He, The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Grace and supplication. He brings conviction then shows favour to the convicted ones heart so they can respond, He is also the Spirit of supplication, causing words to rise up in the sinners heart in order to become right with a Holy God!
ZEC 12:10
10 i"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will jlook on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him kas one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. [1]
What wonderful grace, what a wonderful God we serve!
ROMANS 3
23 For all have sinned; all fall short of the Glory of God. 24 Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. 25 For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. 26 And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.[2]
The Spirit of Grace & Supplication wants us to move from the darkness of the world we live in, and into the realm of Glory where he lives. Or put another way he wants us to return to the Glory we had in Adam before the fall.
God removed man from the garden where the manifest presence of God was dwelling and because of Adams sin placed him outside the manifest Glory, and barred the way with flaming swords!
In order to direct man outside of this environment, God provided anointing or unction’s of the Holy Spirit. For example without anointing the priest would not be able to stand in the Holy place. The anointing provided a covering of grace that enabled the priest to stand and not die in the holy place
When we come to Jesus we move, (through the blood) back into the Garden (Glory) we do this by faith and in response to the Spirit of Grace and supplication. The reason many never enter this place of Glory is that they continually try to earn their passage back into the Garden by doing works or acts of piety. The truth is, we will never earn our right of passage back into the Glory. As it says in Romans "For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us"
There is nothing there about us paying a price, its all about Him paying the price.
The Lord wants us to move beyond hope and into substance. We all hope for the manifest presence of God, but today he tells us to walk in its substance.
I love the way in meetings that the Holy Spirit moves on those, who the religious would deem as unworthy or not quite right. A few years ago I can remember the Lord moved powerfully in a meeting in a very religious Church, he seemed to hone in on the ones who the church had regarded as fringe members, every one who the Church despised received a great measure of grace and supplication. I think the Holy Spirit was making a point.
Recently in a meeting in Australia a young boy who had been running around the room like a blowfly much to the concern of the religious, was suddenly captured by the Spirit of Grace and transported to Heaven. He came back a different boy. Again the Holy Spirit was demonstrating that no amount of penance would bring the people of the meeting into the manifest presence of God, but the Spirit of Grace and supplication was able to carry the boy beyond his wildest expectation.
The one thing we have to grasp to move into the garden is a revelation of the Grace of God!
It is Grace Manifest in a Spirit of supplication that propels us into," a living in the Garden (Glory) mindset" Taking us from a Hope into the substance and weight of Gods Glory.
The reason we struggle to gain a "living in the Garden "mindset is that we see God from a one dimensional viewpoint.
For example we see him as Savior but in our one dimensional thinking we cant get beyond our own sin to see the substance of his salvation unless the Spirit of Grace and supplication is active.
In the same way we don’t enter into the fullness of his glory because we are overwhelmed by his Holiness, unless we seek the aid of the Spirit of grace we will remain earth bound and outside the garden.
Why don’t we perceive the Glory? Because generally we live in our souls, not in the realm of the Spirit of Grace. In other words we live in the touch not, taste not, if I don’t feel it its not real realm. The Lord wants us to move from hope into substance,
I believe that alot of the Hope that we dwell in is not hope at all but rather wishful thinking. We have to trust the Spirit of Grace to carry us higher into the realms of Glory. Jesus only did what he heard the Father say in heaven, He moved out of a must please the Father so will work mindset, into a reliance upon the Spirit of Grace to reveal the words of the Father.
The words of the Father are spoken in the realm of Glory, but when perceived in the realm of time and accepted by faith, and called into being in a Spirit of supplication the invisible realm become visible in time.
For example the disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t perceive who they were talking to because he looked different. But the moment the Spirit of Grace opened their eyes they saw the full glory of who he was. Interestingly they said that even when they talked to him but didn’t recognize him that their hearts burned within them.
This is where most Christians dwell, they feel something burning within, an anointing or unction, but they don’t seek the Spirit of Grace to release the full glory of what they feel. They see the flaming sword outside the garden and it stirs their soul, but they dont seek leave from the Spirit of Grace to enter the greater glory of the Garden.
Living in the soul realm but never entering the Glory. We can describe the things we are feeling, but we can’t always see what is happening.
There is much more glory yet to be revealed. But our souls won’t let us move into the Spirit to receive it. We call ourselves Pentecostals but when the Spirit moves and He takes us outside our comfort zone our Souls pull us back.
Take this small test.
1) Your name is Phillip you are preaching the Gospel and seeing results, you feel the anointing and souls are being saved, then the Holy Spirit starts dematerializing you in order to transfer you by translation to another place in time. How do you react?
2) Your name is Peter, you are sitting on a rooftop in prayer, you feel the warmth of his presence and anointing upon you, then you feel yourself slipping into a trance and an open vision starts to appear before you. How do you react?
3) Your name is Paul you are waiting on the Lord, suddenly you find yourself slipping into the Third heaven How do you react?
4) Your name is Silas, you are praising the Lord even in the midst of your circumstances, suddenly there is an Angel right in front of you setting you free, How do you react?
5) Your name is Thomas, you are in a prayer meeting, the door is locked, when suddenly Jesus walks through the wall. How do you react?
If you feel slightly uncomfortable accepting that these supernatural events are just more than something that happened to theses men, but could and do happen in the earth right now, then you need to repent and move out of your soul and into the Spirit of Glory.
The truth is that "Pentecostals" accept on the surface the Spirit of Glory and Might, but when it comes to the crunch, many draw back when He opens a door of Glory. Fear rule which is in the realm of the soul, the Spirit of Grace and supplication wants to move the 21st century Pentecostals into faith which is in the realm of the Spirit.
We are living in exciting days, the Church in the developing world is moving in this glory without hesitation, because they see that He is in it. In the west we need to get out of the soul realm. Away from head knowledge which limits God. A greater glory waits!
Start believing for and seeking. Translation, Raising from the dead anointing, Angelic assistance, Visions and dreams, Signs and wonders like Gold silver and oil. Third heaven experiences, fire and Glory , after all you are a Pentecostal aren’t you? So why are you feeling uncomfortable? repent and ask the Spirit of Grace and supplication to fall on you afresh!
* Ian Johnson is Senior Pasor of Papatoetoe Elim Church in Auckland New Zealand www.papelim.org.nz He is Founder of His Amazing Glory Ministries a New Zealand based Glory ministry seeking to challenge and inspire the body of Christ into the fullness of Glory, to foster a heart for harvet and end time revival. you can contact us at info@papelim.org.nz *
