God has revealed Himself to us as One God who exists in Three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God the Father sets the agenda – He wills. He willed the universe into existence: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). He willed the creation of human beings made in His image into existence: “God created man in His own image… male and female He created them” (Gen 1:27). He willed our salvation from sin and death (John 3:16, Rom 5:8), and our capacity to know Him relationally and experience His presence (Rom 8:15-17). He calls us to join Him in mission as ambassadors for Christ: “We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us” (2 Cor 5:19-20).
Jesus Christ the Son makes all that the Father has willed come to pass. Everything that God the Father has willed and created and accomplished and promised happens through Jesus and because of Jesus. The Creation of the universe was accomplished through Christ: “All things came into being through Him (Christ), and without Him not one thing came into being” (John 1:3). Our forgiveness and salvation were made possible by Jesus’ crucifixion for our sins and His resurrection for our justification: “In Him (Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph 1:7; also I Peter 1:18-19). All the promises that the Father offers are made possible through Christ: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘YES’ in Christ” (2 Cor 1:20).
The Holy Spirit is The Activator. The Father, Son, and Spirit work together in our behalf. All that the Father has willed and promised has been made possible and available to the world through Jesus the Son. And all that the Father has done through Jesus – through His Cross and Resurrection – is ACTIVATED into our life experience by the Holy Spirit: “For through Him (Jesus Christ) we both (Jews and Gentiles – all people) have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Eph 2:18). The Father wills, the Son makes possible, and the Holy Spirit activates. He, the Holy Spirit, activates the benefits of what Christ has done in our personal lives. He activates the power of Christ’s blood to experience deliverance from the power and the guilt of sin. It is through spiritual regeneration by the Spirit that we are born again and made children of God: “The Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6); the Holy Spirit enables us to experience a genuine love relationship with God, our heavenly Father: “You received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry ‘Abba, Father’. The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom 8:15-16).
The Holy Spirit makes God real to us, enabling us to experience His love and presence. He activates the promises of God in our lives. He activates the power of the name of Jesus in prayer and the power of His blood to set captives free. He enables us to navigate effectively in the spiritual realm. He enlightens us to understand and apply the armor of God, to use the weapons required in spiritual battle, to walk in power and victory. He equips us to hear God directly speaking through His Word, and to use the written word of God as our sword. He anoints us to proclaim the Good News; to heal broken hearts; to stand courageously for what is good and right and true; to bear witness to Christ’s transforming power in our lives; to live out our faith with conviction and authority; to bring manifestations of God’s kingdom and power and glory from heaven to earth…. and so much more. Oh, how we need him!
How we need the Holy Spirit to fill us! How we need Him to be revealed, not just in our creeds, but in our lives and churches, and ministries… and in the marketplaces and corridors of political power… and among the oppressed and the poor, the helpless, the least and the last and the lost… everywhere. Yes, how we need Him!