One God, the Son, the Spirit and the Father Miss this and you miss life itself, its meaning and its purpose. Who is God To know God it is important we understand who He is and to truly live we must know Him at the deepest level. We must come to know His character, such as, His holiness, His gifts to us, such as His Son and His Spirit each wrapped in His grace. We must know of His love for us and how He desires we respond to Him. If one knows you but does not touch your heart in the way you desire your intimate relationship will always be hindered and fall short. One God Three Persons We will learn that there is only One God but that He exists as three Persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. An aspect of God far beyond our understanding is that of the triune God which we call the Trinity - God being three, very distinct Persons, yet one God, each living in us and relating to us in very significant, personal ways. The Trinity, though not mentioned by that name in Scripture, is part of what He has chosen to reveal to us so that we might know Him better and how He is working in our lives. We cannot explain it all but we can choose, by faith, to believe it and to trust that this relationship with God in this way is part of His perfect plan for us. The Holy Spirit After One God Three Persons we will look at The Holy Spirit. Who He is and His impact in our lives. Our God, dwells within us through the Holy Spirit. The power to change, the power to live a victorious life, the power to be like Christ and to live above life's circumstances come through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Scripture says, "He is the radiance of the glory of God." His radiance is like the shining of the sun, shining God's glory in perfection throughout creation and into our lives. His radiance also shines from within us; it is the glow on our face; it is His character within us; it is our Christ likeness that is proclaiming Him. It is His radiance within us that shows we are His. Our Heavenly Place It is where the Christian life should be lived. You only arrive there through Jesus Christ and by being guided by the Holy Spirit as He dwells in you. It is where you are surrendered, have faith and trust God in everything. It is where you worship and love Him with all your heart, all your soul and all your might. It is where you bring Him glory from the depth of your existence. And it is where you receive every spiritual blessing from Heaven. God's Eternal Purpose For Believers In the next chapter we conclude our time together with this statement, "God's eternal purpose for us is to become Christ like and to bring Him glory." "I will" does not bring us into Christ likeness, it never has and it never will. The goal is way too big, the responsibility too great and the dependence on me, who I am, too daunting for my humanity. It takes a divine power, a heavenly internal guide to mold us into the image of Christ. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 As we yield our lives to the Holy Spirit we will begin to be transformed into Christ likeness, from one degree of glory to another. We will begin to find our desires will change, our longing to read God's Word will grow, we will spend more time in prayer, we will worship Him from a deeper level than we ever realized possible. We will discover a love for Jesus and a desire to be Christ like that is supernatural. We will begin to feel we are not of this world and what once was pleasing will become unpleasing and almost pungent to us because it dishonors our God. One day, we will begin to realize we are not struggling, it is like we are on auto pilot as we yield to the Holy Spirit. Life will become easier and it will have a richness we never knew existed in this world.