The Anointing

Intro:

Last time I shared with you about the Call of God. How the call of God is a call to him. The outward working of the call can express itself in many different ways. It could be in vocational ministry full time or part time, but that it could also be in the corporate world. The baseline of the teaching was that we are all called by God.

Tonight, I want to talk with you about a vital necessity to fulfill the call of God. To fulfill the call of God on our lives we need the anointing.

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What is the anointing?

(Give time for a response)

The Anointing is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. It enables the believer to understand, apply, and administer spiritual truth. The presence of The Anointing enables believers to have a spiritual connection, and operate in divine power.

To anoint meant to set someone apart. To authorize and equip him or her for a task of spiritual importance.

The anointing is a simple thing! It is the power of God activated in a person’s life when they believe. Isaiah 10:27 says, “The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.” Another word for yoke is chain. The anointing destroys bondages, chains, and anything the enemy tries to place on us. It has the potential to change everything in and around us! But it will not set us free from the works of darkness if we don’t understand how to activate it.

Examples of anointed ones in the bible:

Moses was anointed to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Moses anointed the priest for temple ministry.

Saul and David were anointed by the prophet Samuel to rule as kings of Israel.

Elijah anointed Elisha as prophet.

Jesus was anointed by the Spirit after his baptism by John.

The Apostles were anointed by the Spirit in Acts 2.

The Anointing equips us for Christian service because it enables us to minster to others. Just like prophets, priests and kings were anointed in the Old Testament to serve God’s purposes in history, the anointing provided by the Holy Spirit gives believers the ability to do what we were created to do for His glory.

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Where does the anointing come from?

1. God Does the Anointing

It is God who anoints the believer with His Holy Spirit. We do not anoint ourselves. It is entirely a work of God.

2. The anointing of the Spirit comes only as a result of personal intimacy with God.

Acts 4:13–14 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.”

It is the vertical lifestyle. To have anointing in ministry our focus has to be vertical. The vertical nature of our relationship is to God, the horizontal is the ministry to others about God.

Jesus in the Lords prayer models for us that the focus of our gaze needs to be vertical first. Matthew 6:9–10 “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.”

Before we go outward in ministry we must first position ourselves upward. Our personal upward worship before the Lord sets the stage for what happens horizontally in ministry. Think about it..How can we model heaven on the earth if our gaze is fixed horizontal?

“If we place relevance before presence we will miss the power of heaven.”

We must learn to minister to him, before minister to people. Ministering to the Lord first safeguards the heart. It is possible to be swayed by the room. The lights, the glitz, the glam, the size of the crowd, etc. Our eyes fixed upward helps us to realize that it is not about us. The anointing that we flow in is not our own. It was given to us by the anointed one.

Christ is the anointed one. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Our ability to do all things is the result of Christ the anointed one and His anointing in us.

When God anoints you, it’s for you to do something, say something, accomplish something. This anointing is for the purposes of God. It isn’t for our own edification. It also has nothing to do with your intelligence, your skills, or your talent.

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What the anointing is not:

The anointing cannot be manufactured or faked.

Charisma is not anointing.

Good leadership savvy is not anointing.

The anointing is not given to enable us to dominate, dictate, or to push our own agenda. It is to empower the individual for the assignment they have been given by the Lord.

2 Corinthians 13:10 “Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction.”

The anointing is not for sale.

Acts 8:18–24 “And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.””

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How do we walk in the anointing of God?

The Anointing requires intimate fellowship with God through the practice of abiding. You’ve got to be close in contact with God.

You must walk in the love of God. We can’t be in opposition to one another, back biting, sowing strife, and expect to walk in the power of the anointing. The operation of the fleshly nature will not produce spiritual power.

You must walk in obedience to the truth, and conform your life to it. What you hear from the Lord you must obey. If the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, He will not operate in an environment where there is no truth at work. If you are operating in a lie – worldly wisdom that does not agree with God’s truth – then The Anointing won’t work in you.

In order for anointing to flow, you must be in alignment with the will of God. It should go without saying that it is God’s will that you fulfill your purpose. It’s what you were created to do and who you are supposed to become.

When we are out of alignment with God’s will we experience issues as well. We wont be able to properly bear fruit. We must understand that the fruits of the spirit don’t flow in dysfunction.

For example: When you are out of alignment with God’s will you may end up lacking self control. Self-control is the exercise of restraint over one’s own impulses, emotions, or desires. When someone lacks self-control, they are unable to prevent themselves from doing something they don’t want to do or from feeling something they don’t want to feel, especially when they’re tempted. They have little to no self-discipline, will-power, composure, or self-restraint.

The anointing must be activated through faith.

Terms such as the anointing, the power of God, and the Holy Spirit are often used interchangeably. God’s power is always present, but it only manifests when people exercise their faith. It is faith that activates the anointing. We see an example of this in the story of the paralytic in Luke chapter 5.

LUKE 5:17–20 (NIV)

17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.

18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.

19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

The power of God was present to heal everyone there that day. But the anointing wasn’t activated until Jesus saw faith!

God’s power is always present, but it only manifests when people exercise their faith.

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There is a difference between corporate and personal anointing.

It is possible for you to function under someone else’s anointing and see breakthroughs that you cannot repeat on your own.

Example Dan Palmer, Jayme Montera,

Disciples apart from Jesus after the mount of transfiguration,

example is seeing freedoms and breakthroughs because someone else is there, but when you go to pray nothing happens.

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The Anointing in Us

The anointing comes upon us through intimacy and the vertical lifestyle, but its purpose is to help us be effective in the horizontal.

God’s anointing gives you the authority to do the work of your purpose and it teaches and equips you to do the work your purpose requires—work that you cannot otherwise do on your own strength. The anointing gives you access to supernatural power to do the work of your God given purpose.

1 John 2:20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 1 John 2:27 “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

The anointing is in us to teach, lead, and guide us. It helps us do what the Word tells us to do and that is to walk in love!

The anointing also strengthens us. Romans 8:11 says, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” It was the power of God—or the anointing—that raised Christ from the dead. That same power dwells in us to strengthen our mortal bodies. That quickening power gives us strength when we lack the energy to accomplish what we need to.

The anointing upon us is for ministering to others. God didn’t intend for us to minister in our own strength and ability. The anointing is the equipment He gives us to fulfill our calling.

We can say what Jesus said in Luke 4:18 (NKJV), “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” What has God anointed each of us to do? To share the Gospel to those around us and set the captives free.

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What hinders the anointing?

God doesn’t flow in bickering, jealousy, and complaining. Lack of intimacy, disobedience, anger, the works of the flesh, gossip, and comparison.

Further Study and Examples of individuals anointed by God for their assignments.

People:

Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, Saul, David, Gideon, Samson, Jesus, Saul (Paul) and The Apostles.

Scripture References:

James 5:14. 2 Corinthians 1:21–22 . 1 John 2:20. 1 John 2:27. Acts 4:8. Acts 10:38. Daniel 9:25–26. Luke 4:18–21. Isaiah 61:1–3. Hebrews 1:9. 2 Samuel 23:1–2. Acts 5:30–32. Acts 6:3–4. Acts 7:51–60. Acts 9:1-6, 17-18, 22. Acts 10:19–20.