When it comes to people, the "You in Me, I in You" riddle only makes sense when a physical person and a spiritual person are joined together. Let's say I have this special ability to move things with my mind, and I have used that power for the government for years and years. Now I'm old, about to die, and I'm about to leave the government with a hole that no one else can fill. Rather than just dying, I pass my spirit into my children, giving the government a handful of mental movers as long as my children learn how to connect to my spirit and learn the subtle nature of the connection. They would have to learn how to let me move things through them. It would be an interesting relationship, one that would require a lot of patience, listening, and submission. But in the end, it would be best for everyone. Simply put: I would be in my children, giving them my life and power. And my children would be an extension of me--my hands and feet, my branches. Now if my power came from a relationship with something else, like an alien spirit, then I would remain in connection with that spirit, but still give my spirit to my children, making a chain, like gears. The alien speaks to me, I speak to my children, things start moving, the government smiles. This is how the Godhead works, and it explains their unity. Look at these verses: Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. John 14:10 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. John 16:13-15 
Hold on a second? Neither of them speak on their own initiative? So if the Holy Spirit speaks, he is just saying what Jesus told him to say, and if Jesus is speaking, he is only saying what the Father told him to say? So if I hear from the Holy Spirit, ultimately I have just heard from the Father. It is a system called Glorification. In other words, the nature of the Godhead is to let the OTHER person be seen and heard. No wonder Jesus said, "Pray to the Father." The Father is the head of the chain. So how can we practically apply this ourselves? Where do we fit in the chain?
The Chain of Command
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I guess then we as believers are meant to be the next link in the chain, receiving orders through the Holy Spirit. Obedience to those orders means we will be Christ's (and therefore the Father's) hands on earth, and by doing His works, we will glorify Him.
I forgot to mention...that is so cool!! What an exciting purpose for life...to be united to God like that.
(from Rick Mugele)
Mother Teresa was asked if she talked to God. Her reply was no, she just listened. The next question was what did God say to her. Her reply was that God did not say anything . . . He just listened. While this all seems a bit cryptic, it does reflect the concept of being “all in all”. Individual egos do not speak, but all act according to what they hear as “one”.
The analogy of cogs does not allow for the individual will which blends with “the One” in perfect harmony. God does create us as individuals and we do make choices that influence who we are. If we try to take over and run the show, God withdraws and locks us out of Eden. If you develop your gifts, you “Enter into the joy of your lord.” (Matt. 25:23) Then ask yourself, what does it mean to enter into the joy of your lord?
Rick,
Great point about the cogs! Seriously. As we saw in Jesus, there was a conscious submission to His Father (Not my will, but yours be done), one that could have been rebelled against at any time (I could call 10,000 angels...). But where Eve failed, Jesus succeeded.
This is one of my favorite topics. Especially when it comes to our involvement with the trinity. I always like to picture it as a watch or something that has multiple parts, such as John's example. This helps when it comes to a muslim objection to the doctrine of the trinity. They outrightly object to the nature of Jesus because he could not be a God referring to himself, sending himself. They view it as three different gods. The watch thing helps because, by nature, a watch cannot work without the transferring different powers from place to place. God, by his nature, works in this form of Father, Son, Spirit. They work in that order, and Jesus clearly demonstrated this.
As to our involvement in it, I think of believers as the 4th and subservient member. We are not at all on the same plane as the Godhead, yet we are IN the process. God has unnecessarily allowed us to take part in this process by his will because we are friends of God, who are shown his purposes. It blows my mind that we are allowed to be used. Even as a mere vessel we are honored by it to the utmost.
As to our involvement, we (I believe) have free will, and are autonomous on our own, however useless. We as believers can obey the commandments, as a form of love, given to us from the H.S. from the Father, through Jesus. We can also not obey. Why else would God state that "if you love me you'll keep my commandments" if we didn't have the option of walking away? Rhetoric? I don't think so. It's a shame to think we've been given such will and power over our lives. But this goes back to another post about slavery doesn't it? we should all choose to give up, surrender, quit, what have you to the Will and commandments of God. There is no other way to cause any actual good in this world.
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