What in the world are you?

 
    You know, if I had never read a Kenneth Hagin book, way, way back when, I might, even today, not know what I am.  Of course, I wouldn't be alone for a lot of other Christian folks still don't know what they are.  So many just think of themselves as a body with a brain, and that being open to question in some cases.   I used to think that way and then I read this book in which Bro. Hagin taught about being a spirit being, with a soul that lives in a body.  Wow!  Somebody flipped the switch and the light came on!  I had never heard that!  When that began to be they way I defined myself, agreeing with the Word, I changed and my approach to the the things of God also changed.   "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ".   1st The. 5:23

   So, what is the problem? What if you don't realize you are a spirit, possess a soul and live in a body?  The problem is that if you don't know what you are, you will never know who you are.  If you don't kow who you are, you won't really know what you are supposed to be doing or how to do it if you do.  I thought about this the other day and it came to me that a lot of folks, younger  ones perhaps,  still haven't heard this message.  And, if they don't hear and understand this message, they will may  ever rise to the levels of growth and faith that they should. They may never enjoy all that God has for them, in the spirit realm.  Hear ye!  Hear ye!  You are a spirit. That which is born of the spirit is spirit.

    For those who might have missed the message,  you are not your body.  That is just the temporary house you live in.  You are not your soul. That is the operating system that keeps the house functioning as it naturally should.  Your body did not get saved.  It will have to be rebuilt, and thank God it will be. I want a better one anyway.  Your soul did not get saved or born again. The Bible says it has to be saved by "engrafting"  of the Word of God, that is, trained to do what the Word  and the Spirit says  to  do.  It was your spirit ithat was saved. It was born again, made brand new. It is a new creature having never existed before.  It was fathered in you by the Spirit therefore it is of the spirit.  It needs constant connection with the Holy Spirit by which it is empowered to function and become the command center for the whole person.  It is a very different life style to live under the command of the spirit, which is joined to the HOly Spirit, than to live under the command of your body or soul.  They will lead you astray.

Is God one, two, or three????

      The history of some of the great Pentecostal denominations in America include a sordid tale of division and separation of brothers from brothers by the argument of whether God is one,  or God is three-in-one.  God himself only knows how much damage that argument did, and has done.  To argue over the exact make-up of God assumes that you know and understand, perfectly, the exact make-up of God.   And, that is Silly, with a capital "S".    For me, I really think I could preach convincingly the "oneness" of God, then with the next sermon preach convincingly "God is three in one", and then, after everyone soaks in confusion for a while, preach a very convincing sermon that God is "two in one".  I can back any of these positions with lots of Scriptures.  But, is there a point to it?

     To me, such an argument is a devil's device.  It splits, it divides, it destroys and the end accomplishes very little.  So, you believe in the oneness?  So, you believe in the threeness?  Are you any more saved, any more blessed, any more further along because you think you have God completely figured out?  Nah! That satisfaction you are feeling, having staked out the right position, is pride sneaking up on you and you haven't recognized it yet.  This is an argument that should never have happened because whatever position you think is right, is still an incomplete position.  None of us on earth, can  completely understand  or explain  God, whose ways are past finding out.  And, if your position is incomplete,  if you can't fully explain your concept of God, then you should not commit yourself to arguing about incomplete knowledge.

    For me, I lean toward the trinity but you know, I would never argue about it, or at least, I don't want to.  For me, those who I believe have got it right (concerning God), are not those staked out on the oneness side or those on the three-ness side.  It is those who totally embrace God, as He is, right now, in real time, present form. That is the Holy Ghost!  According to Jesus, "God is a spirit" and those who worship Him must worship Him in that form.  When we worship God as He is making HImself known to us, wonderful things happen.  When Jesus came, God manifesting in the flesh, those who embraced Him were blessed. Those who did not, were robbed.  When God is embraced, as He is, He becomes wonderfully real, upfront, close and personal.  One thing I have noticed about "oneness" folks, just by listening their music, which I love, they seem to really commit to God as He is right now - as Spirit.   On the other hand, trinity folks say they believe in the Holy Spirit, third person of the trinity as they say, yet, set about to ignore the Spirit and turn their worship to the part of the trinity that is not present, not here in real time and  in present form.  So, while their concept of God might be correct, they lost the battle anyway.  I wonder what value it is to worship God in far-off heaven while ignoring God here among us?  What value is it to worship a concept of God and miss the fellowship of the manifested presence of God?  NONE!  This was the pit the Pharisees fell into.  They clung feverishly to God in heaven and ignored God walking among them.    

    If you read the Bible, you can find God manifesting in different ways. He is seen as a great creator, Almighty God, a cool wind by day, a fire by night, a serpent on a pole, a Father, a Spirit, a man on a cross, etc.  Stake out any concept you like, but if that is not the way He is now, you have missed the mark. To Israel in the wilderness, He was a warming fire by night and a cooling wind by day.  Can you see them, congregating outside their tents angrily shouting at each other, arguing over whether He was the wind, or whether He was the fire?  The day people (those who think He is the wind) would be convinced they had pegged God correctly, and the night people (those who think He is the fire) would be equally devoted to their correct defining of God.  If they behaved like us, the day people would probably only move by day, following their perceived true wind-God and the night people would only move by night, following their perceived true fire-God.  Who knows?  Maybe there were doing this which is why it took forty years to walk what should have been walked in a couple of weeks.   Well, maybe not,  if they had fell into such division they would still be circling in the desert.  They would probably be known now as the "Circle Nation", and only make right hand turns no matter where they go.

    Dear friend,  you can believe in either the one, or three-in-one God but what matters most is do you embrace Him as He is right now, where you are, where you live, where you worship?  That is the argument that matters.  Jesus put it this way; you can say anything bad about Him or the Father, but to blaspheme the Holy Ghost is to risk hell.  Why such an extreme position?  That is precisely the point! How do you relate to God as He is now?  That matters. "God is a Spirit".    Do you know, do you have, do you listen to, do you walk with God as He is now, the wonderful Holy Ghost?  When Jesus walked on earth, He made it clear that no one could come to the Father except through Him.  Why?  Because Jesus, God in the flesh, was how God was manifesting at that time.