Before the anointing was released at the start of Jesus ministry, He was baptized.
“When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.” (Luke 3:21 NIV)
Baptism symbolizes death. The spices that made up the Anointing Oil were used to prepare bodies for burial. The fragrance of God is only released once it is crushed.
The baptism of John was a “Baptism of Repentance” (Mark 1:4). Christians are considered dead to the old nature in their position before God, but they must continually die to the old nature, allowing the old to be put to death every day if they want the anointing to be released.
The life of Jesus is the perfect model to pattern one’s life after to walk daily in the anointing so that God's perfect destiny for them will be accomplished. Where ever Holy Spirit is there is liberty to grow into the fullness of the measure which belongs to Jesus Christ. Living a life of holiness will allow the Christian to be;
“a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” (2 Tim 2:21 NKJV)
No one can substitute the anointing by doing good deeds or using their talents or gifts because;
“It is the Spirit who gives life and the flesh profits nothing.” (Jn 6:63 NIV)
The beautiful God will show favor and release the anointing as a person humbles themselves daily before Him (James 4:5).
The Consuming Fire
The beauty of God is a consuming fire. His Glory so consumed the apostle Peter that when he walked among the sick the shadow of the anointing poured over all those who were “sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed” (Acts 5:15-16 NIV).
Christians must come to the understanding that they were saved by God for His Glory so that they can become vessels of His Glory. Then, they can begin to walk in His anointing so that the sick will be healed, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will walk, and the dead will rise.
They must pour out their lives and allow themselves to become consumed by Him, not just spiritually, but emotionally and physically as well. The blessings of being possessed by Him are far greater than the satisfaction of being self-possessed.
Before a person becomes a Christian, it is really difficult to see how exciting becoming Born-Again can be (See John 3:16). However, when they ask Jesus to become their Lord and Savior, and repent of their sin, His light, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” shines in their heart and instantly they begin the journey to understanding the reward and blessings that come about through intimate union with God by way of salvation (2 Cor 4:4-6 NIV).
God desires to be loved by people who trust Him without question. God promises that if a person humbles their self and learns to trust and depend on Him by giving all their “worries and cares to God,” they will have “health” to their “body and nourishment” to their “bones” (1 Peter 5:5-11 NIV).
What proves to the world that someone is a Christian is the display of the “new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness--righteous, holy, and true.” This requires that they take the initiative and “put away all falsehood and "tell your neighbor the truth." They must work at getting rid of all:
”bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you” (Eph 4:24-5:1 NLT).
Releasing the power of the anointing requires a multifaceted approach that is discussed below. A Jeweler must cut a diamond in the rough to reveal its brilliance and beauty within. So it is with the Christian who wants to shine forth with the brilliance of God’s anointing and power.
Cover the Naked
The Lord said that one of the ways to draw closer to Him was “to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter,” and when someone is seen “naked, to clothe him” (Isa 58:6-12 NIV).
Clothing the naked doesn’t mean just to provide clothes to those who are without, but also to protect those who have fallen or are going through a time of trial and testing where God uses it to prune them so that they will be more like Him. This means not speaking ill or gossiping about those who have sinned or withholding forgiveness and reconciliation.
After the great flood, Noah sinned by becoming drunk on “some wine he had made and lay naked in his tent.” One of his sons, Ham “saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers.” He chose to expose his father’s nakedness - his sin. His other brothers Shem and Japheth chose to cover their father’s sin and cover his nakedness. In fact, they took a robe and "walked backward into the tent, and covered their father's naked body.” They refused to look upon him in his sinful state.
When “Noah woke up from his drunken stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. Then he cursed the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham” and he spoke a blessing over his other sons because they chose not to judge him but rather to protect him (Gen 9:20-27 NLT).
The Bible warns that if someone stands in judgment against another, and doesn’t forgive, they are “guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27 NIV). Unforgiveness can cause sickness and even premature death (1 Cor 11:29-31 NIV).
God promises that "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk” then “healing will quickly appear.” When a person chooses to show mercy and kindness God promises to show them favor before others and to be their “rear guard” when they need it (Isa 58:6-12 NIV).
Forgiving the Unforgivable
“..and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us” (Matt 6:12-15 NLT).
The most significant hindrance to Christian growth is unforgiveness. I have written extensively about the subject in previous books. To truly live beyond the supernatural and in the realm of trusting-faith, there must be an understanding of the purpose of giving and receiving forgiveness.
Forgiveness starts in the heart. Most people struggle with not loving themselves as God would have them too. Childhood experiences can add to the torment and feelings of unworthiness caused by bad choices, poor decisions, words spoken, and hearts broken.
When a person has been abused, it most often results in low self-esteem rather than an inflated view of self. Most people long for intimacy, genuine love, and acceptance. Sadly, even within the church, there are those who only accept others under the guise of love when they do things that are requested of them rather than just for who they are. That is not loving. Genuine love accepts others - warts and all – unconditionally!
The problems people have had in relationships are directly related to the lack of love they have for themselves. It was NOT their fault that they were abused emotionally or physically as a child or even on through adulthood. They did NOT deserve it no matter what their behavior may have been.
When a Christian does not actively love and forgive they are saying they are bigger than God because He sees them as they actually are - and He still loves them anyway! God paid the ultimate price to prove He forgives. Forgiveness means ultimately dying to self just as Jesus died so that every human being might have life abundant and everlasting.
Every Christian MUST forgive their self - first and foremost - for not loving the child within who they have accused of ‘allowing’ horrible things to take place. Then, they must forgive those who have hurt them over the years.
This does not mean they have to forget or excuse what others have done to them. However, the only way to release the chains of torment is to forgive. NOT forgiving others binds them to those who have hurt them, and they are forever linked to the original pain and torment.
Jesus taught about “binding and loosing” in the context of forgiveness. When a person forgives, they loose themselves from those who have hurt them. However, if they do not forgive, then they are forever bound to them (Matt 18:18).
The heavy dysfunctional chain of sin can only be broken through forgiveness. “Loving thy enemies” and forgiving those that have hurt them first starts with working at hating them less. The process is often long and tedious, but it will result in the ultimate ability to forgive.
Humble Thy Self
Becoming a Christian requires that a person humble themselves through repentance and accept the fact that they are a sinner and cannot save themselves. The sin of pride is at the root of all evil. Humility is directly opposed to pride. Where pride seeks selfish gain, humility seeks selfless gain. Self-exaltation and rebellion are what caused satan to be "cut down to the ground" (1 Sam 2:7) and be thrown out of Heaven. The greatest example of humility can be found in Jesus:
"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!" (Phil 2:6-8 NIV)
Jesus set aside His divine glory to take the form of a servant. He voluntarily accepted temptation, suffering, and death to understand and identify with everyone.
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (2 Cor 8:9 NIV)
Humility is an acquired behavior resulting from the old nature being put to death daily and becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor 5:17 NIV)
It is the difference between independence and interdependence. Being independent means people do things their way. Interdependence means that people willingly choose to rely upon another to survive.
The Clothing of Humility
“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5 NIV)
The word “clothe” means to put on and gird one’s self with the apron of a servant. God wants every Christian to put on humility each day just as they put on their clothes. They don’t become humble; they put humility on. It is an active choice of the will. They must willingly choose to look out for the interests of others before their own.
“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” (Phil 2:3-4 NKJV)
A Christian who ministers by gifting apart from the daily anointing of God is operating in pride. When they don’t clothe themselves with humility, God will resist and “oppose” them. The word “oppose” means to resist as a soldier dressed in full battle armor would set himself against an enemy.
God resists by not releasing “grace,” which allows favor in virtually everything a Christian does. Prayers will go unanswered. Job promotions won’t come. They can even go through suffering. The anointing on their spiritual life will seem empty and void. Their ministry will flounder. Relationships will be strained. They will be vulnerable to spiritual attack. They won’t be able to make ends meet. It will seem as if everything is going wrong because the enemy won’t flee from them no matter how hard they try to ‘bind’ and ‘rebuke’ him.
It is only through humility that a person can “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” They must “set” their “mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God” for their words to be "heard” and God to respond to their prayers (Dan 10:12 NIV). When they acknowledge the pride of their heart, and their selfish ways through repentance, the Lord “will lift” them up (James 4:6-10 NIV).
The Divine Exchange
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15:13-14 NIV)
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (1 Jn 3:16 NIV)
Christians must come to a place where they lay down their life for the sake of others. This does not mean becoming a hero by throwing one’s self in front of someone who is in the path of an eighteen-wheeler hurtling down the highway. This means the emptying of self by dying daily to the flesh and becoming a servant. Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, willingly chose to serve others and was given a great promise;
“may you become the mother of many millions! May your descendants overcome all their enemies." (Gen 24:57-60 NLT)
This is the divine exchange, the process of giving up one’s life so that Jesus can give them more of His. Laying one’s life down means emptying the self-life like one would a pitcher of water. You can't pour something into the pitcher if it is already full. When a person is full of self, there is little room for God to pour in more of Himself. When they make this exchange, they are emptying some of self so He can begin to fill them with a greater measure of His nature and anointing. The more they give, the more they will get.
Pray the Gethsemane Prayer
If a Christian desires to have the “power of the resurrection,” they must walk the same path Jesus walked, beginning in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the step most often missed. Jesus prayed;
"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42 NIV)
Christians must pray “Not my will, but yours be done.” This is the key to walking with a powerful anointing. It requires surrendering all desires, dreams, ambitions, and aspirations into His hands and He will then give them His desires. If a Christian wants to become a friend of the Bridegroom, Jesus “must increase, but (they) must decrease” (Jn 3:30-31 NKJV).
Carry the Cross Daily
The path to power begins in Gethsemane and goes through the Cross. The Cross is true power disguised in weakness. Jesus said;
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt 16:24-26 NIV)
Jesus demands that Christians carry their cross daily. They must be prepared at any given moment for Jesus to put to death an area of the flesh that is hindering them from having a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him. Resurrection only comes after death.
