Over 30 years ago the Lord spoke prophetically to Dr. Ray Young, the Founder of GRN, about the need for a Final Great Awakening; a mighty, global move of the Holy Spirit across the world that would cleanse and purify the Church, removing compromise and sin and separating the wheat from the chaff in the process. This same move of God would also help the Bride portion of the Church, the Five Wise Virgins of Jesus’ parable in Matthew Chapter 25, to finally make Herself ready for Her Soon and Coming King. As the Lord spoke to Dr. Young about the details of this final, mighty move of God, He outlined severed key aspects of the move that would make it unique and distinct from all previous outpourings.

THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WOULD BE CONSTANT AND "STEADY STATE"
As the Lord spoke to Dr. Young, the first thing that He said would be different about the Final Great Awakening would be that the anointing of the Holy Spirit would be STEADY STATE. What does that mean? Almost all New Testament Christians interact with the Holy Spirit as if they were living in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, before the cleansing Blood of Jesus Christ had been applied, the Holy Spirit could only come on an individual and rest on them for a brief period of time. The reason for this was that individuals, even if they loved the Lord and were trying to keep the Old Testament law were nonetheless impure and unholy, scarred and contaminated with sin. Samson is a classic example of this kind of anointing, as is King Saul. As long as either of them was under the influence of the Holy Spirit for a short period of time, their conduct was godly and the Lord was able to accomplish His Will through them. But the minute that the Spirit lifted off of them they were once again carnal and ungodly.

The breakthrough in the stalemate occurred at the Jordan River when John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Even though Jesus was his cousin, John the Baptist still had to be sure that He was truly the Messiah of Israel. The Lord specifically told him that when he saw the Spirit descend AND REMAIN on an individual, he would know without any doubt that the individual was the Messiah (John 1:29-36). The reason that the Holy Spirit could descend and remain on Jesus was really quite simple. Because He had been born of a Virgin, without a human father, He had not participated in the curse laid on all men since the Garden in Eden (Genesis 3:17-19). This curse, which Paul later refers to as the Law of Sin and Death (Romans 8:2, I Corinthians 15:56) had been transmitted from one human to another by means of the Male Y Chromosome. Every person born of a human father, both male and female, automatically participated in the Law of Sin and Death and, unfortunately, still will until the Resurrection. Only if a man could be born OF A WOMAN WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE TAINTED MALE Y CHROMOSOME could that person be BORN WITHOUT SIN. Thus the absolute necessity of the Virgin Birth. In order for the Spirit to finally rest on a human being again just like He had in the Garden before the Fall, it was necessary for a MAN TO BE BORN OF A VIRGIN BUT WITH GOD AS HIS FATHER. For this reason, the Holy Spirit could descend and REMAIN of Jesus after He came up out of the water. God the Father then confirmed Jesus as His Son to both Jesus and John the Baptist (Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22, John 1:33-34).

That was fine for Jesus Himself, but what about the rest of us? This is where the Shed Blood of Jesus Christ enters the picture. In and of ourselves, we are still sinful, carnal individuals. But now, in the New Covenant, established by the shedding of His Blood, a remarkable change has taken place in the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Believer. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit could descend and remain temporarily ON an individual, but could not reside WITHIN that individual because of the problem with Original Sin. Jesus, however, in the Gospels had promised the Disciples that even though the Holy Spirit was WITH THEM as they went out to minister and tell other that the Messiah had come, producing the signs, wonders and miracles and helping them to heal the sick and cast out demons, that once He had gone, the Spirit would COME AND DWELL INSIDE OF THEM! (John 14:16-17). That promise was initially and literally fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when the sound of a mighty rushing wind filled the Upper Room and the Disciples all were filled with the Holy Spirit as multiple (diverse) tongues of fire appeared on their heads, fulfilling what both John the Baptist and Jesus had said would take place (Matthew 3:11, Luke 12:49-50). From that point on, by utilizing the Blood of Jesus as a FILTERING, INSULATING and CLEANSING AGENT, the Holy Spirit could, in fact, actually RESIDE WITHIN A BELIEVER! This was a remarkable paradigm change in God’s relationship with man and should have initiated a remarkable change in the conduct of Believers everywhere. Sadly, it wasn’t long before the Church once again became bound in Old Testament legalistic theology, where works and not faith dominated the thought and conversation of the Body of Christ. During the Middle Ages, the Church had degenerated into a poor copy of the Jewish Law, with Priests controlling access to the Word and forbidding the Priesthood of ALL Believers. The Reformation began the gradual, painful, violent process of regaining the Spiritual ground that the Church had lost, but even after 500 years, we have still not come back to our original starting point in the Book of Acts for most of the Body of Christ.