How do we explain the concept that God is Three in One? Simply put, God is not three Persons in One Person. The Christian Godhead is THREE separate and distinct Persons with ONE essence.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are eternal. They have always been. There hase never been a time when they weren't. While the three Persons of the Godhead have exactly the same essence (characteristics, nature), They have three different job descriptions.
The characteristics of the Godhead (using an acrostic): SELL JR. OOO IV.
S - sovereignty; EL - eternal life; L - love (agape); J - just (fair); R - absolute righteousness;
O - omniscient (all knowing); O - omnipotent (all powerful); O - omnipresent (present everywhere);
I - immutable (unchanging); V - veracity (truth)
The three different job descriptions:
Father: Author of the plan of God (1 Cor. 8:6a)
Son: Executor of the plan of God the Father (Jn. 5:30; 1 Cor. 8:6b)
Holy Spirit: Revealer and restorer to the plan of God the Father (Jn. 14:26; Tit. 3:5; Gen. 1:2)
Religion is the devil’s ace trump. Religion is man by man’s efforts trying to please God. Along the path of growth from spiritual babyhood to spiritual maturity, every born-again Christian whose desire it is to travel that path will discover along the way vestiges of religious thinking or practice that must to be removed from his or her life. One such vestige is the concept of the “prayer chain” and “prayer meeting.”
Let me be clear. Prayer is the most powerful tool available to Christians. Prayer moves an omnipotent God into action. However, the concept of “prayer chain” and “prayer meeting,” in most cases, is no more than a religious hangover taught to us along the way by “religious” Christians who had not yet come to grips with the spiritual side of the Christian life. The prayer chain? You know, someone has a problem and calls #1 to begin calling the chain of people to pray about the matter. #1 calls #2, who calls #3, who calls #4, and each person called then prays about the requested matter. Prayer meeting? Instead of calling, we just gather together in one place to pray. Really not a bad idea as long as we are not all praying about the same matter.
Here’s what bothers me about the “prayer chain/prayer meeting. Listen to James: “The effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16) Note the use of the word “man.” It’s the generic use and means either male or female Christian who meets the criteria of being “righteous.” This is experiential righteousness, not positional righteousness. Every born-again Christian is positionally righteous from the moment of salvation, but only those who are clean before the Lord through confession of sin (1 John 1:9), yielded to God the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:13), and applying (James 1: 22) every pertinent truth to life’s situations is “experientially” righteous. Possible? Absolutely. Expected by God? Absolutely.
Back to what bothers me. If, as James states, the “effectual fervent prayer of an [experientially] righteous man availeth much,” why do any of us need anyone else to pray over any matter as though God is going to be moved into action by the “number of people who are praying” as opposed to being moved into action by the prayer of “one” experientially righteous person?
By mere definition, the “religious mind” knows little or nothing experientially about the spiritual side of the Christian life; and having been taught, if by no other means than by watching the religious practices of others, makes the concept of prayer chains/prayer meetings a part of his own religious thinking and practice. How sad?
Many years ago a lady a Christian lady friend chided me for having made a decision to leave my denominational background. She said, “I don’t think I’ll pray for you any more.” My response: “That’s all right with me.” Sitting with her was a lady who held a lofty position within the denomination. She was aghast at my response, and said, “You need all the prayer you can get.” The implication was I needed many Christians praying for me because my decision to leave the denomination was deemed by them to be a huge mistake. My loving response to both was simple: “Ladies, it’s not a matter of how many are praying for me, but a matter of WHO is praying for me.” You see, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man (singular) availeth much.
God is not moved by a multitude in prayer. He is moved by the effectual fervent prayer of the experientially righteous ONE.
Modern technology is a tool that we as Christians can use to network our thoughts and actions as we serve our Lord in this devil's world. My desire is to use every tool available. If any of you have a spare moment, I'd like to encourage you to tune in daily, Monday through Friday, to my two radio broadcasts in the Little Rock, Arkansas, area. I broadcast "live" over station KVDW 1530 AM from 9:30 - 10:00 AM (CST), Monday through Friday, and "live" over station KMTL 760 AM from 11:30 - 12:00 noon (CST), Monday through Friday. These two programs can also be heard ("live" audio) by logging onto www.drjimtalk.com/drjimtalk.htm at 9:30 and 11:30. Both programs also stream "live" video at 9:30 and 11:30 over www.brettell.org/livevideo.htm. (All times are CST). Both radio programs are call-in programs. The local telephone number is 851-9001 and the toll free number is 1-877-305-2226 . The toll free number is answered only during program air time. My Monday Night Home Bible Study streams "live" video each Monday night at 7:00 PM (CST) from my home in Maumelle, Arkansas. You are certainly invited to attend -- physically or via the internet. Resting in Him, Dr. Jim
"Yieldedness to God the Holy Spirit" is to the Christian's spiritual walk as "faith alone in Christ alone" is to salvation -- no faith, no salvation; no yieldedness, no spiritual walk. Yieldedness to God the Holy Spirit is a mental attitude of surrender to the Holy Spirit who indwells the human spirit of the born-again believer. When the believer is yielded, the Holy Spirit will manifest Himself to and through the believer in seven ways: 1) He will develop Christian character in the believer; 2) He will develop the believer's Christian service; 3) He will teach the believer; 4) He will promote the believer's praise and thanksgiving; 5) He will lead/guide the believer; 6) He will bear witness with the believer's human spirit; and 7) He will make intercession for the believer.
We hear many things about Satan's responsibility in eternity past prior to his fall. In the interest of space, Ezekiel 28:14 makes it clear: "Thou art the anointed Cherub that covereth." This indicates that he was a "ceremonial guard of the throne of Jesus Christ." Anointed (Hebrew adjective = Messianic); Cherub (highest order of angels); that covereth ("covering" as in "guarding").
Freedom is the most fundamental principle in the spiritual battle that we call the "angelic conflict." Freedom provides the environment for both good and bad choices. Freedom demands responsibility. What is responsible freedom? Responsible freedom is making choices to pursue the achievement of one's own goals without disrupting the freedom of others to do the same. One person's freedom ends where another person's freedom begins. Rules and operational procedures are not designed to restrict freedom, but to protect freedom. Freedom is more fundamental to the human race than is Christianity, yet Christianity provides the solution to every problem that man will ever face. The question remains: will mankind freely choose God the Father's solutions?
Discipline and punishment are not synonymous terms. Discipline is teaching children to respect the rights of others through responsible thinking by learning to obey rules. Punishment is “trying to change what children do by hurting them, either physically or verbally, or giving them no options or choices. Punishment was never designed by God to change behavior. Punishment was designed for the purpose of justice.
When biblical truth is applied to the facts of life resulting in an understanding that is undesirable, the unbeliever and carnal believer will then distort the truth so as to produce an understanding of the facts that matches what he or she wants to believe.
Darryl Anderson sent this to me:
"Truth isn't what is true, but rather, what people want to believe is true. If the facts don't support the conclusion, well, then invent 'facts' that do."