Who Is God?

Excerpt taken from Timeless: The Living and Enduring Word of God by Carol McLeod

 

Day 4

Who Is God?

I love digging for gold in the never-changing, always applicable, ever hopeful Word of God. One of the delights of this treasured practice is finding verses in the New Testament in which all three members of the Trinity are mentioned. First Peter 1:2 is such a verse:

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

All three members of the Trinity are at work in your life—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Three in One

The Father knows all about you because He is the One who created you and is intimately acquainted with all your ways. Just like a concerned and loving parent, the Father knows when you lay your head down at night, what concerns you, and what is the very best for you. Your heavenly Father cares deeply about your future and how others treat you. After all, you have been on His mind since the beginning of time.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. (Psalm 193:16)

Peter reminds the early church and therefore those in every generation to come, it is the Holy Spirit who sanctifies believers in Christ. The Holy Spirit teaches how to live a holy life that honors God and His Word. When you are struggling with sin or wrestling with a decision, the little voice you hear is not your conscience, it is the Holy Spirit at work in your life. The Holy Spirit calls you to imitate Christ and then He gives you the power to do it. The Holy Spirit, who is your Comforter and Teacher, gives you the power to be a joyful, peaceful, and hopeful Christian.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

The third member of the Trinity is Jesus Christ and among His assignments are to forgive, cleanse with His blood, heal, and open the way to heaven. Jesus also enables you to live a victorious and abundant life.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Every victory you win in your daily walk is all because of Jesus. He leads you in triumph and He wants you to prevail in the battles you face daily, hourly, and even minute by minute. It is Jesus who enables you to win:

• the victory over sin
• the victory of forgiveness both in your own life and the forgiveness you extend to others
• the victory of healing
• the victory of living a righteous, joyful, and peaceful life
• the victory over death

Jesus won the victory on the cross of Calvary and now He shares that victory with us. Jesus also has the joyful assignment of ensuring our lives are not maneuvered by the enemy but are determined by Christ’s presence in our hearts.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

The Father knows you, the Holy Spirit consecrates you, and Jesus cleanses you. There could be no better news than this for a suffering, scattered church. We must know who God is in our deepest moments of pain. When life is at its worst, the only shelter able to keep us safe is the haven of our relationship with God. The timeless knowledge that He cares will prove enough to carry us through the storms of life.

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
—A. W. Tozer

Now that you have read the above paragraphs, in your own words describe what each member of the Trinity does in your personal life:

1. The Father
2. The Son
3. The Holy Spirit

Your Assignment

Peter is intent about communicating what the members of the Trinity offer to Christians but he also explains what our response should be to their involvement in our lives. Our job description is to obey—that’s it. We get to obey our Father who knows us, Jesus who has forgiven us, and the Holy Spirit who helps us when we are weak.

One of the problematic matters of our modern culture and of the twenty-first-century church is we no longer honor the Word of God as did former generations. The truth of the Bible is debated, its eternal principles are mocked, and its substance is ignored. My friend, settle this issue in your life immediately.

The Holy Bible is the divinely inspired, authoritative, and timeless Word of God. On the sacred pages of Scripture are written God’s mind and heart toward His children. How wonderful to know God loves u enough to communicate with us. He didn’t leave us alone in this fallen world and say, “Do it on your own.” God has given us the Bible to direct our lives, to help determine difficult decisions, and to comfort us when we are broken.

If God says no concerning a particular behavior or desire, then the answer is simply no. What God deems as sin will never change through the ages of humanity. God’s no is not a soft no—it is a definitive “absolutely not.” When God says no to a particular moral habit, it must never be interpreted as:

• Maybe
• Maybe not
• In some cases
• For everyone else but not for me
• Not yet
• Perhaps at some conceivable time in the future

Whenever God says no to sin, He is saying an enthusiastic yes to living an abundant life filled with grace, joy, and peace. Who wouldn’t want that?

When a person invites Jesus Christ to live in their heart and asks Him to forgive their sin, a benefit follows. They receive an invitation to participate in the joy of obedience. You now “get” to live your one glorious life according to the timeless principles found in the Word of God.

My friend, do not whine about God’s plan for your life or question if God really knows what He is doing. I can assure you there is certainly no need to worry if the Holy Spirit will give you enough power for what is expected of you. Focus on the delightful fact that you get to obey.

You get to bless difficult people and now you are a cheerful and even extravagant giver. You are invited to cooperate with the Father and allow others to feast on His character in your life. You are summoned by the One who knows you best and loves you the most. Refuse a life of worry and stress; instead, bask in trust and therefore peace. You are beckoned by the powerful Holy Spirit to say no to sin and a triumphant yes to God and all His ways.

Is there an area of sin you struggle with? If so, what?

Write out a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to help you say no to sin and yes to God:

An Extravagant Gift

When you respond to God’s invitation of obedience, extraordinary blessing will accompany you all the days of your life. This extravagant and valuable gift is now yours:

May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. (1 Peter 1:2b)

The world endeavors to ridiculously convince Christians that obedience to the Bible is legalism. Culture attempts to persuade us that the Bible is an old, outdated book. However, we know the Word of God is living and abiding. There is nothing “dead” about the Bible!

For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

We know now that we are foreigners, just passing through this earthly life. As such, we gladly choose to embrace a different code of ethics than the one the world adheres to. Simply out of unashamed love, we are thrilled to obey our good, good Father.

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. (John 14:15)

Because of obedience, you gift is “grace and peace in the fullest measure.” Grace in this context comes from the Greek word charis and is defined as “that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness.”7 What a magnificent gift charis is for obeying the life-giving Word of God.

If we falsely believe the only way to live a delightful life is to obtain every creature comfort our little heart desires, we become disillusioned. We may erroneously assume the most direct route to loveliness is a designer wardrobe, perfectly styled hair, and loads of mascara. Our culture has ardently tried to convince us that pleasure is found in a box of chocolates, a vacation in Hawaii, or by living in our dream home. But as believers in the God of creation we can know—beyond a shadow of doubt—joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, and loveliness are our advantage when we obey.

The second gift obedience guarantees is the blessing of peace. We live in a world desperate for peace, but it doesn’t know where to find it. Governments have spent millions of dollars on weapons, negotiations, and ambassadors, yet organizations are still unable to ensure peace. Christians, however, are assured of the priceless gift of peace when we make obedience to the Lord a priority above all else.

My friend, you are no longer a walking Civil War. As a follower of Jesus Christ, you now possess an inner calm that permeates your very life.

The Greek word for peace is eirene and its meanings are vast and pervasive. They include:

• Tranquility in the soul unaffected by outward circumstances or pressures
• The rule of order in place of chaos
• Exemption from rage and the havoc of war
• Security, safety, and prosperity
• Wholeness, completeness

When you embrace the eirene delivered to your heart through obedience, you will then conduct yourself peacefully even during circumstances that normally would be traumatic or devastating. The Holy Spirit will release an authoritative peace in the deepest part of your soul when you choose to obey the Bible. You will be given the gift eirene to stabilize you when your life has fallen apart. You will no long collapse in emotional pain or give in to the chaos around, but you will grab eirene by the hand and march joyfully forward with charis.

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