Characteristics of the End-Time Anointing
In the last days, God is going to rise up people of power who will operate in the supernatural power of God’s Spirit. They are going to be people who are different to anyone who has ever lived before.
For every season and for every time, God has something for the particular generation that lives in that season of time. This last generation is the greatest generation that has ever lived. We who are alive in these last days are different to the saints of God that have passed on.
Paul spoke about two different kinds of people when Jesus returns. He tells us of those who died before He returns and those who are alive when He returns.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 - For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
We are told to encourage each other with this passage of the Word. We can already see the world becoming a dangerous and uncertain place to live in. The Bible warns that many will die prematurely because they will be overcome by fear when they see what is happening.
Today, these things are happening before our eyes, such as nations going bankrupt, wars and uprisings breaking out everywhere, famine, earthquakes and tsunamis, and much more.
But God wants His anointed men and women to have a Spirit of faith and power. When we see these things come to pass as each day goes by, we need to encourage one another, because it is an indication that God will raise the present generation in power.
In the past, God imparted an anointing for specific people and for specific peoples. The anointing that is coming upon the church in the last days is different to the anointing that has been on any other generation before.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 - To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.
For every season and for every time there is an anointing commensurate with that season and for every season God has a plan for those people that are alive at that time. If we are to believe the signs of the end times as taught by Jesus, this present generation is probably the last generation before we see Jesus return. If you are a child of God, this is the most exciting time to be alive.
Luke 21:32 - Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.
True believers must make wise choices today. Foolish believers will not prepare themselves and will not place a demand on God for a fresh anointing upon their lives so that they can prepare themselves for the things that are about to manifest on the earth.
A wise choice is to seek for a fresh outpouring of God upon our lives. Foolish Christians do not become more holy and more like the Lord but wise Christians are those that place a demand on the Spirit of God so that they can be anointed for God’s end-time plans and purposes. God’s people need to be battle ready.
Nothing catches God by surprise. These are exciting times and that is why Paul tells us to encourage one another with these end-time promises. Everything is in God’s master plan and He has already set things in order. He told His prophets thousands of years ago what is going to happen in these end times.
We can make a wise choice by aligning and positioning ourselves with the purposes of God. We must put off all foolish thoughts and foolish deeds and start embracing God in His full manifestation.
In the past God used different people for different Kingdom purposes on the earth. God has used events and instances in history to build up His Kingdom. We are living in the pen-ultimate time that God has planned for His people. The earth is the Lord’s and this is the place He has chosen for His habitation.
Job 19:25 - For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth. - Job 19:25
God is not in a hurry. There is still a lot that needs to happen before God establishes His Kingdom. But the important thing is that we are living in unique times and we should embrace God’s purposes for this generation and work with Him. Only God knows the final outcome of everything. All we need to know is that God wants to use us and that He is willing to empower us uniquely with His Spirit so that we can produce unique things in our generation.
The anointing is simply the Spirit of God that empowers us to perform a specific task and there are specific things that God has for us in the last days and He is going to anoint us for those specific tasks. There are unknown things that we are going to face in the coming days and we are only going to make it if we are anointed for those plans.
If we as the church of the living God can discern the times and understand what the Spirit is saying to the church, we can make our imperfect vessels available to God and ask Him to fill us with that anointing so that we can work with God and not against Him.
History has shown that Christians can work against the purposes of God because they are not ready for change. There are Christian leaders and other believers in the last days that are going to unknowingly work against God’s plans because they have not searched out the things of God. They are going to do it ignorantly.
If we miss God in these last days, He is going to use somebody else who is anointed and enlightened to His plans. We need to have eyes that are open, minds that are renewed through prophetic understanding, and hearts that are willing to be flexible to what God is doing. He wants us to look for His move which will not be packaged in the way we think it will be. He wants us to be ready for this outpouring and when it comes we are going to recognize it, no matter how it is packaged.
The Bible teaches that it is the anointing that breaks the power of the devil and your testimony overcomes him.
Isaiah 10:27 - It shall come to pass in that day That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.
The Bible says the wicked are going to become more wicked in the last days. The only thing that is going to come up against Satan’s wickedness and power is the anointing of the Holy Spirit on your life. You will never be able to take him on without the anointing and you will not be able to defeat him with yesterday’s anointing. The anointing that you received yesterday will not take you through the battle today. God wants us to have fresh fire in us and on us.
We need an outpouring of God’s Spirit and need to be endued with power from on high. We need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit to be able to do what needs to be done and to be able to come against the assignments of Satan. He respects the anointing.
Positioning is very important. We either position ourselves towards God’s purposes or Satan’s purposes. If we are not positioning ourselves for God’s purposes, we will be destroyed. We will get nowhere if our focus and priorities are not on God.
There is urgency today for God’s people to seek Him with everything they have and to be ready to flow with the coming move of the Spirit. Do not be caught without the oil of the Holy Spirit. This coming move of God is going to be such that if you do not position yourself spiritually, you are going to miss it.If you do not understand what God is doing in the last days, when it comes you will not know that it has come. I have been saying this for many years and we must be ready, I believe that the church of Jesus Christ must stop playing with the world because there is no place for that anymore.
There is no place for playing around with the devil and there is no place for experimenting with sin. Now is the time to search out the things of God according to the Word and live by it. It is not always a popular word but it is a message of encouragement and we do not have to compromise. You can live a sold-out life for Jesus which is the best life that you can ever live. We must be ready today. We cannot be ready tomorrow because that is going to be too late. We have to be on fire for God today.
There are ten characteristics of the anointing that God is pouring out on His people in the last days.
1. The anointing through unity
Psalm 133:1-3 - A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing- Life forevermore.
There is an anointing that is going to unite the church. Those that speak the same things and believe the same things as revealed today are the ones who are going to be the wise church of Jesus Christ in the last days. Others are going to fall away and will no longer exist. There is a call for unity in the last days and to seek relationships with those who are like-minded so that we can access this anointing that will unite a divided body.
Can you imagine the power of the church when it becomes united? The church will be strong and will emerge as a formidable army that will be unstoppable in the coming days. It is going to be a church that is going to love the Bridegroom and will gather together for no other reason than its genuine love for Jesus.
2. The anointing of the Bridegroom
The second characteristic in the last days is that we are going to have the anointing of the Bridegroom. The bride will have the anointing of the Bridegroom. The church will operate in an anointing that it has never ever experienced before. A man and a woman who are married are one flesh.
If we are to be honest, we must admit that the church today does not operate in the same anointing as Jesus. If Jesus were here today the anointing that He would release on the earth is different to the anointing the church is operating in today.
But the Bridegroom and the bride will be one and there will be no difference between them. The bride is going to operate with a powerful anointing which will be the same anointing that was upon Jesus when He was ministering on earth.
Revelation 4:5 - From the throne came forth lightnings, voices and thunderings; and before the throne were seven flaming torches, which are the sevenfold Spirit of God.
This passage of Scripture speaks about the seven-fold Spirit of God. There is a seven-fold anointing coming upon the church. Think about it - seven times more than today. Elisha operated in a double portion of God’s anointing, but in the last days we are going to operate in a seven-fold anointing!
That is the anointing that Jesus functioned in because He is the embodiment of the seven Spirits of God. The seven-fold is the power of God at full potential.
I truly wonder whether the church has ever operated in a greater anointing than what we read about in the Old Testament. The anointing Elisha ministered with is really on par with the anointing upon Peter and Paul. In terms of power and authority, there is nothing that the New Testament church has ever done that was greater than the power of anointed men and women in the Old Testament. The only difference is that in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon certain selected vessels such as prophets, priests, and kings whereas on the Day of Pentecost, the anointing came upon every believer. But there was no less spiritual power released through the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament than the power released to in the New Testament.
I do not think that there is any New Testament believer after Pentecost who ministered with a greater anointing than Moses. His face shone and he had to put on a veil to cover his face.
Yet we are told that the anointing on Moses is nothing compared to the anointing that is about to come upon the church. Just imagine it – a seven-fold outpouring of God’s Spirit. How much more effective will we become with that anointing! Moses’ anointing will be like a shadow of the coming anointing. Jesus promised that we would do greater works than He did.
God is not finished with the church. Many people laugh at this present-day weak, divided, compromising church. But it is going to come out strong in these times of great sin and great wickedness upon the earth with the eminent rise of the antichrist. The world has the antichrist but we have the Christ - the Anointed One. The antichrist has no anointing whereas Jesus is the seven-fold anointing. There is so much that encourages us in these difficult times.
3. The anointing to subdue nations
The anointing in the last days is an anointing that will have the power to subdue nations. God has not called us for small things. He has not called us to subdue individuals or cities but has called us to subdue nations.
Psalm 47:3 - He will subdue the peoples under us, And the nations under our feet.
Abraham walked in this anointing and subdued powerful kings. They recognized the power of God on his life and allowed him access to all their wealth.
God is going to give us the nations and we are going to subdue them and they are going to give up control of their wealth. Just as God magnified Joshua in the Promised Land, the anointing will magnify us in the last days which will make us unstoppable in the face of opposition.
4. The covering anointing
The anointing that is coming upon the end time church will be a covering. There will be attempts to destroy the church, but we will be covered. The anointing will hide us and we will be the untouchables.
Psalm 27:5 - For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.
The Lord says He is going to hide us. When the people wanted to stone Jesus, His anointing hid Him so that they could not find Him. We will be seen but we will be hidden as well.
David wrote so many psalms like this because he experienced this anointing when King Saul tried so desperately to hunt him down. It should have been easy to find David, because he travelled with such a large group of people. Yet Saul’s mighty army could never find him. The only mission the Israelite army had under King Saul was to find David. But the anointing on David hid him from the plans of the enemy. He eventually emerged from hiding to take over Israel.
Perhaps you have been hounded by the devil as he has desperately tried to stop you and take your life from you. But there is an anointing that declares that you will live in Jesus’ name!
What an encouragement as we realize we have this special anointing upon us to subdue nations. This is the season of God’s glory.
5. The anointing of insight
1 John 2:20 - But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
Having spiritual insight simply reveals facts and conditions that are true but are unknown to us.
The church today will need to be anointed so that it can navigate through great chaos, confusion, and difficulties. Our survival will depend on our relationship with God’s Spirit.
Our spiritual eyes and ears are going to be opened as we are led by God. Being led by the Spirit of God is not being led by circumstances, but by hearing the voice of God and being led.
We have to become very intimate with Him and listen to how He leads us.
When everybody else is blind and they do not know where they are going, we are going to see through the darkness and fog. We will need to stir up and exercise our spiritual gifts because we are going to have to operate in an even greater level of the anointing in the coming days.
We have to be a prophetic people and must live day by day by the prophetic Word of God. The anointing on the prophetic Word will guide us and give us information and the “how to” so that we can conduct our lives accordingly.
We need to be prophetic. When we speak to one another we need to be prophetic and when we pray we need to ask for a prophetic anointing so that God can lead us into our tomorrow. We must stop doing things just because it is a habit. We need to do only the things the Spirit shows us because the things that make us walk and act in terms of the prophetic knowing of God is going to take us to our destinies.
6. The super anointing
Philip functioned with a super anointing. Be ready for the anointing that empowered Philip to run faster than a chariot.
God is going to use us supernaturally and He will take us from one place to another place in the Spirit to preach to people in far-away places. To preach and speak is going to be our mission and we do not have time for slow jet planes. God is going to translate us because there will be so much for us to do.
7. The anointing for super evangelism
There are two gospels. There is the gospel of salvation but there is also the gospel of the Kingdom. We will preach the gospel Jesus preached which was the gospel of the Kingdom. We will also preach the gospel of salvation.
Today we are involved mostly with one-on-one evangelism, but the coming awakening will bring cities and nations on their knees in submission to God.
Matthew 24:14 - And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 9:35 - Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Signs and wonders will follow the preaching of the gospel which will release a healing anointing that will touch and heal every sick person everywhere we go. That is the super evangelism that God is going to release upon the church.
Revelation 14:15 -And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
We are anointed for this harvest which is ready to receive salvation, healing, and deliverance.
8. The anointing for super finances
Proverbs 8:21 - That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.
Proverbs 13:22 - A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.
If you cannot release money into the Kingdom now, you are never going to release it in the future. There is going to be a wealth transfer to God’s anointed, but God will only entrust this to those who have been faithful in their finances.
The seed you have in your hand today is your harvest tomorrow. That means we need to sow today to protect our tomorrow. God blesses what we do by faith as we trust in Him. God wants us to trust Him in the area of finances.
Money is going to fail in the world and if we have not yet learned to live supernaturally, we will not survive the coming financial crisis.
God is going to transfer the wealth of the world into the hands of His anointed people in the last days. But God is only going to entrust that to people who know how to live in supernatural abundance even in times of famine. When money failed in the land of Egypt, God anointed Joseph to preside over all the finances of Egypt. Even Pharaoh recognized this anointing on Joseph. God will release this same Spirit of Joseph on the church who will preside over all the wealth that is in the world.
9. The anointing to sing new songs
God is going to give us new struggle songs to sing that are going to take us into the future. It is the songs of the revival and the coming anointing and authority of God’s army. Historically, new songs have been written during each and every revival and were sung to remind them what God did for them.
Psalm 40:3 - He has put a new song in my mouth- Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord.
I believe the church is going to sing totally different songs that are going to reflect the supernatural anointing on the church. They are going to be songs that reflect nations that have come under submission to us. We are going to sing songs of God’s supernatural power, of finances, blessings, authority, and abundance.
These are songs that have never been sung before and because He is doing a new thing, new songs will be birthed into our hearts. Why did David sing a new song to the Lord? Because God did a new thing in his life. David went through tremendous struggles but at the end of his life, God restored his kingdom. God is restoring the broken places. God is restoring ministries. God is restoring things that have been stolen from us and when He restores it, we will have a new song to sing.
When we sing those songs the enemy will flee in fear. When the devil hears these songs there will be no more spirit and fight left in him.
10. The anointing to rule
We are going to rule over nations and we are going to rule over angels. Today so many Christians are serving angels and bowing down to them. How can we serve someone that is in submission to us? Angels are not created in the image of God - we are and we are going to judge the angels. We do not serve angels but serve one true God - His name is Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords!
Make sure you grow spiritually in the closing days of this season. God has called you for something great. Come out of the world and serve God with everything you have, because God is about to pour His Spirit on those who are positioned and ready for something new.
Serve God with everything you have. There is no more time to play religious games and to mess around with your salvation. You are anointed for greater things than this world can offer.
Revelation 3:18 - I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
