only through Jesus that we can truly understand God’s great love.
Pause and reflect
- What are you like when you are at your worst? How do you feel about knowing that God loves you even in these moments?
Take action
- Understanding God’s love toward us should make us want to love other people unselfishly too. Who is someone you can love unselfishly today?
God is a safe place
I love you, LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies.
Psalm 18:1-6,16-19 NIV
The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears…
He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
The place I feel most safe, most at peace, most comforted, is when I am home. It is when the room is lit the way I like it, and the temperature is slightly cold enough where having a blanket is soothing.
I like to light a good smelling candle and cozy up on the couch with a warm drink in my favorite mug. These moments are so peaceful they make me feel relaxed just writing about them.
This is who God wants to be for us! The most comforting and peaceful moments of my life have usually been on the back of moments that were tumultuous and stressful. This seems to be what David is referring to in Psalm 18; sometimes, distress pushes us to cry out to God and experience God’s rescue in a way we otherwise might not have.
God wants to be a safe place for us. He wants to be our home, a home we can run to wherever we are. I believe he wants us to start each day with this kind of peace, intimacy, and reassurance.
Pause and reflect
- How has God shown his delight in you by being a refuge in your time of need?
- What are some areas of distress that you need God’s help with?
Take action
- Think about what a “safe place” looks like to you. Then meditate on the qualities of God that bring about this safe space in your heart.
- Find passages of the Bible that remind you of the peace and security that come from God.
Next steps
We all need reassurance and to know that we’re loved, valued, believed in, and accepted for who we are. And while we need this in relationships, we need it even more from God.
Reflecting on God and who he is helps us be in touch with our own heart and reassures us of who we are to him. For further reading on this:
- Read Psalms and circle the qualities of God you see in each chapter.
- Read the book of Romans and learn about who God is through seeing who Jesus was.
- Check out the “God Is” video series on Deep Spirituality to reflect on more reassuring qualities of God.
Explore more:
Christina Roby received her bachelor's at San Francisco State University, studying health education and dance.
Christina Roby received her bachelor's at San Francisco State University, studying health education and dance.