Getting a Powerful Anointing

Getting A Powerful Anointing

"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." (Acts 10:38)

"As He sent me, so I send you." (John 20:21)

Have you ever seen a man of God in action operating in the gift of working of miracles? Usually, its all over in a few seconds! A few words of command are uttered in Jesus' name, and the person discovers they are well again! What a wonderful way to glorify Jesus Christ! And it seems to happen so simply, so quickly. But at the same time, another man or woman says similar words over a sick or suffering person, and nothing seems to happen. What is the difference? The difference lies in the action of the Holy Spirit. It is actually the Holy Spirit who works the miracle.

Think about it. The same words are spoken. In one case, a miracle takes place, in another, nothing seems to happen. Perhaps over time if this continues, doubt and frustration begin to set in.

If the Holy Spirit does not work with us, nothing is going to happen, and we will dishonor the name of Jesus. Jesus is the Christ, which means, the Anointed One. Like Jesus, we need to be anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. Jesus did no miracles on earth before he was anointed with power, and neither will we.

The Bible says we have an anointing - but how strong is it?

"But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things" (1 John 2:20).

I think this Scripture, like many others, such as "we have the mind of Christ" speaks of a potential we have as Christians. It was written in the context of the gnostic teachers who pretended to have a special knowledge not available to all. John wanted to repudiate this false idea. This Scripture is not an encouragement to think we "know it all" or we don't need to learn anything from true Teachers in the Body of Christ. But it is telling us we have access to all knowledge, through God. In the same way, the anointing is open to all.

The Scripture says here that we have an anointing. The anointing is part of our inheritance as Christians. But it doesn't come to us automatically. Like so many things, we need to pursue this part of our inheritance in God. Otherwise we will never really enjoy it. A strong anointing makes a big difference in the life of a Christian. There is a big difference between those powerfully anointed, and those who are not. You can see the difference in results. You can see the difference in fruitfulness. A powefully anointed and obedient Christian can be literally thousands of times more fruitful for God than a Christian that is content to live in mediocrity.

There are various different anointings.

All Christians can move in the anointing God has given them if they cultivate it. However not all Christians are called to get involved in the same things to the same extent. The anointing you develop depends on your calling and giftings in God. 1 Corinthians 12 makes this very clear. We are a body, and have different giftings. If you are called to be a prophet but not an evangelist, you will never be able to win souls as well as a similarly dedicated evangelist who goes after the anointing like he or she should. But the evangelist will never be able to do all you do either. This is just one example. The Body of Christ needs people with functions and enablings, and we should not compare ourselves to one another. If you want to compare yourself with someone, compare yourself with Jesus.

The anointing you receive depends on what God has purposed for you, and what you are consecrated to. Some are anointed to be Teachers, others Pastors, others Evangelists, others as Prophets. You may be called and anointed in one of these areas, but you must consecrate yourself to it, and find ways to develop your anointing. You will not enter into the fulness of that ministry immediately. My advice to you is not to assume the title unless plenty of others have recognised it in you first.

Apart from anointings for the five fold ministry (see Ephesians 4:11 for the listing and purpose of these), anointings are available from God for administration, music, counselling, business, soulwinning, various ministries in particular gifts and callings of the Spirit such as mercy ministry, divine healing and other aspects. Not everyone will be anointed in the same way, to the same degree or to the same purpose. Its up to God, but if we have been proven faithful in one area, God may anoint us in another also. And God never starts someone off by fully anointing them as an apostle. It normally takes years for a true apostle to be formed by the Lord, though the evidence of the call may be out there for people to see even in early years. If someone needs to call themselves an apostle before people can realise they are one, they are not an apostle.

A man or woman with a powerful anointing who knows how to work with God to release the power of the Holy Spirit effectively gets results that help people. These results will glorify Jesus Christ. We are called to help people, and all of us need to be equipped to be able to do that. If a person is not saved, the best way to help them is to reveal Christ to them so that they will believe in Him and call upon Him. Normally, you will need to tell them the gospel somehow. You may need to do some spiritual warfare on their behalf also.

All of us are called to be soldiers of Jesus Christ. And all soldiers need to know how to take up the armour of God, and use the weapons of God. I would liken the knowledge of how to cast out demons to basic training in the use of a gun. A gun can get spectacular results, but you have to know how to use it.

We are all called to be equipped to DO THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY. This includes talking about Jesus, and getting prayer answers where we minister to people's felt needs in Jesus' name. A powerfully anointed person gets results in the area of casting out demons and laying hands on the sick. This is for ALL Christians who believe in it, not just for apostles, prophets and evangelists.

But this is all just so much talk unless ways can be found for Christians to actually get the power of God on their lives, and start to move in a powerful anointing. This is the subject of the remainder of this message.
How To Get A Powerful Anointing on Your Life

What do we mean by an anointing? Strictly speaking, it represents the first time the Spirit of God comes upon you to give you a certain ability in a certain area to do something for the Lord. You may feel this anointing in different ways. It can be felt as a warmth, as a tingling, or in many other ways. It can also be there when you don't feel it, but normally you'd go through times when you feel the anointing before you have the confidence to do the things that only the true anointing of God would enable you to do. The key to getting a powerful anointing on your life is

CONSECRATION.

We must consecrate ourselves to God. This is the actual giving of ourselves to God. True consecration involves presenting our bodies to God as a living sacrifice (see Romans 12:1). It is only after we do this that we can know the mind of God, and do the will of God using the giftings of God appointed to us.

Consecration implies devotion. It has to do with the way we spend our time, what we get involved in, and also what we don't get involved in.

A consecrated person devotes their time as much as possible to pursuing God and the purposes of God for their life. God wants us to consecrate our lives as much as possible to prayer. He wants us to consecrate ourselves to His purposes. Our purpose on earth is to be involved with and support the work of soulwinning and helping people to stay in Christ. We may also be here to prove our loyalty to God, to pass some tests. There is no other reason for us to remain here. All other important things like worship and fellowship will be done in heaven better than we can do them here. We should worship and fellowship here on earth of course, but these things in themselves will not substitute for doing the work of God for which we are anointed. By the time we get to heaven, it will be too late to win more souls, and we won't need the power to drive out demons, as there won't be any there to drive out.

It is now that by working with the Holy Spirit we can make an eternal impact in the lives of others. The more pure and potent our anointing becomes, the better equipped we are to do the will of God on earth.

Examine yourself. Are you truly consecrated to the Lord? Have you given yourself to the Lord without reserve? Are you pursuing God in prayer seriously? Or are you pursuing other goals of your own that God never told you to pursue? Life is to precious to be wasted simply following the natural impulses of your own heart. We cannot be the best soulwinner we can be, or the most effective intecessor or communicator of love and truth to God's people, while we have more regard for the things of the world that we can see on the television. We cannot be the world's greatest stamp collector, or hunter of foxes, or movie buff, or player of computer games and still reach our full potential in Christ.

In the matter of career, are we following the call of God? I suppose I could have been a great computer scientist

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