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John 14:15-17  “If you love me, you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

I have tried for many years to think of some physical representation that would adequately explain the Trinity, but I have now given up.  There are a number of things that help in our understanding of how our Tri-une God operates, but they all fall down in one way or another.  One of the many things I am looking forward to in heaven is being able to see and understand clearly the reality of the existence of one God in three Persons, and be satisfied!  What keeps me going now is that this reality belongs to a dimension I am not familiar with or able to be part of – yet.

Notwithstanding this problem, there IS something I can enjoy at present: it is knowing with certainty that the triune God is even now present and active in a personal relationship with me.  God the Father, by his amazing grace that I can never earn or deserve, from all eternity has chosen to save me, simply because he loves me; that he has sent God the Son to die in my place for my sin, so that I, a sinner, can have this relationship with him in all his holiness; and that the Father and the Son have sent God the Holy Spirit to dwell in and with me constantly and continually while I am living out my earthly pilgrimage until I am taken to be with him, Father-Son-Holy-Spirit, one God, forever!  And then to experience the perfect and ‘logical’ ‘normality’ of the Trinity, with no more questions to ask.

I have assurance of this, because Jesus has promised that he, in the person of the Holy Spirit, will be in me, comforting, counselling, guiding, rebuking, correcting and teaching me through the Scriptures.  And praying my prayers for me (Romans 8:26-27), even, and especially, when I’m struggling with prayer myself because of my circumstances.  All this seems so good and beneficial to me that I can’t imagine life without it – how good is our God!

“Gracious Spirit, dwell in me, I myself would gracious be; and, with words that help and heal, would your life in mine reveal; and, with actions, bold and meek would for Christ my Saviour speak. Truthful Spirit, dwell in me, I myself would truthful be; and, with wisdom kind and clear, let your life in mine appear; and, with actions brotherly, show my Lord’s sincerity.  Mighty Spirit, dwell in me, I myself would mighty be, mighty so as to prevail where, unaided, man must fail; always by a mighty hope pressing onwards, bearing up.  Holy Spirit, dwell in me, I myself would holy be; separate from sin I would choose and cherish all things good; and whatever I can be, give to him who made me free” (Thomas Lynch – Tune: ‘Toplady’).

– Bruce Christian