Relentless Pursuit

 Jesus, a living, breathing, all-powerful, and innocent man was sent to earth and lived a perfect life (1 Peter 1: 18-19). As he lived out the essence and attributes of God through the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was able to overcome the enemy through obedience, trust, and full surrender (John 5:19). The Holy Spirit is an explicit person of the trinity, as well as equally significant and powerful in His divinity in accordance with the holy triad (Matthew 28:19). The Father sent Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, to complete the prophetic work on the cross (1 Peter 1:19). Holding the equality of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit illuminates and displays the same attributes of the trinity – all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere at the same time (1 Corinthians 2: 10-11, Hebrews 9:14). 

The Holy Spirit is magnified in the picture of the tabernacle, surrounding a holding space called the “holy of holies”, as only the high priest was allowed to commune with God (Exodus 26:33). As believers, we are now the center of the tabernacle, where the Spirit of the living God lives, breathes, and resides in (1 Corinthians 3: 16-17). In both the Old and New Testament, we see the extravagance, majesty, and glory of Christ demonstrated in Exodus on Mount Sinai as the Holy Spirit appears through clouds and fire (Exodus 20:18). This story illustrates how in perfect union, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have created the covenantal promise with the people of Israel through the ten commandments (1 Corinthians 8:6). The Spirit has played a role in God’s work throughout history first in the creation account, second through empowering believers, and thirdly by being a catalyst in prophetic occurrences (Genesis 1:2, Exodus 31:3, Nehemiah 9:30). I believe that the Holy Spirit was sent to draw us near to Christ, to convict us, and to stir in us (Acts, 1:8, John 16:8). As believers, we cannot do God’s work without the empowering of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2).

The Holy Spirit is always God’s active presence within the world and in all places (Matthew 3: 11-17). Prior to Jesus ascending into heaven, believers did not have access to the Holy Spirit and an invitation to be in right relationship with the Father (John 16: 5-7). The Holy Spirit is revealed through speaking, interceding, reminding, deciding, and by grieving with us. All the work of the Holy Spirit can be encapsulated into one sentence: so that Christ may be glorified (John 14: 12-13). Through this glorification, the gifts of the Spirit will be demonstrated through casting out demons, raising people from the dead, through healing others, and ultimately by offering himself on the cross (Matthew 8:16, John 11: 43-44, Luke 4:40, Luke 23:46).We are empowered through the Holy Spirit, to minister to others and to share the gospel globally to our brothers and sisters in Christ (Act 1:8). I believe that the spiritual gifts mentioned above are continually happening and have not ceased, although, many of the miraculous gifts are not as prominently and frequently demonstrated  in the present day. One may believe that to have salvation, one must exemplify miraculous gifts, such as speaking in tongues. Paul defends this argument in 1 Corinthians 12 as he states that all may not speak in tongues, and to say that one is converted solely on this act is to take away the judgment of the Father who holds the ultimate and supreme authority (James 4:12).