Testimony Time: What God Revealed to Me about the Trinity

This is a testimony of how God answered one of my prayers. I asked Him to teach me about Himself. I wanted to more about the different Persons of the Trinity, and this was a little bit inspired by a devotional I'm reading: You're Next by Greg Stier. In chapter 27 of his book, Mr. Stier talks about how his girlfriend dumped him when he was a teenager. On page 245, he wrote:

My heart had been broken as it had never been broken before—and now I thank God for it.

The months that followed transformed me forever. How? They made me seek the Trinity with all of my heart, soul, mind, and might. I prayed something like, “God, if you don't reveal Yourself to me, Your whole self to me, during this time, I don't think I can make it through this.”

He did. I did.

Reading the above sentences encouraged me to seek the Persons of the Trinity. And I was blown away by what God revealed to me.

Quick note: All of the italics in the scripture posted below are the ones I found in the original text, so don't let that confuse you.

For the Father, God gave me 1 Timothy 6:13—16 (the italics were in the version I found, so I just kept them for this passage; italics in all other scripture posted in this article are from the original text): “I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. “

The part that really struck me was “dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see”. I think that sometimes, Christians can forget how majestic, how otherworldly, and how Divine God is. The Father is not human. Not even a little. He's a supernatural Being whom we are completely at the mercy of. In the Old Testament, God caused the earth to swallow up those who didn't give Him the respect and reverence He demands (and has the right to demand). The Father is still that God today.

For the Son, the realization that the supernatural Being of God became human and came to earth boggled me. JESUS BECAME HUMAN. He probably fell and scraped His knees when He was a kid. He grieved when He lost His cousin (Matthew 14:13—14) and when His friend died (John 11:32—36). He was tempted with the same temptations we are tempted by (Matthew 4). And He was crucified.

The Son let Himself be killed by Romans in one of the most inhumane ways possible. He dreaded it, as clearly shown in Matthew 26: 36—44:

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

Jesus didn't want to die. But He did. Why? To save us from Hell? Yes. But I think saving us from Hell was just one step in God's ultimate goal: restoring everything—including us—to Him. Ephesians 1:3—12 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory."

I know there's kinda a lot in that passage, but the main things I want to pull out are “...He chose us...that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption...” and “...that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ,...in Him.” Jesus died so our relationship with Him could be restored.

Basically, God showed me that despite the fact that He's a supernatural Being Who doesn't need me at all, He loves me and suffered torture just so I could be with Him. It wasn't necessarily about paying my heinous debt. It was about loving restoration.

Finally, I have what God showed me about the Holy Spirit. I really only have one scripture passage for this one; just Ephesians 1: 13—14 saying, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

A footnote in my Bible used the word “branded”. The Holy Spirit is how God “brands” us—it's a sign that we really do belong to Him. And honestly, I found a lot of comfort in that. A lot of fear subsided in me because of that passage. Why? I thought about persecuted Christians through the ages, many of whom have been tortured by being burned with metal fire pokers and similar items. I always wondered how they could withstand the pain without renouncing God. But then, God showed me this passage and I realized: It doesn't matter how many people burn me and mark my body. Because I've already been branded by God. Brands last forever. So no matter what anyone or anything does to my body or mind, it won't wipe out my brand; the is proof that I belong to God and that He's gonna come back for me.

Whether He returns, or I die, or whatever else, the fact is that one day I'm gonna stand next to God and He's gonna say, “That's my brand; she's mine.” A good master finds a way to bring the servant he sent out back to himself. And if the good master discovers that someone has hurt his servant, he does something about it. The servant was never abandoned; just waiting, even through his unfair trials, because he knew that one day, his master would find him, save him, and bring him home.

What God showed me about Himselves changed the way I see the world. The way I live and evangelize are hugely affected by the facts that the Father is divinely supernatural, the Son died to restore His relationship with me, and the Holy Spirit is a mark of ownership. I don't think I'll ever see the world the same way again, and I pray that the LORD will also change your worldview to be even better.

(I changed the end verse this week to match my specific prayer for all of you. <3)

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Ephesians 3:14-21