Christian Soul Care Devotional
By Bill Gaultiere © 2008
I love to meditate on the Trinity! What sweet prayers come from contemplating the Godhead.
God is so good, so beautiful. To see God’s humility and sacrificial love is a most blessed experience. It changes everything about how we see ourselves and how we relate to God and one another.
My friends, we all long to be part of the Trinitarian community of love…
I invite you to join me in my Trinitarian prayer poem and gospel mediation. Let’s ponder together the glories of the One-in-Three and Three-in-One.
O Trinity!
O Trinity, you are One and you are Three;
You are the God who was and is and is to come.
You are our Lord and our Family,
Your kingdom is our home now and forever!
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Lord, your glory is awesome;
You shine like the sun in the heavens;
You light up the moon and the earth and the deep sea
And the faces of the upright in heart who look to you.
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You are perfect in holiness
And your love is everything we need;
You are the God of grace and truth:
In you righteousness and peace kiss!
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Your humility is winsome beyond compare:
How could it be?
That you would come to us with open heart!
That by your mercy we can live and thrive with you forever!
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Your Word is our only lifeline:
Spoken by patriarchs and prophets and psalmists,
Made flesh in Christ and then
Lived out by Christ’s apostles and disciples.
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O Trinity, we want to be your disciples!
Just as you, Jesus, were the Father’s disciple
We want to live and love and dance as your disciples.
Let your way of glorious, humble love be ours.
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Look at the Trinity in the Gospels
Back and forth the Three pass the glory, shining the spotlight on one another…
“Jesus is my beloved Son. Listen to him!” the Father thunders from heaven (Mark 9:7, PAR).
“Look to my Father. He is greater than all!” Jesus shouts out (John 10:29, PAR). “You can be forgiven if you speak against me, but make sure you never slander the Holy Spirit,” Jesus warns (Luke 12:10, PAR).
“Abba Father! Jesus is Lord!” the Holy Spirit cries out from deep within our hearts (Galatians 4:6, 1 Corinthians 12:3).
“Wait for the Holy Spirit to come. He’s the best gift of all!” Jesus promises (Acts 1:4-5, PAR).
And the beautiful humility of God doesn’t stop there! It’s amazing! Though our Creator is so grand and glorious that he alone is deserving of praise, he is also so humble as to bestow honor upon of you and I! And so the Psalmist marvels of God, “You stoop down to make me great” (Psalm 18:35).
The Father gives his glory to Jesus and Jesus gives his glory to us! (John 17:22). Our Master comes to serve us; our King is humble before us (Matthew 20:28, 21:5). Immanuel was born in a smelly barn, laid in an animal feeding trough, raised by a poor family in an tiny village, worked as an obscure carpenter, went into public ministry as a nomad, was rejected by friends and neighbors, and gave himself up to be crucified as a criminal. All so he could rise from the dead give God’s life to us!
O, to Dance and Delight in the Trinity!
We can dance in the “Father and Son intimacies”! We can delight in God’s “unforced rhythms of grace”! This is Jesus’ invitation to us (Matthew 11: 27, 29, MSG). That’s what it looks like to worship the Father, Son, and Spirit with who we truly are; to be a community that grows more and more in love with the Triune Lover of our souls; to serve the Three-in-One by caring for other people in need, just as the Three-in-One have ministered to us!
If we dance with the Trinity in this way then people will ask us, “What is it in your life that makes you so alive?” And we will have opportunity to give testimony to Christ and his kingdom (1 Peter 3:15).
Learn more about the importance of the Trinity to your spiritual formation in Christ… “The Hospitality of the Trinity” “Sing with the Trinity.”
The ministry of Soul Shepherding is to invite pastors and other ministry leaders into Trinitarian community. When a pastor has a safe place for soul care and intimacy with Jesus it empowers his or her ministry. You can help us shepherd the souls of pastors with your prayers or donations.
Bill Gaultiere, Ph.D. & Kristi Gaultiere, Psy.D. ~ http://www.soulshepherding.org
