"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matt. 28:19-20

As I close the God in Three Parts series that I've been writing, I wanted to once again bring the focus back to where it belongs, the one God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.  I've spent several weeks now breaking down the differences between the persons of the Trinity, but I don't want that to water down the fact that each member is God, not a god, but the God.

The metaphors that I've used (primarily the image of man and the puzzle with pieces) are focused on smaller parts summed together to make a whole.  I've used these because they're easier for me to understand.  My feeble human mind needs to see things in a form that makes sense.  Unfortunately this puts my infinite God in a very finite box.  It might not necessarily make sense, but God isn't a whole made up of smaller parts in the Father, Word and the Holy Spirit.  Each part of the Trinity is equal to the whole.  The math doesn't add up, but the Father is 100% of God, the Word is 100% of God and the Holy Spirit is 100% of God.  There's no way to describe this in a natural way, because my God is outside of the world we can understand.

The closest I have come was in an article I once read, which stated that "God is one in essence, but three in Person."  Meaning that there are three Persons of God that make up one essence, sharing all of His attributes, while existing within multiple consciousness.  We see this more clearly in Matt. 28:19, when Jesus told His followers to "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  There are three names in which we are to baptize, but the word for name used here, onoma, is in the singular form.  There is one name of three persons.  His is the Name above all names, and whether you call Him Father, Jesus or Holy Spirit, His name is God.

"And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.  Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth!  For I am God, and there is no other."  Isaiah 45:21-22

Father, thank You for teaching us more about You everyday.  I pray that we continue to seek Your face, and continue to desire to learn new things about You, the God of the universe, in all Your glorious essence.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." John 14:16-17

There is definitely considerable amounts of discrepancy to go around within the church about the Holy Spirit.  Every denomination has a different opinion about Him, even going as far in some cases as believing that He's crazy and needs to be ignored.  I would argue that the Spirit is the most important part of the Trinity to a believer, but don't stone me for heresy just yet.  I know that it's by Jesus' blood sacrifice that I am redeemed, and by the belief in that sacrifice that I am saved by grace, but it's the Spirit that remains in the world today and allows me to move in God's purpose.

In my continuing image of man metaphor, the Holy Spirit is God's soul.  He is God's all-present, all-powerful, life-giving soul that dwells with us and in us.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago in the post "Breathe Life into Me," the Greek word for Spirit is pneuma, which means breath.  So the Holy Spirit is God's Holy Breath, that fills all the spaces around us and all of the sinful, breathless holes in us.  

Although He showed up all the time in Old Testament stories, at Jesus' baptism by John was the first time God's Spirit (His Breath) came to earth and remained here with someone permanently (Luke 3:21-24).  Before that, one or maybe two people per generation, usually the prophets or kings, would have visits from the Spirit of God, but He never stayed permanently, except in the Holy of Holies in the Temple.  When God's Word became flesh, He gave up His deity in order to die for our redemption (as I mentioned last week).  When the Spirit came down upon Jesus, He reunited God's earthly soul with His Heavenly one, and brought with Him all the power that exists in God's Almighty breath.  In that moment, Jesus regained His intimate connection with God and His miracle-filled ministry began.

But Jesus was still the only connection between God's power and man, since He had not yet died and bridged the gap for us.  He was a living Holy of Holies, by which the Spirit moved, but I can't find a single time in scripture the disciples performed a miracle unless granted specific authority by Jesus while He was still alive (Matt. 10 & Luke 9).  The power of the Spirit was poured out by the authority of the Word.  But just before Jesus left and ascended back to Heaven, He promised He would send a Helper who would dwell with all believers forever (John 14:16-17), who would guide us into truth, not speaking on His own authority, but on the authority of God (John 16:13).

Our connection to God is by way of His Holy Spirit on the authority of Jesus Christ.  When we receive the Holy Spirit, we have access to the same power of God as Jesus because the same Spirit that was in Him dwells in us.  To make that even more powerful, when the Holy Spirit dwells within you, your soul and God's soul now occupy the same space, allowing Him to breathe His life into yours, molding you into the person He designed.  But it all still rests on the authority of God.  The Holy Spirit is our God "feed" on earth.  It's by Him that we hear God, move in His will, receive any of His gifts, gain revelation and insight, and even pray.  Jesus said that it was better for us that He leave so the Holy Spirit could come to us (John 16:7).  If I trust Jesus with my life, why wouldn't I trust Him about His Holy Spirit and receive the fullness of what God has for me.

Father, thank You that You sent Your Spirit, Your Breath to earth so I could have Your guidance into truth.  Help me to continue to align my thoughts and my desires with Yours by way of Your Spirit.  Breathe Your life into me daily so that I can move in accordance with Your will.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

"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 nothing was made that was made...  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."  John 1:1-3, 14

The Word is the part of the Trinity with which Christians should be the most familiar.  Had He not become flesh, lived a perfect, sinless life, died as a blood sacrifice and defeated death through His resurrection, we would still be under the control of sin with no real life of which to speak.  In keeping with the image of man metaphor I've been using, the Word is God's body, or at least His earthly one.  He represents the benevolence and unconditional love God showed His people, giving us a chance at repentance and atonement, not to mention tearing down the wall that we sinners of the world had built between us and God.  Obviously, we know Him as Jesus.

But Jesus didn't just appear to come to earth and atone for our sins.  He was with God in the beginning of it all.  He was a part of God before anything we know even existed.  He is the the Word of God, that spilled from His mouth calling all creation into being (John 1 and Gen. 1).  When Jesus came to earth, God formed a human child within Mary, just like all of the rest of us were formed within our mothers.  He was fully man, just like you and I.  But instead of an earthly father to share DNA with this child, God imparted Himself into Jesus, making Him both God's Son and also fully God, allowing Him to remain sinless and deny His flesh.  

The Word gave up His deity in order to have the ability to spill His human blood and die as a sacrifice for the atonement of sin.  God made Himself a man without blemish, a spotless Lamb, to be sacrificed on His altar to atone for the sins of His people (Lev. 3:27-35).  There is no greater love than to lay down your life for those you cherish (John 15:13).  No greater gift or sacrifice that has ever existed.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."  John 3:16-17

God, thank You that Your Word became flesh so that I could deny mine and follow You.  Thank You that, through Your sacrifice, my debts are payed-in-full and I will one day kneel before Your throne with awe and thanksgiving.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

"As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them.  I will be their God, and they shall be My people...  I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."  2 Cor. 6:16, 18

When it comes to the Trinity, the Father seems the most cut and dry.  As His own entity, God the Father is the planner of all things that remained in Heaven to unfold His plan on earth.  To return to last weeks image of man metaphor, the Father is the mind.  He planned Creation and Redemption, masterminded them to fruition, and knows all things past, present and future.  He is without time because He created time, so He sees it all at once.  He knew all there was to know about you and me before He formed the world, and He knew that man would fail, so before He breathed the words of Creation, He had already determined the time to send a portion of Himself to earth, to become a man and die as a sacrifice of Redemption.  But why do we call Him the Father?

Long before the New Covenant was sealed through the Messiah, God had established Himself as a Father to His people (2 Samuel 7:14).  And like any good earthly father, He was always compassionate and patient, yet stern and disciplinarian when it was necessary (see almost any story from the Old Testament).  In fact, His standard is the standard for being a good father.  But as the people clung to sin and the idols of this world, they created a separation between themselves and God the Father.

So the Lord Almighty became an earthly Father.  Mary was impregnated by the Breath of God (Luke 1 & 2), and the Son of God was born.  And as Jesus sealed the New Covenant, He made all those who believed in His purpose heirs under the Father, making us sons and daughters of God (Gal.3:26).  Through the sacrifice of His one Heavenly Son (a physically separated part of God), He ripped the veil that separated us from Him.

It was always difficult for me to understand the true, unconditional love God the Father had for His people.  Why would God keep giving His people chance after chance, even eventually sacrificing His child so we could be near Him?  Why would He allow His people to live, knowing we would continue to grieve Him, when all He had to do is wipe us all out with the flood and start over?  What did we do to earn that kind of love?  

It wasn't until I had a child of my own that I could even glimpse into His compassion.  I have a difficult child, a wild two year old boy that has really never done anything to earn my love.  He is often frustrating, and sometimes overwhelmingly destructive.  Why do I love him?  Because he exists.  He was simply born, and from the moment I saw his face, I would die for him, without explanation.  If I, a human, can love enough to die for my child, how much more can God the Father love His children.  He did die for us, and it's because of that sacrifice that we can even be His children again.  We are redeemed all thanks to the God of the Universe.  And I'm so glad I can call Him Father.

God, thank You for being our Father, even though we have never done anything to deserve it.  I'm so grateful You love me, and even though You knew from the start of everything I would struggle and fail, You chose to redeem me to You anyway.  Praise you always, Father God.  In Jesus' name, Amen.