My understanding and belief is that God is One God, but He manifests Himself to us in three distinct entities. It is a truth that can be difficult, at best, to describe, and near to impossible to comprehend. In fact, without the aid of God’s Spirit, this truth is so beyond our finite mind’s ability to comprehend, that I believe this to be the greatest cause to doubt the existence of God found in humankind. Thinking on this, as I study on the Third Entity of the Triune One, something said brought to mind identical triplets.

Identical triplets form from one egg that splits itself into three entities. These three look so much alike that it can be near impossible to tell them apart. They think alike and have similar interests because they are one, but they also have clear distinctions, recognized by those who know them best, distinct characteristics that mark each as their own being.

This is what I understand of God. God says He is One; yet he expresses Himself to us in three different entities, identical beings that possess distinct attributes that define their roles in their triune function as one being.

1. God the Father is the God Head of the Triune. He houses all knowledge, understanding, and eternal insight, along with all holiness that cannot even look on evil. This headship is expressed in scripture by Jesus’ proclamation that only the Father knows the time of The returning Christ (Matthew‬ ‭24:33, 36-39‬ ‭).
2. God the Son is the physical manifestation of the God Head. He is the Spoken Word of creation, the Angel of the Lord of Old Testament, Jesus the Christ who brings the massage of God and reveals God’s who to us in the New Testament. When He comes, He can be touched, heard, seen, and He can touch us. Jesus is the head of His body, the true and living church.
3. God the Spirit is the Holy Presence and manifest Power of the God Head. He dwells in us to bear His image through us, equipping and empowering us, making us one with the Triune and enabling our unity with one another. He is the power of God at work in and around us.

When I first received Jesus, my focus in growth was totally on Him. Still today I see many, longtime Christians whose focus is Jesus. But after some time, the Spirit began showing me that Jesus came to make the Father known; that it is the Father we are to pray to in the name and authority of Jesus, as a representative of the interests, priorities, and purposes of Christ. And that we are to seek to know the Father. So I asked Jesus to reveal the Father to me, and began a glorious journey of ever growing relationship with Abba. The difference between Father and Son entities of the Triune One grow ever clearer, helping me better relate with each and the Whole.

Through the years I have also looked closely at the power and work of God, the Holy Spirit, but lately I have been drawn to realize Him as an individual part of the triune that desires to be known and acknowledged. He makes us one with the Father and Son in thought, desire, purpose, and action, and the Father jealously desires association with His Spirit actively working in us. So I have been digging anew, asking Father through Christ to make me know His Spirit with greater intimacy.

The Spirit of God is the Fruit Bearer. He is the seed of Christ that works in us to empower and enliven the image God created to be ours, but that sin killed and Satan stole from us. That image comes forth as fruit of the Spirit produced in all of us. It proves our relationship with Father bought for us by the Son and made alive anew in us as we cooperate with the Spirit. Each possess all these fruits to the degree that we surrender to God’s Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These make up our who by the power of God’s Spirit enlivened in us. These are ours to the degree that these make us who we are.

Another thing found in my study of God’s Spirit that I have known a long while in part, but that strikes me today of greater importance to understand, has me pausing to grasp this fact more fully. The Spirit of God “gifts” us for ministry and for victory in Christ. The gifts of the Spirit are different from the fruit. The fruit is our who, the gifts are our do. The truth I need to realize more deeply and with greater trust is that The Spirit faithfully gifts us for each encounter or situation with gifts like prophecy, service, teaching; exhortation; giving, and mercy, to name a few. There are gifts we work out of most frequently, but the Spirit also recognizes the need of the moment and fully equips us for that need. We do not have to worry about what to say or do in any given moment when we trust God’s equipping through the power of His Spirit in us.

Therein lies my focus and the prayer of my heart. Father God knows what my day holds and the people I will encounter. He knows each need and the way He desires to express Himself to me and others. Holy Spirit knows the Father’s heart toward me and those around me, and He moves in me to make me ready, adequately equipped and gifted for every good work, as best expresses God’s image and power into each situation and every encounter. The work of God’s Spirit is here to help me yes; but more importantly, He is here to equip me to express the Father into the lives of others for their encouragement, so they may be built up in their faith and service. I pray for that gifting and for surrender to the work of God’s Spirit through me for the glory of the Triune.

How are you doing on this journey of growing relationship with God in the form of His identical-triplet representation: Father, Son, and Holy Presence? May we each be found faithfully growing strong relationships with our One God’s Three Expressions of His One Person. And may we each surrender self to His manifest glory made known in us. He is faithfully making us as He is and desires us to be.

‭‭‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:6-8‬ ‭NASB, Matthew‬ ‭24:33, 36-39‬ ‭NASB