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