Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Today's Passage

2 Corinthians 2:10-11

...But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God... For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

We often overlook work of the Holy Spirit. The fact is that Holy Spirit is one entity of the Triune God. The true God we believe in has three different persons, and that's why when we baptize new believers we do it in the names of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When Lord Jesus was baptized, the three persons also showed up on Him. There's a sound from the heaven, the voice of Father God, that says "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." The Holy Spirit landed on Jesus like a dove, and the three persons appeared at the same time.

We believe in one and only true God, but He has three different persons. There are no differences in stature between the three distinct personalities, but rather they have different functions. They have the same nature, but functionally complement each other. Father God is the Creator, Designer and Planner; Jesus Christ is the one who executes the plan of salvation, and the Holy Spirit brings God's grace into the reality of our lives and He actually lives inside our heart and soul. Father God planned salvation and Jesus came to the world, died on the cross, resurrected from death and accomplished the work of salvation. Holy Spirit is the one who actually enters our hearts and brings all the abundance from God into our daily life. Therefore, Holy Spirit is actually the person of God who's most intimate with us.

So what is a person? A person has independent thoughts, mind and feelings. We can see from this scripture passage that the Holy Spirit is a God who can think, because He "searches all things, even the deep things of God," thus He really understand the thoughts and mind of God. 1 Corinthians 12:11 says that gifts of the Spirit are "the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines." Holy Spirit is also God of feelings, and He's often worried about our sins, and Romans 15 talks about the love of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is indeed an independent person with His own thoughts, mind and feelings. We need to come before God to exalt the true God who's three-in-one. May God help us to open our hearts to know Him, and to welcome Him to work in our lives.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we thank you because you are our God of abundance that is far beyond what we can imagine. Through the work of Holy Father, Son and Spirit, you have given us grace that is complete, so I ask that you once again open our hearts so that we may understand the mysteries of the spiritual matters. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!