Series on The Anointing
Wow,
I am excited that you opened this blog to read these updates. It shows that you
are one of the chosen few that God wants to transform through this message. I
serve God and His people currently as a Pastor in Christ Life Church (a.k.a
Sword of the Spirit Ministries) in the city of Abuja. Incidentally, the month
of September, 2012 is our month of “The Anointing” and it coincides with the
Ministry’s 30th Holy Ghost Convention. This year’s convention was
such an awesome time with God that I am yet to recover from the impact and I
wish I never do. It played host to notable men in the gospel of our Lord Jesus
both in word and music. We heard men like David Oyedepo, Mike Okonkwo, Enoch
Adeboye, Francis Wale Oke and others live during the meeting. I recommend that
all the readers should get the recordings of the programme. In as much as these
men preached great messages, I feel the insights that God has given me are
equally relevant for this generation and those unborn.
The
series I am about to share contains 3 titles namely: 3 Shadows of the Anointing, God’s Presence in the Life of His Anointed
and Challenges of the Anointed. These are anointed messages that I preached
in our Church with testimonies following.
3 Shadows of the Anointing
"Moreover
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principle spices,
of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even
two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty
shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary,
and of oil olive an bin: and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an
ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy
anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them,
that they may minister unto Me in the priest's office" (Ex. 30:22-30).
The
operations and dealings of God in the Old Testament are shadows of what we are
experiencing in the New Testament (Heb. 10:1). The dealings are for us to
study, understand and apply to living today. The promises are for us to claim.
God promised that in the last days He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh
(Joel 2:28-29). There is a mighty
outpouring of the anointing in these last days and it is without any
discrimination. This is because God is not a racist neither is He gender
biased. There is a release of great mantles all over the world today for the
quick working of His will in reaping a great harvest to His kingdom.
Then Peter opened his
mouth, and said, of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
But in every nation he
that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.
Acts 10:34-35
This move of God is
not a function of places but of God and the response of the people. Whatever He
is doing in Asia and America, He can replicate across Africa and the Middle
East.
In order to partake
of this move of God, believers must understand their root by which they are
entitled to the mantle as members of the commonwealth of Israel.
Understanding
Your Root:
As a covenant person,
your root prequalifies you for the anointing. We have the heritage of royalty,
priesthood and the prophetic.
1. Genesis 17:16 ; 35:11 establishes
that we are from a royal lineage.
2.
Exodus
19;5-6 establishes that God’s orginal intention for us is to be His Priest. So,
we are by design Priests unto our God.
3. Jeremiah 1:4-5 identifies the unique
prophetic mandate hanging over every believer even before conception
The scripture is replete with
examples of the three kinds of anointing in the old testament; the Kingly, the
Priestly and the Prophetic Anointing.
In our main text (Exodus 30:22-30),
God gave instruction on the preparation of the anointing for consecration into
Priesthood office.
Similarly, we can see the example of
the Kingly anointing in I Sam. 10:1; 16:13 where Saul, the first King of Israel
was anointed and followed by David, the promised King of Israel.
When Elijah got tired of his
ministry, God instructed him to anoint Jehu and Hazael as Kings but Elisha as
Prophet. So these make complete examples of the different shadows of the
anointing in the Old Testament. What then is the anointing?
The
Anointing: Meaning
1. The anointing has been defined as
God’s supernatural equipment for supernatural assignment (Isaiah 61:1-3) and the resting of the Holy-Spirit upon a man for
the fulfilment of divine calling (Isaiah
11:1-2). It is the burden removing, yoke-destroying power of God (Isaiah 10:27). – F.W Oke
2.
The
anointing is God’s special mark of separation upon vessels consecrated for His
use (Ex. 30:22-30).
3.
It
is God’s distinguishing power upon a man that sets him above his mates (Psalm 45:7).
4.
It
is the seven-fold Spirit of God at work in a man for supernatural
accomplishments (Isa. 11:1-2).
5.
The
anointing is God’s authenticating power upon a man for signs and wonders. Acts 2:22; 10:38.
6.
It
is the Holy-Spirit at work in His vessels; the believers (I John 2:27).
7. The anointing is God’s saving and
defensive power upon His called and chosen
Psalm 105: 13-15; 20:6
Understanding
the 3 Shadows of the Anointing
The
Priestly Anointing:
This kind of
anointing stewards the glory and the presence of God on the earth. It is the enabling grace to minister at the
altar of God to God and to the people. It is a worship anointing that ushers in
the manifest presence of God upon a man and opens him up to the secret of the
divine.
The priestly
anointing is the ark bearing anointing (Joshua 3:13). And the ark bearing
anointing is the barrier breaking anointing. Those who carry this kind of
anointing have an unusual grace to part ways for others where there seems to be
no way because of the awesome presence of God upon their lives.
It is an intercessory
anointing. Hebrews 5:1-3 spells out how certain roles of the Priests in
offering sacrifices for themselves and others. The Priestly anointing enables a
person to stand in the gap. Every Father, mother, leader and Church worker needs
to crave this anointing. It is the right of every believer because we are a
royal priesthood. More importantly, God
is looking for men and women who will midwife His presence on earth today. He
craves those who will be carriers and couriers of His presence everywhere and every
time.
The Kingly Anointing:
This is the dominion anointing. It is the warrior/conqueror anointing. The
purpose of the Kingly anointing is to establish God’s reign is systems and
realms. The dominion anointing can pervade even the secular system because
kings are for the entire system. God intends that His children will carry the
dominion anointing so as to enforce His dominion in the work place and market
place. The dominion anointing is the Leadership anointing. When it comes upon a
man, he stands tall everywhere he goes and he must be noticed.
Individuals can carry
the dominion anointing as nurses, Doctors, lawyers, engineers, artisans,
teachers to deliver and enforce God’s mandate in the lives of people they deal
with and systems in which they operate. When a nurse carries a dominion
anointing, a patient that has been programmed to die can survive because she is
the one on duty. When the dominion anointing comes, it manifests with a high
level of authority and influence; establishing the carrier as a voice in his
career (Eccl. 8:4).
The
Prophetic Anointing:
This is a special
anointing that accesses God’s revelation and counsel and deliver it to people
Amos 3:7. It is an empowering and equipping anointing. It commission people
into the kingship and priestly anointing. It is the special anointing for the
emancipation and preservation of God’s own people Hos.12:13.
In the New Testament,
the bible establishes that believers are entitled to the royal priesthood
heritage I Pet. 2:9. It is the anointing that will establish us in this
heritage. In the body, we operate diversities of operations which are spelt out
I Cor 12:6-12. The prophetic anointing is a shadow of the five ministry gifts
which are meant to minister to the saints to perfect and equip them for the
work of kingship and priestly ministry on the earth (Romans 12: 6-8).
Levels
of the Anointing
With the
understanding of the shadows of the anointing, we must also know that we can
connect the anointing in levels. There is an anointing of captain over a thousand;
there is an anointing of captain over ten thousand. Until the anointing for a
level comes upon a man, if he tries to operate at that level, it will amount to
mere struggles. David operated different levels of the anointing until he
entered the realm of the overflow.
In I Sam. 16:13,
David was anointed, a mark of consecration for Kingship; although he remained a
King in hiding. In II Samuel 2:4, he was anointed as King over Judah which
comprised of only two tribes. Then in II Samuel 5:3, he was anointed as King
over all Israel, now a king over twelve tribes. In ministry, there is an
anointing for village impact, there is the one for city impact. There is the
anointing for national, continental and global impact. A man’s impact will be
to the limit of the anointing that is upon him.
This varying level of
the anointing was the picture that God painted to Ezekiel when he took him
through the river (Ezekiel 47:1-4).
It was first to the ankle, then to the knee, later to the waist and finally to
the overflow. When a man reaches the overflow level, he becomes swallowed up by
grace. He’s almost invisible because God has enveloped him. Jesus is an epitome
of the overflow because to Him the Spirit was given without measure. What we
see in our ministries today are just ankle and knee levels majorly.
Conclusion
With all that we
seen, our disposition should be to connect a higher dimension of the anointing.
We should thirst for it like the hart pants for the water brooks (Isa. 42: 1-2).
We should crave it with our flesh and soul like the dry ground.
O God, thou art my
God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for
thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.;
To see thy power and
thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary (Psalm 63:1-2)
We should cry as if
that is if it our life wire. The anointing is the only antidote to struggle in
the pursuit of any achievement in life. Crave it and you shall have it.
However, God warned
in Exodus 30: 32, that the oil must not be poured upon man’s flesh. God will
not anoint the works of flesh. The holy oil is not for the unholy vessels.
Notice that before Samuel could proceed in anointing a king among the children
of Jesse, he asked them to first purify themselves. You need a sanctification
and repentance from all dead works of the flesh for you to qualify for the
anointing. Only then can you be truly anointed by God.
Prayer
Points:
1. Repent of all known and unknown
sins. Ask the Lord to purify your vessels and make you fit for His oil.
2.
Ask
the Lord to anoint you for a higher level with a new anointing.
