THE SPIRIT OF GRACE

Few days ago, while studying the Book of Hebrews, the Lord opened my eyes to the phrase ‘the Spirit of grace’ in Hebrews 10:29. I had often read and even preached on this portion of Scripture. But I never saw it in the light of this revelation. I never really understood what it meant in essence for the Holy Spirit to be called the Spirit of grace. I never really considered His association with grace. What a exciting moment I had when the Lord opened my eyes to see by revelation what it meant.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace. That means the Holy Spirit is personally responsible for administering the manifold dimensions of God’s grace released through Jesus Christ to everyone on earth. The Holy Spirit is the One Who sees to it that your life is full of grace. He ensures it. He takes personal responsibility for it. He looks out for opportunities to impart grace to anyone in need of it. The Holy Spirit Himself is gracious – full of grace. The Holy Spirit is the only Person who knows everything about you – your weaknesses, short comings, sins, faults, deficiencies etc. – but still identifies with you as a friend. He never gives up on you. He stands by you to help you stand firm. He comforts you when you’re hurting. He takes personal responsibility for your welfare. This is amazing! The lack of the influence of the Holy Spirit in your life is the lack of grace in your life. The ministry of the Holy Spirit to the Believer and non believer is the ministry of grace. If we sin, He helps us draw near to the Lord for His forgiveness and He helps us repent instead of running away from the Lord. The Holy Spirit helps us receive the fullness of God’s grace. John 1:16 says “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” But all these would only happen if you let Him. He never forces Himself on anyone.

So what is Grace? Grace is so vast that I will attempt to give just three Scriptural definitions of grace:

1. Grace is Unmerited favour – receiving what we do not deserve.
2. Grace is Divine empowerment – the Anointing
3. Grace is The outward working of an inward ability – Manifesting The Blessing.

Anywhere you see the word ‘grace’ in Scripture, you equally see the activity of the Holy Spirit. I discovered that grace is the biggest thing God can give to a man here on earth. We are saved by grace and still keep on receiving grace in our daily Christian life. The Lord never runs short of grace and we can never survive on earth without grace just as much as we can never get to a point in life where we wouldn’t need grace anymore. In II Cor. 12:9, the Lord said to Paul “…My grace is sufficient for thee…” The word ‘sufficient’ here means ‘surplus’. That means God’s grace was all Paul needed even in His desperate moment. Many believers do not know how to receive more grace from the Lord. Many believers don’t experience grace in their daily walk. Many believers simply live a graceless life. All these happen when we don’t invest in our fellowship with the Spirit of grace. We need grace to love, we need grace to serve, we need grace to minister to the Lord and to men, we need grace to relate with people, we need grace to live the Christian life, we need grace to win the lost, we need grace to pray, etc. When we lack the understanding of the grace supplied to us by the Spirit of grace, we end up struggling in our own limited human effort. Ain’t you tired of struggling? Ain’t you tired of living a life of trying to make everything work? Ain’t you tired of living a life void of grace? This is the time to identify with the Spirit of grace. He has a ministry in your life. Make room for Him. Let Him take the wheel. Surrender totally to Him because He knows your past, present and future – He knows the way to your destination!

Whenever I think of what is happening all over the world and how the Lord’s coming is at hand, I thank God that I have the Holy Spirit. I am comforted by the knowledge of His presence in my life. This is because no one can live right in this last days and corrupt age without the help of the Holy Spirit. No! This is the worst time to trust in your human ability. My hope of not missing heaven is not in my good works but in the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life because He is my standby! He’d see to it that I stand strong and firm till the Lord arrives. Glory to God! The Holy Spirit cares for you and wants to minister God’s grace released by Christ into your life. He wants to invade your life with grace. Zachariah 4:6 says “…This [is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel (you and me), saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”

The Lord says this is our Season of Grace. Well, this could sound familiar and ordinary because we are so use to the word ‘grace’. However, I believe this is a deeper dimension. We are going to experience, in reality, the wonders of God’s grace starting from this very year, even now! It is not just the year of grace but The Season of Grace for us. The Lord works in times and seasons not clocks and calendars. Psalms 102:13 says “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.” II Corinthians 9:8 says “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:” It’s a season of rest for us. We have come into our rest and we have ceased from our labours! It is called the rest of faith. Glory to God! HAPPY NEW SEASON!