Greetings friends! The season of spring is upon us. One of the best parts of spring is that beautiful flowers begin to bloom again. It’s wildflower season in many places. You’ll notice new growth on the trees around you, signaling the change in season. The animals who took a much-needed nap over winter and those who flew south for warmer climates are finally back. Hearing the happy chirps of birds or catching the first glimpse of your local wildlife are certainly reasons to love spring.
For humanity, it is also a time for renewal and regeneration. Paul gives us the negative fruits of the flesh which affects us unkindly and injure us. Paul said, “Now the practices of the sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies], envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal.5:19-21, Amplified Bible).
One of the negative emotions that cripple a person is the destructive reinforcement of the mantle of fear and sin which cloak us as fallen humans beings from Adam’s sin of disobedience in Eden. Much of what Paul catalogs in Galatians finds it basis in the feeling of fear which provokes these negative reactions. Are there fears in your life you are struggling with?
Many lives have been crippled by this innate gut feeling of fear – both real and imagined. Let’s discuss this important topic. I hope by the end of this blog post, you will have found the only way to eradicate our fears which elevate these negative practices which overwhelms us as Paul states.
The Bible gives the answers to our fears. The Scripture says plainly and unequivocally, “There is no fear in Love. But perfect Love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18). Many believers have seen this passage, even tried to live by it as best as they know how, but regrettably their fears continue to pursue them like a plaque. Why? Quite simply, they have not known how to apply this passage. You have to ask and answer what is “Perfect Love.” That is the key to overcoming our fear. Once you have the answer, then fear will dissipate as quickly as it comes.
As we enter the season of Pentecost which comemmorates the birth of the New Testament Church, let us stop to reflect upon this vital topic, for which we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit to combat vehemently with His perfect divine Love. For as much as Scripture tells us, after preached a Spirit-Inspired message from God that memorable Pentecost day, “The people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (Act.2:37-41).
“Perfect Love” – What Does That Mean? (Wiki Commons)
I have always shown and explained through my blog there are only two ways of life to live: the “solitary life” verses the “Triune Life**” The “solitary life” is the condition in which fear is the motivation beginning with Adam’s fall in Eden. The “Triune Life” is the condition where Love is the driving force. The “Triune Life” finds its basis in Scripture where Jesus, prior to His ascension into heaven, said this, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt.28:18-20).
The ”Triune Life” speaks of the Life of the Trinity, in the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Fear and Love are opposite conditions we freely choose and elect to live by. So, let’s answer what are these two broad conditions or ways of life.
“Solitary Life” – In the ‘False Self’
Living the “solitary life” means a life that’s lived in oneself apart from Jesus Christ. We are all born into the self-centered “solitary life” as a consequence of Adam’s fall. Paul said, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9). Christ is the second Adam. The Bible says the Spirit is the personification of God’s Love in us, and thereby empowers the “Triune Life”: Paul asserts, “God’s Love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom.5:5b).
The “solitary life” is life that’s lived under the influence of the devil, the instigator of human sin, pain, and suffering which breeds fear in humanity. The self-centered “solitary life” is synonymous with everything uncreative, corrupt and deathly in fallen humanity. Some of my readers may not have heard of these two terms. The “good” man does, God calls “filthy rags” because they are self-righteous acts which does not breed Love but promotes fear. (Isa.64:6) It’s the underlying motive of our hearts which counts. (1 Sam.16:7b) The “solitary life” in turn shapes the ‘false self’ who lives by fear, not Love.
Many call themselves Christians but still live the “solitary life” which is a paradox, for the essence of following Jesus is to live the “Triune Life.” It’s no fault of theirs if they had not been taught how to live it. They were told to “receive Christ” but were never shown how to follow Him. They may have been taught different terms which are ambiguous, and downright misleading, as we’ll see. I hope I can make this as simple to understand so you too can live the blessed life God has called us to in His perfect Love – the Love which drives out fear from us.
“Triune Life” Means the “True You”
The word Triune means consisting of three Persons in one Trinitarian Godhead. It conveys the Tri-Personal Being of God (Trinity) in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore, “Triune Life” means a life that’s lived in and under the influence of the divine Love of the Trinitarian God in heaven. However, all people since Adam have not known, let alone lived the “Triune Life.”
Because of Adam’s fall in Eden, mankind has been consigned to living this self-centered “solitary life.” The Bible speaks of Jesus as the “Second Adam” who would come and right the wrong of the first fallen Adam. As Paul said, “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22; 1 Cor.15:45).
Jesus comes and introduces the “Triune Life” of Love to humanity by revealing the Father and Himself as the Son with our eternal Friend, the Holy Spirit (Matt.28:17-20). He said, “I and My Father are One,” and, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate (Spirit) to help you and be with you forever… He will glorify Me.” (John 10:30; john 14:16; 16:14). That is one of the pillar objectives of His coming to earth, besides others, to reveal God is Triune – to show God is our Father, Jesus our Brother, and Herald* (Spirit) is our ever-present Friend and Miracle-Worker.
Humans Has to Change (“Born Again”) from the “Solitary Life” in the self to the “Triune Life” in Christ through the Power of His Spirit.
Thus, the “Triune Life” is born and made a reality in the life of humanity through humanity’s Savior, Jesus. The basic tenet of living the “Triune Life” is revealed by Jesus in His words, “By Myself I can do nothing” (John 5:30). By saying that, He disqualifies Himself from the way of life of the “solitary life” in the devil. In other words, He never does things solitarily on His own; the way He thinks, feels, and acts, is done in complete collaboration with the Father and the Spirit. How can He, when Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit, are of one substance and reality in the Triune Godhead. Even if He wants to, He cannot, so the act of One is always the act of all Three Persons in the Trinity, and the act of Three is the act of One.
Jon P. Murhpree, in his book , “The Trinity and Human Personality,” says this, “Each one (of the three Persons of the Trinity) transposes Himself into the others without confusing His own personality with the others. Through Love, diversity and unity are so inextricably interwoven that the Father, Son, and Spirit do not exist as Persons alongside each other as much as they exist in and through each other. Each One constantly has perfect access to the others complete thought and feelings.” (pg.29) So when we follow Christ, we live the same “Triune Life” in the Spirit’s power.
“Perfect Love” Comes to Man By Entering the Life of the Trinity – the “Triune Life”** (Wiki Commons)
As I said, many have been told to “receive Jesus” but were never taught the true cost of becoming His follower. Very simply, the “cost” involves giving up the fallen “solitary life” from Adam, and embracing the “Triune Life” in Christ. Jesus makes plain that it is possible to say one is Christian, but be none of His: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt.7:20-21).
By saying, “only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven,” Jesus was pointing a person to the “Triune Life” in the Trinity. God is trinitarian and indivisibly ONE in their Triune Love for each other. Each Person in the Trinity find completeness in their Love for each other, not in their individual selves. By receiving Jesus as Savior, the believer is translated into the same life where he lives this collaborative, interdependent, unified, and Loving, “Triune Life” in Christ, where we seek “to do the will of the Father.”
It is not based upon legalism and justification by law, as Paul tells us, “Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” (Gal.2:16).
Rather it is a relationship of Love for each other as in the Life of Love within the Trinity. For in doing this, the believer must find his/her ‘true self’ in Christ, not in his or her ‘false self.’ God placed gifts upon us which the Spirit enunciates them (gifts) in life. Thus we read Paul’s words, “We are complete through Christ” (Col.2:10).
To think and live trinitarianly is to dwell and live in each other’s Love for each other, not in one’s own solitary self-centered self-will by being withdrawn in one self. In other words, you find your ‘true self’ only by discovering fulfillment in Loving one another. This is how fear is driven away when we cease to be self-conscious and be other-conscious, not self-conscious, just like God is in His Loving Triune nature.
“Perfect Love” found Only in the “Triune Life”**
The purpose of the “Triune life” is essentially to protect the believer from the inconsistencies and ravages of the “solitary life” which brings fear, suffering, heartaches, and ultimately physical and spiritual death. (Rom.6:23) We’re not living in the emotional juggernaut of the moment through the ‘false self’ who generates fear (intuitively), in all its manifestation and its dire consequences. Hence the “Perfect Love” which drives out fear from our lives is found only when we are living the “Triune Life” in heaven with the Father, through Jesus’ continuous mediation as our glorified divine/human High Priest, through the power of Herald the Spirit who lives is us as His temple. (1 Cor.3:16; 1 Cor.6:19)
To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of God’s Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27). And His command are not grevious, “In fact, this is Love for God: to keep His commands. And His commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). How can something which dispels and removes fear from your life be burdensome?
Gentle Dove, Symbol of The Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Wiki Commons)
From Fear to Love
God’s covenant promise to man is to give him a new heart to end his suffering from living a “solitary life” through a newborn “unified (Triune) life” in His Son (Ezek. 11:19; Heb. 8:10, 10:22). He will remove the heart of fear and give us the heart of Love to Love Him. In becoming a mortal human, Jesus vicariously assumed man’s sinful life, including his fears, in His perfect Being. In doing so, He destroyed fear and replaced it with God’s love. For, “As in Adam all die, so in Christ (Immanuel) all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). Finally man can reciprocate with the same Love with which God Loves man. This is the “perfect Love” which drives out fear of fallen humans and the devil.
How to Enter the “Triune Life”
Let me now state briefly how man enters the “Triune Life” of God, so you too can live it and defeat all your fears. It begins when God calls you out of your self-centered “solitary life” of fear and embrace the “Triune Life” of Love through the finished work of His Son. Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father, except through Me. I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). In other words, we enter the “Triune Life” of God the Father when we accept His Son Jesus, as personal Savior who cleanses all sins of the ‘false self’ who has lived the ”solitary life” of the devil. The promised Holy Spirit inaugurates the “Triune Life” by bringing the ‘true self’ fashioned in the image of Jesus, the Son of God. (John 14:16; Rom.8:29)
We leave behind the ‘false self’ and everything to do with the “solitary life,” and embrace our ‘true self’ in the Spirit. We call this the gift of repentance and forgiveness, and the process of conversion of the new birth from the ‘false self’ to the ‘true self.’ (John 3:7) The Father’s promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit is the personification of His divine Love in us. (Rom.5:5) We become the temple of the Spirit: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you” (1 Cor. 3:16). Fear, which is part and parcel of the ‘false self,’ has once for all lost its grip and has no power over us. John said this of the devil, “the evil one cannot touch you” (1 John 5:18b).
Christianity and Religion
Here is the main issue of Christianity when it is practiced as a ‘religion’ instead of a way of life. Christianity as a religion has turn man back upon himself/hersef by saying that his/her salvation is the “human responsibility.” They say Christ has done His part, now man must play his part to earn it, as if salvation is a 50/50 proposition. If Christ is a partial Savior, then the Gospel is incomplete and not true. This is the devil’s deception at its very core because man carries on living the “solitary life,” and Jesus and the “Triune Life” is left out of the picture altogether. Jesus is not a 50/50 Savior. Jesus is 101% humanity’s Savior, period. As John declares, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). And Paul affirms, “In Him (Jesus) we live and move and have our being” (Act.17:28). Again, Paul continues in his letter to the Colossians “You are complete through your union with Christ” (Col.2:10).
Salvation is all grace and freely given to humanity by God. As Paul makes this point abundantly clear, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph.2:8-10).
God has not abdicated your salvation by placing it in your own hands, least of all nor the hands of another, and most likely in the hands if ‘religion,’ for that matter. If salvation is a free gift which comes from the free grace of God, it is impossible for man to earn it, much less 50%? It is totally 100% God’s.
Fear is Driven Out By Embracing the “Perfect Love” in the Spirit’s Love-Power (Rom.5:5) (Wiji Commons)
Our most difficult task is to learn to step out of the way, for the ‘false self’ is always tempted to dictate his solitary expressions in our human lives. Instead, we must step back and see the wonder of His hands at work – perhaps, for once in our life. God says, “Stand still, and see My salvation which I will show you. I will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace” (Exo.14:13-14, emphasis mine). Salvation is all God’s doing in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. For the Gospel tells us He is our complete Savior. (Col.2:10; Acts 4:11-12). Our part is simply to “hide in Christ” like the waters cover the riverbed (man), and let the Spirit live His life fully (overflowing) in man as “living waters” (John 7:37-39; Psa.32:7).
No part of the believer (riverbed) is seen or heard, as he is completely and overwhelmingly covered and hidden in Christ in the “living waters” of the Spirit. All our fears which lead to deprivation and want are overpowered by the overwhelming Love of Jesus just as the “living waters” cover the riverbed engulfs us completely (1 John 4:8). The riverbed (man) and the “living waters” (Spirit) the metaphor for the “Triune Life.”
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.
Blessing: Until we meet again in my next post, may God bless you with the faith of Jesus His Son and may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life” as a Bulamanriver.* Be strong in the Lord’s joy.
Kiang, (Your Servant in Christ)
**”Triune Life”: Relationship with God has no meaning without Love. By its very nature, Love cannot endure in solitary existence. So, when God said “Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness…” He was revealing Himself as existing in His trinitarian existence. That is, His Tri-Personal Being as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Gen.1:26; Matt.28:19; John 14:10, 16; 16:7) The Hebrew word for ‘God’ in the creation account is “Elohim.” It describes God in His plurality, as the Trinity – the Tri-Personal Godhead, which other scriptures attests. (Matt.28:18-20; 1 Pet.1:2; 2 Thess.2:13; 2 Cor.13:14) So, God is Trinitarian in His Love nature. He is also clothed in Freedom. For the three Persons of the Trinity are three distinct and free Persons in the triune Godhead. Love and Freedom by nature is relational as God is in His Tri-Personal Being. Hence, a human being was created a relational being possessing freedom.
Adam was solitary and incomplete until God made Eve. He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone (solitary). I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen.2:18, italics mine). So, God gave Adam a family to raise composed of a father, mother, and offspring, to reflect Himself in His plural Being. The Bible states that the Church’s or humanity’s destiny is to marry Christ, the second Person of the Triune Godhead, in the new age to come which will be an everlasting divine relationship. (2 Cor.11:2; Eph.5:23-27, 32; Rev.19:7) The Bible is abundantly clear about God’s nature and declaration of Himself in His relational Triune Being from the past, the present, and the future. God has never lived as a solitary Being, but a Tri-Personal Being.
It’s noteworthy to understand that Eve was not created an individual creation from the dust of the earth as was Adam. She was not created apart from Adam as an individualized separate human being, instead, she was taken out from Adam’s side to show she was biologically one and indivisibly part of Adam, like God is in His Tri-Personal Being of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Eve was not detached (solitary) from Adam, but intrinsically inseparable from Adam’s innermost humanity, as God is in His divine triunity. When Adam saw Eve, he said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man” (Gen.2:21-23) God created humanity to reflect Himself in His unified Tri-Personal Being (Trinity)
Rublev’s Icon of The Trinity (Wiki Commons)
Each one of us was created as an indivisible relational human being incubated and given birth from Adam’s mold as one species, for God created humanity to reflect the eternal likeness in His triunity. We are born for relationships with the divine triune Love as our guiding principle. All this show that humans were created to be indivisibly one to reflect God’s Tri-Personal image of Oneness (Trinity), not solitary separateness. When God sent Jesus His eternal Son, He became human in order to unify humanity spiritually to the Triune Being of God through Christ once for all time. Hence, when the prophet Isaiah proclaimed Jesus’ coming, He was given the prophetic name, Immanuel. (Isa.7:14) The name means “God with us” (Matt.1:23). Humanity is ‘organically’ one with the Triune God through Christ, just as humanity is one with Adam. (Gen.1:26-27)
Most religions believe God as some solitary being. The true God is not solitary by any means, He is the one Triunity in His Tri-Personal Being. God consist of three Persons in One divine triune Godhead. (Matt.28:18-20) They exist in One “homoousion” meaning consisting in one substance, or “consubstantiality.” The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in One hypostatic union, One substance, like Eve was biologically part of and never physically separate, but of one substance from Adam, for she came out of Adam. Likewise, humanity is made of one spiritual substance with the triune God through Jesus Christ who took our humanity upon Himself and joined it to the divine triune existence forever.
The three-dimensional Triune Life/Love is opposed to living the one-dimensional solitary life of the fallen humanity inherited from Satan through Adam’s rebellion. For additional information about the Triune Life: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036. Also at: http://bulamanriver.net/9092.
***Bulamanriver: is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, you may obtain a copy of my book, “Bula” Man-River, from Amazon.com; xulonpress.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online book stores. All proceeds will go towards furthering the work of Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world
“Bulamanriver” Book Cover
***Mission Statement: Read the Triune Love Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664
*The “Love-Fruits of the Holy Spirit:” *the fruit of patience, *the fruit of kindness, *the fruit of contentedness, *the fruit of modesty (unboastful), *the fruit of humility, *the fruit of honor, *the fruit of unselfishness, *the fruit of calmness and dignity, *the fruit of forgiveness and compassion, *the fruit of delighting in good and shunning evil, *the fruit of tolerance, *the fruit of responsibility, *the fruit of enduring hope, *the fruit of steadfast perseverance, *the fruit of joy, *the fruit of peace, *the fruit of goodness, *the fruit of faith, *the fruit of gentleness, *the fruit of self-control, *the fruit of zeal and spiritual fervor, *the fruit of friendship, *the fruit of sharing and generosity, *the fruit of prayerfulness, *the fruit of hospitality, etc. (1 Cor.13; also Gal. 5:22-23; Rom. 12:9-21). These attributes may seem ordinary and mundane, but when empowered and propelled in the Spirit’s power, they are transformed into divine elements of transformation.
All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.
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