THE CROSS

“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” (Matt.11:27)

Greetings again friends. As we approach the time of commemorating the death of Jesus as the Savior of mankind, I would like to share in the one-ness of God and that in the death of the Son the Father and the Spirit were united with Him in saving us and bringing us into His Triune fellowship and Love.

The Last Supper Before He was Taken and Crucified (By Carl Heinrich Bloch – Commons.Wikimedia.org)

Understanding the Trinity is not normal to the human mind simply by virtue of the fact that man exists in a fallen state of being. Man, in all respects, in his total outlook, his belief and conviction, his attitude and perspective, his inner sentiments and ideas, are entirely founded and deep-seated in his “solitary” worldview based upon fear. Yet, the Trinitarian worldview of God based upon Love stands in diametric contrast from it. They both march to a different drum beat. It is for this very reason that man’s mind and God’s mind operates at opposing rhythm that we cannot see let alone explain how God exists in three Persons in one divine Being. That is the primary reason why it is very difficult for the fallen human mind to come to terms with explanation of God existing in three Persons in one divine Being. They are symbiotically One – the act of one is the act of all three, and the act of three is the act of one. Expressing His Tri-Personal Being and nature to “solitary” man, God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9). The gulf in knowledge inequity between the mortal and divine is so wide in its breadth and scope that man will never be able to fathom the depth and mysteries of God in His infinite Being.

Just as it is totally natural for fallen humans to think and do things in the “solitary” mode of fear (“solitary life”), so God has existed from eternity in His One Triune mode of living and expressing Himself in three divine Persons. So, there are two philosophies of life standing face-to-face opposing each other. One is the “solitary life” founded upon fear under Satan’s influence, while the other is the “Triune Life”* based upon the divine nature with God’s Love central to His core of existence. One defines the “true self” after God’s Love-likeness, while the other defines the “false self” after the enemy.

That being said, since man was created in God’s image he will never lose his spiritual kinship to his Maker. God’s likeness is what inherently defines the ‘handle’ for human existence at the primordial level. Even the devil cannot undo that. He can only blind man by deception to who man is truly. So, the answer to man’s dilemma is explained by Paul when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live” (Gal.2:20a). In other words, the “false self” which gives legs to the “solitary life” has to die like Christ died for man. And in his place the “true self” is resurrected to take his rightful place in human life. Jesus said it this way, “You must be born again” (John 3:7,5). The prophet Jeremiah tell us this “false self” is “beyond cure.” (Jer.17:9)

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Do we see the Trinitarian template that is integrally and symbiotically played out here. Just as He died for us so we die for Him. In the same way Jesus was resurrected, so are we given a born-again “true self” in Him. This process is not a once-off experience at conversion, but a daily undertaking. The “Triune Life”* of Love is lived out daily. That is what we demonstrate in the ritual of baptism which believers undergo. Paul said, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom.6:3-4; also Eph.3:2).

Jesus Carrying His Cross (Kreuzweg von Gebhard Fugel (1921) – Wiki Commons)

Listen to how Jesus makes this plain, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” (Luk.9:23-25). Self-denial is about denying the “false self” whose walk is the “solitary life” of fear. When Jesus said what’s the point of being rich of this world and “forfeit your very self,” attests to the truth that the fire of true life (God’s image) kindles deep in man’s heart of heart. When He said “Whoever loses his (solitary) life for Me will save it,” again testifies to the life which lays hidden deep in us and desperately wants to be freed, if only we realize he waits eagerly to be manifested. Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” and gives us the promised Spirit to resurrect that hidden life that is made in God’s image. (Luk.17:20-21, KJV; John 16:7)

At present, he is buried in the rubble of trash and filth the “false self” has heaped upon him. (John 16:12-14) But the Trinitarian philosophy and aesthetic is natural to humanity at a very primordial level. We are just outdone in and by the dark cloud of deception and cunning the devil has hung over our heads to know that yet. We have not dug deep enough inside us, or are oblivious as to where to dig, let alone find the answers to our authentic “true self.” God’s Love never fails us for the answer lies with the cross.

The process by which this new birth/self is lived out daily is when man is “carrying his cross.” What is the cross of Jesus? It defines the ongoing activity of forgiveness through repentance in the believer. Jesus taught us to pray this daily prayer, “And forgive us our shortcomings, as we have forgiven those who have failed in their duty towards us” (Matt.6:12, NLT). No believer becomes perfect all at once upon conversion. It’s the everyday process of “carrying our cross daily.” We have no resources or ability to do this, only the promised gift of the Spirit who comes and makes us His temple by living in us, He provides the power and ability to live the “Triune Life.”* (1 Cor.3:16; john 16:7) Listen, the Bible tells us, “For it is God (the Holy Spirit) who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose” (Phi.2:13; also 1 Cor.3:16). It is entirely and totally a life of faith, but not our human faith, but the living faith of Jesus which resides in the new humanity of the second Adam. (1 Cor,15:45; Gal.2:20) Paul said, “Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come” (Rom.5:14, NLT). In other words, Christ brought us the new perfect humanity the Father wanted humans to conform to – the ‘lmmanuel humanity.’ (Rom.8:29; Isa,:7:14; Matt.1:23; read also Rom.5:15-17)

Understanding and believing the Trinitarian philosophy lies at the heart of our understanding of Christ’s death, and how that only through Jesus we are able to relate with God in His Triune likeness in whose image man was created. (Gen.1:26-2) All of life in the realm of the living as we know it was created to reflect the Trinitarian nature of God who made it. Nothing exists in “solitary” existence, but each interdependently relies upon each other to survive like God in His Tri-Personal Being. All of life exists in this symbiotic state automatically behaving as the Maker predetermined them in their natural habitat and by instinct. However, man has a mind where he is called upon to assess and arrive at a determined course of action in every aspect of his life-situation. That is not mindless beastly instinct, that is divine because man was made in God’s image. Man is the only living species in the universe who is not spontaneously living the Trinitarian philosophy and esthetics because he has to decide, and has made up his mind not to. That is the cause of all human anxiety and pain.

The life of the Father and the Son is One Life. Man was created to live and thrive in their midst where Love is the glue which joins man and God as One. The Father and the Son can only be known in the other, and wholly in each other. Jesus makes this abundantly clear in this vital passage from Scripture, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him (the Father)” (Matt.11:27, BSP). Hugh R. Mackintosh, quoting T.F. Torrance in his book, The Doctrine of the Person of Jesus Christ, says this passage presents a concept which no religion can go, for the “sentence as a whole tells us plainly that Jesus is both to God and to man what no other can be.” (unquote). I might also add, that no human mind can ever enter except through Jesus. So, Jesus says at the beginning of this verse, “All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father” (V.27a). The life of the Father and the Son are so inseparably intertwined in each other that the only way to the Father is through the Son. The whole verse reveals the final bastion of truth which must be the spiritual anchor in our hearts and in our lives. It is the heart and soul of the “Triune Life.”*

The Crucifixion of Jesus with Two Revolutionaries -Three Crosses Depiction of the Tri-Personal Being of God (By James Tissot – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org

Jesus answered the disciples’ question about the identity of the Father, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9). Let’s understand what Jesus is not saying, He is not saying God is one Person with dual personalities. Jesus is emphasizing two Persons with the oneness of Being bound by their Love-nature and Love for each other. So, what Jesus is actually saying because of their one-ness in Being the only access to the Father is through the Son – there is no other way. No human has ever been born who knows how to Love the Father perfectly and consummately as God, but Jesus, and vice versa. Jesus reminds us of this insurmountable truth, saying further, “No one comes to the Father except through Me, for I am the Way (to the Father) and the Truth (to/about the Father) and the Life (of/in the Father)” (John 14:6, my emphasis added). “Christ alone can claim to know and reveal the Father on the basis of the fact that He is one in Being and essence with the Father such that to know Him is to come into an immediate, direct, and personal knowledge God as He has always been eternally in Himself.”

Having confirmed their one-ness of Being, and that no human mind can comprehend their God-ness except in themselves, we are obliged to conclude that when Christ was crucified, the Father was very much part of the Son’s death upon His cross. Their One Being from eternity has always been spiritual, not physical. Though Jesus died physically He remained and always is the eternal Son, the Logos, the Word, in His divine Being. His purpose was to bring His new humanity to substitute for our fallen one and take mankind into His eternal Being so He may join man with God forever, and so fulfill His desire from creation, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen.1:26-27) Paul said, “For as in Adam all die (“false self”), so in Christ all shall be made alive (“true self”)” (1 Cor.15:22; also Rom.5:12-21).

The historical silhouette of Calvary having three crosses is symbolic and reveals the one-ness of death of God in His Triune Being in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So, in true Trinitarian mold and aesthetic we are called upon to die the death of our Savior by “taking up our cross daily and following Him,” and again Trinitarianly and relationally we rise with Him in His resurrection so He may come and live and walk in us, and we in Him. (see Eph.2:6) By saying, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me,” Paul attests to the new humanity in Christ we receive because our fallen humanity in Adam was crucified with Jesus on His cross. (Gal.2:20). The Bible speaks of a complete new genetic make-up in God’s image physically and spiritually in the believer, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17). This is the symbiotic meaning of the cross for it arises spontaneously out of God’s Trinitarian nature.

By saying, “I have been crucified with Jesus and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God” is an authentic “Triune Life”* statement. We say with Jesus when He walked this earth, “I can do nothing on My own…I carry out the will of the One who sent Me” (John 5:30, NLT). The Father’s will is never selfish but is always about for our best good because He is Love. We are made to enter the realm of reality of knowing the Father’s Love through and in the Son. We could not know the Father until the Son came, brought to us our true sinless humanity, joined us into Himself, overcame Satan in the temptations, lived as the new perfect human species, was crucified as the worthy sacrificial lamb for our forgiveness, was resurrected, and ascended to the role of our High Priest in heaven.  Now, He makes intercession for us daily only as we carry our cross daily, mediating all our imperfect human responses. Because I stand in Jesus I enter into the Father’s life, and through that divine completeness by association and one-ness through Christ He is bound to extend His grace through His creative hands in my life which He does through the Spirit. This is the miraculous life we are privileged to live in Christ.

In my next post we will cover the subject of the cross of Jesus. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.com. Thank you 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, (Your Servant In Christ)                                                                     

* Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. 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) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036                   

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

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

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Greetings Friends!

I would like to devote this post to a very important aspect of Christian, and thereby human, life and living. It’s that part of our lives that we sometimes fail to give enough attention, let alone urgent consideration to. We fail to place enough weight as to its crucial necessity in today’s hectic, demanding, and increasingly dangerous and hate-filled world. I am talking about reading and studying our Bibles, and devoting time and effort to this vital activity, not only for our own well-being, but for the interests and benefit of those around us. Yes, it’s an activity that’s an essential part of living the “Triune Life,”* a term I coined and repeatedly espouse on this site, about human life that is lived in the midst of the Tri-Personal Being of God who declares Himself as a God who is every way, shape, and form, LOVE! (1 John 4:8, 16). Living the Triune Life and Love means to live the participatory, communal life associated with the divine Tri-Personal God.

The Gutenberg Bible is the first substantial book printed in the West with movable metal type. Before its printing in 1454 or 1455, books were copied by hand. Owned by the US Library of Congress (Wiki Commons)

As believers and non-believers alike, we know the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. The apostle Peter tells us why it is inerrant and how the Bible came to be in our hands today, “Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God” (2 Pet.1:20-21, NLT) Then Paul tells us the Bible’s purpose and function, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  (2 Tim.3:16-17). (As far as the accuracy of translations from the original languages, we will leave that for another time and place. Suffice to say that scholars agree the Bible as we have it today has been preserved over the centuries with a remarkable degree of trustworthiness) So, the Bible as a book from God to His human creation is holy, inerrant, and contains the word of life which is capable of producing divine “goodness” to those who are exercised by it. Its positive flow-on effect produces a way of life which brings life-giving benefits to others around the person schooled and trained in it,

I would like to share just one aspect of reading and studying the Bible that is vital to getting the most value from the Word of God. One of the most common mistakes people do in their Bible reading and study is they read their own meaning into the Scriptures rather than God’s meaning and being transformed by the mind of God. We have just read the Scripture which tells us the Bible did not come to us by private interpretations. So, to break the cardinal rule upon which the Bible is founded is tantamount to reducing the Bible to a mere human book like any other. For each time we make private interpretations for our own ends we miss the meaning of God’s intent it becomes a mere human document and ceases to be God’s divine and inerrant guide for us. God has given us freedom as part of His divine nature, and we ought to behave responsibly when it comes to God’s Word. That is what Adam did when, with his wife Eve, they partook of the forbidden fruit. They used their freedom to allow their self-will to determine “good from evil,” without turning to God (Love) for guidance.

I want to share with you a ‘rule of thumb’ if I may call it that. This will help us  keep on a straight and narrow path to the divine intentions and will of our heavenly Father for His human  children. We will begin at the beginning, as always. God gave Adam and Eve the fruits of the “tree of life” to eat and be sustained spiritually. There were other fruit trees in Eden which sustained them physically, but the “tree of life” was different and special for it sustained them spiritually. (Gen.1:29; 3:6) Also in the garden, God planted the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” which God forbade Adam and Eve from ever touching, much less eat its fruit. This tree represent spiritual death, whereas the “tree of life” depict the God-life.

We preview life in the Pre-Adamic era because it tells us the life God desired in His relationship with humans when humans had not fallen by eating the forbidden fruit. Many believe our first parents fell to the devil’s temptation at their very first encounter in the Garden of Eden. If that were true then it would be reasonable to assume Satan was undoubtedly stronger than God. We would also have to conclude we are today at the mercy of the devil’s wiles and deception. The Genesis account of life in Eden was very brief, and much of human recollection of our first parents was their disobedience rather than their obedience prior to their fall. No, Adam and Eve had for a very, very, long period of time lived faithfully and in vibrant Love-relationship with God as their Father by freely eating the Love fruits from the “tree of life.” It was a testament to the power of God’s Love.

Adam & Eve Eating From the “Tree of Life” Representing God’s Spirit and Love (Wiki Commons)

The Scriptures reveal God is more powerful than His enemies, and the devil and fallen angels “tremble in terror” at the mention of His Name. (Jam.2:19; Luk.4:31-37). Jesus defeated the best Satan could muster against Him in the temptations in the wilderness of Judea so we can live the victorious life through Him. (Matt.4:1-12) The Post-Adamic era after the fall show how God was allowing man to learn from the error of his ways, then making provision for a Redeemer in His Son, and restore the Love-relationship of the Pre-Adamic reality in the Spirit (“tree of life”) to believers. (John 3:16; Act.2:1-4)

Let’s come back to the ‘rule of thumb’ about God’s Word I mentioned earlier. You can say the “tree of life” was to our first parents what the Bible is for us today. The “tree of life” with its fruits represented the work of the Holy Spirit by guiding us through God’s Word. The fruits of the Spirit today is seen as the different tones of God’s Love which Paul catalogs in his letter to the Corinthians. (1 Cor. 13, and other passages) These fruits are not legalistic requirements we obey, but gives us a peek into the way of life of Love the Tri-Personal Being of God have existed and lived by from eternity. And now He calls us, and gives us His Spirit to empower us to live in His presence.

So, to keep their Love-relationship with God glowing and responsive, Adam and Eve had to engage the Spirit (fruits of Love) to guide them in God’s way of Love and life. Though the “tree of life” may be symbolical, it was real and represented true substance of spiritual value and life to them. We understand our first parents were created full adults without the benefit of hindsight of growing from babies to adults as we do. So, the fruits were symbolically knowledge ‘capsules’ the Spirit infused into our parents to help them understand and live the divine way of life (Love).

The Fruits of the “Tree of Life” Representing the Love of God (1Cor.13) (Pic. by Tomwsulcer Wiki Commons) 

Let me share some information from the ancient texts of patristic writing you may find interesting. It was hypothesized that Adam and Eve existed in a state of ‘human immortality’ in Eden. It was the essential and normal order of their state of being In God’s immortal presence,  sharing His immortal likeness, “Let us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness (Gen.1:26-27). The context is implicit the source of their ‘human immortality’ and way of life came from their daily sustenance from the fruits of the “tree of life.” The tree represented the Holy Spirit whose power raised up Jesus from the dead, and will raise humans to immortality in future. (Rom.8:11)  So, when God told our first parents of the consequences of their rebellion, “You shall surely die,” if they ate the forbidden fruit, for them it was a literal death sentence not only in the spiritual sense, but also in the physical sense because up until then they had never experienced any form of bodily deterioration. Physical death was not part of man’s original lot, but God foretold he would die in whatever day he ate the forbidden fruit. (Gen.2:17, KJV)

The moment Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and sin entered their lives, their ‘human immortality’ disappeared suddenly, and they assumed nothing more than their temporary human existence and mortality. The metamorphosis from immortality to mortality happened in a flash because light and darkness cannot co-exist. So, immortality is not a totally distant proposition for mankind, man had lived it before. Immortality was man’s lot for he was made in God’s eternal likeness. Our predicament is, only Adam and Eve experienced what it was like. So, there were no other firsthand witnesses beside them.

Having been reduced to a mere temporary human existence, another ancient text states Adam was consumed with inconsolable grief for what they had done and all they had lost. But there was no turning back for a mighty cherubim stood guard prevented them from reentering Eden. (Gen.3:21-24) When God said, “He (Adam) must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the ‘tree of life’ and eat and live forever,” (V.22) attests to the ‘human immortality’ they possessed and lost due to their rebellion. Of course our original parents were totally devastated, they has just lost Paradise for a bite of the forbidden fruit. God had forgiven them but divine justice calls for a ransom to save mankind from the spirit of rebellion and sin.   

Paul speaks eloquently of the reversal of the consequences of Adam’s rebellion through Christ, the second Adam, at a future time, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep (death), but we will be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must be clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality…Then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor.15:51-55). So, we see how immortality will be given back to humanity in exactly the same way it was taken – “in a flash, in a twinkling of an eye.” The first Adam was responsible for taking it away, and the second Adam, Jesus, is the One who will bring eternal life back to mankind. The Bible calls Jesus the “firstborn (human made immortal) among many brothers and sisters” (Rom.8:29).

Man’s Destiny – Human Made Immortal Like Jesus (Fountain of Eternal Life in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, USA – Wiki Commons)    

So, the first point to remember about the Bible is the Holy Spirit is the One who leads us to understand the meaning of God’s will and our ultimate purpose of immortality. The Spirit’s work is the ‘rule of thumb’ in the reading and study of God’s Word. (2 Pet.1:20-21) Why is the Holy Spirit the all-important equation in understanding the genuine will of God for our lives? Because we are fallen beings, and as such we will always see things through the human “solitary life” under the sway of Satan and his worldly influence. The Spirit brings the “Triune Life” and Jesus’ new life and the inspiration of His Kingdom into the life of the believer.

So, Paul tells us the only way out, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  (Gal.2:20a). Yes, this false self who lives the “solitary life” must be put to death, and the new life in the Spirit enters the human heart to energize the life of Christ. Jesus makes this plain when He said, “You must be born again of the Spirit” (John 3:7-8). Yes, we undergo a rebirth where Jesus comes and walks in us in the Spirit’s power. Then we can walk in our true self reflecting Jesus and the Love of God. Jesus also said we are to “take up our cross daily and follow Him” (Luk.9:23). It means this death of the false self becomes a daily exercise in repentance and forgiveness symbolized by the cross of Jesus we carry. The false self does not just ride away in the sunset, never to be seen again, no, he has to be exorcized daily. Paul said, “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered” (Rom.8:36).

I believe the secret key to understanding the Bible is revealed by Jesus in the Gospel of John. Jesus said this about God’s will for each us and the role of the Spirit in it, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you” (John 16:13-15). We read this passage with an obvious detached manner and miss its substance and meaning. But let us take a closer look. It is clear the Spirit cannot act independently but interdependently as He is essentially and intrinsically part of the Triune Godhead with the Father and the Son.

Here, Jesus explains the role of the Spirit within and as an integral part of the Tri-Personal Being of God – He hears the Father and Son in Loving discourse and makes it known to the believer. What does the Spirit hears in heaven and makes known to the human believer? The Spirit, in fellowship with the Father and the Son, is hearing their Love discourse about you the believer. It is obvious the Spirit can only communicate matters concerning what the believer can comprehend and understand. Or, how else would you know let alone understand what is being communicated unless it is a personalized message intended for you? The Father and Son is not discussing some future world shaking events of this world which you may be totally oblivious to and with which you are unacquainted. Rather, it is about your personal spiritual well-being which you can totally relate with and understand. It is about your place in their Life as the Triune God.

The Father and Son’s discourse about you is being relayed down the line through the Spirit as He helps you respond to the Father’s wish and will for your life. It is important to understand the Spirit is revealing personal messages concerning “what is yet to come” as it concerns your personal future which is near and dear to the Father and the Son. In all of their discourses about you,  your personal freedom is of paramount importance. For Love is exercised with freedom, for without it Love is hardly legitimate. Note that even in our Bible reading and study we are called upon to live the “Triune Life”* where the Father, Son, and Spirit participate in our salvation. In the final analysis, the Bible can be made relevant to each of us only when we see ourselves as part and parcel of its fabric.

And here we read the first step in communication of living the “Triune Life”*. This is a two-way communication that takes place through Bible reading and study under the Spirit’s guidance and power. The second is like it – prayer. We pray to God and He answers through His Son and the work and Love of the Spirit in our lives. Jesus is the Personified Word of God, while the Bible is the literal Word of God, and the Spirit makes Jesus known to us on an individual, personal, and relational level. (John 16:12-15) Then communication is further enhanced through meditation and in the form of art as in songs and praises. Then there is the art of occasional fasting. We will cover each in detail another time.

Jesus, The “Personified” Word of God, Teaching His Followers (By James Tissot – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/)

“Studying to show yourself approved to God” is not about selective reading and hearing of God’s Word. Because our fallen rebellious nature is not subjected to God’s Love and can’t be, most times His Word stands up to our selfish attitudes, listen, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Heb.4:12; Jer.17:9). But in the midst of what can be described as a seemingly compulsive bumpy human existence, the Spirit’s presence brings deliverance, stability, and peace of mind, listen, “For it is God (the Holy Spirit) who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His (and your) good purpose. Therefore, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation” (Phi.2:12-15, emphasis added).

The believer is given power to live the miraculous life within the “Triune Life,”* for in the final analysis Paul reveals the hidden secret of His Word, “The Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power” (1 Cor.4:20). For it is not the literal meaning of God’s Word which fundamentally counts, but the Personified Word who is Jesus Christ Himself. The literal Bible exists to point us to the Personified Jesus. The Bible’s literal form cannot be given an autonomous position of authority apart from the Person of Jesus, the Personified Word of God. He is the Personal and undeniable reflection of the literal Word of God we see in print. Ultimately only the resurrected Jesus, not the printed word, who brings God’s power by walking in us as His disciples.

The purpose of reading and studying our Bibles is one, and one only. Likewise, Adam and Eve were sustained by the fruits of the “tree of life” for a singular purpose. It was to feed the divine Love God had deposited in the human heart to reflect the essence of His Own Being in them. (Gen.1:27) In these two equivalent experiences, being sustained by the “tree of life” and drinking in God’s Word through reading and study, both are intended to inspire us to Love God first, and Love Him above all else. To Love God preeminently is to reflect our whole existence in Him and His Love-Being in us, for we were created in His likeness.

To “Love God (the Father) with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind” is plainly not humanly possible to do in our fallen state of being. But there is One who has done it as a human, and has been doing it for eternity – Jesus, the Son of God! We step into His life and He in us and through the Spirit’s Love we can be made to truly Love God as He Loves us. (Luke 10:27; John 17:20-25; Rom.5:5) That is the one sole purpose of His Word, and the reason we read and study the Bible.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.com. Thank you 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, (Your Servant In Christ)                                                                     

* Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. 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) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036                      

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

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

Note: All information is copy-write material. 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. Thank you.

Greetings Friends! I hope my last post has prepped you to some extent on how to face the new year with a positive frame of mind. You may read my post at: http://bulamanriver.net/9339  But let’s dive in-depth into this theme of Love and see it as the very divine essence of our being throbbing in us with every heartbeat.

The Scriptures reveal that God’s Spirit is the “Giver of life.” (Psa.104:30; Job 27:3) It was God’s Spirit who breathed life into a shapeless and uninhabitable world, and vitalized creation with life, form and character. (Gen.1:1-3; 2:1-3) It was the same Spirit who breathed the “breathe of life” into Adam and gave humanity physical existence with the power of the human mind to make choices. (Gen.2:7) Later, Jesus would say this self-same Spirit would bring us another life-form, the divine life of God. He said, “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to (divine) spiritual life” (John 3:6, NLT, also John 7:37-39, my emphasis).

Much Like our Uninhabitable Moon, God’s Spirit Made Earth the Blue Marble we See Today Giving It Life, Form, and Character. Thus, God declares, “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” (Isa. 23:24. Pic. by NASA/JPL – Great Images in NASA Description, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/)

This divine life consists of the essence of God’s very Being for the Holy Spirit springs from the singular identical nature of the One Triune Godhead of the Father, Son (Logos/The Word), and Spirit. John was inspired to reveal what this essence of God essential is: “God is LOVE” (1 John 4:8,16). So, the apostle Paul tells us what the Spirit brings and infuses us with through our spiritual birth, “God’s Love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom.5:5).

It is vital to realize this divine Love was what inspired and kept the relationship between God and our first parents in perfect personal union in the Garden of Eden. Humans were made in God’s Love likeness, that is what it means when the Bible says humans were created in His “image and likeness” (Gen.1:27). Created with the freedom of choice (mind), Adam and Eve had to continuously eat from the “tree of life” God gave them, much like we would turn to the holy Scriptures (Bible) today to receive guidance and continuous inspiration. (Gen.2:9; Psa.119:105) The “tree of life” represented the work and move of the Spirit in Adam and Eve. They were fed with God’s Love from the fruits of the “tree of life” which kept their relationship with God aglow and responsive. They were made humans not Spirit as God is from eternity, so as humans they needed to feed the Love God had planted deep in the essence of their beings and hearts (God’s Love-likeness).

As humans, they also had physical and material proclivities, like human interests and stimulations, worldly and sensual desires which run counter to God’s purpose for them. They were made to Love God above all else, that was the purpose why man was created in His Love-likeness. And in turn God Loved humans unreservedly. But as freedom cannot be divorced from Love, but is necessarily part and parcel of Love, humans had to make the constant decision to Love God above everything and everyone until at such time when man is given immortality and become fully and completely Love like He is. Until then, fallen humans was subjected to the devil he chose to obey which he has to contend with as he respond to God and his fellow humans.

A Depiction of the “Tree of Life” which Is Symbolic of the Move of the Holy Spirit (By Beth Erez – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/) 

God planted another tree in Eden called the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen.2:9). God told our first parents, “Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die” (Gen.3:3, The Message). Together with the “tree of life,” the two trees represented the freedom of choice man makes throughout life: to choose God’s purpose for him, or to turn from Him and choose his own purpose. You can say the two trees has always depicted which way man will choose to turn the Love God has deposited deep in his heart and being.

So, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit it was not so much “sin” as it was “turning” their Love away from God to the “self.” For what is sin but an act of separation. To turn means to be separated from God. That’s all sin was: it was an act of “turning.”  We have not stopped Loving, we have simply turned our Love toward God to the “self.” We can get all legalistic about sin, and we miss the point about Love and why we are made in His Love-likeness – to Love Him above all else. The term “sin” in its legalistic sense entered human consciousness after the law was given. While sin is legalistic with do’s and don’ts, Love is relational and familial. So, obedience is about Loving God, and disobedience is an act of turning our Love away from God. Lovers we remain, because we are made in God’s Love-image.

No human was made in the image of a sinner, but in the likeness of a ‘Lover God.’ No one was created in the similitude of sin, not even the devil. The devil was created the archangel Lucifer, a ‘light bringer.’ (Isa.14:12)  God is Love and nothing but Love in all its gregarious grandeur and generosity exudes from His Person and holy presence. But man has “turned” Love from Loving God to loving self. Love has been reduced to a mere humanistic expression without the Holy Spirit (divine Love). Note the Genesis account after Eve succumbed to the temptation of Satan, “When the woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate” (Gen.3:6).

Having turned their love from God, from here on it was human earthly desires and interests that inspired and drove man’s love. A lover man remained, but no longer a lover of God but the self. What was good or evil, what was right or wrong, how Adam and Eve and subsequently mankind would live life, was now all a matter of self-determination as seen through the lens of self-love. From the fall of Adam God had no input in human life because of the nonexistence of the Spirit (tree of life) in mankind. That was man’s choice. Mankind was cut off from access to His Spirit, however, His Love remain intact and unquestionable for “God is Love” (1 John 4:8).

We must understand without a shadow of doubt that humanity was given God’s Love so man will Love God first and above all else. (see Mark 12:28-31) Genesis records the account after our first parents turned their Love from God, “After He drove the man out, (after Adam ate the forbidden fruit) He placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen.3:24, my emphasis). The spiritual Love of God in His Spirit stopped flowing to Adam because he had turned away from God and from His Love (Spirit).

The Gentle Dove, Symbol of Holy Spirit and Content Of God’s Divine Love (By Sh1019 – File: Gezi.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/)

They had turned their Love for God to Love for the self. Hence, we read Paul say, “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money,… lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God… For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim.3:2, EST; 2 Tim.3:4; Phi.2:21). Lovers we remain for we were made in His likeness, but love has been turned inward and became a mere human expression, no longer divine but humanistic. God’s indictment upon humanity is clear-cut, “The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Psa.14:2-3). Yes, we all have “turned” our love away from God to love of the self.

God will not force His Spirit (Love) upon humans since His Love comes with the freedom of choice. We have chosen to reject His Spirit in Eden. God says to Israel and mankind, “You have abandoned Me and turned your back on Me’ says the LORD” (Jer.15:6). But God promised to rectify the situation by sending His Son as the Messiah and restore His Spirit and so turn our hearts back to Him and His Love. (Gen.3:15; Heb.8:10-12) Jesus was abundantly clear about His role as Savior, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate (Holy Spirit/Love) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7; also Rom.5:5). At last, since Adam’s sin in Eden, the Holy Spirit can now be made available to mankind once again.

When Jesus gave His followers the new ‘Love command’ saying, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another,” it was ‘new’ in its literal sense. The ‘new Love’ enters the human life only through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who has not been present with humans since Adam’s fall. (Gen.3:23-24; Rom.5:5; 1 Cor.6:19-20) By saying, “As I have Loved you,” Jesus speaks of the Spirit as the prime mover of the ‘new divine Love.’  Jesus gave us the model by which the Spirit enters humans life when He Himself was baptized in the Jordan River, then the heavens opened and the Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. (Matt.3:16-17) Jesus inaugurated the arrival of the gift of the Spirit to mankind in the post-Adamic era and later poured out upon all believers on Pentecost. (Act.2:1-4) John the Baptist baptized Jesus under his ministry of repentance and forgiveness to prepare the way for the Messiah. (Mar.1:1-4) 

We do not become true children of God until the Spirit indwells us as His temple where He does the work of manifesting God’s Love in and through us. (1 Cor.3:16) The Spirit is the seed of the divine Love nature impregnating humanity much like Mary was supernaturally ‘inseminated’ by the Spirit’s power to carry the baby Jesus in her womb. (Matt.1:18; Eph.1:13; 4:30)   

Sin, by its simplest definition, means separation from God and His Spirit, and Jesus came to give Himself as a ransom to remove the wall of separation through His blood and provide access to the Spirit and restore man’s relationship with God and His Love. The Holy Spirit sanctifies man by living in humans as His very own temple, and conforms us to be like Jesus. (1 Cor.3:16-17; Rom.8:29). A temple is a place where God and man meet and fellowship in Love. That temple is your human body.  The Spirit inhales and exhales the divine Love in a moment by moment nourishing of the body-temple He now indwells.

Some have asked if God is self-centered even narcissistic because He commands us to Love Him first before all else, even ourselves? But how can Love, a giving and outgoing medium and way of life, be narcissistic? The two contradict each other and cannot go together. Think about this, to Love an Entity that is made in your own likeness is in reality an expression of Love for yourself. (Gen.1:27) It is like family, you can’t deny your flesh and blood, you are part of them. It is in your DNA. We don’t think of it like that. When God commands us to Love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul, He is commanding us to Love ourselves for we reflect Him. (Matt.22:37) To Love the Triune God above everything, is the only way to Love ourselves best. Only the Spirit can open our hearts to surrender to God’s Love just as He has yielded Himself to us by  giving us His eternal Son to be sacrificed as our Savior. Theologian Thomas Torrance said, “…For in refusing to spare His Son whom He delivered up for us all, God has revealed that He Loves us more than He Loves Himself.” (The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons by T. F. Torrance).

So, there is a legitimate ‘love for self’ in God’s purpose, but it is not done through man’s rebellious mode of loving self first, but by Loving God first. The way to Love the self perfectly is to Love God our Father perfectly which humans can do only through the Spirit’s Love in them. When God sees you, it’s like looking at Himself in the mirror because He made you in His likeness. With the Father, each of us is His child as His eternal Son, for Jesus lives in us: “For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.'” (Act.17:28). Though we have turned from Him, He remains faithful, and the Scriptures affirm His Love like this, “If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is (in us)” (2Tim.2:13, my emphasis). God is Love, thereby, by Loving Him first we are truly Loving our self in the most exceptional and divine way. We are living the “Triune Life” in Christ by the Spirit’s power, not the “solitary life” in the self under the devil’s influence. So, when God commands us to Love Him above everything and everyone He is placing the focus of attention on us, not Him, because we are one with Him in His Triune Being. (Deut.6:5)

“Where Love Is, God Is” (Pic.1: By böhringer friedrich – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/ Pic.2:  By Priyansha kesharwani – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/)

The Scriptures say that “Every generous act of giving and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father who made the heavenly lights, in whom there is no inconsistency or shifting shadow” (Jam.1:17). It says every perfect gift is from above, there is nothing imperfect with God, why is this so? Because God is Love and He oozes with noble generosity. Are we seeing this? We will never know in a million lifetimes all that is truly good for us – only God can manifest them because we are made of Love as He is Love. We are in our place of superabundance in His Love from which every good and perfect gift flows. But Adam took us down the path of self-love and self-determination in place of the Spirit and His divine outflowing Love, and look what it has brought us – the pages of history is full of human suffering, pain, and man’s unimaginable inhumanity to man with one deathly act of atrocity after another.

The Spirit will give us eyes to see and the heart to believe that every desirable and beneficial gift that’s tailored for our personal and individual   wholeness of being in His Love, comes from no other source but our heavenly Father. These gifts, according to James, are like rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. (John 7:38-39) Light means there is no deceitfulness with God (Love), He is never two-faced, never fickle or untrustworthy but consistently dependable and steadfast. The Bible then encourages believers to “live as children of light” (Eph.5:8). Walk, knowing fully His Love and grace never leaves our side.

As we step into another year, we have the choice to make 2017 a truly refreshing and memorable one. Let us consider that since God created us in His Love-image, He did so primarily for the purpose of Loving Him above anything and everything so we can learn to Love ourselves in the best possible way in the process. We must be aware that we can only live life fully, totally, and perfectly when we share in the life of the Tri-Personal Being of God (Love) by living it ourselves. That is what living the “Triune Life”* means. It means to allow the Spirit to sanctify us, by uniting us to Jesus in heaven who in turn mediates all our inadequate human responses so we may obtain mercy and divine unity (Love) with the Father. (Heb.4:14-16) This is the heart and soul of what living the “Triune life”* and what living in His Love-image and likeness entails.

I end with an assuring passage from the Bible about God’s Love which He has locked into our human DNA. This ought to guide us in 2017, His “Love will never fail” us if we focus on Loving Him first through and in His Son. (1Cor.13:8).

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.com. Thank you 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, (Your Servant In Christ)                                                                     

* Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. 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) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/8036:

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website at: http://bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living.” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

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

Note: All information is copy-write material. 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. Thank you.

Greeting once more Friends! A happy New Year 2017 to all, and may God’s Love, Peace, and Joy reign in your hearts, and those of your loved ones, throughout the year.

As we enter and face the year 2017, what would we consider as our most important task? It has been said a person alive today will see conditions change in ten years than his ancestors saw in a hundred. We live in an age where progress seems to come in quantum leaps, and failure to adapt is not an option. Today’s once successful companies have failed because they have not adapted to change and progress. Of course, companies are not inanimate organisms, they are managed by humans who failed to adapt in an ever-changing business environment. We can be fearful and threatened by the uncertainties  of change, especially if we don’t recognize the changes that may harm us. But we must be courageous and not allow fear to freeze us into inaction or make wrong choices.

“Where Love Is, God Is” – L. Tolstoy (Pic: Wiki Commons)

The prophet Daniel predicted this “age of increased human knowledge” and said, “Only those who are wise will know what it means” (Dan.12:4, 10). Yes, in the seeming deluge of ever increasing change and progress, the onus will always be upon us to understand them and adapt appropriately. All things new, as long as they are good, may be for overall human benefit, but not all new things are right on an individual basis. How do you become the “wise who knows what it means?” – to understand the good from the bad changes we will face in 2017.

The only means by which we can wisely interpret change and progress, as it relates to its productive and unproductive effect in our lives, is through God’s divine Love. The origin of our nature – who we are as unique persons – is founded upon His Love, for “God IS Love,” and He made humans in His (Love) likeness. (Gen.1:26-27; 1 John 3:8) If God is omniscient, then He fills all of time and space, and His presence surrounds us as the air we breathe. (Job 33:4; John 20:22) The Palmist said it this way,

“Where can I go from Your Spirit (Love)?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, You are there;
If I make my bed in the depths, You are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
If I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there Your hand will guide me,
Your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 Even the darkness will not be dark to You;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to You” (Psa. 139:7-12).

In whatever field of endeavor we pursue today, change seems like the operative word. But there is another operative force which never changes to outside forces, but remain constant and unchanging. It changes external influences and brings stability and peace to those who use it. The Bible quotes God as saying He is “the same yesterday and today and forever…I change not, so you are not consumed (saved).” (Heb.13:8; Mal.3:6). What God means is He IS Love, therefore, His eternal disposition to save man and creation remains unchanging. Everything else may change, but Love never does. In other words, His Love adapts to whatever circumstance, hence, the Bible says, His “Love never fails” us. (1 Cor.13:8).  When you think change may bring chaos and fear, that is where Love thrives best and brings order.

I will have more to say on this topic in my next blog. May the peace of God envelope and reign in your hearts as we enter the year 2017.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.com. Thank you 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, (Your Servant In Christ)                                                                     

* Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. 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) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036                        

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, http://bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my book,  “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

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

Note: All information is copy-write material. 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. Thank you.

Greetings Friends. Let me begin this post by apologizing for a slight disruption to my website due to a hacking issue which has now been resolved by our external web hosting providers. Once again please accept my apology for any inconvenience this may have caused you in any way. Our site is safe and secure to navigate twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. May you always find enlightenment, encouragement, peace, and God’s grace whenever you enter our space and visit with us.

In this issue I am presenting an excerpt from a previous issue that’s relevant for this time just to get the ball rolling, so to speak. It speaks of the subject of peace.  

In Ancient Israel, the people may bring a “peace offering” before the Lord. It was voluntary but full of ritual and meaning. The priest would go through the rigmarole of preparing the offering with the offerer. What was acted out during this sacrifice foretells what the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus would bring in God’s activity with humans. The “peace offering” was also called the “saving offering.” (Keil-Delitzsch Commentary) The animal sacrifice was cut up in portions to be shared by the three parties: God, the priesthood, and the offerer. God’s portion was the fat, considered the best portion of the animal. This was placed on top of the already burning sacrifice. The priest received a specific portion for himself and his family, and the offerer received the remainder.

The burning of the offering on the altar is considered a “sweet aroma” as God consuming a meal and is satisfied. So this sharing of meal between the three parties shows all is at peace and in restful communion. (Lev.3:1-5; 7:11-18) Peace is also signified by “thankfulness” because all parties are filled, contented, assured, and accepted. This is Jesus’ ongoing work as High Priest of making peace between man and God our Father. Recall, no Israelite could offer this or any other of the 5 sacrifices of his own choosing or method, he has no choice but to engage the priesthood (Jesus).

God, foretelling the work He will do through His Son, said, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remember your sins no more. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you” (Isa.43:25; 44:22). Paul, speaking of Jesus’ High Priestly role in heaven, said, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom.8:1, 34).

Another aspect of the “peace offering” is that when offered as “thanksgiving” it must be consumed the same day. The rationale seems obvious, this is a ‘completed’ and shared communion meal of thanksgiving, assurance, joy and peace, with God (the Father), the Priest (Jesus), and the Offerer (with Spirit residing in the believer). As you sit with your family for meal this Christmas, reflect on the emblem of the “peace offering” and invite God to be present with you and your loved ones. God has made peace with you and your family through Jesus. This is the essence of Christmas.

May I wish you and your family peace and joy this Christmas season! 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 http://bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my book.

** Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It 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 you. 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) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/8036

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.

 “It is the Father Living in Me who Is Doing the Work” (John 14:10).

Christmas Greetings to all my Friends and readers!

Christmas is the time of year when our primary focus is given to the baby Jesus born to Mary in a manger in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago. The focus is rarely upon the Father who freely gave up His Son and provide atonement for human sin, and fulfill His wish to bring many more children into His Loving embrace. Yet, living the “Triune Life”* essentially means that when we consider important events, or for that matter any event, like the birth of the Messiah, it must be viewed holistically in its all-embracing implication, rather than narrowly as an event on its own.

We do this because God’s action is always Trinitarian, so the Father and Son stem from one substance, one divine mission, one Triune Godhead. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they are individual Persons, all act as one and as such it was a heart-breaking act for the Father to give up a Son He Loved and treasured dearly from eternity.

Michael Reeves in his book, “Delighting in the Trinity” says this about God, who is to humans, first and foremost a Loving Father, and being Fatherly. He does what a true model of a Father would do, to express His profound and unbound Love for His human children:

The Trinitarian Mind – the Foundation of all God’s Actions (Ruble’s Icon of the Trinity, Wiki Commons)

“The most foundational thing in God is not some abstract quality, but the fact that He is Father. Again and again, the Scriptures equate the terms God and Father: in Exodus, the Lord calls Israel, “my firstborn son” (Exo.4:22; see also Isa.1:2; Jer. 31:9; Hos.11:1; He carries His people “as a Father carries His Son” (Deut.1:31), disciplines them “as a man disciplines his son” (Deut.8:5), He calls to them, saying, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him” (Psa.103:13), and “How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation. I thought you would call Me Father and not turn away from following me” (Jer.3:19; see also Jer.3:4; Deut. 32:6; Mal.1:6).

“Isaiah thus prays, “You are our Father… you, O Lord, are our Father (Isa.63:16; see also Isa.64:8). Then Jesus repeatedly refers to God as “the Father” and directs prayer to “our Father;” He tells His disciples  He will return to “My Father and your Father, to My God and your God” (John 20:17); Paul and Peter refer to “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom.15:6; 1 Pet.1:3); Paul writes of “one God, the Father” (1 Cor.8:6), of “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor.1:3); Hebrews counsels, “God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” (Heb.12:7).

“Since God is, before all things, a Father, and not primarily Creator or Ruler, all His ways are beautifully Fatherly… It was a profound observation, for it is only when we see that God rules His creation as a kind and Loving Father that we will be moved to delight in His providence… So what does it mean it mean that God is a Father? If I can make the jump – the Father is called the Father because He is a Father. And a Father is a Person who gives life, who begets children… For if, before all things, God was eternally a Father, then this God is an inherently outgoing, life-giving God.

“He did not give life for the first time when He decided to create; (rather) from eternity He has been life-giving. This gets unpacked for us in 1 John 4: “Dear friends, let 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)… This God, he says, is Love in such a profound and potent way that you simply cannot know Him without yourself becoming Loving (Love).

“This is precisely what it means for God to be Father. For when John writes “God is Love” at the end of verse 8, he is clearly referring to the Father. His very next words, in verse 9, state: “This is how God showed His Love among us: He sent His one and only Son.” The God who is Love is the Father who sends His Son. To be the Father, then, means to Love, to give out life, to beget the Son. Before anything else, for all eternity, this God was Loving, giving life to and delighting in His Son. Thus Love is not something the Father has, merely one of His many moods. Rather, He is Love! He could not not be Love. If He did not Love, He would not be Father.” (“Delighting In The Trinity,” Pg.23-26).

“The Adoration of the Magi”  of the Baby Jesus, By Eugenio Cajes (Wiki Commons) 

I hope you appreciate that vindication about God being our heavenly Father before all else, and who knows no other way but to Love humans as His very own children. His paternal Love is beyond what we can possibly fathom. The Bible expresses His immeasurable Love this way, “No eye has seen, and ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things which God has prepared for those who Love Him” (1 Cor.2:9). As we think about the birth of the Savior this Christmas, let us be vigilant as to Jesus’ origin, He sprung from the same Life as the Father and from the depth of the Father’s Love.

The Scriptures tell us, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and exact representation of His Being, sustaining all things by His powerful word” (Heb.1:3). We are His children because He created humans in order to conform us to the image of His Son, for Jesus is the exact representation of the Father. “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn (glorified human) among many brothers and sisters (humans)” (Rom.8:29).

Animals, beasts, fowls, sea creatures and other life forms were created to procreate after their own kind, but only man was made after God’s own kind. Of course, since the Father and the Son are from the identical Trinitarian substance, Jesus Loves us equally as the Father does. And the Spirit does not Love us any less. The nature of the Triune God is Love. He is not made of Love, but He IS Love in His Triune Being. (1 John 4:8, 16)

What we see unfolding in this scenario of the birth of Jesus is the “Trinitarian persona (which) do not exist in isolation, they live in and through one another, which makes their personalities relational.” The “Triune Life” or the life of the three Persons in the Trinity, where all three Persons are intrinsically bound in one act of Love for each other and outwards to the object of their Love, in this instance, man. The Son emanates from the Father and the Spirit begets Jesus through Mary. (John 3:16; Matt.1:20; Isa.7:14)

So, Jesus can’t be understood by and in Himself since He is inherently bound with the Father and the Spirit. And this is the way we must think about God in His “threeness.” So, we understand the birth of Jesus not merely as an end in itself, a solitary act, but the activity of the Trinitarian Godhead. Then throughout His life, Jesus continues to live the “Triune Life” and make reference to God as His Father, and promising the gift of the Spirit to His followers. (John 20:17; John 14:16)

The Scriptures show that at Jesus’ crucifixion upon Calvary two other men, said to be revolutionaries, were crucified with Him, one on His right and one on His left. (Matt.27:38) The historical images shown of Jesus’ death always had this depiction of three crosses. (see sample picture below). It is an interesting observation to note that the three-cross image symbolically represent not just Jesus’ death alone, but God Himself in His Triune Being died in and with Christ that day for all mankind. For in God’s Trinitarian Being the act of one is always the act of three. Jesus was fully God as the Father and the Spirit. John, speaking under inspiration about Jesus origin, said, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

The 3 Cross upon Calvary Represent the Sacrificial death of the Triune God in Christ (Wiki Commons)

As we celebrate the birthday of Jesus, perhaps it would be relevant to ask: since we are created in God’s likeness, do we act in the same Trinitarian fashion, always making consideration for one another in Love? Unfortunately, since Adam no one has known how to live this way of life. And it was for this very reason that the Father sent Jesus to be born so man can recapture what the divine “Triune Life” entail by looking to Jesus as our example. 

Jesus said this when He walked this earth, “By myself I can do nothing… I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me” (John 5:30). Again, “Rather, it is the Father living in Me who is doing the work” (John 14:10). We do not know how to live like Jesus did and He came to make it possible for man to live the “Triune Life.*”

We have been raised up in a world fashioned by Satan to live his “solitary” way of life, where he lives without recourse to anyone but himself. This, coupled with our fallen depraved nature inherited from Adam, we have not for one moment lived the “Triune Life*” as Jesus did. Yet, it was for this very reason where we are lost to His way of life of Love in the Triune God that Christ came to take us back into the Loving Father’s embrace.

It was the Father’s ardent desire to extricate us from the devil’s “solitary life” lifestyle, and bring us into His “Triune” way of life of God remaining in His Love. That is the sole objective why Jesus was born to bring us the Trinitarian Life of God. So we see when we place the birth of Jesus into the Trinitarian template we will not miss the purpose of God’s actions born out of His Love. 

Yes, we will find out soon enough that living without the “Triune Life” is like walking in the dark – literally! But will man change? That is the question of enormous magnitude pointing to the survival of the human species where everything else pales into insignificance. I would like to present an analogy that may be of help to you But, as I have always said, no analogy is perfect because it is impossible to place God in a box of our human imagination. But I hope it serves the purpose just as Jesus used many parables to explain the Kingdom of God. Imagine driving through densely populated cities like New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Tokyo, or any major city in the world. Now imagine driving through such densely crowded streets without the help of any traffic lights to control and guide every other driver travelling through the city streets to their diverse destination.

Here, I am likening traffic lights to the “Triune Life.” When you are not living the “Triune Life” it is like driving through one of these major cities and trying to negotiate your way through its busy streets without the vital medium which controls the proper and efficient flow of all different kinds of moving vehicles – the traffic lights. The thought of travelling into one of these cities without traffic lights is unthinkable. To attempt it would lead to confusion resulting in accidents, injuries, and inevitable fatalities. Yet, spiritually man has attempted from the time Christ was born to live the human life with a “solitary” mode of thinking, without giving consideration to the “Triune” way of life Jesus was born to bring us to live daily.   

We easily forget why the Father sent His Son to be born into our world, a world where man has lost his way to God’s way of Love, and is on a wayward downward spiral to oblivion. The purpose of Jesus’ birth is to reintroduce us to the “Triune Life” which Adam and Eve enjoyed before the fall in Eden. Hence, Jesus is called the ‘second Adam’ who came to repair the breach instigated by the first Adam. What is the one important attribute of a Father? His primary responsibility is to provide for His family and ensure that every member is living a life full of purpose, fulfilled, and happy. And every child want nothing less, and He has given us His Son to make that possible by living the “Triune Life” in the Spirit’s power.

I sincerely hope you will dedicate this season by thinking Trinitarian thoughts about how we ought to live and how to respond to God and our fellow humans.

May you, together with your families, have the most joyous Christmas ever. If you have 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 a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It 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 you. 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) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/8036                          

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, http://bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my book,  “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

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

Note: All information is copy-write material. 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. Thank you.

Greetings again friends! It is that beautiful season of year again when we pause to commemorate and celebrate the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of G0d.

I would like share a poignant quote from renowned theologian Thomas  F. Torrance about Jesus Christ and His true origin and existence with His Father from eternity in the Triune Godhead. As you and I reflect on Mr. Torrance’s words, let us keep in mind the season we are approaching when we celebrate Jesus’ birth to save our world from sin and death. I hope you will be inspired and awakened by his words, as it did with me.

The Archangel Gabriel announces the will of God to Mary that she is chosen to be the Mother Of Jesus, God’s Son (Luk.1:26-38) (Pic: Bartolome Esteban Perez Murillio, Wiki Commons)

“If it was not God Himself incarnate who suffered for us on the cross in making atonement, then the sacrifice of Christ has no ultimate and final validity, and we are still in our sins. If Jesus Christ and God are not of one and the same being, then we really do not know God, for he is some hidden inscrutable deity behind the back of Jesus, of whom we can only be terrified – and then the final judgment of the world will be apart from and without respect to Jesus and his forgiving love and atoning sacrifice. Cut the bond in being between Jesus Christ and God, and the Gospel message becomes an empty mockery. But if Jesus Christ is one and the same being with God, then all that Jesus said and did on our behalf has been staggering significance for us and all creations.

“But in this case, it is essential to realize that Jesus Christ the Son of God is also man, of one and the same being as we are. If he is not really man, then the great bridge which God has thrown across the gulf between himself and us has no foundation on our side of the gulf. Jesus Christ, to be Mediator in the proper sense, must be wholly and fully man as well as God… He came to take our place, in all our human, earthly life and activity, in order that we may have his place as God’s beloved children, in all our human and earthly life and activity, sharing with Jesus in the communion of God’s own life and love as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… It is only through the Son that we have knowledge of the Spirit and knowledge of the Father.” (The Trinitarian Faith, pg. 8, by T. F. Torrance)

God announces to Joseph by an angel in a dream about the birth of the Messiah to Mary (Matt.1:20) (Pic: By Antonio Ciseri, Wiki Commons)

The prophet Isaiah was inspired to reveal the true nature and identity of the Messiah: “Immanuel” which means “God with us,” or God has taken the form of fallen man in order to redeem man from sin and eternal death, and bring to reality God’s purpose of human immortality. (Isa.7:14; John 11:25; John 3:16) Matthew, in his gospel quoted Isaiah when he recorded the events surrounding Jesus’ birth to Mary in Bethlehem  (Matt.1:23) 

The Wise Men from the East pay Homage to Baby Jesus bearing Gifts (Pic: Eugenio Caxes (1574-1634) Wiki Commons)

I wish you all my readers a truly miraculous life because of the true meaning of Christmas. If you have 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 a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It 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 you. 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) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036                        

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book,  “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

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

Greetings once again Friends!

The essential meaning of the term “Triune Life” tells us how God lives in His Tri-Personal Being as the Father, Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit (Herald*). It means they exist in Love, and the fruits of Love we read in the Bible expounds to us the various tones of expression of their Love for each other. (Read 1 Cor.13) This Love expresses their underlying nature in who They are which unifies Them in One Triune Godhead. Love is both a noun (who God IS), and a verb (what He DOES).

“Triune Life” Founded upon Tri-Personal Being of God (Pic: Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity, Wiki Commons)

Since the fall of Adam we have all lived under Satan’s rule and have adopted his nature and his way of life which diametrically opposes God’s way of Love. Man, through deception and sin has existed in this satanic bubble (world) where his ego-centric self is the magnet in his life and everything around him. Be that as it may, the enemy knows man can never detach himself from the underlying spark deep in his being which connects him to his Creator by virtue of being made in God’s Triune image and likeness. (Gen.1:26-27) That divine ‘likeness-spark’ which ties humans to God can never be removed by the devil, and is never lost to man. All of creation itself informs man of his connection to God. The earth we stand upon and the beauty and majesty it speaks reminds us of a Loving Creator who created this beautiful blue marble in space for man’s home.

So, to keep man deceived, Satan manufacture counterfeit images of God’s likeness in order to mask and hide God’s grace from man’s view. (2 Cor.11:14; 2 Cor.4:4) So, the devil has his counterfeit love which masks the true Love of God. He promotes self-love instead of outgoing Love. God gave mankind the wealth and riches of this earth, but Satan uses them to promote greed in humans in place of generosity. God gives humans the mind to develop ideas and concepts like He does to promote Love and everything good, but the devil fills the mind of man with evil to spew out hatred, immorality, and every vice imaginable.

Yes, it is under the hand of this evil and hostile world of the devil that we were born and find ourselves at the behest of Adam’s choice to follow the devil. (Gen.3, note V.1-6) But God our Father and Creator promised to send One from within His Tri-Personal Being to enter our corrupt and sinful human existence and bring humanity back to an inspired life of beauty and wonder that is our birthright to live and experience. (Gen.3:14-15; also John 3:16) A life without evil, without hatred, where His divine Love is the only motivation to live by, because His own nature (Love) has become ours. He calls us to enter His divine existence and share His Tri-Personal Being by living with Him through Jesus in the Spirit’s (Love’s) power. (Rom.5:5) This is the “Triune Life” we are called to live in our earthly life, then eternally as spirit beings in His Kingdom.

Through Adam the devil introduced a way of life of fear, the opposite of God’s way of life of Love. The Bible says fear has torment because it signifies punishment, and punishment has to do with sin.  John tells us this, “There is no fear in Love. But perfect Love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in Love” (1 John 4:18). Fear springs out of sin, since there is no sin in Love, Love defeats fear.

So, man has not tasted this “Triune Life”* since Adam. All he has experienced in this life under Satan’s influence was the “solitary life” of fear. The “solitary life” of fear is the opposite of the “Triune Life”* of Love. The “solitary life” means a life of self-determination, of self-worship and self-empowerment where man thinks and does what seems right in his own mind under the influence of the devil. Every human born since Adam has been fashioned to accept this self-centered culture – no one was spared. We read this, “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one…For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:10-12, 23).

Adam and Eve Exiled from Eden for Following Satan (Pic: Wiki Commons)

As believers, we have been called to live a way of life in total turn-around from what we were brought up to accept and live by. Enter the “Triune Life.”* The “Triune Life”* is a way of life. It’s foundational tenet is based upon the Love of God, because it is the nature of God. Love is both a noun and a verb. We are called Love because we live by Love as God’s own children. So we read, “Just as Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and a new life for everyone” (Rom.5:18; also John 3:16) I emphasize the words “new life” Christ brought which is the “Triune Life.”*           

You will find in a previous post what the “Triune Life”* means in practical terms – find this post at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036

But for this post I will share with you the characteristics we have brought over from this fallen world in which the devil rules that have becomes intrinsically part of us, but now as Christians we have the sworn duty to reject them as we step into a new existence in the “Triune Life”* of God. How can I compare human existence without relationship with the Tri-Personal God in the Father, the Son Jesus, and Friend Herald* the Spirit? Perhaps this analogy may help, but like all such comparisons made with God, they fall short and will never measure up to His greatness and magnificence. But because we are humans, the Bible does use physical things around us we can relate with to help portray God to us, like lightning as it speaks about His power. (Job 37:3) Jesus spoke about the spiritual Kingdom of God using parables about ordinary physical things with which His hearers are familiar to explain its meaning, like the mustard seed, the sheep and goats, the good Samaritan, etc.

So, think of a favorite movie you saw that moved you deeply, whether emotionally, intellectually, and just for its superb artistic rendition for lifting the human spirit. Now imagine watching it on big screen without the musical score that accompanies it – none whatsoever? Yes, remember when we hum the musical score of our favorite movie, well none of that but just silence. At times, we don’t think of the musical score as important in the story because it plays in the background, but without it the movie is incomplete – the story is no longer the same. Yes, one can say it is the musical score which completes the story in the movie. The musical score is intended to create the appropriate emotional response which goes with various parts of the story. In the Bible we read of the shepherds who were out tending their sheep by night when a chorus of angelic voices appeared to announce the birth of the Messiah. Uplifting music is God-given and intended to inspire the human spirit.

This is no different from the life we experience when we live the “Triune Life.”* Living life without the Tri-Personal Being of God who desires to be deeply involved in our lives is like watching a favorite movie without the musical score which gives meaning, feeling, and a deep sense of belonging and engagement with life itself. Life is incomplete without God’s “Triune Life” involvement. When God has a relationship with each of us personally through His Triune Being, He is the musical score which brings all the appropriate spiritual, psychological, emotional, and our true heart’s response to all of life and life’s experiences. For what else can it be, for “God is Love,” and He will always be a symphony of Love playing in our lives responding to all of life’s circumstances and expressions.   

Let us begin and let us underscore the symphony of God’s Love in our lives for “God is Love” (1 John 4:8, 16).   

First and foremost, the “Triune Life”* is incompatible with the human physical life because God is Spirit and eternal, and we are mortal and death is our end. In other words, there is nothing physical about God’s “Triune Life”* except that God created humans in His likeness, and where He so desires, He can choose to have a relationship with humans. So, we must not make the critical mistake of trying to transpose or swap these two existences, and attempt to conceptualize and fit God into a human box for our human ideas about His deity. People have made what God has created like the sun, moon, and stars, besides other living creatures as gods and worshipped them because they don’t understand God is a Spirit Being who cannot be seen, touched, or understood unless He chooses to reveal Himself to humanity. And He has done this through His Son, Jesus. (Heb.1:1-2; Col.2:9) The Bible reveals God as a Trinitarian God – see Matt.28:18-20; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 4:4-7; Jude 1:20-21.

God says this of human make-up and existence, “For dust you are, and to dust you will return” (Gen.3:19). How can dust (nothing) create a deity (something)? “Something” cannot be created by “nothing,” it is illogical. Human life is merely dust drawing temporary breath of life from a chemical makeup and existence. All physical life forms procreate because the Creator has set the circle of life in motion each after their kind from the beginning. (Gen.1-2) Only God can create and make something to have life for He Himself is Life, and has the power to impart it. Man does not have life in himself or else he could not die, but death is a part of humanity’s preordained fate. The Bible speaks of Jesus thus, “The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone.” (John 1:4, NLT). By speaking of Jesus as the personification of Life, the Bible says He is the “real stuff” or true Life. He is not made from dust like we are, but He proceeds from the divine Triune Godhead. So, it is about spiritual reverse engineering of man – man must fit himself in God’s box to find true Life, the “Triune Life”* in immortality. 

Creation of Man from Dust of the Earth, with Life Imparted From Finger of God (Pic: Wiki Commons)

And here is the awesome truth: dust though we may be existing in chemical form through the breath of life, the truth is God made humans in His image so we may inherit immortality as our human potential. (Gen.1:26-27; John 3:16-17) To attain spiritual immortality is the supreme fulfilment of what the “Triune Life” means. And God our Father has given us this covenant promise, His guarantee, that “we will be His people, and God Himself will be with us and be our God” (Rev.21:3b; Heb.8:10b) He will make us His immortal children. That promise is fulfilled in the provision of mankind’s Savior in Jesus His Son, and the gift of His Holy Spirit who is the personification of His divine Love and immortality in believers. (Rom.5:5; John 3:16; Eph.1:13-14).    

With that said, what is it about our humanity which deflects and repels God and thereby reject and prevent true Life from entering human life?  “God is Love” (1 John 4:8) and therefore His Love is true Life. God reveals to us clearly what Love means so we are without excuse. It is not our narrative of human love, but the very divine Love of God. We see this revealed to us in 1 Corinthians 13.  Here is a summary of  God’s Love-fruits: *patience, *kindness, *contentedness, *the fruit of being modest and unboastful, *humility, *the fruit of honor, *the fruit of unselfishness, *the fruit of calmness and dignity, *the fruit of forgiveness and compassion, *the fruit of delighting in good and shunning evil, *the fruit of tolerance, *the fruit of responsibility, *the fruit of enduring hope, *the fruit of steadfast perseverance, *joy, *peace, *goodness, *faith, *gentleness, *self-control, *the fruit of zeal and spiritual fervor, *The fruit of gratitude and thankfulness, *the fruit of friendship, *the fruit of sharing and generosity, *the fruit of prayerfulness, *the fruit of hospitality, etc. (1 Cor.13; also Gal.5:22-23; Rom.12:9-21) Here, we see the very essence of how to live the “Triune Life” in detail and in every circumstance of life we encounter.

These Love-fruits speaks volumes and gives us a peek into the different tones of God’s Love. They are not rules to live by as if they are legalistic requirements to follow. They tell us how God in His Tri-Personal Being in the Father, Son, and Spirit, have lived in One unified shared Love-experience from eternity as God, and desires to share His “Triune Life” with believers. They reveal the holy emotions of the Tri-Personal Being of God. These are not human emotions, they reveal the divine passion and desire of how God lives “naturally” in an intuitive and spontaneous fashion amongst Them.

And thereby, anyone living contrary to the fruits revealed above is rejecting true Life, and continues to live the temporary human life with mere chemical existence, and will return to dust and ashes. Let’s look at the fruits of Love with their opposing fruits given in parenthesis (italics) below them.

To Be or Not To Be:

“To Be…” (Triune Life/Love)  or “Not To Be”… (Solitary Life/Fear) 

*Patient                                                                                                                    (impatient/intolerant/impulsive)

Kind                                                                                                                             (cruel/uncaring/malicious)

*Contented                                                                                                                     (discontent/depressed/easily upset)

*Modest/Unboastful                                                                                      (overbearing/excessive/arrogant)

*Humble                                                                                                                                                   (proud/self-important/pretentious)

*Honorable                                                                                                          (disrespectful/belittling/blaming)

*Unselfish                                                                                                                       (greedy/covetous/self-centered)

*Calm/Dignified                                                                                                          (anxious/nervous/crude)

*Compassionate/Forgiving                                                                                             (cold/harsh/unforgiving)

*Delight in Good/Shun Evil                                                                                                                       (turn from good/embrace evil)

*Tolerant                                                                                                                            (prejudiced/narrow-minded/intolerant)

*Responsible                                                                                                                  (weak/apathetic/repulsive)

*Hopeful                                                                                                                    (despairing/distrusting/hopeless)

*Persevering                                                                                                                       (indifferent/cowardly/lazy)

*Thankful                                                                                                              (thankless/inconsiderate/rude)

*Joyful                                                                                                                         (depressed/gloomy/stressful)

*Peaceful/Reconciliation                                                                                              (divisive/violent/obstructing/racism)

*Godly (Goodness)                                                                                                   (corrupt/dishonest/wicked)

*Faithful                                                                                                                            (doubtful/distrusting/in denial)         

*Gentle                                                                                                                          (harsh/inflexible/rough)

*Self-Controlling                                                                                                                                       (self-indulgent/indecisive/confused)

*Spiritually Fervent/Zealous                                                                           (lethargic/insincere/pessimistic)

*Generous                                                                                                                      (stingy/mean/greedy)

*Prayerful                                                                                                                                            (spiritually deficient/indiscipline)

*Hospitable                                                                                                             (unfriendly/aloof/unsociable)

*Respectful                                                                                                   (discourteous/unrefined/insolent)

Jesus said, “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit” (Matt.7:18). (Pic: Wiki Commons)

Our initial observation from this is: whatever is shown in parenthesis (italic) are fruits that is impossible for God to display in His relationship with us, because He is Love! The fruits of God’s Love and the fruits of fear of the devil shown contrastingly above are choices we make in life. These are not built-in instincts we are born with, no, they’re not legalistic decrees to follow. But they have become part of us because we live them daily by choice. We are “trained” to live by them by the prevailing condition to which we are subjected. Paul said, “Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living” (Rom.6:18). See how Paul speaks of Love and fear as a condition into which we are disciplined. “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but 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).

It is the condition which spawns and promote the type of fruits (behavior) that specific condition allows. Jesus spoke of this conditional response in this way, “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit” (Matt.7:18). The ‘tree’ is metaphorically the condition. Paul speaks above of living in the condition created by the devil (flesh), or the condition prepared by the Holy Spirt. For Adam and Eve these two conditions were actually embodied in the two trees in Eden – the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Gen.2:9) In both conditions, it always comes down to a matter of choice. We are all created with the divine freedom to choose freely but knowledgably. In the “Triune Life” God promises to empower us with His Spirit (condition) to enable us to choose wisely and become His children. (2 Tim.1:7; Phi.2:13; Luk.11:13)

Humanity is Sealed in the Love-Condition in The Spirit’s Ocean of God’s Enabling Love Which Gives Humans Power to Use Their Gifts for God’s Kingdom above all else, and Live Righteously. He will Give All That’s Needed for Life – Matt.6:33. (Pexels)

Look at the picture of the ocean shown above. The ocean is the metaphor of the “living waters” of the Love-condition of the Holy Spirit that human believers are sealed and exist in Christ. (Rom.5:5) The various species of marine life can be compared to humanity who have received Jesus as Savior, and received the gift of the Spirit to enter this spiritual aquatic Love-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.

This depiction of the oceanic kingdom as God’s Love environment is not as far-fetched as we might think, for 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.

All Rivers are symbolically Humans, and Flow from the Mountain of God”s Presence, Its Living Waters Flow to the People That Live in the Valley to Water, Feed, and Replenish People and All They Do. (Pexels)

My hope is you will choose Life and live a life without regrets. God’s word for us is clear, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” (Deut.30:19). What a promise from a God who offers us true Life!

Petition: Friends, thank you for investing your precious time with me in the sharing of the good news of Jesus’ birth, His life, death, resurrection, and High Priesthood, with you today. I hope that in your heart of heart you will receive Jesus as your personal Savior, receive God’s Spirit, and be part of a gloriously magnificent future for humanity. You can privately and quietly pray this prayer in your heart. I am asking you to pray this prayer as a human Christ died for, not as a member of any religious sect or denomination: “Almighty God, Father of all humanity, forgive me of all my sins for I receive Your Son, Jesus, as my personal Savior. In Your incalculable grace, grant Your promised rebirth into Jesus’ new Humanity through Your Holy Spirit, and open my eyes to the wondrous gifts you have conferred upon me. May Your Love guide and protect me and my loved ones always, and bring us and all humanity into Your beloved and divine Kingdom. I praise and thank You, Amen.” Welcome to the Life of Love in God’s eternal Triune Being and Family!

If you have 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 a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. 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) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036                        

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book,  “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

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

Note: All information is copy-write material. 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. Thank you.

 “Always be Full of Joy in the Lord. I say it again–Rejoice!” Phil.4:4

Greetings Friends! Thanksgiving Day always bring immense joy and gratitude to families gathered for turkey dinner, especially if we have family members we have not met or seen for some time. Family fellowship and bonding is about one of the highest human joys that can be experienced. There are other human experiences which bring lasting memories of joy, like one’s marriage, the birth of a child, graduation, your first car, your best friend, a memorable vacation to an exotic location, etc.

This year Thanksgiving Day falls on Thursday, November 24, 2016.

Joy is a human emotion that only man created in God’s image can experience and appreciate. We experience joy because we are made in God’s likeness.(Gen.1:26-27) The Bible states, “But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy” (among) others. (Gal.5:22)  Joy is a shared fruit, it can only be experienced in a communal experience, that is one of the basis how we explain God is Trinitarian, and not solitary as many believe. God is three Persons unified in One Triune Godhead. When you examine every one of the fruits of Love in the Holy Spirit, you will find one common denominator – they can only be lived out through a shared communal experience. I take you 1 Corinthians 13 and other passages –

“The First Thanksgiving” by Jean Leon Jerome Ferris (Wiki Commons)  

The fruits of Love are: *patience, *kindness, *contentedness, *the fruit of being modest and unboastful, *humility, *the fruit of honor, *the fruit of unselfishness, *the fruit of calmness and dignity, *the fruit of forgiveness and compassion, *the fruit of delighting in good and shunning evil, *the fruit of tolerance, *the fruit of responsibility, *the fruit of enduring hope, *the fruit of steadfast perseverance, *joy, *peace, *goodness, *faith, *gentleness, *self-control, *the fruit of zeal and spiritual fervor, *The fruit of gratitude and thankfulness, *the fruit of friendship, *the fruit of sharing and generosity, *the fruit of prayerfulness, *the fruit of hospitality, etc. (1 Cor.13; Gal.5:22-23; Rom.12:9-21)

All these fruits spell one common attribute, they can only be shared in a communal setting and thereby God reveals Himself in all His Trinitarian Love and glory. These Love-fruits speaks volumes and gives us a peek into the different tones of God’s Love. They are not rules to live by as a legalistic requirement. They tell us how God in His Tri-Personal Being have lived in One unified shared Love-experience from eternity as God, and desires to share His “Triune Life” with believers. They reveal the holy emotions of the Tri-Personal Being of God. These are not human emotions, they reveal the divine passion. And high on top of the list is joy and thankfulness.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, we understand that thankfulness is a fruit which springs from God’s Love nature, and it can be experienced only in a mutually co-dependent setting as He is the same in His Tri-Personal Being as God. Thankfulness springs from joy, for without it we can’t experience gratitude genuinely and completely.

I referred to human joy earlier. They remind us we are intrinsically part of God’s joy-filled image, but we are not entirely like Him because we live as fallen humans. Hence, human joy is predisposed to fade away and not last. But there’s a divine joy that humans can receive which brings sustained emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. It is a joy that brings lasting happiness, inner peace, a state of grace, and all things good in life. For it is the Spirit who gives us the power of this divine joy to rejoice despite the circumstances and environment which depresses people to no end. The Spirit is the deposit of God’s Love and its fruits in humans.(Rom.5:5) Recall, man once lived in complete joy with his Maker, but the enemy took that away and severed that Loving relationship. (Gen.3) Through Adam’s fall that fullness of life in God’s presence was taken from man. But Jesus restored it by reconciling alienated man back to God. (John 3:16-17; 1 Cor.1:30, NLT) Now we have this ability to experience and share this beautiful fruit of joy which springs from God Himself through His Spirit.

Fruits of God’s Love. Be Joyful in Thanksgiving (Wiki Commons)

Peter outlines how this is made possible in humans, “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). Genuine thankfulness can only spring from a joyful heart where the Spirit has made His home in humans. (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19)

The only thing that can steal our joy is sin, just as it did with Adam and Eve. Therefore, when we follow God’s commands for us, joy is multiplied spontaneously and we become more gratuitous in our hearts because we are genetically wired to the Triune God as part of His kind (likeness). Because we live in Satan’s world which promotes depression and misery through sin, we get affected by it because of our fallen nature environmentally and through association. God knows this. So, He made a way of escape through His Son to forgive past, present, and future transgressions. Jesus died for us on the cross not only for past sins, but also for present and future transgressions. (You can read more about this aspect of human restoration by clicking: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8718)

God lives in joy and thankfulness and shares His way of life with us through His Son. Jesus’ role as man’s High Priest in heaven today makes our spiritual wholeness possible, and shows us we are brought into divine completeness with the Father always. There is every reason to rejoice and be filled with joy when we realize the enemy has no power over us through sin, but we exist in the Spirit in righteous living: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom.14:17). 

The Trinitarian Life of God Where Eternal Joy is a Way of Life (Wiki Commons)

Probably one of the shortest verses of the Bible says simply, “Rejoice always!” because God is that way Himself. (1 Thess.5:16) Paul’s encouraging word to us is, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit (Love)” (1 Thess.5:16-19). Joy, prayer, and thanksgiving should characterize the life of the Christian. We are warned to not quench Love, for these are the fruits of “Love deposited in our hearts through the Spirit” (Rom.5:5).  

The original pilgrims had come to a new world we have come to call America today. They escaped Europe to seek freedom from religious and political persecution and repression. And whether we realize it or not, we are all on the same pilgrim’s voyage of our own seeking freedom of a different kind. There is one word which defines the freedom the original pilgrims sought and the freedom we seek today. That word is joy! To live in a world free from religious and political persecution is to live in joy. Our pilgrimage today seeks a freedom from all kinds of personal and societal bondage which has been brought to bear upon us because of sin. Like the pilgrims of old, removing ourselves from this prison will bring us joy and celebration. This is true freedom and joy.

So, let us go and be truly thankful this Thanksgiving always aware gratitude has been made possible because we have been given the privilege to live in a place of joy in the “Triune Life”* with the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit.”

May you all have a happy and joyous Thanksgiving celebration with those you love and cherish.

If you have 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 this Thanksgiving and 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 a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It 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 you. 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) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036                        

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book,  “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

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

Note: All information is copy-write material. 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. Thank you.