Is there an Anointing in or on your life? Ep 2-24
Welcome back! I am your host Dawn Simmons and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be discussing anointing. We hear the term, “anointing, but do we fully understand what it is, and do we understand how God is willing to equip us with our own anointing? Have you asked the Lord what anointing He has available to you? Do you know how to apply the anointing in your life?
Let’s start by defining anointing. What is the purpose of anointing? The intent of anointing is to set apart a person, place, or thing for divine use. The anointed person belongs to God for a special purpose. An example of this is in Isaiah 61:1, The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…
Isaiah was a prophet, one of the major prophets of the Lord. His book is filled with Old Testament prophecies of the coming of the Messiah. His calling occurred about 740 B.C. when King Uzziah died. Isaiah was one of many of God’s anointed ones from the Old Testament. His message heavily discussed a coming judgment for God’s people and it was largely ignored. As you read Isaiah, it’s clear to see the calling that was placed on his life and the Lord used him mightily throughout his lifetime.
So who else was anointed and what does the Bible tells us about anointing? In the Old Testament, priests, kings and prophets were primarily who God called for service and were therefore anointed. So King David, King Saul, King Solomon, all of the prophets such as Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, including the minor prophets such as Haggai, Malachi, and priests were anointed because all of these people, though this is just a small list, all were anointed for God’s purposes. We have been given a rich treasury full of their work and words in the Bible as we see how God was able to use these people for His purposes.
We can begin to see the discussion of anointing oil in Exodus 25, when the Lord tells Moses to have the Israelites bring offerings and God requests spices for the anointing oil. So “anointing”
encompassed more than just a call, but an action involving an “anointing oil” as well. We will discuss that more in a few minutes, for now I just wanted you to see that it has been a part of God’s plan for thousands of years. Nearly half the books of the Bible have some discussion of anointing, so this is important to God, so it should be important to us as well.
In the New Testament we learn more about the anointing because the Anointed One, Jesus, the Messiah, brings to us a new anointing available to us through the Holy Spirit. In fact, the word Messiah comes from a Hebrew word meaning “anointed one”. So this leads me into my next
question, Does everyone have an anointing? So the answer to that is yes, but it’s different than what we see in the Old Testament anointing. Let’s see what the Bible tells us in 1 John 2:20, we read: But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. Let’s go a little further and 7 verses down see what else we can learn about anointing. 1 John 2:27, As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. So we have an anointing, each of us as a believer, because we have the Holy Spirit, so we are set apart from the world through this anointing of the Holy Spirit. Next question, are all anointings equal? No, because as we discussed a little bit in the prophecy episodes, there are some people who are called to Ministry Anointings (Prophet, Pastor, Teacher, Preacher, Apostle), so they’re anointings have a different purpose for the Lord, those are similar to the Old Testament anointings. For those who are not called to a Ministry level anointing, you can still have an anointing gifting beyond what I would call the believer level of anointing. Now I say that meaning no disrespect to believer level anointing because that is the Holy Spirit, but if you want to increase your anointing, you by all means can by working with the Holy Spirit.
How do I know my anointing? Your anointing and an increase in your anointing is directly tied to your relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you want to see an increase in your anointing, then you need to develop your relationship with Him and in my opinion, you cannot function in an anointing if you do not communicate with the Lord. What do I mean communicate? I mean two-way communication. You need to be praying, talking to the Holy Spirit just like you do your friends and…and…you need to be able to hear him respond. When my son was in the ICU, he couldn’t speak, initially he was too weak to write. It was a few days before we could even use blinking for basic communication. Ask yourself this…if the Lord has something to say to you, how does He feel in your ability to receive what He is communicating? You can pray and speak to Him, but how are you in two-way communication? If you can’t hear Him guide you clearly, how can you function in an anointing? If you can’t function in an anointing, how can you then ask for an increase. If he gave you an increase, how would you even know without communication? If you have an anointing over your life that He wants to use you for, then you have to be able to follow His direction to ensure you are understanding what is happening in the natural and the supernatural. We know we are not just living in the natural. We cannot assume that we can function properly for Him if we cannot hear Him. There are several types of anointings. We can see several in the bible by looking at how God used His people. Daniel had an anointing, Nehemiah had an anointing, Elijah had an anointing, Moses had an anointing, Joseph had an anointing, Esther had an anointing, John the Baptist had an anointing. If we look at what was accomplished in all of their lives, we see the functions of their anointings. In addition, there are functional anointings like healing, intercessory prayer, and discipleship.
There are even anointings over people’s lives that you wouldn’t necessarily recognize as an anointing. At my church is a man with an unbelievable anointing over his life. If you ever visit my church you will inevitably be met by Brother Lowell. I have not asked Brother Lowell his permission to talk about him, but I don’t think he’d mind. Brother Lowell has a gift, the Lord has used him well in his life and his anointing is overflowing. Whether he knows you or not, Brother Lowell will embrace you when he sees you with the love of God. You know when you are being embraced that this man is full of love. The Lord once told me that this man was like a cistern. He could pour out on other people and the love he offered would never empty because the Lord continually fills him to be able to pour out on His people. What a wonderful anointing. That’s not my anointing, maybe it’s yours or maybe you want it, so ask the Lord. Ask the Lord what it requires of you. Understand that an anointing doesn’t always come easy, sometimes there is a cost. If you aren’t sure what anointing you have or should have, guess who knows? He knew us before we were made, so there was already a plan created for us. We have the choice to live in that plan or not, but there is a plan there. Ask the Lord what His plan is for you. What does He want to use you for in His Kingdom work. When we begin to know, understand, and step into our anointing, the enemy loses ground where we step forward.
How do I apply the anointing in my life? If we have spent the time with the Lord to learn what our anointing is, then we should also expect to spend time with the Lord being developed for that anointing. He wants us to understand what we will walk in, in His name. How diligent we are in developing determines how we apply the anointing. We don’t ask a child to go to work in our place, likewise, the Lord will equip us in our anointing before we begin to apply it in our lives and beyond. Again, this requires two-way communication.
So let’s switch gears a little bit here. What is is to “anoint” with oil? In the Old Testament, part of the ritual of commissioning or “setting apart” a person for their calling involved the act of anointing them with oil. There would be a pouring out of the oil which was typically an olive oil, myrrh or balsam. They are generally “seasoned” with different spices, depending on the use or the regional area. In Exodus 40:9 we see that anointing with oil wasn’t just for people, but objects as well. Verse nine says: “Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy. In James 5, we see that anointing with oil could also be done for healing purposes, so you would anoint the sick with oil as you prayed over them for healing. Today you hear more about people anointing their house
or their property. I personally do that because I am setting it apart for the Lord, what I own is His so I anoint it. I have spoken of this even for protection against demonic entities and as just something to do annually over your home. Less frequently you hear people anointing others, generally in churches or some other prayer setting. As a general rule, I would not allow someone I do not know to pray over and anoint me for anything. It’s not something done casually so if this is done, it should be intentional and you would generally know who would be doing this over you.
If anointing your house or business is something you want to do, by all means do so and use scripture as you do it. I get asked frequently about what type of oil to use in anointing. There are commercially sold anointing oils, you can get them in many Christian stores or online. I bought some in Jerusalem earlier this year. You don’t need to use any of these if you don’t have access to them. You can use olive oil. If you don’t have olive oil, then use what you do have, the Lord is not looking down on us and saying “well, you did everything right, but that’s not the right oil, so sorry I can’t accept what you are doing” Pray over what you have and give it as an offering and anoint your house or your car or your business, whatever you intended. Anoint your children, whatever you want to set apart for the Lord, do it.
I hope you have enjoyed our time discussing anointing and I hope it has helped to build your understanding. We cannot fully conquer our unseen enemies until we understand everything the Holy Spirit makes available to us. If you know anyone who might benefit from this, please share. As always let’s discuss our
Top Show Points:
· Today we discussed anointing
· Definition of anointing is to set apart a person, place, or thing for divine use
· An example of this is in Isaiah 61:1
· In the Old Testament, priests, kings and prophets were primarily who God called for service and were therefore anointed.
· In the New Testament we learn more about the anointing because the Anointed One, Jesus, the Messiah, brings to us a new anointing available to us through the Holy Spirit.
· So “anointing”encompassed more than just a call, but an action involving an “anointing oil” as well.
· The word Messiah comes from a Hebrew word meaning “anointed one”.
· 1 John 2:20 discusses our anointing as a believer
· 1 John 2:27 also discusses the anointing we have from the Holy Spirit
· All anointings are not equal? some people are called to Ministry Anointings (Prophet, Pastor, Teacher, Preacher, Apostle)
· Your anointing and an increase in your anointing is directly tied to your relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you want to see an increase in your anointing, then you need to develop your relationship with Him and in my opinion, you cannot function in an anointing without two-way communication.
· There are several types of anointings. We can see several types in the bible by looking at how God used His people.
· There are functional anointings like healing, intercessory prayer, and discipleship.
· Story of Brother Lowell in my church and his anointing
· Understand that an anointing doesn’t always come easy, sometimes there is a cost.
· The Lord will equip us in the anointing that he provides but it will require our time
· When we begin to know, understand, and step into our anointing, the enemy loses ground where we step forward.
· Exodus 40:9 we see that anointing with oil wasn’t just for people, but objects as well to consecrate them.
· Anointing your house and the type of oil to use
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
· If you want to learn more about how to Hear God's Voice, take a look at my book, Loving Conversations: How to Pray and Hear God's Voice. There is also a Study Guide available and two new devotionals out based on the Loving Conversations Book. One devotional is for women and one is for men.
· Class coming up 8/2 based on the Loving Conversations book on how to hear God’s Voice, sign up at lovingconversationssalo.com
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!
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