Oftentimes when we as Christians, or maybe even non-Christians, think about God we may think of God as one Being.
Most of us have heard the name Jesus and have a general idea of what it is that He did. Maybe most of us have even heard of the Holy Spirit and are familiar with what He does as well.
But do we really understand the roles that they play in our day-to-day lives?
So what IS the Holy Trinity?
Well God is made of three parts:
1. God the Father
2. God the Son (Jesus)
3. God the Holy Spirit.
Let's take a closer look, shall we? Grab your coffee, matcha, or water, and get cozy.
God
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me."
- Exodus 20: 2-3 ESV
Who is God?
God is the creator of the universe and mankind. The very first book of the Bible, Genesis states that "God created the Heavens and the Earth". Take a quick second to think about that.
Scripture also says in Psalm 139:14, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
The same God who created the Grand Canyon, The Great Barrier Reef, The Seven Wonders of the World, the Aurora Borealis, etc. Well, I think you get it, I was just showing off my geography knowledge #humblebrag, created you as well!
He said, "Hmm, you know what the world needs a [insert your name here], and I am going to give her/him all of these special talents and gifts for her to use for my glory!"
God gives us a purpose and He knew that the world needed what He put on the inside of you and as Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV) states, "He knew us before we were even formed in our mother's womb..." and we were called to this life for a purpose.
That is the goal of our sweet Father, He gives us our identity and our purpose. Growing up, I saw Him as this authoritarian figure, like if I did something wrong He would hate me.
That was a lie from the pit of hell. #kanyeshrug
Sorry, but it is.
God is your Father and He is IN LOVE with you! He is so in love with you that He sent His Son (mind you this is His ONLY Son) to die for you and give you a chance to spend eternity with Him.
Now, what I want you to do is take this thought and let it sit in your spirit.
While you do that let us move on to discuss the One who saved our souls.
Jesus
"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
- John 14:6 NIV
This one right here is my personal favorite (Jesus, if you're reading this please don't tell the Others) haha. This is THE homie, The GOAT, my A1, since day 1 #myageisshowing lol but He's my bestie. I love Him so much.
If you are like me and you grew up as Christian and did not have a relationship with Christ (yes, that's a thing), you may have not understood the importance of what He did.
One night, as I was having my daily study time with God, I came across a devotional by Angela Thomas-Pharr called 'Redeemed'. One of the points that stuck with me was when she mentioned that many people believe in Jesus, but their belief is more like an acknowledgment of facts.
For example, growing up when I would think about Jesus dying on the cross I did not understand the MAGNITUDE of His sacrifice. It was simply just me acknowledging that it happened, without understanding what exactly it was that He did; and how His sacrifice LITERALLY changed the trajectory of my life (and yours!).
I highly suggest taking some free time out of your day to read this article. But I warn you there is some graphic content. It really puts into perspective just how gruesome His death was and what He went through so that we can have eternal life.
You see right before Jesus was about to be betrayed, He took His right-hand men (Peter, John, and James) to the Mount of Olives (also known as the Garden of Gethsemane). He then told them to wait and pray and keep watch for His betrayer.
I'm not going to go into too much detail about that, because I want to stress the importance of Jesus' prayer. However, I highly recommend reading The Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, which details the plot to kill Jesus all the way through Him being arrested.
[This is also spoken about in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and John 18, but I personally love the way Luke explains it.]
In Luke 22:42, Jesus asks His Father if He can remove this cup (the responsibility of having to die a gruesome death) from Him. He was basically saying "Dad, please if there is any other way to do this, can we do it that way instead?"
Remember when we were kids and our parents would clearly tell us to do something and we may have been on board with it at first, but when the time came to do it we may have gotten cold feet? That is similar to Jesus in this passage.
If you keep reading through verse 42, Jesus quickly adds "Nevertheless, not my will, BUT YOURS be done".
Luke goes on to say in verse 44 that Jesus became so anxious and stressed about what was to come, that His sweat became like "great drops of blood falling to the ground".
[This is a real (but rare) medical condition called, Hematidrosis. A person experiencing this condition is usually under extreme physical/emotional stress; the capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands end up rupturing causing the victim to exude blood #sciencerules (Source).]
He KNEW that it wasn't going to be easy and He knew how excruciating the pain would be, but He still yielded to His Father's Will.
He still respected and honored His Father's plan.
That is the exact model we should follow as Christians, when it gets hard to surrender to the plans that He has for us, Jeremiah 29:11, we have to remember that it is for the best.
But Wonga, it's HARD! Girl, you're preaching to the choir. I recently had to give up something that I thought was a sure thing and I cried daily about it. However, that's a post for another day.
Okay, whew * insert that Spongebob meme* I know that was long, but I promise
As Christians, it is so important that we understand that the act of believing is much more than just agreeing and acknowledging. Angela goes on to explain in her devotional that believing in Jesus requires three things: knowledge, conviction, and trust.
Knowledge: we must develop a personal relationship with Him and read His Word, daily. I did not understand the importance of His sacrifice, because I didn't understand what it was that He did for me. Plus, I was not studying His Word daily to help me understand it either. Some days, it's a struggle I am not even gonna lie, but we have to push ourselves because this is literally our livelihood. Let this post be a sign to study the Word today. Even if it is just ONE verse, ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through that verse.
Conviction: This is not to be confused with condemnation, which is strong disapproval or criticism, which comes from the enemy. Conviction is godly, condemnation is not. When we allow God to convict us (see Holy Spirit section for a deeper explanation) He does so with love and His goodness draws us closer to Him.
Trust: personally, this has been a huge struggle of mine. But I can attest to the fact that when we fully trust Him with all of our hearts and minds and SURRENDER OURSELVES TO HIM and DO NOT rely on our own understanding BUT REST IN HIM. That is when we can truly begin to feel His peace and allow Him to take the driver's seat on this crazy ride called life.
The Holy Spirit
"...but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.."
- Acts 1:5 ESV
"Let this post be a sign to study the Word today. Even if it is just ONE verse, ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through that verse."
- Wonga, 2021,
As Christians, most of us know (or are familiar with) God and Jesus. But when we think of the Holy Spirit, we may just be like "Oh yeah, He's part of the trinity too!" At least I did. I didn't have a clear understanding of His role. So what does the Holy Spirit do?
"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me."
- John 15:26 ESV
The role of the Holy Spirit, or the Helper, is identical to the role of a mother. Now, that is not to say that He is a woman, but He is God's Spirit and His job is to nurture and comfort us and give us wisdom.
Who does that? In most cases, it's your mom. :)
He helps us apply that wisdom in our day-to-day lives. Scripture tells us in Romans 8:26 & 27, that the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. In those moments when we do not know what to pray for, or even how to pray, the Holy Spirit has our back.
...& He's the best prayer partner ever! :)
That same scripture also says "the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." This simply means that as we pray the Holy Spirit prays along with us and "with groanings too deep for words" translates our deepest desires to God the Father who then searches our hearts because He knows what is on the mind of the Spirit. Talk about teamwork!
In the book of Acts 19:1-7, an Apostle named Paul (nee Saul), came to a country called Ephesus and he found some disciples (people who spread God's Word) and found out that they had not been baptized in the name of Jesus. So Paul then proceeded to baptize them and it was there (verse 6) that the men "began speaking in tongues and prophesying".
Something that I would hear often in the church is that when a person becomes filled with Holy Spirit they dance and shout. They may even start speaking in tongues, which simply is a heavenly language given to you by God.
Though this is very true, that is not all He does. He is God's Spirit and God's Helper, and He changes us... for the better!
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; The old has gone, the new is here!"
- 2 Corinthians 5:17
For example, if you remember my very first blog post here (If you don't then wow, ...jk but you should go read it).
At the beginning of that post, I talk about how God's Holy Spirit changed me from the inside out. Something that I did not mention in that post was that I had been in a deep five-year-long depression, did not know which direction that my life was heading in, and I had thoughts of death and dying quite frequently.
I didn't see any reason to keep on living. I was going through this endless cycle of trying to get my life on track and lose weight and look a certain way to please others. I wanted to be desired by men and whenever they would give me the littlest bit of attention, I would base my happiness on that.
"I didn't know who I was because I didn't know WHO's I was.
Oftentimes, I would try to do things by myself, because I thought that I knew what was the best thing for me. I did not. I spent several years, going back and forth and I never once sat down and asked God what His plan for my life was.
I had to realize that God knew everything about me before the universe was even created. So then why did I feel like I knew what was good for me? God knows us BETTER than we know ourselves. He is the Creator of our destinies."
So I did just that, I partnered with God's Holy Spirit. He took a sad, anxious girl and turned her into a beautiful woman who loves Him with all of her heart.
He helped me understand that I am called to help those who have been rejected by the world. The "weirdos" and the "outcasts" and those who suffer, or have suffered, from depression and anxiety, and fear.
I remember one day I was driving and thinking about the state of my life and how I desperately wanted out. But in the midst of my sorrow, I just knew that one day something good was going to come out of this.
That my friend was the Holy Spirit.
He is your Comforter in times of hardship, He is your teacher who reminds you of God's Word, and most importantly, He is your Friend.
The goal of this post was to give you a better understanding of who God is and the roles that He plays.
God: Papa, He gives us our identity and purpose. He is our Provider and His grace is sufficient for us. He sent His only Son to die a horrible death so that we can be free and walk with Him... forever!
Jesus: Savior, without Him living would be pointless. (I know that first hand) He literally saved our lives. He's our Brother and Friend and walks closely with us. Scripture says that He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5, Deuteronomy 31:8).
Holy Spirit: Helper, God's Spirit, changes us from the inside out and aids in making us into a new creation in Christ Jesus.
I hope this post was able to help you and I pray that it blesses you,
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