S4 E6: God is Personal

Season 4 of Spirit-Led Hope is covering the Doctrine of God, or theology, from a Spirit-led perspective. In this episode, Glenn teaches that God is personal. This means that we can have intimate relationship with God as seen through the lens of Jesus.

This episode has a transcript. If your podcast player does not support transcripts, please go to the Transcripts section of https://spiritledhope.com/ . These transcripts have been edited for accuracy and are typically of higher quality than those produced automatically by many podcast apps.

Season 4 is part of a long term goal to study systematic theology from a Spirit-led perspective. If you want to know more about systematic theology, or expand your study, Glenn is using the following text as a helpful framework to make sure the main topics are covered:  Foundations of Pentecostal Theology, by Guy P. Duffield and Nathaniel M. Van Cleave.  The book is published by Foursquare Media and Glenn is using the Second Edition published in 2016.       

Transcript

S4 E6 TRANSCRIPT 

GOD IS PERSONAL

INTRODUCTION

Hello everyone and welcome to Spirit-Led Hope. My name is Glenn Erichsen, and in this episode, we are looking at:

     GOD IS PERSONAL

I am going to begin this episode a little differently. Normally, I launch right into the topic and try to keep up a pretty good pace of teaching. But in this episode, I want to share how I go about deciding what material to cover in an episode. The reason I am doing this will soon become clear.

When I started doing the Spirit-Led Hope podcast a few years ago, I realized it would be hypocritical of me to teach about living a life led by the Holy Spirit if I was not doing that myself. And this podcast is a continuous example of one of the ways I try to follow the Holy Spirit. 

Each Season, I pray about the general topic we are going to cover. When I believe I have heard God’s heart, I then spend time studying in preparation. Once I have done some basic studying, I then pray about the topic for the first episode of the season, trusting that the Holy Spirit will give me the starting point. I do not make a season outline. I do not order the episode topics ahead of time…although I will sometimes jot down a few notes if I do not want to forget something. Or I may have a general sense of order that unfolds in more detail as the season progresses. 

But you will notice that I typically start out an episode by introducing the topic and at the end of the episode, I generally say what is coming in the next. The interesting part is that I normally do not know for sure what is coming next until I finish the current episode. I am often surprised at the direction the Holy Spirit decides to go. Knowing what comes next is generally a combination of my thinking in concert with the Holy Spirit. But there are times when I am simply obeying and following what the Holy Spirit says.

And that is the case for the start of this season, and the reason why I am beginning this episode by explaining my methodology. Looking back, I am fascinated by the direction the Holy Spirit has taken for this fourth season.

If it were up to me, I probably would have started out by talking about the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of God, followed by the Trinity. But that is not even close to what we have done.

In Episode 2 we looked at how God is knowable, and in Episode 3 how God is spirit, and we can connect with God at a spiritual level. In Episode 4 we discussed the goodness of God, and in Episode 5 how all of God’s attributes, like his goodness, are always in operation. And not only that, but God wants us to have many of his character attributes all the time.

When I look at these first episodes, it jumps out at me that Season 4 has started out by stressing relationship with God. We can have relationship with God because he created us as spiritual beings. We can know him, and approach him, because he is good. And we can run to him, even when we mess up, because his attributes, like goodness, are always present.

If we would have started out my way, I am pretty sure this Season would have felt like more of an intellectual exercise. Instead, I believe God wants us to see that these episodes are an invitation to a deeper relationship with God. And that is certainly the case as we now dig into this episode where we discuss that God is personal.

GOD IS A PERSON

When we say that God is personal, you might quickly wonder if God is a person. I mean, how can you be personal, if you are not a person? And yet, we might struggle with calling God a person because, to us, we equate a person with a human. And that creates all sorts of questions because we already covered in Episode 3 that God is spirit and clearly not a human. However, we also know that Jesus came to earth fully God and fully human. And by now, our heads are spinning, and we do not know what to think!

Well, we are not the first people to grapple with this issue, and so we turn to the theologians who have solved the problem for us. Theologians have come up with a definition of what it means to be a person, and we can then compare that definition to God and see if it fits. 

This is how Duffield and Van Cleave define a person in their book, “Foundations of Pentecostal Theology:”

“A personal being possesses self-consciousness, intellect, feeling, and will.”

Other theologians might use similar terms and say that a person is a rational being with self-awareness, emotions, a mind and intellect…or some combination of descriptive words like that.

Now that we have a definition of a person, does God’s revelation of himself fit that definition? Let us look at a few of these items and start with self-consciousness or self-awareness. A great example where God shows self-awareness takes place when Moses sees the burning bush. God speaks out of the fire and reveals to Moses, get this, his personal name. And this name shows that not only is God aware of himself, but it shows that he wants relationship with us. Here is the account from Exodus 3:13,14:

Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name? ’ what should I tell them? God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

Exodus 3:13,14

Every time I read those verses I am fascinated by the power and simplicity of the name God gave us for himself. He could have said something like, “I am Creator,” or some other expression like, “I am the powerful Oz!” Right?

Instead, he provides a word which is generally translated as “I AM WHO I AM,” or “I AM.” And this makes total sense because he is eternal and has always existed. There is nothing to compare him to. He is who he is. He is the ultimate example of self-awareness because he has always been.

And yet…he gives us a name by which we can know him. Now, in other verses, God gives us other names that reveal more of his nature and character. But what we see in these verses is that he is not only aware of himself, but aware of us. He shows us that he knows we want to know who he is and more about him. He does that all with a simple declaration of his name.

Now that we know that God has self-awareness, what about a mind or intellect? Let us read Isaiah 55:8,9:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the LORD’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8,9 CSB

This is just one example where Scripture explicitly talks about God having an intellect and the ability to reason through thinking. The verse also states that God’s intellect and ability to think is way beyond ours. If you want to see an expansion of that reality, do some self-study and read a few chapters in Job starting at chapter 38. God quickly demonstrates that the mind of man is not even close to his.

So now we have seen that God has self-consciousness and an intellect. What about feelings or emotions? Here is an interesting thing…I think most people accept that God has emotions. Believers and non-believers alike have heard John 3:16 quoted which says that God loves the world. By most measures, love is the most sought after feeling or emotion and God is said to have it.

I also find it interesting that many people reject God because they believe the God of the Bible is an angry God. Or that God is mad at them. Now both of these views are incorrect and limited. But anyone with this perspective does show an understanding that God has emotions. 

In the same way, most people understand that God has a will and freedom to choose. For example, God chose to create the universe. He chose the Israelites as his people. God made a plan to redeem us through Jesus…and by the way, Jesus himself submitted to the will of the Father. In Scripture we can find many examples of God’s sovereignty and free will.

When we look at these factors (self-consciousness, intellect, feelings, and will), it is easy to see that God is a person. And this seems not surprising because we are made in the image of God. But we do need to be careful and not make God in our image. In other words, we are human, and God is not. But when it comes to being personal, this is one of the characteristics that we share in as image bearers of God.

JESUS IS THE SUPREME EXAMPLE OF GOD’S PERSONAL NATURE

We just looked at a few verses and examples that show the personal nature of God. But the best way, and you may have already thought about this…the best way to do this is to look at Jesus. As a human, Jesus fully demonstrated to us the personal nature of God.

Jesus, still fully God, chose to humble himself as a human for our benefit. Here is how the Apostle Paul expressed what Jesus did:

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death--even to death on a cross.

Philippians 2:5-8 CSB

Through this verse, we see that Jesus took on the likeness of humanity. But the writer of Hebrews also emphasized that we see God’s personal nature through this humanity. Here is what we read in Hebrews:

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Hebrews 1:1-3 CSB

If Jesus is the exact expression of God’s nature, and Jesus is personal, then through Jesus we can see the Personhood of God and how he relates to us. And it is breath-taking.

Think of what we know about Jesus as a person and then view God through the lens of Jesus. All through the gospels, we read how Jesus personally related to the people. That shows us how God relates to us.

For example, if we struggle with sin, think of how Jesus treated the woman at the well. He did not shy away from calling out her sin, but he met her where she was and revealed himself to her. That is how God personally relates to us. He wants us to walk free of sin and worship him in spirit and in truth. He wants us to drink from living water. That is what he did for the woman at the well.  

Or think about Jesus and how he wanted the children to come to him. God the Father is the same way…he wants us to come to him. He does not want an impersonal relationship, but one that is intimate and close.

Or when Jesus was sleeping in the boat during a storm. The disciples were terrified, but Jesus got up and calmed the storm. If we face storms in life, we know that God is personally with us and has the power to get us through it.

And of course, on the cross, Jesus showed us God’s great love for us. Jesus broke the barriers of sin and shame so that we could have a personal relationship with a personal God. In fact, our relationship with God is so personal that he lives within us…you cannot get more personal than that.

THE BIG TAKEAWAY

The main point in this episode is very simple. God is personal. He is not like some sci-fi alien creature with whom relationship is impossible. We can relate to God as a person, and this is easiest to see through Jesus.

Now, it is true that we can never fully understand God. His ways are so far beyond ours that we have no hope of ever grasping his depth and magnitude. Even in heaven, we will still be created finite beings, incapable of ever fully knowing him. 

But that is okay. Even though we do not fully understand him, he understands us. We can relate to God as deeply as we wish and are able. Any limitations to relationship with God are on our side, not his.

From a Spirit-led perspective, all of this is great news. The Holy Spirit is God, and so the Holy Spirit is personal. Because of this, our relationship with the Holy Spirit is not weird or spooky. But it is intimate, challenging, and satisfying…just as if we were spending time with Jesus.

CLOSING

In the next episode, we are going to look at some of the names of God…which I briefly hinted at earlier in the episode.

As always, you can send me comments, suggestions, or questions, by email at glenn@spiritledhope.com, or simply use the Contact Form at spiritledhope.com. That is spiritLEDhope.com. You can also send me a one-way text message by going to the episode show notes and clicking on the link with your smart phone. This is one of the ways you can encourage me.

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Because God is personal…

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Until the next episode, take care.

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