7 Practices for Living in God’s Goodness

In a day where so many question the goodness of God, thus distancing themselves from His presence; we as God’s children must cling to His goodness as our strong foundation. In a world where true goodness can be lacking, we have a chance to cut through with the pure holiness of God’s goodness.

In the world, we either witness outright evil that seeks to wipe the sense of goodness away, or we watch as mankind tries to muster up his own sense of goodness apart from God. In both scenarios, God and His true goodness is being ignored. That is why it is so key that we each capture a personal revelation of God’s goodness in all things, so that we may carry all that heaven has to offer to impact this planet effectively. 

Many believers are in a battle regarding the goodness of God, questioning whether or not He is truly good. Others will agree that God is good, but their definition of HIs goodness sounds more like an evil step parent than the loving Father of lights the Scriptures speak of. I address the issue of the goodness of God in the podcast episode, “Is God Really Good?”

For our application, I want to give some daily practical things we can keep in mind as we develop cultures that are based on the goodness of God. 

1. Experience the Father’s Love

His goodness begins with getting a proper lens of who God is as our Father, as a really good Dad, our Abba.

Early on during my own spiritual renovation, I gained a personal understanding of the love of God, especially as my Father. It broke so many chains in my life, to the point that I will never be the same. One of the practices I felt God was leading me to do was to start each day pausing to reflect on the love that God had for me. Before I jumped out into the world and potentially get sucked into the demands of people and circumstances, I stopped each morning at the top of the stairs and let Father God love on me. Without a daily reference of His love, we won’t have a gauge for His goodness.

2. Confront Our Disappointments with God. 

Any believer who has lived at all has experience disappointment, some very deep and heart wrenching. Every Christian will face a moment that leads us to say, “God where are You?” It is in the domain of disappointment where satan can come in and accuse God in our thoughts. Our unhealed disappointments can lead to a deep anger towards God that will create a sense of separation in our hearts towards Him. This kind of anger can hide easily under the surface. I’ve observed many Christians with unhealed disappointments walk around like nothing is wrong. They serve in church and live their lives out. But deep inside, there is a resentment towards God, where they feel He has not come through for them. This leads them to a slow fade spiritually. 

We must learn to stop suppressing our disappointments and talk them out with God. Don’t be afraid that God will strike you for expressing your heart. David was so good at doing this. He would cry out to God in honest feelings of what he was going through. Yet in that expression, he would always make an exchange with God, realizing God’s power and ability to work in his life. We cannot understand His goodness, without properly processing through our pain and disappointments. 

3. Learn the Gift of Repentance.

I believe that biblical repentance is one of the hidden gems in the Kingdom of God that many do not utilize fully. Many people see repentance as something you only do when you get saved. Others see repentance as groveling before God, typically when you do something really wrong. This is a shallow understanding of what it means to repent. 

Repentance at its core means to turn from one way of thinking while moving into another way of thinking. Repentance is a daily gift. It is our opportunity before God to turn from ways of thinking that are killing our wholeness, relationships and health, while moving into God’s way of thinking, speaking and behaving that breathe life into our being. 

This is good gift from God! This is why the goodness of God leads us to repentance. When we truly taste of God’s way of thinking, in His goodness, we will automatically want to throw away the counterfeit ways of thinking that satan has seeped into our lives. 

4. Focus on What God is Doing.

In a world where humanity becomes so focused on things that are going wrong, we as believers must be trained to focus on what God is doing with laser sharp vision. This is not a task that comes easily, especially because we are bombarded daily with obstacles that seek to lead us into hopeless, discouragement and despair. The enemy does not want people to see hope in the midst of difficult circumstances. 

When we focus on what God is doing, we keep ourselves aligned with heaven. I have made a decision to daily focus on what God is doing, not on what satan may try to tell me He is not doing or has not done. This positions me to hear God more in what He going to do out of His goodness. 

One way that I do this is by journalling. I try to keep a regular habit of writing down everything that God has done and documenting what I sense He is doing. This keeps my heart and mind fresh with the goodness of God in my daily life! 

5. Live in Thanksgiving.

One of the quickest ways to sense the goodness of God in our hearts is to enter into thanksgiving. (I wrote an article on ways we can practice this.) The Bible says we “enter into His gates with Thanksgiving.” (Psalm 100:4 NKJV) So this means that offering up thanks to God sets our hearts to the frequency of heaven, so that we walk in alignment with the Father’s nature in all things. Thanksgiving leads us into His courts, where we then experience His goodness. In that goodness, the praises of God are meant to be lifted up, so that we recognize that He is good! That is why it is important to daily “offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15 NKJV) so that we are reminded of His goodness. 

6. Stop Doing Life on Your Own.

When Jesus walked the planet, a ruler came to Him and called Him “Good Teacher.” Jesus turned to the man and said, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” (Luke 18:19 NKJV) What Jesus was showing us is that there is no goodness that can be found in humanity’s strength alone. True goodness comes from Father God. He is the source of all that is good. 

With that in mind, it is very subtle work where the flesh becomes a training ground for satan to convince us to do life in our own strength, power and personal sense of goodness. We become conditioned to rely on our sense of goodness in life. Our own goodness does not lead us to the goodness of God. Father God is the only source, through Christ. We must learn to rely on that. 

Relying on His strength and His power keeps us feeding on His goodness and keeping our source aligned with it daily. We must be reminded of this daily. 

7. Look to Release the Goodness of God to Others.

It is our job as believers to manifest the goodness of God. The Father sent His Son into the world to die to show His love for us. It is now our responsibility to demonstrate His goodness and glory of God to the world. This can only be done by getting our eyes off of ourselves and our selfish concerns, while looking to God’s heart to shine His goodness on humanity. 

In every situation that seems dark, the goodness of God needs to be made manifest. In giving out His goodness to others, we are reminded ourselves of that goodness. One of the ways I am reminded of how good God is through giving out His goodness to others. As I give it out, I grow in the awareness of how wonderfully good He is! This keeps my heart aligned with God’s heart; reminding me that life is not about me, but about seeing God’s goodness reach the nations. 

Question: Where do you need to embrace the goodness of God in your life?