A WORTHY PURSUIT- THE ANOINTING
1Peter 4:10, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” God bestows on everyone spiritual gifts we are to employ for the common good of the church and humanity. Our spiritual gifts give as an indication as to what ministry we are to serve in. Wherever we find ourselves ministering, be it in the children’s ministry, ushering department, praise and worship team, follow-up team or prayer team we must perform our duties to God’s satisfaction. At times we may feel limited by our temperament, challenges, problems and weakness. This prevents us from going forth and rendering our service effectively. At times we get burned out and cannot figure how we can rightful perform our responsibilities. God provides a simple solution which can help us render our services with ease. This solution is “the anointing of the Holy Spirit”.
The anointing is a special empowerment of the Holy spirit to help fulfill your calling and ministry. The anointing is the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in your ministry and life. It is difficult to make a positive impact in lives without the anointing. The anointing makes your job much easier and spirit-controlled. When a Christian is called to a new ministry, he needs to be equipped. Hence, he needs to be anointed by the Holy Spirit. The anointing is what he needs daily to fulfill his new calling and equip him for his ministry. For the anointing of God on your life to be effective it must be fresh.
Without the anointing your ministry or area of service could easily be powerless, stale, plain and boring. The anointing on your life gives you divine wisdom and direction. 1 John 2:27 says “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him”. Decision making becomes easier because of the anointing within. The voice of God becomes clearer and God guides you.
The Holy Spirit’s anointing also removes spiritual burdens, yokes and oppressions. A lot of Christians are burdened with yokes of addiction, sin, sickness, attacks and emotional pain. There may be addictions and sins some Christians may find difficult to break, but in the place of prayer and with the anointing these sin and addiction can easily be overcome. Isaiah 10:27 says, “It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil. “The anointing brings healing, deliverance and breakthrough in your life and destiny. Restrictions are lifted, and much is accomplished for the kingdom of God through the anointing.
The anointing has a rub off effect. The anointing does not only impact your life, but it impacts the lives of those around you. For example, after David was anointed with oil, men who were social outcast began to follow him and he became their leader. 1 Samuel 22:2 says “All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around David, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him” David’s anointing impacted the lives of these men greatly and some of them were later referred to us the “mighty men of David”. Also, Exodus 34:29-35 tells us that Moses after spending time in the presence of God at Mount Sinai, came back with his face shinning. His face shone so much that people were afraid to come near him. Moses had to put a veil on his face. The anointing makes the glory of God shine on you. Peter was also very anointed to the extent that people laid the sick on the streets so that just his shadow might fall on them and they may be healed.
In the old testament oil was poured on the head to anoint people before the commencement of a new responsibility. For example, when an individual was chosen as a new priest, he was anointed with olive oil. Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit in the bible. Hence anointing with oil was symbolic of the Holy Spirit empowering the new priest with wisdom and power for the new task set before him. Also, David and Saul had oil poured on their heads before taking the new responsibility as kings. Thus, the pouring of oil on the head was speaking of the filling of the Holy Spirit to consecrate and empower them for the new task. When someone was anointed with oil in the Old Testament, they were declared to be set apart and empowered by the Holy spirit. Likewise, as Christians when we take responsibilities like being a chorister, Sunday school teacher, pastor, church leader or even other mundane responsibilities we need the Holy Spirit to anoint us and empower to perform our duties impeccably. However, it is important to note that the anointing of the Holy Spirt is not a onetime event. It is a constant affair, of being filled with the Spirit and increasing the infilling of the Spirit. The anointing is about the presence and the power of the Holy Spirt in our lives. Thus, we must strive to daily increase the anointing on our lives. This is done by spending more time with the Holy Spirit daily and obtaining His power and presence.
Ecclesiastes 9:8b says, let not thy head lack oil. The bible often likens the anointing of the Holy Spirit to oil, both oil and the anointing of the Holy Spirit can be felt and have similarities. Oil grows stale when it is not fresh, and it becomes difficult to use. For the anointing of God on your life to be effective it must be fresh. We need fresh anointing daily. We need to come to the Holy Spirit daily and regularly for fresh oil. We must not depend on past glories but seek fresh fellowship with God daily. The anointing must be kept fresh. Our bodies can be liked to vessels ready to be filled with the anointing of God. God is ready to pour the oil in our lives. When we have a hole(sin) in our vessel the oil leaks out. The hole(sin) can be small or undetectable or huge but would still result in the leaking of the oil. We must give no avenue to sin or the anointing would leak out. Be a vessel with fresh oil from God.
The anointing is got through fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit regularly. The presence of the Holy spirit leads to the anointing. When we spend time in the presence of the Holy Spirit, through prayer, reading the Word and obedience the anointing increases. This is the price we must pay for the anointing. God’s word says draw near to God and he would draw near to you. The more time we spend in prayer, the less of our flesh and sin remain. Habitual sin is broken when we spend more time with God in prayer. Whatever time we invest in fellowship with God, God gives it back to us through the anointing. Remember that you can never out give God, whatever you give over to God, He returns with the anointing. Also, obedience and the anointing are irrevocably joined together. The anointing you have is dependent on how obedient you are to God’s commands. Deepening our relationship with God requires that we sacrifice our time and pleasures. Are you willing to sacrifice your time and pleasures for the presence of God? The anointing does not come easily without paying the price. This comes through dying to self and forcibly pressing to get it. Like Paul rightfully said, “I die daily”. The anointing must be our greatest pursuit and we must seek it daily.
