The Trinity and Power of the Holy Spirit

 

           

            Basic understanding of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit first requires understanding the three basic characteristics of God. God is Omnipotent (all powerful) (Genesis 18:14, Job 42:2, Matthew 19:26), omniscient (all knowing) (Job 37:16, Psalm 147:5, 1 John 3:20) and omnipresent (everywhere) (Psalm 139:7-10, Isaiah 57:15, Jeremiah 23:23-24).

God’s nature allows him to be everywhere at once (Omnipresent). He is and was the God of heaven and at the same time is and was Jesus. To be both persons, he had to be in more than one place at a time. That was no problem because he is omnipresent. To become a man he also made use of his other characteristics of omnipotence and omniscience and had the quickening Spirit of the Son, who is the second person of the God Head, to form and then become connected to the sinless soul of the “Son of Man”, Jesus. Next, that soul was incarnated into the body of a man, through the virgin birth. (Man is a trifold being composed of spirit, soul and body. Jesus is a trifold being composed of the “Quickening Spirit of God, the Son”, “soul” and “body”.) God was able to become fully man, because he is all-powerful (Omnipotent) and possesses all knowledge (Omniscient). However, the world is not willing to accept the reality of the awesome nature of God. It’s foolishness to them. (1 Cr. 1:18, 1 Cr. 2:14) Therefore, they are unable to see Jesus as anything other than a good man.

          In fact, what I am saying here is also boring reading to most Christians. Even Christians tend to put God in a little box, if we are not careful. If you are bored at this point, with what I am saying, then you most assuredly will miss the truth in it, which briefly said, is putting God first. We should allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth about him, before we try to understand anything else, because everything hinges on who he is and not who we are. The supernatural characteristics of God are fully explained in the bible, concerning each of the three personalities of the Trinity, but it doesn’t necessarily just jump out of the pages of the bible into a Christian’s mind, to become dominating thoughts in our mind. In fact most Christians today see very little value in meditating on who God is, but spend a lot of time and effort trying to figure out who they are and how they relate to Christ. This self-centered approach puts the cart before the horse and sets us up for failure in everything we try to do for the kingdom of God. Having said this, let me continue with more thoughts on the trinity.   

          Because the Holy Spirit is God and can be in more than one place at a time, it is completely possible for him to have been one with Jesus, in spirit, since Jesus is one with God, in his spirit, and at the same time, to have manifested himself, in his own separate personality, descending upon the human soul of Jesus, after Jesus was baptized by John. As God is three persons, man is a three part being, spirit, soul and body. (1 Th. 5:23) The Holy Spirit was already one with Jesus in his spirit, but descended upon the natural mind (soul) of Jesus at the Jordan, thus empowering the human part of him to begin and complete his ministry here on earth. The three characteristics, of God, which allowed him to accomplish this feat, are completely consistent with the description of God in the bible. Interestingly enough, while most members of The Body of Christ agree with the definition I have described above, concerning the three basic characteristics of God, there are many disagreements between Christians on how God uses his powers to interact with mankind.  

                This great truth of the one God being manifest in three personalities is also consistent with what the bible teaches us about the life of Christ. God was able to do such a good job of being in more than one place at a time and assuming the form of a man, that the world saw Jesus as only a man. Indeed, he was man, but he was also God. However, the world never saw God in him because this can only be understood through the spirit, and the world is dead in spirit. (John 5:25)(Mat.8:22) Jesus said, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” (John. 14:9) This was and is unthinkable to the carnal mind of mankind, because the carnal mind discerns only through the five senses. It continually tries to understand God, by what it sees, instead of accepting him by faith. If Jesus were not one with the Father, when he walked on earth, then he would have lied when he said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”. It is impossible for something to be one and still not be a part of the very thing it is one with. The bible also confirms what Jesus said, when it says there is one God. If God were really three completely separate entities the following verses would be untrue. (Deu. 6:4)(Mal. 2:10)( 1 Cr. 8:6)

                Here is a comparison that has helped me understand this truth. Let’s compare the three personalities of God to the roles I must perform in my own life. We, as human beings, are usually called upon to perform more than one role in life. In my role, as a father, I must perform actions that are very different from the role I am called upon to perform in my working career. When I am with people that need my professional services, I am still my children’s father, but I do not assume the role of a father, while I am with people who need my professional services. I can say to people, who are using my services, “If you have seen me, you have seen my children’s father.” I am still one person, but I am recognized as a professional, by some, and a father by others, depending on the role I am assuming, at the time. So it is with God. However, the characteristics assumed by each of the personalities of the Trinity are much more profound, than the differing roles played by you and me, as mere mortals. God can do anything, and we can’t. He has the ability to assume more than one completely different form and personality at a time, because he is omnipotent. He can also be in different locations at the same instant, because he is omnipresent. He can assume the incarnation of a man (Jesus Christ) and still be sitting on the throne in Heaven, as the Father God, without having his power diminished, in the least, because he is all powerful. All means all.

                Since He is one God, we receive the Holy Spirit and the Father when we receive Christ, in our spirit when we are saved, but we do not receive the active personality and role of the Holy Spirit, working to empower us and lead us into all truth (John. 14:26) when we are saved. Neither did Jesus receive the full benefits of the personality of the Holy Spirit in his human mind or (soul) until he humbled himself before John at the Jordan. To fully understand this concept, one must also understand the tri-fold nature of mankind, which I describe elsewhere on this web site. When we, as believers, decide to come to God and receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, then He manifests the personality of the Holy Spirit to us, in us, and through us, with the same power given to Jesus, as a separate event, from being born again. However, we must take the first step. That step toward God is the second most important step in our lives. The first most important step is salvation. When we are born again, we receive the forgiveness, justification, grace and restoration afforded us by the personality of Jesus Christ, through what he did at the cross. When we humble ourselves to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we receive into our soul the supernatural power of The Holy Spirit, already residing in our spirit. This power gives us the ability to be set free from the bondage of the enemy (Phil.2:12,13). Secondly, it infuses our soul with the power, knowledge and wisdom to fight and win the battles of life that God wants us to fight and win for Him. (Jhn.16:5-15, Luke:24:49, Acts 2:4, Acts 19:1-7) 

                However, the personality of the Holy Spirit will never violate our will. Although he dwells within our spirit, he will never manifest his awesome power and personality until we humble ourselves before him. (James 4:10) (1 Peter 5:6) Jesus went before John, a lesser man than himself, to be baptized and then received the baptism of The Holy Spirit. Our Lord, who already possessed the power of the God Head, submitted to the anointing of The Holy Spirit. Shouldn’t Jesus be our greatest example of truth?  If He submitted to the anointing of The Holy Spirit, being God, why do so many members of the body of Christ reject this anointing? I believe the major reason is because most Christians put more trust in what other men say about God, than they do in what the bible says about God. Jesus, on the other hand, completely submitted to the rule of man on this earth, even to the point of death, but he did not accept the way of man as his source of truth. Having said this, I say to the Christian reader, that he or she should never take anything anyone says about God, including me, at face value. It should always line up with the written word of God as interpreted by the Holy Spirit.

However, until we actively submit to the infilling of the Holy Spirit, by a conscious effort, giving him permission to take complete control of our mind, we cannot effectively interpret God's word. Nor can we  experience the fullness of the relationship God intended us to have, with the Comforter and with God the Father, because it is the Holy Spirit that leads us into the very understanding necessary to promote this relationship. We must yield to the personality, of this member of the Trinity, before God will manifest himself, through the Holy Spirit, to us, in our mind.

How do I know this is the way it works? I know, first, because the Bible says it works this way. Jesus said he would send the Comforter to us after he left to go to the Father. (Jhn. 14:26, 15:26, 16:7) The bible is very clear about this. When he had risen, he addressed his followers as brethren, indicating that he had finished the work required to make them part of the family of God. In other words, they had at this point received the gift of salvation. If they had not received this gift then Jesus would not have referred to them as brethren. (Mat. 28:10) However, they did not receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit until later. The bible is very clear about this also. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, but after he had called them brethren, He told his disciples to wait in the city of Jerusalem, until they were endued with power from on high. (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4,5) Later, when they were assembled in one accord in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem it happened just as Jesus said it would happen. They were endued with power from on high. (Acts 2:1,4)

                Personally, I know this is true, because I have experienced it myself. I have walked with the anointing of the Holy Spirit in my own life and realize that there is no way I would be where I am today had I not received the Holy Spirit’s anointing when I was eleven years old. As a matter of fact, I have good reason to believe this earthly body would be dead now, had I not received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, at an early age.

                The key to obtaining this important gift, which God has made available for us is humility, submission and knowledge. By reading this Holy Spirit inspired writing, the reader is receiving knowledge. The submission part is up to the reader. When we yield to the Holy Spirit, He places his anointing on us, evidenced by speaking in tongues. However, there is greater evidence than speaking in tongues. That evidence is manifested by a spiritual anointing that gives power to overcome every weapon formed against us, which is very necessary if we are to enter into the ministry, which God has planned for our lives. Without the anointing that comes from yielding to the Holy Spirit, we are destined to wander around in a vast spiritual wilderness all the days of our lives here on earth. We are still God’s children and he will still provide for us, but we will never know the taste of victory that comes from the great battles to be fought and won, in the very eye of God’s will and purpose for our lives. Our merciful God will not allow His spiritually challenged children to enter into a promise land inhabited by giants, because He knows that would bring disaster, without the equipping of the Holy Spirit, to guide and empower us.

           I would like to urgently impress upon the reader the importance of allowing the work of the Holy Spirit to take place in his or her life if he or she has not done so already. Many in the Body of Christ today have rejected Him without realizing they have done so, because of false teaching or because they lack knowledge. I believe it would be much easier to understand the anointing of the Holy Spirit, if we, as Christians, would first spend time learning more about what the bible has to say about the nature of God who lives within us.

                 

Wayne Wade
Minister Full Gospel Fellowship
713-446-8328