Opening illustration: At a remote underground church in the Middle East, our meeting started with exuberant worship. Many raised their hands, fell on their knees and faces, and sang joyously to the Lord. We witnessed many women crying out and weeping to God. After the sermon, as I stood behind the podium, I experienced a physical trembling and thought I was going to topple over. Quietly, I stepped down and summoned Brother Ebenezer to preside over the meeting. He seemed to experience the same thing, so he came back to stand in the pews. God had surely showed up and presided over the meeting. The Holy Spirit overwhelmed me and gave me prophetic words for many, revealing the ailments of different people and assuring them of complete healing and recovery.
A month later, when I returned to the same location, I heard the testimonies of the prophetic words and physical healings that had taken place during our previous meeting. I had never experienced or used these spiritual gifts before in my life. My mentor tapped, discerned and guided me how to move in the anointing.
Introduction: There is a mantle of power that God puts upon His people. There are special tasks that require an anointing or unction from God to perform these feats. Maybe someone needs to be physically healed - there is an anointing for that. Maybe someone needs delivered from demonic power - there is an anointing of the Holy Spirit for that. It can also be to preach the gospel, the good news.
The Anointing does not point to the believer, but to God who empowers the believer. However, Jesus is the Anointed One, and you are a conduit for His power. When you walk in the anointing you have power to heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead and cast out demons in His Name.
The anointing is upon you by the Spirit of God, teaching you what Jesus said and leading you further into the Scriptures. The anointing of the Spirit guides you as you read and consume the Scripture, loving the Lord, hungering and thirsting in desperation for His righteousness.
How do we WALK in the POWER of the ANOINTING?
1. Deep union and daily walk with Jesus (one page with Christ) - INTIMACY
What happens when we walk with someone? Imagine that you and a close friend are enjoying a walk down a country lane. You are in close proximity. You talk, laugh, listen, and share your hearts. Your attention is focused on this person to the exclusion of almost everything else. You notice the beauty around you or an occasional distraction, but only to point it out to your companion. You share it together. You are in harmony, and you both enjoy the peaceful camaraderie.
Walking with God is like that. When we enter into an intimate heart relationship with God through faith in His Son (Hebrews 10:22), He becomes our heart's greatest desire. Knowing Him, hearing His voice, sharing our hearts with Him, and seeking to please Him become our all-consuming focus. He becomes everything to us. Meeting with Him is not an activity reserved for Sunday morning. We live to fellowship with Him. A. W. Tozer states that the goal of every Christian should be to "live in a state of unbroken worship." This is only possible when we walk with God.
When the Bible speaks of "walking," it often refers to a lifestyle. We can walk in the ways of the world as well (2 Kings 8:27; Ephesians 2:2; Colossians 3:7). In the New Testament, walking with God is often called "walking in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:4). To walk with God means we choose to glorify Him in every way we can, regardless of personal cost. And there is a cost.
It is not difficult to identify people who walk with God. Their lives are a stark contrast to the world around them, like stars in a nighttime sky (Philippians 2:15). They produce the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) rather than the fruit of fleshly desire (Galatians 5:19-21). In Acts 4:13 Peter and John had been arrested for preaching and were brought before the authorities. "The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus." When we walk with God every day, the world cannot help but recognize that, despite our imperfections and lack of knowledge in some areas, we have been with Jesus.
2. Heed (listen + do) to the voice of God (literally and through His Word) - OBEDIENCE
Acts features a different Philip than the one named among the original twelve (John 1:43-46). Although we don’t read as much about him as Peter and Paul, we do know that he was full of the Holy Spirit, wisdom and faith (Acts 6:3,5). He was chosen to be one of the seven men distributing food to the poor widows during the explosion of growth in the Jerusalem church (Acts 6:1-7). Then, when believers in Jerusalem were persecuted and many scattered to Judea and Samaria, Philip went to Samaria. There he performed signs and wonders leading to new converts (Acts 8:1-13). When the Jerusalem church heard about Samaritans accepting God’s word, Peter and John traveled to witness and report on this significant event. (Jews saw Samaritans as unfaithful to their heritage since the Samaritans had erected their own temple and worshipped other gods during their history.) As Peter and John were returning to Jerusalem, Philip was called away from this successful harvest field and had an unusual encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8). The last thing we know about him is that he went to Judea, by the Holy Spirit, and spent the next 25 years in the area spreading the gospel and raising four daughters who prophesied (Acts 8:39-40, 21:8,9) (Knapp, p. 834).
We’ve seen how God asked Philip to meet with a specific individual for the purpose of bringing him to Jesus. Philip listened with his spirit and thereby knew specifically where to find him; he listened physically to know just where the official’s point of question was. All along he engaged his body, mind, and spirit to do God’s work. He didn’t need to know all the details at once and neither do we. We do, however, need to become available to God for just such ‘divine appointments.’ Let’s present our whole bodies to be used by him in the process of reaching the lost and expanding Christ’s reign to our Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
3. Wise decisions in the light of God’s Word - DISCERNMENT
The immature Christian goes where he or she wants to go. The mature Christian goes where the Father wants them to go. We must all adopt the attitude of John the Baptist who declared of Jesus, “He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30).
(1 John 2:20 NKJV) But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
(Isaiah 11:2 NKJV) The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
Once you are confident that you know God’s will, and you have His peace to move forward, take that step of faith and watch what God will do. Just like He did with Peter, when you lift your foot over the edge of the boat and step onto the water in obedience to His call, grace will come on the scene and God will do what it takes to see His will accomplished in your life.
If a person takes a decision and credits, it to the Lord and then things go wrong, you can witness the immaturity of that person. We can go wrong but not God! So be wise and also be 100% sure that it is from the Lord. (My sheep hear my voice.)
4. Draw people to Christ our Savior - EVANGELIST
God’s anointing flows to those who are hungry for a touch from His Holy Spirit. The anointing has less to do with the person that it flows through than it does with the person who receives it, and the One who sent it, God Almighty.
(Matthew 5:3 NKJV) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The term poor here is the Greek word, ptochos which carries the implication of being a beggar, in this case a spiritual beggar hungry for the Spirit of God.
The anointing can be stifled if the people refuse to receive it from the person that God is sending it through. Things such as pride, envy, bitterness, and unforgiveness against an anointed person can prevent the receiver from accepting it. The anointed person must go to people that can receive it.
Matthew 13:57-58 NKJV) So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” {58} Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
5. Able to do that which is humanly not possible (miracles, wonders + operate gifts) - GIFTED
From the anointing performed upon David by Samuel the prophet (1 Sam. 6:1-13), David grew in his anointing and resultant authority and influence. He would not have these accomplishments without the anointing.
(i) Anointing to Kill the Lion and the Bear: After the first anointing, which took place among his brothers, David killed a lion and a bear. God first tests believers with small things before they are promoted (Luke 16:10).
(ii) Anointing to Defeat Goliath: After his success in killing the lion and the bear, David overcame a supernatural battle by killing Goliath. If he had not exercised his Godly anointing by killing the lion and the bear, he would not have had the courage to face Goliath (1 Sam. 17:34). No one took the challenge of this Philistine, including King Saul. This brought about promotion and soon David was eating with King Saul and ministering to him.
(iii) Anointing to Lead an Army: David's time in Saul's court developed him further. Evading murderous threats and actions was an experience new to the shepherd boy turned court minstrel. When personal elevation is due to God-given victories, a spirit of jealousy can be released from those who once had the anointing and who came to know the value of what they had only after they had lost it.
Examples: Noah building an Ark. Moses leading the Israelites through the wilderness for 40 years – impossible to do without God’s anointing. Samson attempting great feats. Miracles of Elijah and Elisha. Gideons small army overthrowing a very large army of the enemy. The apostles healing and driving out evil spirits from people. Jesus being anointed was able to raise Lazarus from the dead.
Our own life while serving Christ in the Middle East and now as we outreach in Iowa.
Application: (Jesus’s Manifesto)
• The anointing is given to heal and restore people.
• The anointing is given to proclaim freedom to the captives.
• The anointing is given to open blind eyes.
• The anointing is given to set people free.
