Prayer: What It Is—and What It Isn’t | Discover How Christ Prays Within You

We’re talking about prayer. Galatians 4:6: The Spirit of His Son is such a beautiful, beautiful definition of Christ. Where is Christ’s Spirit, according to this? In your heart. And what is Christ’s Spirit doing? Sighing, “Abba, Father.” Now go back again to Romans 8:15: For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, “Abba, Father,” the Spirit itself bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Brethren, what spirit cries Abba, Father here? The spirit of adoption does. Now, it’s capitalized in the King James. Should it be capitalized? Thank you, brother. I don’t think so. I would not argue with you, but I don’t think so. The spirit of adoption, crying, whereby at least we know who does the crying. We cry. That’s why, to me, it must be the human spirit. We cry, Abba Father. And who cries in Galatians? Christ cries, but where is Christ crying? In our hearts. The Spirit of the Son…the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son…is in your heart crying Abba Father. At the same time, we are crying where? In the spirit of adoption, wherever that spirit is, we are crying Abba Father. Just a little bit more. We went over these verses before, but I have a feeling we need to go over them again.

Ephesians 6:17-18: And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in spirit; not in the Spirit, but in spirit. That has to be the human spirit. And watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Did you know that this passage of Scripture is an Old Testament quotation? You should know that. Didn’t anybody mark it down?

Zechariah 12:7-11:  The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the habitations of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication. And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his own son, his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness of his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great morning in Jerusalem, as in the morning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Midian.

Well, one more verse and then we will be bogged down enough to begin. The last verse in 2 Corinthians. Would somebody read that in a version other than King James? The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. The fellowship? Okay. Anything else? Well, the ‘Edwards’ version would probably say “the transportation of the Holy Spirit.” Well, let’s start with this verse. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Could you see God’s love turned into grace and transported into you? Or could you see God as love, Christ as grace, and the Holy Spirit as the transportation? If you can see that, then you can see what this passage is saying. God’s essence is transported to you just as a moving van moves something from one city to another. The Holy Spirit literally is the transportation. Of God to us. And what does he always transport? Grace is the correct answer. And love is the correct answer. But what is grace? And what is love?  All of this is Christ.

When we begin to realize what the Holy Spirit is doing, we get some real keys to this matter of prayer. God has a being, an essence. He is love. His love is expressed in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is transported into you as grace. Love becomes grace when it gets inside us, and it is transported by the Holy Spirit. He is the one who is in you.

God has said, “The hour and day will come that I will pour out upon my children grace and the spirit of grace and supplication.” God has driven to you the spirit of grace and supplication. How can I express this? God poured out something in you…put in you the Spirit. Then He names two things that don’t even sound alike. Think about it. He puts in grace. The Lord, like a surgical instrument, opens you up. And the day came when he poured out upon you the Spirit of grace and supplication. The Spirit of grace and supplication.

I should turn it around. He puts in you the Spirit. That Spirit is the Spirit of grace and supplication. Grace is something of the Lord Himself. His life, His essence, His Love.

But what does the grace do? Yes? I will give you the spirit. Let me say, “I will give you the automobile of going down the road and building.” Have you ever seen one of these cars that has been riding on the land and then …? “I will pour out to you an automobile of traveling and building. I will give you a spirit of grace and supplication.”

What is supplication? Prayer! I will give you grace, which is something of the nature of Christ, and what will that grace do? Praise the Lord, brother, that grace will pray, yes, but supplication is a high compound of prayer. It is deeper than prayer. I don’t think I can explain to you what it is. It is more than prayer, and all I can say is it is a supplication. It is a deep, deep prayer. That is supplication. It’s something very deep. It’s not light at all. You might say he was hurt, and then you might say he was crushed. That’s a deep form of being hurt. He was happy; he was beside himself with joy. That’s a deep kind of happiness. Supplication is a deep prayer.

The spirit within you is a spirit of grace and supplication. Now, in a minute, I trust that this will all fall into place. I think that Zechariah is so exciting in what it says. The Lord says, “In that hour and in that day, I will make the weak like David when I pour out the spirit of prayer and supplication.” Then what will the strong be like? I believe I’d better quote this. You might think I’m fibbing. “In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them in that day shall be as David.”

Now, what was David like? Was he feeble? No, we think of David slaying Goliath with a rock, but still, he was a pretty strong fellow to even throw a rock that hard. That’s what the feeble will be. What will the strong be? Read the rest of it, someone. “And the house of David shall be as God.” Wow. The feeble shall be as David, and the strong, those like David, shall be as God and the angels of God. When you touch this spirit, who is grace and supplication, if you’re feeble, you will be strong. I’m just bogged down here explaining that to you. “And if you’re strong, you will be as God.” Have you ever come, been so bushed, touched Christ, and walked away strong?