The Trinity and Holiness

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” (A. W. Tozer). How do we see God? If we see him inaccurately, we may be afraid to approach him. Let’s look at some things we may believe, but shouldn’t:

If we sin, God can’t allow us to come into his presence.

False. If we are followers of Christ, God sees us as holy because Jesus paid for our sins. God invites us to come to him boldly as a child would approach a loving Father. Being holy is not our ticket into his presence, but as we spend time there, we find that we actually do become more holy.

God demands perfection of His followers.

Not true! God is perfect, but he knows his kids. We are weak and we fall down a lot. He loves us anyway and asks us to come, mud and all, so he can gently wash us clean. No perfection required, just a willingness to keep returning to our Father.

God can’t use us if we have some big sin in our past.

Again, false. Most often the failures of our past are our best preparation for a useful future. Whatever comes into our lives, good or bad, God will use for his glory if we submit it to him. Our God-redeemed failures become our greatest assets.

We can’t be holy on our own. Most of us have tried that and failed. Our holiness comes only through the Triune God. John Owen, whom we have been following in these blogs, says it this way: “. . . the Holy Ghost tells us that Christ has consecrated, dedicated, and set apart for that purpose, ‘a new and living way’ into the holiest of all (Hebrews 10:20); a new one, for the first, old one was useless; a living one, for the other is dead; therefore, he says ‘Let us draw near’ (v. 22); having a way to walk in, let us draw near. And this way that he has prepared is no other but himself (John 14:6).*

We shouldn’t accept everything we have come to believe. We need to keep going back to the source of truth: the Bible. There we will find a loving, compassionate, forgiving God who is crazy happy that we want to be with him.

John Owen, Communion with God (Ross-Shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2007), p. 175.

The Triune God Communicates

God speaks. Sometimes we don’t hear very well, but we have to acknowledge that God tries to let us know who he is, what he wants, and how the world should work. As we read Peter’s account about his ministry to Gentiles (Acts 11), we find five different means God used to communicate to two men in this one chapter:

A vision (v.4)

A voice from heaven (v. 7)

The Holy Spirit’s direction (v. 12)

An angel’s instruction (v. 13)

The teaching of Jesus (v. 16)

Most of us haven’t had visions, seen angels, or heard an audible voice from heaven, but many of us

• Have sensed the Holy Spirit’s direction, sometimes as a nudge, often as a thought He brings to our minds or a Scripture he highlights as we read.

• Have learned much about life, values, commitment, and obedience from the life and teaching of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit seems to bring the right teaching to our minds just when we need it.

• Believe the angels are ministering to us even though we can’t see them (Hebrews 1:14).

Puritan writer John Owen reminds us that this communication is ours only because of Jesus: “In answer to them who would go to the Father and hold communion with him, he (Jesus) tells them, ‘I am the way, and no man comes to the Father but by me’. He is the medium of all communication between God and us. In him we meet, in him we walk.”*

God is far beyond our ability to comprehend, but he continues, through all members of the Trinity, to communicate with us to reveal his will and his love. We should be so thankful for his desire to reach out to us and help us learn to be aware, to listen carefully, to respond with faith, and to obey immediately.

When we do, we find more and more communication flowing from the heart and mind of God to ours. There is nothing more precious in life than that. We were created to respond to our speaking God.

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” - Hebrews 1:1-2

* John Owen, Communion with God (Ross-Shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2007), p. 175.

The Holy Spirit as Our Helper

There is much for us to gain in attending to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He is called our Helper and, as such, there are several benefits He brings as we open ourselves to Him. Let’s look at some of the His amazing roles:

Sanctification: He enables us to live rightly. Someday we will be like Jesus. But, for now, we struggle with bad habits, sinful desires, and weak wills. One of the roles of the Spirit is to purify our lives so that, over time, we become more like Christ.

Conviction: One way He does that is by convicting us of sin. When we make a bad choice, we feel guilty. This is not the false guilt that other people sometimes try to put upon us. This is real guilt, brought about because we have done something offensive to God’s holiness. The purpose of the conviction of the Spirit is not to make us feel bad, but to bring us to a point of confession and repentance so He can make us pure again.

Empowerment: The Spirit also sanctifies us by giving us the power to live as Jesus lived. As we begin to rely on the Spirit, we find we are growing in purity and becoming more and more like Jesus. Over time we begin to realize the unwavering love of God and, out of gratitude, learn to make decisions that honor Him.

Truth: The Spirit of God also is the one who reveals truth to us through the Word of God. We are told that He inspired the people who wrote the Bible (2 Peter 1:21). The Bible is the Spirit’s book. Who better to be able to interpret the message of a book than the one who wrote it? We rely on the Holy Spirit to illuminate Scripture as we read it and to make it understandable to our minds and real to our hearts.

Intercession: He carries our prayers. We are told (Romans 8:26-27) that the Spirit hears our prayers, translates them into what they should be, and then presents them to God for us. Because of the work of the Spirit, we cannot pray a bad prayer. He makes our flawed prayers into what they should be before they reach the throne of God.

Comfort: The Spirit is also our comforter and friend. He provides strength when we are weak, defense when we are attacked, encouragement when we are down, and consolation when we are sad. The Spirit keeps our relationship with God alive, purposeful, and growing. He gives us the power to change internally, to relate to people outwardly, and to share the good news of Jesus with those around us.

“He that distributes variously, does it with choice, and judgment, and freedom of will. Such are the proceedings of the Spirit in his dispensations: to one, he gives one thing eminently; to another, another; to one, in one degree; to another, in another. Thus are the saints in his sovereignty, kept in a constant dependence on him.” – John Owen

Note: Some of this content was taken from The GodSense Journey: Exploring Sacred Pathways by Beverly Van Kampen.