God the Father
Beloved,
Many people have wondered who God is, if He exists and if God and Jesus are the same person. Let me introduce you to God, the Father.
God is a Triune Being, three individual persons but ONE. There is God the FATHER, God the SON, and God the HOLY SPIRIT.
The doctrine of the Trinity is the best explanation for all of the biblical evidence. There is only one God, but He exists eternally as three individual Persons and has revealed Himself as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is different from the teaching of three individual gods because the three Persons of the Trinity are co-equal, co-eternal, interdependent, and always in complete agreement. There is one God who exists as three individual Persons. Thus, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; however, the Father is not the same person as the Son, nor is the Son the same person as the Holy Spirit. This is sometimes complicated by the fact that God the Father is often simply called “God” in the New Testament.
The first three verses of the Gospel of John give us an idea of how this works out:
John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word . . . (We know from verse 14 that the Word is Jesus. In the beginning, He was already there.)
. . . and the Word was with God . . . (At least two Persons are in view here: one called “God” and one called “the Word.”)
. . . and the Word was God (The Word is distinct from God, yet He is also called “God.” The Word is divine in His essential nature.)
John 1:2. He was with God in the beginning (After the essential identification of the Word as God, once again the distinction is emphasized—He was with God when it all began.)
John 1:3. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made (Here, we see that the Word is actually the Creator. He made everything. In the Old Testament, we are told that God created everything—Genesis 1:1.)
It is this kind of biblical information that led to the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity. When “God” is spoken of in the Old Testament, most people probably think of God the Father, but it would be more accurate to think of “God the Trinity.” In the New Testament, we see how each Person of the Trinity assumed different roles in the redemption of lost humanity, but the different Persons are always in complete agreement, acting as one.
Jesus is God, but Jesus (who is God the Son) is not the same Person as God the Father or God the Holy Spirit.
Scripture Passage: 1 Corinthians 2:1-14
The way to be blessed is to obey God, which requires our trust in Him; and to trust Him is to love Him, and in order to love Him, we must know Him.
1 Corinthians 2:1-14 shows us how to know God through the Bible.
“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5).
Heavenly wisdom is seeing life from God’s point of view; human wisdom is deficient, while heavenly wisdom is sufficient. Human wisdom is superficial, transitory, and limited, and can even be dangerous. We can only know the things of God through our spirits. When He wants to teach or reveal something to us, He imparts heavenly wisdom in our spirits.
God has done three mighty acts that we might know Him; the first act is revelation, which is the communication of God's truth to man by God Himself. It takes the Holy Spirit revealing truth to us in order to really know that truth.
Adrian Rogers says, “The natural can never know the supernatural until the infinite reveals Himself to the finite.”
Secondly, God reveals Himself through supernatural inspiration, which is the very Word of God.
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
Third, God reveals Himself through supernatural illumination. The Holy Spirit is the one who turns the spiritual light on so that you can understand the things of God.
Adrian Rogers says, “I can never know the Bible as I ought to know the Bible until I have the mind of Christ.”
This doesn’t mean that we can know everything about God; it means that the average person who is obedient and diligent can understand the Bible and have personal communion with God
Blessings,
Deborah Taylor
NOTE: Be sure to check out my very first book: "GOD IS REAL" under the Header: Deborah's Books. Also, Volumes One and Two of "KNOW HIM- God's Heart Prayers"- my spiritual warfare prayer books, available at Amazon.com.