What is the anointing? You have heard the term used and everybody speaks about it, but what exactly is it? Is it something that you can put your finger on?

Is it something that you can look at under a microscope or measure on a meter? How do you know when the anointing is there, and how can you tell when it is missing?

The Anointing Will Show

I remember a little graphic that I saw a long time ago. It was a picture of a preacher standing behind a pulpit, and you could tell by the actions of the congregation that the preaching was having an effect on them. The caption said, "Unction in the pulpit; action in the pews."

A more modern way of putting it would be, "Anointing in the pulpit; action in the pews."

When there is anointing on the one who is speaking forth the Word, there will be an effect on the people who are hearing it.

You will be able to see when the anointing is there. Anyone who has ever stood up to preach should know what it is like to preach when the anointing is there.

If you are a preacher I can also guarantee that you know what it is like to stand up and preach when the anointing is not there. It is like chewing on rubber. It is an awful experience.

One of the most devastating and humiliating experiences that you can have is to stand behind the pulpit and try to preach the Word without the anointing. You feel like crawling out after the meeting. You do not know what to do with yourself.

You feel a failure. You feel useless and miserable. People are trying to avoid you at the door, so that they won't have to say to you that it was a great message, because it would be a lie. It is a horrible experience.

It is as though the Lord spoke to you at the start of the meeting and said, "I'm not attending today. Do it on your own."

Then He just left you and walked out the door, and you have to struggle on your own. It is an awful experience.

How do you come to the place where you have that anointing all the time? Is it one of those hit-and-miss things? When you stand up to preach you say, "I sure hope the Lord is going to be here tonight. I hope the Spirit will be here and that the anointing comes on me tonight.”

Does it depend on me? Do I need to have prepared my heart right? Do I need to have been walking in close relationship with the Lord? Do I need to have been fasting and praying or dealing with sin in my life?

There are a lot of different things to be taken into account here.

I remember the first time I went into full-time ministry and was pastoring a church. I had the opportunity to be the one standing and doing the preaching every Sunday.

I began to have the experience that sometimes the anointing was there and it was powerful. But at other times it was lacking and I would have a bad experience. I sought the Lord and said, "Father, I don't want this to happen anymore.

I want to be sure that when I stand up to preach the anointing is there. Lord, I want to know how to make sure that the anointing is there. How do I receive it? When are you going to bring it to me?"

Searching for Answers

I began to dig into the Scriptures to find out about the anointing. I pulled out my concordance to look up the word anointing. I figured, "There have to be lots of Scriptures. We all know that the anointing comes down upon you, and then the power of God is there. We all know that don't we?"

So I looked up anointing to find out all the Scriptures that would tell me about how I could get the power of God and the anointing of God to come down on me.

I could not find one in the New Testament. In fact the only two verses I found in the New Testament, told me that the anointing was a once only event, not to be repeated. I was confused and I thought, "Hang on Lord, for all these years I have grown up in the Pentecostal Church.

And they have had tarry meetings to wait on you for the anointing; to wait on the Holy Spirit to come down upon us for a fresh touch of Pentecost. Why doesn't your Word teach that I need to seek the anointing?"

My Ideas Began to Change

I began to change my whole theology. I began to realize that what I had believed for so many years did not seem to line up with the Word - certainly not where the anointing was concerned.

So I learned a few principles, or I shall I say, began to learn a few principles. Famous last words are, "One thing I have learned. . ."

You see the moment you open your big mouth and say that you have learned something, you can be sure that you will learn it all over again.

I can remember many times, boldly proclaiming from the pulpit in a dogmatic way, what I believed and did not believe. But the Lord brought me to some experiences that caused me to change my mind.

The things that I had so boldly proclaimed from the pulpit did not hold water anymore. It is not easy to go back and say, "Remember what I used to preach so fervently? It was wrong."

So what I want to say to you here then is, "One thing I am learning. . ."

I am learning day by day about the anointing. Way back there God began to teach me some new things about the anointing that I did not know before, and I am going to share some of them with you in this first section.

The Anointing Oil

Where does this word anointing come from? The original word means quite simply, to pour something over somebody or to rub on. The way they did it in the Old Testament is they used special anointing oil. Sometimes the word ointment is used in the King James Version in referring to this oil.

It was a special combination of certain oils in specific quantities that God gave to the Israelites. That formula was not allowed to be used for anything except the anointing oil.

It was forbidden for them to take those same oils and make that same combination for themselves. It could only be made by the priests and for the priests, and used specifically in the anointing process.

The Anointing for Priests

The anointing oil was poured upon Aaron and his sons when they were ordained to the priesthood. Aaron became the first High Priest as that oil was poured over his head.

We read about it in [Psalm 133:1-2] where it says: Behold, how good and how pleasant [it is] for brothers to dwell together in unity! [It is] like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, [even] Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;

When you had that oil on you, you began to glow. If you rubbed those aromatic, spicy oils on your skin you began to feel a warm glow. Why? It is because God was using it in the Old Testament as a type or picture.

The whole Old Covenant is a picture of what was to be fulfilled in the New. God was using a symbol or a picture in oil, of what He was to do with His Holy Spirit. He knew that when His Holy Spirit would come upon people, it would have the effect of a warm glow and it would be a pleasant experience.

The Anointing for Kings

The same anointing oil was used to anoint kings and to place them into office. This is the first mention that we have in the Scriptures of anointing. Then when God began to pour His Spirit out, He displayed the picture of the anointing oil, which was the Holy Spirit.

When God's Spirit came upon people under the Old Covenant, there were many different effects that took place. It produced power in them and gave them a divine ability to do exploits for God.

If you read [Hebrews 11] you will see a list of some of the heroes of the Old Covenant and some of the things they did.

In Hebrews 11:32-34 the writer to the Hebrews says: And what shall I more say? For the [chronos] time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and [of] Barak, and [of] Samson, and [of] Jephtha; [of] David also, and Samuel, and [of] the prophets:

Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Powerful Effects from the Anointing

Miracles, power and anointing came when the Spirit of God came on those heroes of faith, causing them to do mighty exploits in the Lord. Let's consider a few of them.

Gideon

The angel came to the mighty man Gideon to him to tell him that God had called him, and he was hiding away from the Philistines. The angel came and said, "God is with you, Gideon, you mighty man of valor."

I think Gideon looked around and said, "Who are you talking to - who me?” "Yes you."

"Me, a mighty man of valor?” "No, you're a little wimp, but I am going to make you into a mighty man of valor.

Now the first thing you must do is go and cut down that idol that your father and his family are worshiping."

So you know what this mighty man of valor did? He sneaked in at night when nobody was looking and cut it down. But he took a step in the right direction. The Scripture says, And the Spirit of God came down on Gideon.

Then he stood up and blew the trumpet. Well you cannot hide when you blow a trumpet.

Something happened to this little wimp when the anointing of the Spirit of God came on him. He had a new power and a new boldness, and he went and defeated the whole Philistine camp with [300] men.

Talk about change. The anointing of God will do that to a person. It will bring change. It will bring power. It will bring strength, and it will bring wisdom and boldness.

Samson

If you look at Samson, he received something else from the anointing. When the anointing came on him he just became so strong he could break anything. They tried to lock him in the city, but he just picked up the gates and carried them with him.

He was mad at the Philistines, the anointing of God came down on him, and he just picked up a jawbone of an ass and wiped them out.

Strength and power are yours when the anointing of the Spirit of God comes on you. You become a new man and a different person. You do things you cannot do in the natural.

David

David said, By my God I can run through a troop; I can jump over a wall.

Here was David the Psalmist, who released the power of God through song. He could go against the giant Goliath with just a little sling and a stone, because he came against him with the anointing of God. The power of God was upon him.

The External Anointing

We see also some of the early prophets like Samuel, Elijah and Elisha, and the mighty miracles, signs and wonders that they performed when the Spirit of God came upon them.

The anointing gives you divine, supernatural abilities. It brings a change. But what kind of anointing are we talking about?

As you read the Old Testament you see the same expression appearing again and again. It says, And the Spirit of God came upon Gideon

And the Spirit of God came upon Samson. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul

You see that same expression again and again, The Spirit of God came upon (name of person).

Well it is that same picture of the anointing oil. It is the same picture of oil being poured on top of a person, onto his head, and running down and spreading over his whole body.

It is an anointing that is external. It comes from without and comes upon the person's body. It seeps into their soul and their spirit, and fills and saturates them.

It is like being caught in a rainstorm or walking in a rain forest. It is like having a thundershower suddenly coming down on you. It is going to drench you and make you wet.

Such is the external anointing. This is the anointing that came upon the prophets and they prophesied. We read how Samuel said to Saul that the anointing would come upon him and he would prophesy.

Transferring the Anointing

We read frequently of the anointing coming upon people in the Old Testament. We read of how God said to Moses, "I want you to pick 70 people and gather them together in one place. I am going to take of the Spirit that is upon you and I'm going to put it upon them."

As they gathered together God came down. Then He took the same anointing that was on Moses and it came upon the 70 elders, and something began to happen to them.

We will look at that shortly as we consider what happens when the anointing comes upon a person.

Even Saul, who was a king, when the anointing came on him, he fell under the power and lay there naked for several days prophesying. You would have thought he was drunk the way he was behaving.

The anointing came on him and had a tangible, physical effect on his body. 


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