“In Him was Life; and The Life was The Light of Men” (John 1:4).

Greeting Friends! You are precious in the sight of our God – the Father of all mankind. He wants you to understand that He made you and all mankind in His Triune image so you can enjoy being in His presence. That is the Gospel in its simplest form.

Return of the Prodigal Son Depicting God’s Unquestionable Love for His Once-Lost Children (Wiki Commons)

There’s a word in Christian circle which has become so loaded and negative in its nuance it has brought a negative light on the work of the Holy Spirit: obedience. “Obedience” has become a loaded word because it is presented to people in its religious undertone, and legalistic frame of reference. Our call to live the unified Triune life of God in Christ, is not a religion to be “obeyed,” but a relationship to be experienced founded upon LOVE. Whenever God tells man in the Bible, “If you will obey Me…” (2 Kings 3:14) He is really saying, “If you will LOVE Me…” God does not enforce “obedience” upon anyone. Where His LOVE exists, there is freedom, not “obedience“ by domination. The prophet Isaiah qualifies man’s “obedience” by saying, “If you are willing and obedient…” (Isa. 1:19, emphasis added) “Obedience” that comes with a willing heart is not “obedience” but pleasure given out of freedom and LOVE.

Throughout the Bible there’s a constant contrast made between virtue and vice to underscore man’s fallen nature and his redeemed nature. After man’s fall, life became accentuated by the paradigm of right and wrong stemming from the “fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” Adam and Eve ate by Satan’s deception. God declared that even nature would compel man to choose between good and evil. (Gen.3:16-19). Before this, Adam lived in total Loving harmony with God, where only good, joy, and beauty was the experience of life. God continues to exist in total goodness in His holy Tri-Personal Being. But it was different with man, his thoughts on life have become so twisted that the prophet said, “Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet” (Isa.5:20). Human morality became based foundationally on the Ten Commandments. (Exo. 20; Deut. 5). But God’s life is based upon the Holy Spirit’s (Love) work in the believer. Paul said, “These two forces (virtue and vice) are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses” (Gal.5:17-18, NLT). So, in his moral dilemma, man’s life turned into a legalistic contrast between generosity and avarice, humility and pride, patience and wrath, diligence and laziness, etc. This darkness is what has plagued humanity since the fall of Adam.

The whole world groped in the darkness Satan has incarcerated humans, and because of it man have come “to love darkness instead of the light” (John 3:19). Even the goodness of men was esteemed by God this way, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (Isa.64:6).

The Cross, Symbol of “God So Loved the World He Gave His Only Son that Whosoever Believes In Him Will Not Perish but Have Everlasting Life” (John 3:16) (Wiki Commons)

When Christ appeared, John records, “The people living in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, light has shined” (Matt.4:16). Where Adam brought darkness, Jesus, the second Adam, brought light. Hence we read Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Paul said, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor.15:22; also 1 Cor.15:45). John explains, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Light  is possessed by nothing but good, that’s where God resides in total holiness. Light is the depiction of God’s Love for man. There is no good and evil in Jesus’ light, there’s only good.

How does this light enter the life of humans so he no longer live in darkness? Jesus explains, “Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (When He said “living water,” He was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in Him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into His glory.) (John 7:37-38, NLT). The Spirit’s presence in man is shown metaphorically as a river flowing that washes man clean so the light of Jesus may shine through life. Paul explains this, “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph.1:13b; also Rom.5:5). 

God reveals how He will make this reality of Jesus’ light happen, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” (2 Cor.6:16; Lev.26:12). That is how God lived with Adam and Eve before they were evicted from Eden and His presence. Paul tells us, “Christ is our righteousness… God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor.5:21; 1 Cor. 1:30; Rom.4:6, 22-25; Phil. 3:9; Ps. 32:2). Again, what this says is God will Himself guide and walk us to the reality we have in Jesus the light. And how does He do it, through the gift of the Holy Spirit who is the Personification of God’s Love in man. The Bibles reveals “We are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16a). That is how light comes into the human experience. Paul says, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?” (1 Cor.6:19, NLT; also, 1 Cor.3:16). The Spirit is the light of Jesus in your life, for Jesus said, “He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you” (John 16:14). 

Dove, Symbol of Holy Spirit and Deposit of God’s Love in Man (Rom.5:5) (Wiki Commons)

From the above we see man existing in darkness and sin from Adam’s fall, but through Jesus God confers the Holy Spirit who is the light of God in the life of man. From darkness to light; from death to life. So, we see how the three-fold activity of the Tri-Personal Being of God living and Loving the believer. Yes, it must take the fullness of the Spirit indwelling man to make it happen. The Spirit’s work is to sanctify man so God can embrace him in Love. To live this life is what I call the “Triune Life.” In it man lives in the presence of the Father, Son, and Spirit, and finds his calling and destiny. Man has returned to his roots where he lives in complete joy in the Triune Life of God as in Eden.  It was never about “obedience,” but Love. When we Love God we live to please (if it may be called “obey”) Him. 

I hope I have encouraged you about God’s inerrant Love for you today! Go, live in His Love!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com. Thank you for visting!

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, 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,  

* 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 many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” – United States Constitution

Warm Greetings Friends! I hope you will find the subject I have chosen for this segment interesting while at the same time applicable in your life and those of your loved ones. I am talking about power. Power is something important to each and everyone no matter where we live, what profession we have, and how we invest our time daily.

A Bolt of Lightning, Equivalent to 10 billion Watts of Power (Wiki Commons)

Power as a measure is the influence and control over outcomes, events, issues and actors. We speak of the balance of power in the world, but power is also private and individualized because it is relative to all peoples from the lowest to the highest levels. Traditional power as we know it on the world stage has shifted greatly. Power has become more transient. Internationally, power has spread geographically according to economic, political, and militarial status and prominence. Today, we speak of soft, hard, and smart power, and how it’s implemented in the world. We see a lot of power transfer to individuals who have the capacity to act alone with immense consequences. Think of an app called Instagram, many don’t know that it was sold for a billion dollars (yes, $1b) when it hardly had a dozen or so employees. We are seeing gridlock and paralysis in a lot of countries and the inability of governments to reach agreements and move forward any policies. We have seen it recently with the United States with the sequester and the helplessness of the political parties and Congress and the White House to agree on how the tax dollar is spent. This same trend is seen around the world. In democracies, power is becoming much harder to wield. Why this inconsistency in power and our obvious powerlessness?

War and Poverty – Proof of Human Weakness, Not Power (Wiki Commons)

First and foremost, the most basic explanation for human power as we understand it, is not true power at all. What we see is human weakness trying to wield what it sees and understand as power. So, true power is unseen to man and controls everything. God’s power “is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come” (Eph.1:19-23) True power belongs to the Creator God alone, and from whom power originates. We just have to look at the earth and all the life forms upon it, and the universe at large and realize God is truly all powerful because man can never duplicate such power. Though man may have invented many ingenious creations, it’s an ability given to him to reflect the Creator in whose likeness he was made, and is actually a foretaste of man’s destiny in God’s spiritual realm.

If man is dominated by human weakness, what exactly is it, and how do we explain its impact upon man and the way we see power, and how we live? Human weakness is the essence of our fallen human nature inherited from Adam’s own fall in Eden at the hands of the devil. (Gen. 3) Human weakness is a curse upon humanity and human evolution. All of mankind’s problems can be attributed to one thing, and one thing alone, human weakness! Human weakness encapsulates man’s deficiency and inadequacy in every single aspect of human life. It is responsible for human suffering from the past, the present, and into the future. Human weakness is reflected in the inability of our intellectual faculty, our spiritual incapacity, our mental and psychological disorders, our physical and bodily infirmities, and the lack of a moral compass in human relationships. It is responsible for humanity’s state of confusion and disorder. Yes, every single crime committed, every war fought, every act of hatred, all misdeeds of man’s inhumanity to man, every sickness and disease, and every generous act we owe others and fail to own up and take responsibility for, is the result of one thing – our powerlessness through human weakness!

Gun Violence & Diseases – Proof of Human Weakness (Wiki Commons)

The opposite of weakness is genuine power! Power ends all the suffering which human weakness spawn. The disorderly and uncontrollable state of the world today in every aspect of its governance, especially in human relations, and relations between nations, is proof enough of man’s powerlessness in the face of its problems. And the Bible prediction is it will get worse before the Creator Himself has to step in to stop human ineptitude through human weakness. (Matt.24:14)

The most basic form of expressing human weakness is man’s inability to treat his fellow humans as equals in God’s sight. Man was made in God’s image which makes all humans, regardless of their many differences, equals. The U.S. Constitution says this of its citizens, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” We all deserve each other’s respect and Love because we were formed in the Creator’s image and likeness. (Gen.1:26-27) This is the underpinning, the bedrock, upon which true power derives its authority. When we disrespect the likeness of God we see in our fellowmen, we plant the seeds of weakness. There is no weakness in God’s power because His actions are always shaped by His Love (“God is Love” – that’s His image – 1 John 4:8). Love is what makes us all equals. When fear (weakness) instead of Love controls man’s actions, the result is not power but weakness. It is a true saying that things are not as they appear, and this applies to human power in the world today. It’s a form of pretension of power which God instructs we should reject. (2 Cor.10:5-6)

I would like us to see God’s indictment upon man’s sinful state of existence since his fall in Eden, so we understand human weakness and it’s relation to human power. The scriptures says this of man, 1) “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind” (Isa.64:6, NLT). 2) The prophet Micah said, “Even the best of them is like a brier; the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns. But your judgment day is coming swiftly now. Your time of punishment is here, a time of confusion” (Mic.7:4). 3) The Psalmist said, “Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you” (Psa.143:2). 4) Paul asserted, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23). 5) The Old Testament says, “There is no one who does not sin” (2 Chron.6:36). 6) Paul surmises, “For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Rom.3:9-12). 7) John enlightens us, saying, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make [God] a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10). 8) Back to the Psalmist, “For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue” (Psa.5:9).9) Jesus said, “Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every bad tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them” (Matt.7:16-20).

Purposeful Living & Joy Through Genuine Power & Good Leadership (Wiki Commons)

I have divulged 9 passages from the Bible (there are more) to show one fundamental truth about man, he is depraved, wicked, and sick to the core of his being. This is not akin to describing someone with genuine power. A person with authentic power would not be depraved but noble, he’s not wicked but virtuous, not sick but sound and right-thinking. I am sorry if I have insulted the sensibilities of those who believe in the goodness of man. We do believe the same things, but not the same processes and outcomes. If man can’t help living a way of life totally opposed to God because of his fallen state of being, how can he extricate himself from it? How can he save himself if God calls even the good he does, “filthy rags” (Isa.64:6).

Man is fallen in his being and needs saving. He cannot save himself because he doesn’t know how. Only His Creator who gave him the reason for his existence can save him. Man did not come to this true knowledge of himself on his own. He never knew he was living in this fallen and depraved shelll of existence. If God had not brought the truth of man’s fallen state of being, he would have remained in his ignorance, and he would live a life which leads to untimate extinction. (Matt.24:22) But God would not allow that to happen, for He made man for immortality in His spiritual realm of existence. (2 Tim.1:10) Yes, man would not be any the wiser if God had not disclosed by revelation in His Word our lineage to Him, and what had become of us in our fallen state of being, and how He plans to restore man and His purpose for him.  

Be that as it may, man was not created to live in a posture opposed to his Creator. Something happened along the way which made man depraved and weak. We understand this from Adam’s fall, we became inheritors of his fallen state of existence from Eden because of his rebellion. Prior to the fall, man lived in holy union with God, and man lived in the Creator’s likeness. (Gen.1:26-27) Yes, although our nature has become weak because of sin, underneath, in our heart of hearts, we are basically attuned to God’s Loving nature. The Creator made certain His divine Loving image is never lost to man. His basic Triune nature is etched all over man and creation. And since human weakness is not God’s image, man can change, if we so choose. We can change when we are given the mind and the power to see the difference between weakness and power, light and darkness, good and evil, Love and fear.

Jesus Walks on Water – Source of True Power (Wiki Commons)

Man has to discover and find his true self, for in his true self is genuine power where all human weakness is overcome and defeated. We have seen that true power resides with God who implements it through His Loving nature. We also saw God will not allow His purpose in man to come to nought through human weakness instilled by the enemy. In His Loving nature He expresses His grace toward man and crowns him with His mercy. He sends Jesus to become man (the prophesied Immanuel), and thereby take the weakness of our humanity, its depravity and wickedness (death/sin), and redeemed man in Himself through His perfect human life, His sacrificial death, His incarnational resurrection and ascension. Man has not done anything to deserve this incomprehensible grace of God the Father, but this is the expression of who He is in His Love by giving His Son to save man. 

So we read, “But God demonstrates His own Love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8). That’s to say, while we are still ignorant of our dire and hopeless situation, God stepped into our lost state of existence and saved us in His Love.

Power rests in the domain of the God of Love and righteousness. Power comes from true knowledge personified in Jesus, the Word. The price for being redeemed from human weakness has already been paid for by Jesus. The sin condition man inherited from Adam reveals the inborn weakness of man. A person may not be consciously aware that his or her deepest problem is the sin condition which breeds weakness, and separates him from God, the source of power. Jesus presents the solution to human weakness this way, “You must be born again of the Spirit” (John 3:3-8). Weakness or powerlessness is the “condition” which permits evil to dominate, as opposed to strength or power which is the “condition” of the Spirit which defeats and triumph over sin through Love. (Rom.5:5) If it were not for the Spirit moving and empowering the lives of humans in the world, we would be left to live in a hell of our own making. (Matt.24:21-22) In essence, human weakness embodies man’s existence which is why he is the quintessence of sin. We all must realize we are sinners in God’s eyes. 

Yet, we must hold a positive attitude toward human weakness in which we find ourselves, why, because Jesus has defeated it in our stead so we can embrace and live vicariously through His power. We hear Paul explains this, “I boast in my weakness.” What did he mean? It means he was not discouraged by his weakness but instead boasted in Christ who overcame all his weakness by defeating the devil in the temptations in the Judean wilderness, and dying on the cross for him. (Matt. 4:1-12; John 19:28-30) The Lord answered Paul’s prayer saying, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Because of the Lord’s grace, he can say, and we can say, ”I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, in insults, in hardship, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor.12:8-10). In other words, each time Paul focuses on his weakness, he realizes his only hope comes from the Lord through the Spirit’s presence who overcomes weakness and gives him power in God’s Love. That’s the picture Paul paints for us: “For when I’m weak, then I’m strong (powerful) in Christ!” We are strong in God’s power and Love.

Resurrection to Immortality – Weakness is Banished & Power is Man’s Eternal Inheritance (Wiki Commons)

Paul said this, “For the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” (1 Cor.4:20) Let’s now move on our knees in prayer thanking and praising God, so we can move on our feet in power, no longer plagued by weaknesses.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, 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,  

*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 many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information.

“The World’s SIN Is That It Refuses To Believe In Me” – John 16:9

Greetings Friends!

Did you know that sin, in the true sense of the word, is not what most people think it is? It may surprise you what the Bible truly says about the subject of sin. If you were to look up the dictionary for the definition of sin, you would find the following, “an offense against religious or moral law,” or, “transgression of the law of God.” (Merriam-Websters) The late Billy Graham gave a more elaborate version, “A sin is any thought or action that falls short of God’s will. God is perfect, and anything we do that falls short of His perfection is sin.” (http://billygraham.org/)

The “Love-Condition”/”Sin-Condition” Can be Compared to an Ocean in which Marine life is Likened to Believers Sustained by Its “Living Waters” or “Deathly Waters” (Pexels.com) 

If you look closer at these definitions, you’ll note that sin is seen as individual thoughts and acts which are religiously and morally wrong. Though this may sound right, it is not an entirely correct definition of sin. How so? Because every individual act, be it good or bad, right or wrong, virtuous or sinful, arise out of a first cause. That first cause is what I call the sin-condition which triggers individual sins. The same happens with good, it is generated by the Love-condition. The sin-condition and man’s fallen nature are synonymous. It is the spiritual prison in which mankind is held captive to the sinful nature. The fallen nature of man originated with Adam’s fall to sin which mankind has inherited since. (Gen.3:6)

Individual sins does not happen haphazardly out of the blue, no, we are creatures of conditional response! What a person does, whether good or evil, stems from the condition which triggers that specific action. So, sin or Love (virtue), is a condition – not an individual act! Don’t get me wrong, sin is an individual act, but it is generated by the sin-condition. Another word for sin is fear. The sin-condition generates fear which begets individual sins. It is an evil cycle within man’s fallen nature (sin-condition). We are all products of our fearful environment which conditions us this way or that. Sin and Love are conditional responses depending on our environment. 

Sin is a Condition, Not Individual Acts (Wiki Commons)

If sin is more than an individual act, a condition, what does the Bible tell us about it, and how can we better understand and deal with it? Paul made it quite clear, and calls it “the law of sin”: “I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me” (Rom.7:23). So, the “the law of sin” and the sin-condition are the same. We can say the sin-condition operates like inertia with its gravitational pull. So is the Love-condition. Then Paul ask the important question, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body (fallen nature/prison) that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom.7:24-25, parenthesis mine). Yes, this passage tells us that God has given us His Son, Jesus, to free us from the sin-condition which generates all individual sins. 

Jesus explains the sin-condition, and reveals the Holy Spirit’s work in humans in this fashion, “And when He (Holy Spirit) comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment” (John 16:8, NLT, parenthesis mine). Here, Jesus specifies the three areas the Spirit convicts the human mind concerning: sin, righteousness, and judgment. And all three are related as we will see each expounded. Jesus unambiguously explains the Spirit’s work as it relates to the sin-condition, “The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in Me” (John 16:9, NLT). So, clearly the sin-condition has to do with faith – faith in Jesus’ mediation as Savior who takes away mankind’s sins, and the sin-condition which holds people imprisoned as slaves to sin. (John 3:16) In other words, sin is a person’s refusal, either by denial or defiance, to believe (trust) in the Messiah God the Father has provided for our forgiveness and freedom from the prison of sin. Very simple, very clear!

The “Love-Condition”/”Sin-Condition” Can be Compared to an Ocean in which Marine life is Likened to Believers Sustained by Its “Living Waters” or “Deathly Waters” (Pexels.com)

Let me explain this further to make it even clearer, individual sins will not cease because man exists in this spiritual cocoon of the devil called the sin-condition. The sin-condition generates individual sins. This world is held in bondage to the sin-condition ever since Adam’s fall in Eden. So, the Messiah is given as a permanent function in God’s plan to exterminate and totally remove the sin-condition and introduce the Love-condition which brings righteousness. Righteousness is the second conviction the Spirit brings, which springs from the Love-condition. (John 16:8; Rom.8:2) The Love-condition generates right living. Jesus explains how righteousness through the Love-condition comes to humans, “Righteousness is available because I go to the Father.” We will get to that point a little later. 

From the foregoing we see a simple truth, the Love-condition which destroys and nullifies all sins and brings forth righteousness, is housed in the Person of Jesus Himself. He is not only Savior who saves humans from past sins, but He is the complete Messiah who takes care of present and future sins in His role as our Mediator High Priest in heaven. (John 3:16; Heb.4:15-16) Jesus did not remain a dead Savior on the cross. By His resurrection from the dead and ascension to His glorified role as eternal High Priest in heaven, He revealed Himself to be the true Messiah. (1 Cor.15:14)

One may say, “I can understand past sins, but how does God save us from present and future sins?” Fair question, since throughout life a person’s wrestle with sins and many failed responses in life can be discouraging enough. This is the outcome of legalism because people accept the legalist’s definition of sin through the law. We are not called to have a relationship with the law through legalism, but it is about one’s relationship with God through Love. There is a difference. Our relationship is with the Law-Giver not the law. Our interaction is with the Person of Jesus, not an impersonal code written on stone. Paul said the law is our teacher which cannot justify us until the Spirit came, he said, “Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the Law. For the Law merely brings awareness of sin” (Rom.3:20). So, the only way out of sin is for a person to be extricated from bondage in the sin-condition which produces sins, and be installed into the freedom in the Love-condition which generates righteousness.

How do we get inducted into the Love-condition that brings every blessing from God? Paul answers and give us a clear distinction between the two conditions: “For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Rom.8:2). Note, the “law of the Spirit of life” frees us from the “law of sin.”  The “law of sin” is the sin-condition which generates sins, and the “law of the Spirit” is the Love-condition” that begets righteousness. Paul gave us the purpose of the law, “So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith” (Gal.3:24). So, while the law condemns us, Jesus’ faith saves us. (Rom.3:20-24; Eph.2:8) Paul said, “We have been released from the law (sin-condition) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit (Love-condition), and not in the old way of the written code” (Rom.7:6, italics mine). The law cannot save us, only Jesus can do that. Paul said, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom.8:1). We enter the Love-condition of the Spirit in order to live a life of joy in the Lord, not a life of discouragement in the sin-condition.

From Paul’s explanation, the Love-condition requires the presence of the Holy Spirit: the “law of the Spirit.” Paul explains to the Romans what the presence of the Spirit does, “We know how dearly God Loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His Love” (Rom.5:5). So, the Spirit is the personification of God’s Love-condition in mankind. It is very simple, no Holy Spirit, no Love-condition. No Love-condition, no righteousness. Paul explains that the Spirit indwelling a believer is part of God’s plan, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor.3:16, NASB). A temple is where humans enter into the presence of God to behold and bask in the radiance of His Love and righteousness. Paul told the Romans, “You, however, are controlled not by the flesh (sin-condition), but by the Spirit (Love-condition), if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9, italics mine). The term “Spirit of Christ” reveals the trinitarian activity of the three Persons of the Godhead acting as one and never in isolation from each other. The next logical step would be, how is the Spirit made to come and indwell human believers? Jesus answers, “You must be born of the Spirit” (John 3:6-8).

Before His crucifixion, Jesus reminded the disciples of a vital promise from the Father, “I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luk.24:49; also John 14:26). Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit as the “power from on high.” After Jesus’ resurrection and before His ascension to heaven He again reminded the disciples of the Father’s promise, “And when they were gathered together, He commanded them: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift the Father promised, which you have heard Me discuss” (Act.1:4). Yes, man must undergo a rebirth from his fallen state of being, and be freed from the prison called the sin-condition, and take on a new risen state of being (Love-condition) living in freedom from sin. In my other blog posts I have called a human born in the sin-condition as the “Adamic human” after the fallen Adam, and the reborn human in the Love-condition as the “Immanuel human” after Jesus’ messianic title, the new human modeled after the risen Jesus, the Son of God.

The “Love-Condition”/”Sin-Condition” Can be Compared to an Ocean in which Marine life is Likened to Believers Sustained by Its “Living Waters” or “Deathly Waters” (Pexels.com)

As Paul was inspired to write, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Rom.8:29). We are not being conformed in the image of the law, but in the image of Jesus Christ. Yes, by being the “firstborn” means Jesus was the first human who was given the new birth through the Holy Spirit whom He introduced to humanity at His baptism in the Jordan. He set the stage for mankind to follow Him on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured upon all who believed. (Matt.3:11, 16-17; Act.2:1-4) Paul goes on, “And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory (Love-condition/Spirit)” (see Rom.8:30, NLT, Italics mine).

How do we experience this rebirth in the Spirit (Love-condition)? Peter told his listeners on that memorable day of Pentecost, “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” (Act.2:38). Yes, faith in Jesus’ mediation as Savior of mankind is the prerequisite to receiving the gift of the Spirit from the Father. (John 3:16)

We have discovered sin as a person’s unbelief and rejection of Jesus as the Deliverer from sins and the sin-conditon. The same faith does more, it opens the door so the Spirit now enters the believer’s life where He abides forever. (John 16:14)  Repentance and baptism symbolizes the believer’s affirmation to terminate and bury in the watery grave of baptism the fallen self that was reared in the sin-condition, and rise up like Jesus did from the dead to live a reborn new self in Christ and be nurtured in the Love-condition of the Spirit. The person is taken out of prison (sin-condition) and given freedom (Love-condition) for the very first time.

Paul said to the Ephesians, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph.1:13). Here, we are told of being marked and  sealed in the Love-condition in the Spirit. A seal is an insignia of ownership where the believer is given to enter God’s Loving presence. Sin no longer owns you, Love and righteousness is now  your dominion. The Love-condition can be likened to an ocean of “living waters” that propagate Love and right living. (John 7:37-39).

The “Love-Condition”/”Sin-Condition” Can be Compared to an Ocean in which Marine life is Likened to Believers Sustained by Its “Living Waters” or “Deathly Waters” (Wiki Commons)

The spiritual ocean with its “living waters” depicted in the above picture is a portrayal of believers living in the Love-condition of the Holy Spirit. (Rom.5:5) The various species of marine life can be compared to the people of faith who have received Jesus as Savior, and received the gift of the Spirit to enter this spiritual aquatic world of Jesus Christ. The Spirit is the ocean of God’s Love in which all humanity (marine life) swim and draws life from its life-giving waters. (John 7:37-39) Empty out the ocean and all life will cease to exist and die. No other life-form can live in this oceanic realm, except for marine species (believers). All other species that are not adapted to living in the ocean, like the birds of the air, the beasts of the forest, etc, cannot survive in this aquatic kingdom. In like manner, only humans who have believed and received Jesus have been given the gift of living faith which enables them to live and swim in the divine ocean of the Love-condition in the Spirit.

On a personal individual level, the Bible compares the believer to a riverbed filled with the Spirit that’s the living waters which cover the person creating the Love-condition. (John 7:37-39; Isa.55:1; John 4:14) The marine life represents the people with whom the believer will have various contacts and develop relationships in the journey of life. The winding course of the riverbed (picture below) with its living waters (Love-condition), is determine by God who confers gifts and utilizes them to water, refresh, and fill the people where the believer flows in life’s sojourn on this earth. Then all the riverbeds ends in the Ocean who is Jesus Christ. There’s the “deathly waters” depicting the “sin-condition” of the devil from which we were plucked out and placed in the “living waters” representing the “Love-condition” in the Spirit.

On the Individual Level, the Winding Riverbed (Person) with its Living Waters (Love-condition) Reveals God’s Purpose to Water and Refresh People Wherever He Calls Us to Flow. (Wiki Commons)

Paul affirms this truth, saying, “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh (sin-condition) but are in the realm of the Spirit (Love-condition), if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9). Man’s fallen nature (sin-condition) entices him to sin, but in Jesus (Love-condition) we live victoriously in His triumphant defeat over sin and temptation. (Matt.4:1-12) The role of the Spirit is to articulate the life of Jesus and His glorious victory over the sin-condition. (John 16:13-15)

Whenever believers are told to overcome every single sin in their lives, it discourages them to no end because they know it’s an impossible task to do as a human. And, God our Father knows this well and paves the way to remove sins once for all time and make us perfect – it’s called righteousness. So, the second aspect of the Spirit’s work concerns the human conviction about righteousness – what is it? Jesus answers, “Righteousness is available because I go to the Father” (John 16:10, NLT) Jesus had just defined sin as, “The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in Me” (John 16:9). Now He defines righteousness. Here again, the Bible’s definition of righteousness is not what most people think it is. Most think of righteousness as obedience to the law because sin is the transgression of the law. (1 John 3:4) Therefore, the law condemns us when we break it (sin). But we are not bound to the law, we are bound to Christ who covers us with God’s Love that “covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Pet.4:8). 

So, we see how sins are forgiven and removed through Jesus’ sacrifice, and then the person is reinstated by a rebirth into righteousness through the Spirit’s power, no longer sinful. That is God’s answer to sin: Jesus’ righteousness! This is a life of faith, not obedience to a code whose only power is to condemn, but cannot save. God has decided what we are to obey in order to put us in right standing with Him – Jesus! So, the personification of the Love-condition that produces perfection is Jesus Christ.

But what has Jesus “going to the Father” to do with righteousness? Jesus gives the answer in the same passage, saying, “Unless I go away (to the Father), the Advocate (Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7, parenthesis mine). The Spirit is the personification of the Love-condition who brings Jesus’ righteousness to mankind. He (Spirit) cannot come and establish righteousness until Jesus returns to the Father in heaven. There is something else that’s equally important about Jesus’ return to His Father in heaven which interfaces with the Spirit’s role of coming and sanctifying human believers on earth. (1 Pet.1:2; 2 Thess.2:13)  

Human Beings are Winding Riverbeds with its Living Waters (Love-condition) Watering and Refreshing People Wherever He Calls Us to Flow (Unsplash).

In the Father’s presence in heaven, Jesus is installed as mankind’s High Priest. As the perfect and glorified human He is qualified to be mankind’s High Priest forever. That is, He can perpetually mediate on our behalf, as Hebrews says, “God qualified Him (Jesus) as a perfect High Priest…Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (Heb.5:9-10; Heb.7:23-25). Paul said, “There is one Mediator between God and man, the Word of God who is Himself a man, Jesus Christ” (1 Tim 2:5). The role of the Spirit in believers is to sanctify believers, as Peter said, “God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance” (1 Pet.1:2; also 2 Thess.2:13).

The work of the Spirit is to take humans with all their imperfect human responses in life (past, present, future sins) to Christ the High Priest in heaven to mediate on their behalf before the Father, and bring Christ’s righteousness to humans. Hebrews again informs us how this takes place, “So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Heb.4:14-16, NLT). Paul said Christ is “our righteousness” because of His Messianic role as High Priest who lives forever to intercede for humanity continually. (Jer.23:6; 33:16; 1 Cor.1:30) This is the only way for humans to defeat sin and the sin-condition forever and enter the pathway to Love and righteousness in God’s presence – there is no other way! 

All this work of perpetual mediation in Christ is happening within the Love-condition of the Spirit, as Hebrews informs us, “Every high priest is chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins” (Heb.5:1). To what end? “He entered the Most Holy Place (God’s throne in heaven) once for all by His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (Heb.9:12; parenthesis mine). Paul further elaborates, “It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor.1:30; 1 Cor.6:11; 2 Cor.5:21). Yes, Jesus’ mediation brings forgiveness, righteousness, holiness and redemption which is occurring as the reality of the Spirit’s sanctifying work in believers. So, it is not about individual sins by themselves, but about destroying the sin-condition which generates sin by living in the Love-condition of the Spirit who propagates Jesus’ forgiveness, righteousness, and redemption in God’s people.  

All of Jesus’ multidimensional mediation that’s materializing within the Spirit’s Love-condition now answers to the aspect of “judgment” which the Spirit brings to our awareness and conviction. Jesus explained judgment saying, “And about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned” (John 16:11). Now, Jesus identifies the origin and instigator of the sin-condition – “the prince of this world,” or Satan, the devil who holds mankind prisoner. God is the Author of the Love-condition, who brings true freedom, as Satan is the founder of the sin-condition who imprisons humans as slaves to sin. Satan “now stands condemned” means his sin-condition which propagates sin and his wicked and deathly rule over the people on earth, is at an end, it has ceased to exist since Jesus came, for Jesus is the gateway into the habitation of righteousness – the Love-condition in the Spirit. (John 10:9, 1-7) Through Jesus, God has made all things new again by establishing the Love-condition that destroys all human sins forever. This passage from John focuses on how “the prince of this world now stands condemned”: “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8, ESV, also Heb.2:14; Heb.9:26).

The Love-Condition, Antithesis of The Sin-Condition (Wiki Commons)

Yes, sin originated with Satan when he rebelled against God’s divine order of creation by defying God’s rule and authority. (Isa.14:12-15) He deceived and manipulated Adam to believe and take ownership of the same rebellious spirit which has passed down to his descendants. He is the architect and father of the sin-condition to continue his wicked rule and imprisons the people of this earth. (John 8:44) Satan’s depraved plan is to ultimately wipe humanity from the face of the earth by way of the sin-condition. (John 10:10-11) Paul said, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom.6:23). Satan knew God’s mind about sin and the  death penalty it generates. But God’s Love is greater than the enemy’s sin-condition with its death penalty, and paves the way to save humanity through His Son. (John 3:16-17)

Paul tells us what we are up against, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph.6:12). The devil’s wicked plan came to a grinding halt and was defeated utterly when Jesus appeared as the Messiah. Jesus became the perfect human to stand in for sinful humanity and restore righteousness lost through Adam’s fall. He took on the role of Savior and Mediatory High Priest in heaven, so Satan’s wicked scheme is defeated forever. In so doing, Jesus destroys the sin-condition of the devil, and restores His Love-condition of the Spirit.

The Spirit is mightier than any enemy and gives us powerful weapons to defeat the devil’s temptation and cunning. (Matt.4:1-12) Yes, the Christian life is not just smooth sailing into immortality, but our participation in the life of faith is vital in Jesus’ Ministry of Reconciliation for which we are ambassadors. (2 Cor.5:17-21; Col.1:19-23; Rom.5:10-11). Paul gives us insight as to what the battle we face incurs with the Spirit’s help, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph.6:13-17).

Yes, it is from within the Love-condition in the Spirit that we are given the spiritual weapons to fight this spiritual warfare and keep and not lose our place of freedom in God’s ‘promise land.’ Yes, the enemy is always trying to drag us back into bondage of the sin-condition. Jesus taught us to pray, “And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one” (Matt.6:13). Paul stresses our prayers as a vital aspect of our spiritual warfare, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests…always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” (Eph.6:18). In Paul’s testimony about his Christian journey, he told Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim.4:7).

“Pray Without Ceasing” – An Essential Weapon in Our Spiritual Warfare (Pic: Wiki Commons)

In that day of judgment believers who exist under cover of the Spirit’s Love-condition will not be condemned because they have no sin to answer for. Remember, they were continuously sanctified by the Spirit under Jesus’ High Priestly perpetual work of reconciliation. But not so for unbelievers who doubted, disbelieved, and spoke against Jesus’ role as the prophesied Messiah. (Isa.9:6-7) The Bible says of the judgment day, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil… “This will come to pass on that day when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus, as proclaimed by my gospel” (Eccl.12:14; Rom.2:16). Paul said this about the day of judgment, “Therefore, judge nothing before the proper time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God” (1 Cor.4:5; also 1 Cor.3:13). Instead, clothed in Jesus’ righteousness His people will be rewarded with God’s invitation, “Well done, Come and share your Master’s happiness!” (Matt.25:21; also 2 Tim.4:8).

As for the devil, since he is the embodiment of the sin-condition, the Bible reveals both will be put away and deceive humanity no more. God will have brought mankind into His own family made immortality and living in God’s Loving presence. (Rev.20:1-3, 10) This Love-condition becomes the nucleus for what will eventually become the Kingdom of God, where Jesus is King and Lord. (Rev.19:16) There will be a new heaven and new earth where the people are clothed in righteousness, and Love will be the culture of the God’s new civilization. Concerning this time of restitution, John records, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev.21:1-8)

What a wonderful, beautiful, new world, and joyous life beyond our wildest dreams, which God our Father will lavishly bless humanity. Paul affirms humanity’s blessed future through these words, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him–these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Cor.2:9-10). We have every reason to be thankful and filled with praise of our heavenly Father!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, 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” means to inherit human personhood identifying us as true persons with gifts in Christ and living according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27; Rom.8:29) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional attributing life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself (“Adamic humanity”). It means to live in relationship with God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who lives and walks in you (“Immanuel humanity”). Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the 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) This is a life of divine power. You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/9092, also at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036)

>>> Read about my true-life miracle I shared in my book and post, titled, “Miracle Living-No Ordinary Life!” I hope you find it inspiring and encourages you to receive Jesus and live the “Triune Life.” Go to: http://bulamanriver.net/2634

***Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.net, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, xulonpress.com, and other book store sites where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” 

Mission Statement: Read the Triune Life Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information.

“When the Spirit of Truth comes… He will Glorify Me (Jesus)” – John 16:13-14)

Greetings to you Friends!

To say that the work of the Holy Spirit is an indispensable part of the Christian life, is a gross understatement to say the least. For the Christian life has no legs to stand on without the Holy Spirit, plain and simple. (Rom.8:9) Yet, about half (49%) of all who say they are Christian do not believe the Holy Spirit is real, according to the research group called “Barna Group” (https://www.barna.org). It also found that “Americans are constantly trying to figure out how to make sense of biblical teachings in light of their daily experiences,” without realizing it’s the absence of the Holy Spirit which leaves this vacuum in their Christian life. Let’s discuss this vital aspect and see what exactly is the work of the Spirit in the Christian’s daily journey. There are many facets of His work, but we’ll discuss His basic foundational role in this post.

The Holy Spirit is given to those who believe and trust in Jesus as the prophesied Messiah because He is the Son of God sent by the Father to be mankind’s Savior. (Act.2:38-39) Through faith in Jesus the Holy Spirit is given as a gift where He comes and dwells in the heart of the believer, and man becomes His temple: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor.3:16; also John 7:37-39; 1 John 4:13; 1 Cor.6:19, NLT). The work of the Spirit is to sanctify and bring the Love and life of God to man. A temple is a place of worship where God and man meet. The Bible says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9). This tells us that God is Trinitarian, so, you cannot have the Holy Spirit without Christ, and you cannot have Christ without the the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of the Spirit is to unify you to Jesus, who in turn unifies  you to the Father.

Dove – Symbol of The Holy Spirit (Wiki Commons)

Shortly before Jesus was taken to be crucified, He told the disciples about the role of the Spirit, “I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you. Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you” (John 16:12-15). Yes, the Spirit’s sole purpose is to reveal Jesus, for Jesus is the revelation of God’s glory in humans. His purpose is to reveal all that Jesus means to you as a person in God’s purpose and destiny for you.

Jesus told the disciples He was about to leave them, but He would was not abandoning them. He did not want them to feel lost and forsaken. He said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you… The one who Loves Me will be Loved by My Father, and I too will Love them and show Myself to them… I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-18).

The role of the Spirit is to mentor people to become true believers of Jesus and becoming like Him. Jesus said, “The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace!” (John 14:26-27, MSG). The operative words are to “make everything plain to you.” So, if you are a believer and things like the work of the Spirit is not plainly understood, it may be that you are not letting the Spirit guide you. Many times we let others explain things to us, but we are still left with questions.

Recall what one of the New Covenant provision affords us, “And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already” (Heb.8:11, NLT). John reinforces the work of the Spirit in this regard, “But you have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what He teaches is true–it is not a lie. So just as He has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ” (1 John 2:27, NLT). Look, can a human reveal what your personal calling in God’s plan for you? No human can do that, only the Spirit will do it for it is His work to reveal your gift that’s tied to your individual calling. 

The Tri-Personal God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Always at Work to Bring Man to Immortality. Rublev’s Famous Icon of The Trinity (Wiki Commons)

Let’s ask, who is Jesus fundamentally and effectively to those who believe and receive Him? He is the first human ever who lived a sinless life, and now exists in His human glorified divine form. When Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and ascended back to be with the Father, He took our humanity with Him, and glorified it and made it part of God forever. Jesus made this possible because He was and is always the homoousios part of the Triune Godhead in heaven. Jesus was the prophesied Immanuel, God in the flesh, for the purpose of making man into the divine image of the Triune God. (Gen.1:26-27) He is the example the Father want for man to emulate so humans may enter into His Loving presence by becoming glorious and immortal themselves like His Son. Hence, we read Paul saying, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom.8:29-30, NASB).

The Son stands first in the line of humanity God restored and fashioned in His image and likeness. (Gen.1:26-27) Jesus is the only human who was glorified and made immortal, and the role of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus’ reality happen across the board in all of humanity. Paul affirms this, saying, “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you” (Rom.8:11).

God reveals how He will make this reality we see in Jesus happen, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” (2 Cor.6:16; Lev.26:12). What this says is God will Himself guide and walk us to the reality we have in Jesus. And how does He do it, through the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Bibles reveals “We are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16a). Paul says, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?” (1 Cor.6:19, NLT; also, 1 Cor.3:16).

But here is the crossover many cannot and have not fathomed, including Christians: If God walks in us, and He is holy and sinless, then it stands to reason that the believer is also holy and sinless. You see, God and sin cannot co-exist. Can virtue live alongside sin? Can righteousness and wickedness live together under the same roof? Can light and darkness be bedfellows? The two conditions are poles apart. Nothing could be more diametrically opposite from each other, and the exact antithesis of each other. So one has to go! Paul’s closing words in his discourse with the Romans is, “If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else?” (Rom.8:31-32). Can the sin condition stand against us? No!

If the Spirit is “Holy” and lives in man as His temple, then it’s logical to conclude that man is also “holy.” The light of God’s Love snuffs out all darkness. This is the role of the Holy Spirit – He is called “Holy” because that is what He does. All He touches, He makes “Holy.” He is the “sanctifier” of man. Let me give you a metaphor to help explain this. It’s not perfect, but I hope it serves the purpose. Think of a dark room in your home. You enter the room and close the door behind you. It’s as dark as black can be. You move and feel your hand along the wall to the light switch, and turned the lights on. What just happened? Electricity turned the bulb on, and now you can see in the dark. Yes, but more than that, what really happened was light swallowed up darkness and made it disappear and ineffectual. Darkness disappeared in the face of light. Light is virtue, while sin is darkness. In the same way, when we come into God’s presence through the Spirit, we come before light where there’s no darkness or sin. Sin has been taken care of once for all time through Christ, the true Light. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:13).

Light Swallows the Darkness of Space and Unveils the Earth in Ever Increasing Brightness of the Rays of the Sun         (Wiki Commons)

What is the spiritual mechanics of making this reality happen where the believer is made forever “holy” in the Father’s presence? Think about this, if the Spirit is intrinsically of one substance with the Father and the Son in heaven (existing as One Trinity from eternity), and He also lives and walks in the believer as His temple, then it’s logical to conclude that wherever the Spirit is the believer is with Him – in heaven and in God’s holy presence. If sin can never prevail with God, then man also is holy and is in a sinless state. There’s something else that we may not have realized, since Jesus has glorified our humanity in Himself and brought it into the life of the Trinity, then the Spirit automatically becomes part of mankind by this inherent union. Man was spiritually birthed into the divine by Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension, and through the doctrine of substitution, when we express faith in the Messiah we are likewise reborn spiritually just as Jesus explained to Nicodemus. (John 3:5-8; Eph.1:13) The all-inclusive expression of this spiritual birth will occur in the future resurrection from mortal to immortality.

Therefore, the role of the Spirit is to constantly and forever transport man to the heavenly courts before Jesus and our heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit sanctifies the believer by bringing him or her before Jesus as High Priest in heaven. Jesus in turn mediates all the inadequate human responses and shortcomings of the believer, and presents him/her before the Father perfect and acceptable every time, and always! (Rom.8:26,34) This is the ongoing process of salvation that never stops until God’s purpose in mankind is completed when we are resurrected to immortality like Jesus. All of this is encapsulated in the words of Paul, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness (sinless) of God in Him” (2 Cor.5:21, NASB). This is the process of salvation we are forever experiencing in the Spirit and in Jesus. Benjamin Franklin said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we must hang together, or most assuredly we will hang alone.” 

One might say, “But I sin all the time.” Yes, that’s exactly the point of the Spirit’s role, we live in sin always because of our fallen human nature. If we have been made perfect at any point, then we won’t need the Spirit, for the responsibility of the Spirit is to sanctify man. (John 16:8-11) And sanctification takes place where trespasses exists. That’s why the Holy Spirit is given to man – because we are trespassers, period. David said we have “secret sins” we cannot see and don’t know about, let alone repent of. (Psa.19:12) The point is not that we become perfect in this life, but we are brought before the “Light” of Jesus where all darkness is extinguized instantly.  If God should enlighten us about a wrong in us, He will do so and grant us the repentance to go with it. (2 Tim.2:25; Act.11:18) Man’s propensity to sin is no excuse to live licentiously, but to enlighten man of his need for a permanent Mediator in Jesus, and the Sanctifier in the Spirit.

Trespasses are snuffed out like darkness is swallowed up by the light. Of course, this doesn’t give us license to do what we like and live irresponsibly (sin) – we do not commit sin because we know we are going to be forgiven anyway. Those who live like that are still living in darkness. No, the key is to maintain an ongoing attitude of repentance, realizing that we still sin even with our best efforts to be morally good. We are kept in Jesus’ prayer to daily seek the Father’s forgiveness because we live in our fallen fallen and depraved humanity. (Matt.6:12) If it were not for the Holy Spirit we would remain in our spiritually corrupt condition. Paul said, “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you” (Rom.8:9, NLT).

What a wonderful and beautiful life God our Father has brought to live in His Son Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Be ever grateful and praise Him always!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com. Thanks for visiting!

Blessing: 

Until we meet again in my next post, 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,  

* 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 many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information.

Greetings Friends!

As I greet you, fall (autumn) is upon us. However, the temperature seems to carry a different message, summer is not ready to leave just yet, not for now!

I would like to share a question that seems to plaque good-hearted people from time to time. It is this: I want to do God’s will for my life, but how do I know this present life is what He wants me to do? How do I order my life to suit His purpose and design for me? A fair question! This world is falling apart at the seams, and we need more people to project a more objective, caring, and responsible attitude toward life. One can say, the cause of so much evil in this world is quite elementary – humans are not living their God-given purpose on earth. (Gen.1:26-29) All of us, in our own unique way, make our mark which contribute to the condition we find ourselves in the world today. The onus will always be upon each of us to take up our own life’s burden, and like a jig-saw piece, make it fit into the fabric of human society, and hopefully contribute to a kinder world with a richer legacy for our children. Let’s begin! 

Is This Work God’s Will for Me (Photos: Wiki Commons)

How do I order my life? How do I know this is the job God wants me to do? How do I know this is the course of education He wants me to take up? Should I make this move to another state or another country? We are often left with a dilemma about what to do, and we pray it seems like God is not listening, much less answering.

First things first: I presume that if we are seeking to order our lives to befit God’s will, it is because we believe He is Love, and Love is the place where mutual benefit is the prime and only concern over our own selfish ways. When we live this way, no one takes offense for there is no law against it (Love). (Gal.5:22-23) We live as Paul proclaimed, “Owe no one anything, except to Love each other, for the one who Loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rom.13:8, ESV). In this life of outgoing concern for God and my neighbor, the Psalmist promises, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” (Psa.23:1). As long as we live a surrendered life and make Him our Caretaker He promises to feed, guide, and shield us out of His abundance. (Psa.37:25; 48:14; 28:7)

Second, many of us have the mistaken idea we were born with goodness in our hearts to do something for God. Nothing could be further from the truth. This mindset finds its source in self-righteousness. The life of Love He offers comes from Him, and does not proceed from us. As the Bible says, “We Love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Third, life will be lived well where we find joy and strength in His purpose, if we remain open to God’s invitation to His calling for us. (Neh.8:10) He invites us to His enterprise, not the other way round.

God’s Enterprise

That being said, the question is, has God invited humans, you and me, to His enterprise? If yes, let’s ask, what is God’s enterprise? God’s enterprise has been known since the creation of man. Man can’t claim ignorance to His purpose which He made abundantly clear from the beginning. After recreating this earth for six days to make it habitable for humans, He openly and unambiguously spoke His enterprise, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness, so that they may rule (over creation).” So God created mankind for a purpose – to live and exist in His Love: “Let Us make human beings in Our image, make them reflecting Our nature (Love) so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” (Gen.1:26-27, MSG). Yes, it is called God’s Human Enterprise! Human purpose is to be responsible for all creation. So God created humans in His image so they will live like He does – “In His image and likeness.” This is not rocket science for it is simple and straight forward. There’s no ambiguity whatsoever.

God’s human enterprise is for man to rule and have dominion over this earth and all life forms upon it as God would – according to “His image and likeness.” Paul says the same thing in our Christian context, “For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (2 Cor.6:16; Lev.26:12). Yes, in carrying out our dominion (living our life-gift) on this earth, our primary purpose is to ensure we allow Him to walk in and through us. God is Love, so Love becomes our nature too and is the most powerful and influential spiritual element which inspires all our thoughts and actions. Most of all, Love motivates our relationship with each other. “Dear friends, let us Love one another, for Love comes from God. Everyone who Loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not Love does not know God, because God is Love” (1 John 4:7-8).

Who Is God?

It’s vital we get past a couple of basic details from the creation account:

a) It is imperative we understand “God” in His Being and existence, so we know what we speak of, who we are faced with, and how to relate with Him in His human enterprise. Ignorance is not an option. All religions of this world view God differently and we see their beliefs in the way they worship and live. The word for “God” in the creation account is Elohim, which speaks of a uni-plural Being. Elohim is translated “gods” in other verses, like Genesis 35:2, “Get rid of all the foreign gods you have with you.” But the key here is what God said about Himself. By saying, “Let Us make man,” and “in Our image and in Our likeness,” it reveals God is not solitary, but pluralistic. And, when seen in the light of other passages of the Bible, He is Trinitarian. One such passage is Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Another is 1 John 5:7-8,  “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are One.” (Also, 2 Cor. 13:14; John 14:26, besides others)           

Rublev’s Famous Icon of The Trinity (Wiki Commons)

God is a Tri-Personal Being. He is three Persons in One Triune Godhead, commonly called, the Trinity. So we see why God said, “Us” instead of “Me,” and “Our” instead of “My” in the creation account. This explains why “God is Love” in His Triune nature. (1 John 4:8). He is not made of Love – He IS Love! It’s impossible for Love (God) to exist in isolation by and in Himself. For Love, must of necessity engender relationships, hence, He is Tri-Personal in His One Being. Love is outgoing. True Love can never Love Himself. That’s not what Love does. Love can only be Love when others exist to receive, give, and be showered with it. Hence, man is made to reflect His Creator. Each human is unique in personality for he is fashioned after the three Persons of the Trinity. I am using Love interchangeably as a noun and verb, because God is both – Love is who He is – His name – and Love is what He does.

So, man’s first purpose is to conform and become united with God’s pluralistic, yet One Triune Being. Just as God is unique in the three Personalities within the Godhead, so is man unique in the gift conferred upon him which reveal his purpose. So, whenever “God” is mentioned it always conveys His nature of Love and Triunity. He is not solitary and self-centered in Himself, for He cannot be God who is Love without being the Father, the Son and the Spirit. We’ll see how God makes a way and invites man into and live as He does in His Loving Triune Being – this is what I have termed in my blog posts as the “Triune Life” in my book and blog posts.

Man’s Purpose

b) Man, having fundamentally conformed himself to God’s primordial Triune Love nature, can now rule all creation as God would have him. But here is where man has lost the plot and moved away from God’s will and purpose on earth. Man has failed to live by God’s Loving Triune nature in the exercise of his God-given dominion over this earth. Instead, he ruled through his own solitary self-centered, fear-based mindset. It’s clear from the creation account that God wanted man to adopt His Loving Triune nature (“likeness mandate”) before exercising governance over this earth. By doing so, man would be blessed in all he does.

How did man lose the plot in the first place? Recall, Adam and Eve, our first parent, lived happily with purpose in Eden and experienced God in His Triune Personality. Jesus was the LORD of Creation, the Spirit was the Friend who personified the Love of God symbolized by the fruits of the “Tree of Life” from which they were free to eat. The Father was Overseer Father in heaven. We know the story, our first parent was evicted from Eden because they rebelled by eating the forbidden fruit. (Gen.2:15; 3:1-24) As consequence of their expulsion from Eden they lost all contact with the true God, and thereby were separated from God’s Triune Being. They now took up residence outside of Eden in the devil’s accursed world living solitary, self-centered, lives driven by fear – no longer Love as it was in Eden. Their actions had initiated  and dispensed curses upon all three – Satan, Adam and Eve. (Gen.3:14-24)

This is central to the whole story of human purpose – that we recognize Adam and his wife were given the freedom of choice to follow God’s Loving Triune way of life,  or the devil’s solitary, fear-based self-centered mode of living. Their decision will decide how they will administer their God-given dominion upon this earth. This became a parting of ways for our parent and for all humanity. Adam chose the devil’s solitary self-centered way. From the time of Adam’s eviction from Eden man has conducted his earthly dominion through Satan’s solitary self-centered spirit. The tragic events of man’s inhumanity to man has dominated the landscape of human suffering.

Man – “Cleveland Museum of Art – Damaged Thinker” by Daderot – Own work. (Wikimedia Commons) 

But the Creator did not leave man to the unfortunate fate he has chosen for himself through the devil’s cunning and deception. He promised to send a second Adam to put right Adam’s wrong. (Gen. 3;14-15; 1 Cor.15:45) From then on, man’s salvation, physical and spiritual, hinges upon the advent of the Messiah sent by God to save man from Satan. (1 Cor.1:30)

New Covenant

God’s promise as it relates to His human enterprise is framed in what the Bible calls the New Covenant. A covenant is a promise. It is based upon the promise God makes with man to provide a Messiah after the fall of our first parent. A promise is between two parties who are free to agree or disagree. God tells man, “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow’” (Isa.1:18). The word “sin” has become so religionized that it has lost its authentic meaning. It simply means to live in a way contrary to the way of Love – who God is. (1 John 4:8) Love and freedom goes hand in hand, and fits like hand to glove. There is no Love without freedom, and no freedom without Love. Love never coerces nor does it pressures another by any means to its own will. We were made to embrace God’s likeness by freely choosing His way of life.

The covenant gives man a choice, like our first parent was given a choice between two trees. This is important for you and me, because in the covenant we decipher God’s purpose for man today, and our choice to harmonize ourselves with Him, or continue Adam’s rebellious path of following the devil. 

So, back to the original question, how do you find God’s will for your life? It begins with God’s covenant. We hear Him out and reason together, and decide freely if we choose to go with His plan. I don’t see why we should disagree because we know this world is badly in need of His Love, and so do we, even though we may not realize it. Let’s read it, then agree with it, because we know Love is the place where we want to be because we can exist through mutual benefit in His Love, and He may honor us with His abundance. (Psa.23)

Let’s read His plan (New Covenant promise):

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of (spiritual) Israel on that day,says the LORD: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already. And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins” (Heb.8:10-12, NLT, emphasis added).

A Look Inside a Replica of Ark of The Covenant in Timna Valley, Israel (Wiki Commons)

Holy Spirit

This is not a plan written on paper or chiseled in stone like the ‘old covenant’ made with physical Israel, but one carved into the hearts of the people of spiritual Israel. (Heb.8:9) This plan fulfills God’s main purpose for making man into “His image and likeness.” By saying, “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts” (V.10a), and His people will not be schooled by humans about His way of life (V.11), He is pointing to a different process He will utilize to get us to know and impart His Love in us. It will not be like the legalistic ‘old covenant.’ Believers will get to know Him firsthand through this process, and it will touch all from the least to the greatest of them. This can only mean God has His miraculous means of teaching us which does not require human input.

How? Through the power of the Holy Spirit! The Spirit is the presence of God (Love) in humans who have chosen freely to follow Him. Paul told the Romans, “For we know how dearly God Love us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His Love” (Rom.5:5, NLT). Paul said believers are “temples” or dwellings for the Spirit, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?” (1 Cor.6:19, NLT; also, 1 Cor.3:16).

So, the process of imbibing the knowledge of His purpose for our lives is the responsibility of the Spirit who resides in us – not human teachers. (John 16:12-15) That’s why a person who is given the role of a teacher must understand he or she is the instrument of the Spirit’s work. Peter’s powerful preaching by inspiration of the Spirit on Pentecost is a fine example. Jesus said this to His followers before He was taken to be crucified, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate (Teacher, Helper), who will never leave you. It is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you” (John 14:16; 16:7, NLT, emphasis added). The Advocate is none other than the Spirit who first came to believers on Pentecost under the umbrella of the New Covenant. (Act.2:1-4)

The process is the deposit of God’s nature, His Love, in the hearts of humans by the Holy Spirit. The Bible speaks of this miraculous way of guiding us through the Spirit, “Your own ears will hear Him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left” (Isa.30:21; 42:16; Psa.73:24). It is not an audible voice, but we hear through the ears of our minds, and speak through our hearts.

Perhaps an analogy might be of help. Think of the force of physical gravity in our physical environment, as the counterpart of the spiritual gravitational pull of God’s Love in His spiritual world. In other words, what gravity is to our physical environment, Love is to our spiritual environment which governs spiritual/human relationships. Naturally, we compensate for gravity as we grow up until we live with it intuitively and become second nature. We take gravity for granted. Here is my point, all our actions also answer to another, equally real gravitational force – the spiritual gravitational pull of Love (God). Just as gravity becomes ‘automatic’ and we become ‘unaware’ of its affect on all our actions – so is Loves’ spiritual gravity. I would like to think Paul was referring to this gravitational force of Love when he said, “For it is God who is at work in you to make you willing and able to obey His purposes” (Phi.2:13). Most of all the spiritual gravity governs human relationships. If we break it, gravity does the same to us – unequivocally. Human suffering is proof of this unseen spiritual gravity (Love) being broken repetitively because it governs human relationships.

Of course, no metaphor, no matter how elaborate, can adequately explain God’s grandeur, majesty, and glory –  “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One” (Isa.40:25). He is not gravity, it is simply a helpful tool for our limited human minds understand spiritual realities that’s beyond our discernment. The Bible says this about the work of the Spirit, “But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit. For His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets” (1 Cor. 2:10). Yes, the Spirit imbues us with the faith of Jesus to comprehend what is physically incomprehensible. (Eph.2:8)

Dove – Symbol of The Holy Spirit (Wiki Commons)

With man’s solitary pathway firmly entrenched in man through Adam’s fall, we see why human suffering has dominated the human landscape down through the ages and continues to our day. All the evil we see in the world arise from the broken unseen law of the spiritual gravity of God’s Love which governs human relationship. Note the distinction, our physical gravity inhabits only our physical earthly sphere, but God’s spiritual Love-gravity inhabits space, time, and all eternity. On one hand physical gravity is unseen but felt, while spirit gravity is unseen and not felt immediately. Hence, we read, “When a crime is not punished quickly (like physical gravity), people feel it is safe to do wrong” (Eccl.8:11). God is Love and He is omnipresent and omniscient, and you can be sure He is real and can be felt and experienced. (Isa.46:9-10) I hope this clarifies the process by which God works with those who agree to walk with Him. (Amo.3:3) The purpose of life is to live and harmonize our lives with His Spirit and His Love.  (You may read my Blog Post titled, “A Penny for Your Thoughts” in which I explain how this Love works in us individually. Posted on March 18, 2014)

Jesus – Man’s Mediator

I am explaining the process (Covenant) in reverse here, for the giving of the Spirit is criterion to another aspect and preceding provision of the New Covenant which says, “I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins” (Heb.8:12). Recall, Jesus said, “Unless I go away, the Helper (Spirit) will not come to you” (John 16:7). What He said was the Spirit can’t be given to man unless and until human transgression arising out of Adam’s fall is taken care of once for all. Jesus must first be installed as mankind’s High Priest in heaven to mediate between God and sinful man. (Heb.7:6-7) We saw that sin means to live contrary to the way God is – Love. Where there is sin, it has to be atoned for, hence we read, “For God so Loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:16-17). So, here we see the Father giving His Son as Savior and Mediator to make possible the gift of the Spirit.

Jesus Walking on Water to Peter and Disciples (Wiki Commons) 

Immortality

This passage from John also emphasize another aspect of the New Covenant – the Spirit is the deposit of God’s gift of immortality to man. The words of the Covenant simply states, “I will be their God, and they will be my people (children)” (V.10, my emphasis). The ultimate meaning of being God’s people is to be immortalized. (2 Cor.1:21-22; Eph.1:13-14) Jesus said this about the message He brought from His Father, “For My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:39-40) So, the Spirit has the dual role of being the Personification of God’s Love in man, and is the power that will resurrect humans to life everlasting. (1 Cor.15:51-57; Rom.8:11, 29) Therefore, we hear Jesus declare Himself as the doorway to eternal life, saying, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25).

God the Father

The ultimate picture of restitution where mankind is brought and made one in Love with the Father is uttered by John in a vision, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Rev.21:3-5). If there is “no more death” in the new world order of God, then it must of necessity mean human mortality will cease to exist, and human immortality will be man’s legacy. At long last, the words God uttered at creation, “let Us make man in Our Image,” is brought to reality. Jesus is the first human who made this transition from mortal to immortality, and opens the gate to everlasting life for mankind. (John 10:9-10) What happens after this is not revealed to us, but you can be sure as the Author of creation, our heavenly Father has great things in store for us. To quote from a Shakespearean play, “The world is your oyster,” will now be, “The universe is your oyster,” for we will no longer be imprisoned to this earthly by our human mortality. (Rom.8:18-21)

And that in a nutshell is God’s human enterprise and our purpose for existence in it. Wherever we find ourselves in life, the work we do within the bounds of law and order, let His Love be the motivating force. As long as we keep His human enterprise a priority in life and order our lives to that end, we are living God’s purpose for us.

If you have any questions, please don’t 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 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,  

* 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 many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information.

Greetings Friends!

In this post I would like to recommend a book to you my readers. The book is called, “The Trinity And Human Personality,” by John Tal Murphree. If you are interested in a book about the Christian belief in the Trinity, this is a must read. I will quote from Murphree’s introduction,

“Most of the Christian church historically has embraced the doctrine of the Trinity, though often attempting to conceal embarrassment over what appears to be an irrational creed. In the church today, many thoughtful persons concur with philosopher Emmanual Kant that the tenet has no practical value.

“It is my conviction that the central and necessary place of the Trinity of all of life has not been adequately shown. This volume is intended to help rectify this deficiency.”

Book Cover

Of course most of my readers have known by now how I have attempted to do just that – the best I know how at explaining the Trinity – in my writings in this blog site: Bulamanriver, The Miracle of Triune Living. You may read my last installment as a sampling, titled, “Love – The Answer to Evil in This World.” I have coined a term you may not have read anywhere else like, “Triune Life,” to help make sense of the Trinity in practicable terms to my readers. There is no human analogy we can use to liken a God who is Trinitarian. They will always remain analogous and inadequate for a God who is Triune and greater than our minds can satisfactorily explain.

Be that as it may, God has not left Himself totally incomprehensible nor inapprehensible. That would be self-defeating for we were created in God’s Triune image so we can come to know and have a meaningful and personal relationship with Him. The main ingredient which explains His Oneness in His Tri-personal Being is His Love. “God IS Love!” (1 John 4:8). Without Love the Trinity would be just a shell. God is not made of Love, He IS Love! God is uncreated, while everything in the spirit and material world was created. He had no beginning of days nor end. He has been and will always be Love and Trinitarian from eternity into everlasting.

For me, one of the more poignant portion of Murphree’s book is his description of the Trinity where each Person “occupies” the others’ personalities and hence their Oneness. And in this we witness the manifestation of God’s unifying nature – Love! This occupation explains how Love works and brings about a relational Oneness which we can share with the Triune God in Christ. We enter the life of the Trinity in and through Christ, there’s no other way. Hence Paul wrote, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the firstborn (into the Trinity) among many brothers and sisters” (Rom.8:29, my emphasis). Each of the three Persons of the Trinity becomes “home” for the other two. So do we when we enter and live the “Triune Life” in Christ. (1 Cor.6:19) As each inhabits the others, each is host and guest to the other in this Triune lifestyle and existence. It is so reciprocal that each one feels more at home with the others’ personalities than His own. The Trinitarian Person, which we have become through and in Christ, do not exist in isolation; they live in and through one another, and their personalities become relationally Love. Each has intimate access to the others’ deepest thoughts and feelings always. Of course, I do not mean this in a human way because man does not know how to live like this way unless Jesus unifies him to it. God is Spirit. God is three Persons in One substance (Greek, homoousios – “of one substance”). The substance of their nature is Love. Love makes the act of One the act of all Three, making them singular and unified. Love makes their oneness a reality.

When Jesus prayed to the Father, “Not My will, but Yours be done,” it was the only way Jesus could have responded because He’s divine substance is Love. Of course, Jesus was not locked into Love that He had no choice in the matter. He was free to choose like any human would. Where there is Love, there must of necessity be freedom. Love and freedom are opposite sides of God’s nature. Paul makes this clear, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor.3:17). Jesus said this about His crucifixion, “No one can take my life from Me. I sacrifice it voluntarily (freely). For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again (freedom). For this is what My Father has commanded” (John 10:18). Paul said, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal.5:1). In Jesus’ freedom He chose Love, so do we.

They cannot act solitarily but inclusively and collaboratively in freedom – always. One of the reasons humans find the Trinity hard to grasp is because they have never known any other way but the “solitary” self-centered mode of thinking and living, which is diametrically opposed to the free collective “Triune Life.” Man have been living this ‘solitary’ self-centered way since Adam’s fall. So it will take a little bit of time and experience to have the “Triune Life” sink into the human spirit and consciousness. Man has never seen this Triune way of life manifested in human experience until Jesus came on the scene and revealed the Father and the Spirit more than two thousand years ago. His miracle-working and sacrificial life was a summary of this Trinitarian way. Only One who emanates from the Trinity could live “Triune Life” and thus impart it to man, and that was Jesus’ mission given Him by the Father.

 Rublev’s Famous Icon of The Trinity (Wiki Commons)

Hence we read Jesus’ declaration of this “Triune Life” of occupation: “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work” (John 14:10). We become one with the Father through our union with Jesus who took our humanity in Himself and glorified it in the Trinity through His life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Note how Jesus prayed to the Father for His followers in this triune vein, “I have given them the glory You gave Me—the glorious unity of Being One, as We are— I in them and You in Me, all being perfected into One” (John 17:22-23). It’s a life that’s never lived solitarily, but collaboratively, each inhabiting the other as host and guests in Loving relationship. Man will only live to his detriment without this shared “Triune Life.”

The power which makes this kind of living possible is God’s divine Love.”God is Love,” and God is Freedom. (1 John 4:8; 2 Cor.3:17) Personally, I believe that much of the dilemma of human existence as it pertains to our origin and destiny, of the joys and sufferings of human reality, owes in no small part to how we take up God’s divine Triune image in the sense of living it from day to day. I encourage you to obtain a copy of Murphree’s book from an online bookstore.

It is my hope this book will expand on your understanding about belief in the Trinity, and that you will find it most instructive and edifying as it has been for me.

I should mention that my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” (see cover below) is also about the Trinity and God’s work of Love in the world today. It’s available on Amazon and other online bookstores.

Book Cover

Until we meet again in my next post, 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,  

* 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 many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information

Greetings Friends everywhere!

The answer may not be as absurd as you might think! I’m talking about the evil in our world which seems to continue unabated. There is a simple yet profound explanation for it. As we look around us, things seem to be in disarray and beyond our power to control. It seems like we are headed in a downward spiral to oblivion and we can’t do much about it. Terrorism dominates our psyche every other day. Our capitalist world doesn’t seem to contribute to a better world we thought it might give us – how can it, if it has greed as its agenda? According to scientists, our planet earth we call the ‘blue marble,’ is dying a slow death through man’s excesses and lack of environmental responsibility. The world is filled with problems—disease, pollution, poverty, ignorance, religious confusion, rape, war, terrorism, crime, violence, racial tensions, hunger, immorality, slavery, oppression, political upheaval and much more. Even nature seems to be against us in the natural disasters we see around the globe. The future for mankind can best be described as uncertain and on shaky ground.

Montage of War on Terror (Wiki Commons)

Yet, there’s never been a time like ours in terms of man’s advancement in education, in science and the arts, in technological wonders, in transportation, in engineering, and just about every sphere of endeavor. Yet, evil has kept pace with man’s progress. It seems with every step forward he countermands it with two steps backwards. What’s behind this paradox? The well-known presidential historian and columnist Peggy Noonan summarized mankind’s history: “In the long ribbon of history, life has been one long stained and tangled mess, full of famine, horror, war and disease. We must have thought we had it better because man had improved. But man doesn’t really ‘improve,’ does he? Man is man. Human nature is human nature; the impulse to destroy coexists with the desire to build and create and make better” (“America’s Age of Uncertainty,” Knight Ridder, Nov. 9, 2001). Why  is the “impulse to destroy coexists with the desire to build and create?”  

Natural Disasters (Wiki Commons)

I can give you my personal solutions to the problems, so do others from every which where, but they will be to no avail. So, let me give you the Trinitarian solution. You have read me always defray to the “Triune” solution to everything and every issue in my blogs. Jesus lived this way and said, “I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it” (John 12:29, NLT). The solution to the problems of humanity are not found in humans, except to those who tap into a divine source outside of themselves, as Jesus prescribed. Albert Einstein supports this vies saying wisely, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” Jesus said that not only was He given what to do, but how to do it, by His Father. So I hope to be able to convey the same solution on the subject of evil, with the help of His Spirit.

First and foremost, man’s beginning originates from a Being who is Trinitarian in His makeup and character. (Gen.1:26-27) Man is the anthropomorphism of a God who is Love and Triune. (1 John 4:8) The Father is not God without the Son and the Spirit. Nor is the Son God without the Father and the Spirit. Neither is the Spirit God without the Father and Son. Because of this basic truth of God’s Triune nature, we were made to live and function like He does in His Tri-Personal Being. That’s to say, in the Trinity, each Person “occupies” the others’ personalities. This occupation brings about a relational oneness or “Triune Life” as I often refer to in my blogs. As each of the three Persons of the Trinity becomes “home” for the other two, so do we when we live the “Triune Life” in Christ. (Rom.8:29) As each inhabits the others, each is host and guest to the other in this Triune lifestyle and existence. It is so reciprocal that each one feels more at home with the others’ personalities than His own. Trinitarian persons, which we have become through and in Christ, do not exist in isolation; they live in and through one another, which makes their personalities relational. Each has intimate access to the others’ deepest thoughts and feelings perpetually. This makes them equals, free personalities, and united in Love. Hence we read Jesus’ declaration of this “Triune Life”: “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work” (John 14:10). It’s a life that’s never lived solitarily, but collaboratively, each inhabiting the other as host and guests in Loving relationship. Without the “Triune Life” man will live life to his own detriment. The power which makes this kind of living possible is God’s divine Love. “God is Love,” and Love is God. (1 John 4:8)

The Trinity, After Whose Likeness Man Was Fashioned (Wiki Commons)

Man was not born with this Love, but he has the potential to be given and receive this Love through a spiritual rebirth by God’s Spirit. Jesus said, “You must be born again of the Spirit” (John 3:5-8). The Spirit is the personification of God’s Love deposited in man. (Rom.5:5) Love is the glue which makes the “Triune Life” possible. “Triune Life” means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life inhabitation within the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life man lives in himself. Love engenders and means trust. Stephen Covey said, “Trust (Love) is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” When Adam disobeyed God, his human spirit died. “You will surely die,” God told Adam if he ate the forbidden fruit. (Gen.2:17) Adam’s spirit died because he sinned, for “the wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:23). Sin is the opposite of and contrary to Love. The devil took reign of man’s heart for he is the originator of sin, rebellion, and death. (Ezek.28:15) Man’s fallen and dead spiritual state of being now becomes the basis of his thinking process and the trigger for human suffering we see in the world today.

It’s crucial to understand Jesus when He said, “Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life” (John 6:63, God’s Word T.). This is fundamental in Christian thought, and Paul spells out Jesus’ meaning when he said, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph.6:12). That’s to say, what we see in man’s physical world is the result of the goings-on in the spiritual realm animating human actions. (see Job 2:1-4) This means man is not free as he likes to think he is. How can he, when he has been dead spiritually from Adam? Spiritually, he is incarcerated in the devil’s prison due to Adam’s deathly choice. But Paul tells us the freedom we are given to enjoy as believers, “through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Rom.8:2). The Holy Spirit brings back to life man’s dead spirit through Christ, and man is made one with God through the Spirit’s presence in man. (John 3:5-8) This speaks of the Spirit’s “condition” in which our mind is made to think and behave. The “condition” is either sin, incarceration, and death, or God’s Spirit, Love, freedom, and life. 

The human mind is the seat and center of man’s spiritual life. Of all creatures God made, only man was created with the mind to enable him to have a spiritual existence. Through the human mind, man was made to communicate with God in whose likeness he was fashioned. The human body is entirely homosapien except for the brain which houses the human mind and elevates him to God’s level (likeness). (Gen.1:26-27; Rom.8:29) The Psalmist said, “I said, ‘You are “gods’; you are all sons of the Most High” (Psa.82:6). At creation God gave Adam the authority to name the animals and other creatures. This proves that man was special and different from other life forms. (Gen.2:19-20) Man did not evolve from animals, he was fashioned in his Creator’s image. The brain is given its mind power when God breathed into man the ‘human spirit’ no other creature in creation possessed: “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen.2:7). That is the difference between an animal and human being – the human mind! It gave him the consciousness of himself and his actions. It gave him the human mind so he can evaluate his actions. The source of all man’s actions, be they good or evil, originates from a spiritual source – the human mind. Paul says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). To believe or disbelieve is the activity of the human mind. This passage speaks of a truth we often are unaware, since the mind is spiritual by nature, thereby, various external spiritual forces can enter man and influence his actions – depending upon which spirit we allow to influence our actions. That is why we “test the spirits” and decide who we believe, and who we discard and disbelieve.

Man is a free moral agent, therefore, he has to choose which spirit to submit himself. This is the root cause of evil in our world – we have given our minds over to the wrong spirit to influence our thought process and thereby bring forth evil actions. There you have it – it is as simple as it is profound. The cause of all evil in this world is man’s mind and the thoughts he allows to germinate and ultimately bring forth into action which affects those around him. We shall see how to deal with it. Paul warned, “You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!” (Rom.6:16-18, MSG).

As humans, we fail to guard the door of our minds from intruders (wrong spirits) who mean us harm, as we would guard the door of our homes to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Yet, we must come around to value what we permit to influence our minds more than anything else in life. As we saw earlier, “we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Eph.6:12, NLT). This is first base, friends, this is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish. If we fail here we become slaves to those we have given our minds to control our thought process, and we would have aborted our opportunity to contribute to a better world. (Rom.6:16)

 The Human Mind – We Ask, Which Spirit Is in Control of Our Motives? (Wiki Commons)

What is Love and how does it move in the lives of people and their actions? How do we know Love when we see it? In order to understand we have to go back to the original dominion mandate given to man at creation in Genesis. Let’s hear the mandate once more. After God created teems of living creatures in the oceans, and every winged creature, the beasts of the earth and everything that creeps, each after their kind, He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule (have dominion) over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule (have dominion) over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen.1:26-31). The words I have italicized in the passage above spells out the “dominion mandate” over this earth the Creator God gave mankind through Adam and Eve, our first parents.

Please note, there was not a word mentioned here of humans having dominion or rule over other humans. The passage speaks of man’s dominion over all creation, except another human. This was quite deliberate, why, because there is only One Ruler over man who is made in the Creator’s likeness – God, who alone Personally directs man by His Spirit. No human is superior to another human because they bear the same image of God which makes them all equals. Then God places unique gifts in each man, woman, and child, and through those gifts directs His human children in His Love. Yet, as humans, while we have absolutely no power to confer gifts upon another human (perish the thought), we have the audacity to selfishly and thoughtlessly rule and dominate them, despite being clueless as to who they are in their God-given gifts? Paul makes God’s divine authority in man clear, “In a marriage relationship, there is authority from Christ to husband, and from husband to wife. The authority of Christ is the authority of God.” (1 Cor.11:3, MSG; also Heb. 8:10-11; Isa. 30:20-21). The family is the foundation of human society replicating God’s Triune character, hence Paul uses it as the basis for revealing divine sovereignty over mankind.

Divine authority begins with God the Father and flows down. So, ultimately the head of every man, woman, and child, is God, and He has never relinquished this role to any human. The prophet Ezekiel, quoting God, said, “For everyone (all people) belongs to Me, the parent as well as the child–both alike belong to Me” (Ezek.18:4). Modern church leaders are grossly culpable by unwittingly (or wittingly) stepping into God’s shoes and usurped authority over people that’s not rightly theirs. Yes, they can play god by dominating the flock through forms of legalism, but they can’t be God. (read Ezekiel 34) Church leaders must remain faithful intermediaries, heralds, conveying God’s truth and Love by helping bring believers into the “Triune Life.” If we fail to do that we have disqualified ourselves from being overseers of God’s people. God makes His sovereignty profoundly clear in the way we live daily, “We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer” (Pro.16:1). We all seek success in every plan we embark on in life, but a wrong answer will spell failure and disaster for us and our loved ones. Only God has all the answers. No church leader is capable of giving all the “the right answers” to the members of his congregation. But if we acknowledge and allow God to weigh our motives, intents, and purposes, then He rules over us and leads us to success, victory, and happiness. Only God has gifted every human who has ever lived and thereby knows the intents and purpose of each person, and how to lead a person to his/her destiny. So, why do humans seek to rule over and dominate other humans and infringe upon God’s direct personal area of responsibility? Do we dare act upon what we are unqualified and woefully incapacitated to do? Dominating others blinds us to the truth of who we are because we’re not living in God’s likeness or the “Triune Life.” We lose our humanity when we seek to dominate others, for we are made to live the “Triune Life” as equals. When we see others as equals and not dominate them in the sight of God, we are tapping into the source where all gifts originate, and we put ourselves on the path to self-discovery about our ourselves, and those of others, which we would not otherwise achieve. Even God does not dominate humans – He Loves them and gave His Son as ransom for them. The truth is people dominate other people because they have taken on another spirit, not God’s Spirit.

It is crucial as much as it is pragmatic that God gave Adam the original “other” human, Eve, to live the role of a “suitable helper” with him. So, Eve was not created like Adam from the dust of the ground, but out from Adam’s body, depicting the basic Trinitarian nature of the personal co-habitation of oneness and in one another. (Gen.2:20-24) When Adam said of Eve, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man,” the Spirit inspired him to utter the basic Trinitarian image of co-habitation of persons as one being, like the Tri-Personal Being of God. Children are birthed under the same Triune pattern. Mankind come from one man through multiplication – Adam. Though the primary context for this “helper” decree to Adam and Eve was matrimonial, Eve epitomizes every human. Since Eve was the only “other” human besides Adam, by extension she also represented our “neighbor,” whoever he or she may be. For the “helper” decree can be applied in every context, not necessarily matrimonial. Hence, the mandate is to “help” not rule our fellow humans.

Paul explains this “helper” decree we’re to have toward our fellowmen: “Owe no man anything, except the debt of Love” (Rom. 13:8; Gal. 6:2; Rom.5:5). Again he said to the Corinthians, “We are helpers of your joy” (2 Cor. 1:24, KJV). Yes, we ought to be a source of joy to others – that’s what Love does. Why, because God created us and owes us the same debt of Love, and lived by it when He gave His only Son to die for us. John said, “Dear friends, since God so Loved us, we also ought to Love one another” (1 John 4:11). Yes, this is a debt we owe every human who walks this earth: “the debt of Love,” but never to dominate and rule another human which is God’s prerogative alone. Jesus said it this way, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). That means your neighbor is your equal – you can’t dominate anyone who is your equal, you can only Love him or her. Human domination is forbidden irrespective of station, color, nationality, culture, or whatever walls of division humans are likely to set up. So, the original Genesis “dominion mandate” given to man precludes our domination over another human.

And this, right here, is the true source of evil in the world today. We have forsaken the “dominion mandate” given us by the Creator to Love, help, and be a source of joy to our neighbors. It is Love that will change our thought process to think differently and more highly of our fellowmen. It begins here, it begins with God’s divine Love, if evil is ever to be reversed in the world.

Divine Love, Not Man’s Love (Wiki Commons)

Those who channel the “dominion mandate” selfishly are spontaneously forced to make greed and avarice their way of life, instead of God’s Love. This is where evil and human suffering takes root. They think the only way is to compete and control, not realizing that the “dominion mandate” given to man precludes our domination over another man. Everything created is given to man to have dominion and rule with the exception of human beings. When we live the “Triune Life” and treat everyone as equals, a whole new world opens up we never knew existed.

“You are unrealistic,” one might say, “people are employed to serve under other people who are above and dominate them. So how do we apply this principle in real life situations?” Yes, a valid point. Every company operates under this ‘master/servant’ relationship where there’s employer and employee. So did Jesus when He walked this earth, yet He lived by the “dominion mandate” set by God, never domineering nor dictating His followers. In fact, He served His followers, never lording it over them. The leader is the greatest servant, he is servant to his followers. Jesus said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matt.20:25-28). Yes, His ultimate act of leadership was to dies for His followers. He said, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Then He taught his followers, “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you” (John 15:13,12). What a profound statement about authentic leadership of which the world has little or none.

Jesus asked His disciples, “Do you understand what I have just done?” What did He just do? He performed the most menial task a servant can do – getting down on His knees and washing the disciples’ feet. He told them, “You call me ‘Master’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you” (John 13:12-17). You see, you can be a manager of people and still be the greatest servant of all. How? You have to frame every person in the context of God’s Love – as owing everyone the “debt of Love” (Rom.13:8). The Spirit impresses God’s Love into your subconscious mind so your thought-process and actions is motivated by Love. Once Love becomes the central motive in your relationship with people, your paradigm changes and your actions will change to support it. That’s how God behaves toward us, the least we could do is to act likewise with others. 

Jesus, Washing The Disciples’ Feet, Showing Leadership Through Love and Servanthood (Wiki Commons)

Zig Ziglar said, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” For many Love is not the central theme which leads their lives, yet, it is the most profound singular measure by which you will determine your altitude in life. The greater part of our success and happiness or lack of it depends on our dispositions and not our circumstances. Marcus Aurelius said, “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to Love.”

Why don’t you turn to Jesus today, and ask Him to deliver your mind from all forms of evil thoughts through the gift of His divine Love. The Scriptures says this to you directly, “May you experience the Love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God” (Eph.3:19). May God bless you!

If you have any questions, please don’t 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 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,  

* 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 many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information.

Greetings Friends!

In my last post I spoke about the “Triune Life.” I explained that it’s man’s union with the Triune God which makes the “Triune Life” possible. It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life man lives in himself apart from the Triune God. The “Triune Life” is made possible by the Son of God, Jesus, who Himself is one in substance and reality with the Father and the Spirit from eternity. Jesus made it possible because He took our humanity in Himself and glorified and unified it into the very Being of the Triune Godhead, thus fulfilling God’s first purpose of creating man – to make man in “His image and likeness” (Gen.1:26-27).

“Triune Life” Means Living Honorably as The Triune God Does in Their Existence (Reblev’s Icon of the Trinity, Wiki Commons)

There is one distinguishing attribute we take with us into the “Triune Life” relationship with God the Father, the Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit: “honor!” Honor means to hold in the highest esteem possible. It means veneration, and utter reverence. The first command given to man as it concerns his relationship with other humans has to do with his physical father and mother. And the first word uttered in that relationship is, honor – “Honor your father and mother” (Exo.20:12). The patriarchal human father figure is the physical representation of our true Father in heaven, and to whom we give “double honor.” (1 Tim.1:17; Rev.5:13, ESV)

The first step toward Love is honor. We enter the Father’s Love through the doorway of honor in Jesus. Jesus honored His Father in every way and everything He did when He was a man who went about doing good, so we are called to conform to the image of His Son. (Rom.8:29; Acts 10:38) Honor begins with the father in the home and thereby honor undergirds our place in the greater human society. We honor our fellow humans for they are made in God’s image. To dishonor is to show disrespect as to impugn one’s humanity and God’s likeness. All weakness and sins enter through the door of dishonor. To Love is honorable, to sin is dishonorable. The term “honor among thieves” means even corrupt people have a sense of honor or integrity that’s skewed. (Isa.64:6) We bring true honor into the Love relationship with the Father, and obtain His favor and perfection – to hold our relationship with veneration and the highest esteem. Honor is what gives Love its glow.

Medal of Honor – Awarded for Personal Acts of Valor Above and Beyond the Call of Duty. Honoring God is a Call to Duty Because He First Honored Us With His Love Above & Beyond We Deserve (Rom.5:8-10; 1 John 3:16) (Wiki Commons)

This blessed state of living the “Triune Life” articulates the personification of honor which is so vital to how we live as humans and displaying the same honor to one another. Unfortunately, we live in a world where honor is virtually non-existent in society because it is not instilled in the modern home. According to the Bible, the whole world will one day in the future come to understand and give God the honor due to Him, “And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever” (Rev.5:13).

Of course honor cannot exist in isolation as if living a one-way street – honor is a two-way street. That’s how Love works. We honor God because He first honored us by saving mankind. “But God demonstrates His own Love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8). Again, “This is how we know what Love (honor) is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). God always takes the initiative and shows honor first because He is honorable in His Triune Being. And He continues to honor us    with His unfailing Love each and every day, and every moment of time. From this vantage point, we can reciprocate likewise with honor to God and our fellow humans. Hence we read, “Then call on Me when you are in trouble,and I will rescue you, and you will give Me honor” (Psa.50:15, NLB). The work of God (Love) in mankind is all about rescuing us from the physical and spiritual dangers and uncertainties of life which we are unaware, let alone understand. And how do we honor God in return? The same passage answers, “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God” (Psa.50:23).

There’s nothing we can do in this world to repay Him for His Love for He is Creator of all we see and don’t see. But there is one thing we can give that’s not entirely His – He’s given us our free will to be ours alone, and through it to cultivate a generous heart and give Him thanks. He gave man freedom for He is free Himself in His Tri-Personal Being. The Father, Son, and Spirit, are three free Personalities existing in Love within One Triune Godhead. Through freedom and generosity we too can give Him honor through Love and thanksgiving.

Why don’t you turn to Jesus today, and ask Him to rescue you from all the uncertainties you face in life. He says this to us, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear” (Isa.59:1, NASB). Yes, our Loving heavenly Father waits with open arms.

If you have any questions, please don’t 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 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,  

* 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 many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information

Greetings once more from a typical warm and balmy day in Texas! You have heard me speak of the “Triune Life” often in my blogs. Let me delve deeper into the term, and make it more plain for you.

What is the essence of the “Triune Life” which I write so much about in my Blog, Bulamanriver, The Miracle of Triune Living? It speaks of community in relations. “Triune Life” means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life man lives in himself. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in the Bulamanriver* who lives the “Triune Life.” Man’s union with the Triune God, makes the “Triune Life” possible. It’s made possible by Jesus, who Himself from eternity, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity and glorified it in the very Being of the Triune Godhead.

What is this life we share with the Triune Godhead which I call the “Triune Life,” or “Triune Living?” I think author John P Murphree best articulate what goes on in the life of the Trinity we are privileged to share, in his book, The Trinity and Human Personality. He says, “In the Trinity, each Person “occupies” the Others’ personalities (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). This occupation is what we have called relational oneness. Each of the three Persons becomes a “home” for the other two. One is Host and the Others are Guests. As each inhabits the Others, each is Host to the Other two, and each is a guest to the Other two. It is so reciprocal that each one feels more at home with the Others’ personalities than His own. Trinitarian Persons do not exist in isolation; they live in and through one another, which makes their personalities relational. Each is “at home” with the Others. In this occupying relationship, each has intimate access to the Others’ deepest thoughts and feelings at all times” (The Trinity and Human Personality, Pg.135, emphasis added).

The Trinity Community Bound by Persons in Loving Relations. Human Relationship is Based upon the “Triune Life” of God. Rublev’s Famous Icon of The Trinity (Wiki Commons)

The very foundation of the “Triune Life” we are privileged to live through and in Christ by the Spirit’s power is a Loving relationship with the Father as described above. Murphree goes on, “Our being filled with the Spirit is patterned on the Trinitarian model, but the pattern shifts a bit, making the analogy asymmetrical. In the Trinity, each person fills or occupies the Others in the same way. But we do not fill or occupy the Spirit of God in the same way that He inhabits us. There is an important sense, however, in which we do occupy the personality of Christ. His personality becomes our emotional and spiritual home. When we are wrapped up in our own personalities, we feel like aliens, estranged from our emotional home. We are made to reside in a brighter personality than our own.” (Pg.135)

As I said on more than one occasion, as humans we stress much of what we do as to the right and wrong of individual actions, instead of seeing them as arising out of a “conditional” response. That’s the foundation from which actions are generated. This kind of autonomous thinking arises principally from the human “solitary” state of existence as opposed to the “Triune” state of being. So, the concept of spiritual occupation we read above, refers to a person being controlled by an occupying force, thus creating the “condition” which in turn generates human activity. When we are occupied by the Spirit in the flow of His Love, we come under His control. If we are occupied by the spirit of fear of the devil we come under his rule.

United in Love, believers become the Christian community or church, emulating the Trinity, hence the “Triune Life.” Like the Trinity, we discover the fullness of our identity in the discovery of each other through Christ. It is Jesus who makes our relationships personal, one-on-one, and one-in-one, creating a community that’s occupied and bonded in God’s Love.

Humans – Created to be Free and to Find Meaning In Relationships (Wiki Commons)

Beware, because of the lopsided and skewed influence of the “solitary” state of existence of humans in the world, we can get caught unawares and find we have drifted away from the life of being centered in people through Christ’s Love, into a community as a group organism. (2 Pet.3:17) One’s identity shifts from people on a one-on-one Love-basis, to a group as a group organized and dominated by the legalism of rules and do’s and don’ts. In turn, the community loses the essence and quality of Loving relationship in the Spirit, to where the group has become society. This is how religion and denominationalism, provincialism, nationalism, racism, sexism, and disruptive idealism arise and take over and rule the community.

What happens is individual freedom is lost in pursuance of the corporate ideal. It becomes more compelling than our commitment to persons, personalities and the gifts of individuals, where respect for each other’s freedom in the Loving relationship of the “Triune Life” is left on the wayside and eventually forgotten. This is how “religion” as a corporate body has taken over the group, and Jesus becomes powerless. Jesus said this about the religious leaders of His day, “Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me” (Matt.15:9,8, NLB). Thus, Love is numbed and life succumbs to gradual emptiness.

We are not led by men to form cliques with humanly motivated convictions. We are led by the Spirit, as John tells us clearly, “But you have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what He teaches is true–it is not a lie. So just as He has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ” (1 John 2:27). Also the Covenant says, “No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest” (Heb.8:11). This passage does not speak of an “every-man-for-himself” platitude, but rather it points us away from self-serving men to our true leader in the Spirit who lives in you. The unity of the Church of all Spirit-led believers are united by the Spirit, not men.

I hope you will answer the call of your Savior Jesus and participate in the inter-personal “Triune Life” He offers all humanity.

If you have any questions, please don’t 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 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,  

* 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 many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information

Greetings once more friends. My hope is you are walking in the path of God’s light and all is well with you and your loved ones.

Sin has become such a religious word it has lost its true meaning. It’s important we understand what sin is, so we’ll know where God is coming from when He impeaches mankind of it, and the reason why He sent His Son to save us from its evil grips. Let’s begin…

The Bible says that “rebellion is the sin of divination.” (1Sam.15:23) In one statement, the Bible tells us what sin is and its source. Sin is rebellion, and has to do with divination, or the spirit world. Divination has to do with Satan and his fallen angels who sinned by rebelling against God’s rule over them, see Isaiah.14:12-15; Ezekiel. 28:13-15; and Jude 1:6. Rebellion is knowledge alternative to God’s Word which holds man captive from seeing the light which leads to a blessed life from God. That’s how Satan deceived our first parents saying, “the day you both eat from it (forbidden fruit), then your eyes will be opened and you both shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.” To “know good and evil” simply means extraneous knowledge through man’s self-determination of what’s right and wrong, which is rebellion or sin against God.

Lucifer (Satan) Cast Out of Heaven Because of Rebellion/Sin (Paradise Lost, Wiki Commons)

When Adam rebelled by eating the forbidden fruit, God told him, “you will certainly die” (Gen.2:17). God did not mean physical death, Adam did not just drop dead. So what died? Adam and Eve died spiritually. What died was the spirit of life (human spirit) God breathed into Adam at creation which made him a true “living being.” (Gen.2:7; Eph.2:1-7; Zek.18:20; 1 Tim.6:17-19). Through rebellion/sin he became a false “living being.” That is what rebellion of alternate/self knowledge does – it kills the human spirit. As long as Adam and his wife Eve lived in the presence of God (Eden) they remained true “living beings” both spiritually and physically (well-being). However, after they rebelled and were expelled from Eden and God’s presence, they became spiritually dead, but remained physically alive (ill-being).

Jesus said, “Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life” (John 6:63, God’s Word T.). But both lives are intertwined and inter-dependent, even though the physical contributes little or nothing to the spiritual. The human body is simply a house for the spirit we allow in to influence it through the choices we make with our minds (spiritual). Paul therefore explains, “Our struggle (with rebellion/sin) is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph.6:12). Therefore, what we see in man’s physical world is the result of the toing and froing in the spiritual realm. (see Job 2:1-4) So there’s the spirit life and the physical life, yet not separate but connected.

However, Paul speaks of the irony of both these elements being in conflict with each other, “The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh” (Gal.5:17). He speaks of ‘flesh’ and ‘desire’ in the same breadth. It’s not ‘flesh’ in terms of human tissue, but of the the ‘heart’ and mind of man which expresses human ‘desire.’ So, here we see Paul uses the word “flesh” to depict both the physical and spiritual aspects in a single expression. The ‘desire’ can be good or evil depending on the spirit which resides and influences man’s body through his actions. The ‘body’ is simply a ‘temple’ which houses the spirit man allows to influence his physical actions. (1 Cor.6:19) The spirit in turn creates the ‘heart’ which expresses good or evil ‘desires.’  The ‘flesh’ merely expresses the fallen state of existence, or the ‘heart’ of man, which articulates evil ‘desires.’ The foundation of the ‘flesh’ is the dead spirit inherited from Adam.

The ‘heart’ can change depending on what spirit we allow to influence it. Paul says, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). The opposite of the ‘flesh’ is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit refers to the state of existence arising from man’s reborn living spirit. God promotes His nature of Love and life through the Holy Spirit to remake us into the image of His Son (Rom.8:29). The devil instills his nature of fear and death stems out of an imprisoned life he has incarcerated human kind. (1 John 4:8; John 13:34; Act.13:10; John 8:44).

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom.6:23) (Wiki Commons)

With the demise of Adam’s spirit, he was powerless to hold his dominion over the earth given him by God. (Gen.1:26-30) Satan, now holding sway over Adam and mankind, wrests earth’s dominion and brought darkness and death through rebellion. (Matt.4:8-10) Rebellion becomes man’s way of life. The Scriptures say, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Luk.20:38). Satan is not the god of the living, but of the dead. Adam chose his lot with him, albeit by the devil’s cunning and deception. So Adam and Eve were expelled from the presence of life in God (Eden), and took up residence in Satan’s world where death reigned through sin and rebellion. Man’s access to the Holy Spirit symbolized by the “tree of life” was cut off. (Gen.3:22)

After Jesus sent the Spirit on Pentecost He reunited man back to God by reviving his once dead spirit since Adam’s rebellion. (John 16:7; John 3:7) The Spirit gave the dead human spirit a new birth through man’s faith in Jesus as Savior and Mediator. Jesus said, “You must be born again of the Spirit” (John 3:3, 5-7). Only a living human spirit regenerated and sustained by the Holy Spirit will empower man’s spirit to relate and communicate with God. Recall, the Holy Spirit was inaugurated into man’s existence through the second Adam, Jesus, when the Spirit rested upon Him after His baptism in the Jordan by John, and more broadly upon His followers on Pentecost. (Matt.3:16-17; Acts 2) Then He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to enter into a titanic battle for man’s freedom against Satan. What Jesus did was to once and for all defeat rebellion at the very heart and core of rebellion itself – Satan and his deathly realm! (Matt.4:1-11) The final deathknell to his dark world came when Jesus died as mankind’s Savior on the cross. Satan’s dominion, ruled by his cohorts of rebellious fallen angels succumbed to the power of God’s Love in Christ. The evil spirits of this dead world, the powers and authorities of rebellion which reigned and held sway over mankind since Adam, was defeated and Jesus sets mankind free forever. 

Sin, rebellion, and death, has no power over man, for Christ has defeated sin in our place. We are no longer in the “sin condition” which condemns us. We are in the “Spirit’s condition” which saves us. (Rom.6:14, 12-13, NLT) Paul said, “God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Paul explains how this is done and made possible,”You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9). God’s ultimate promise to believers is He will bring them into immortality in His presence in His realm and Kingdom.  (1Thes. 4:16-17; 1Cor.15:12-58)

The dominion over this earth is now retaken by Christ and His Kingdom, and is His alone – “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Eph.1:18-21). That age of life and freedom is here, but its full manifestation is yet future at God’s appointed time of complete restitution. That means rebellion and death still reigns over this world as God allows, and man’s only hope is Jesus through whom we receive the Spirit who brings the Love of God to revive the human spirit and replace the rebellious heart. (John 16:7; Rom.5:5) Yes, in the Spirit’s power, a living spirit and Loving heart now reigns in the lives of believers. Satan will be put away from the presence of mankind. (Rev.20:1-3)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom.6:23) Fountain of Eternal Life, Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, USA (Wiki Commons)

The prophet tells us what the devil has done to the heart of man making him adversarial and rebellious toward God, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked (rebellious). Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jer.17:9) Yes, the devil has made man’s heart deceitful like his own. This speaks of human personhood, of the “false self” living the “solitary life” under the devil’s influence, and speaks of the darkness of the human soul and how the Spirit defeats it by bringing in the light of Jesus’ life and Love. The prophet says, “We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows…we are like the dead… Our sins testify against us.” (Isa.59:9, 10, 12)

Rebellion is the essence of the “false self” in human personhood. The prophet proclaims, “The people walking in darkenss have seen a great light; of those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” (Isa.9:2) Love is the light of God’s own heart which shines into the darkness of the human soul. And from the glory shone out of the light of Jesus’ life, man can live in the ever increasing glory of His brightness which recedes and ultimately extinguishes the darkness in our rebellious hearts. Like every work of God in man, it is a process, and will be the practice of decision-making as we live our “true self” in Christ. As humans, we can change, unlike spirit beings like fallen angels. Beginning with a rebellious nature we can change to have a fuller appreciation of God’s divine Love. Paul said, “So all of us who have had that veil (of rebellion) removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord–who is the Spirit–makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image” (2 Cor.3:18, emphasis added, NLT).

So what is the true definition of sin? Jesus reveals it plainly to us. Speaking of the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, he said, “He will convict the world concerning sin because they do not believe in Me.” There you have the true definition of sin: our basic sin is man’s stubborn refusal to believe God’s provision of a Savior to save mankind from sin and rebellion. That Savior is none other than Jesus, His Son. Sin will never leave us in our fallen and dead state of being, no one can revive the human dead spirit we inherited from Adam except God. Sin is not wrong-doing, if you understand what I’m saying. Sin is the “condition” or state of existence of the dead human spirit living under the influence of the devil’s dead spirit, which cannot communicate nor relate with God. Holiness is not right-doing, either. The “forbidden fruit” produced “good and evil” acts – but the “good” was human goodness which can’t save us. Only God’s goodness saves. What saves us is the “condition” of the reborn human spirit living under the Holy Spirit which can now relate with God and produce Love. God sent His Son to give us a new birth through His Spirit – to live again with a spirit discovering true knowledge in Jesus, from the false knowledge of sin and rebellion. Only through Jesus can man be saved.

I call upon you my readers to pray a simple prayer and receive Jesus as your personal Savior, experience the rebirth of your dead spirit through the Holy Spirit, and to “live life that is truly life” (1 Tim.6:19). Read the materials I bring in this blog site to keep you spiritually alive.

If you have any questions, please don’t 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 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,  

* 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 many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information