It is commonplace in the church today to be taught about anointings and special anointings that allow a person to be able to operate at a level that is above and beyond that of normal ‘everyday Christians.’ All Christians are anointed to do the work of God so long as we have received the Holy Spirit. The anointing that empowers us to perform signs, wonders, and miracles is the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
People commonly seem to associate anointing with the power of God, and that is not wrong at face value, but people are mixing up what the anointing means. Biblically Speaking, anointing teachings seem to stem from the verse in Isaiah that Jesus reads in the synagogue that goes, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free...”
Most people read that verse and what they hear, as well as what we are taught, is ‘I am anointed because...’ But what it says is the spirit of the lord is upon me Because I am anointed. If you flip those words around it changes the meaning of the verse. It seems so minuscule that it is commonly overlooked, but that is where the sacred cow of the anointing derived from.
When we look in the bible, every time it is speaking of the spirit of the lord or the hand of the lord it is speaking about Power. The spirit of God is the power of God, although his spirit does manifest in different ways These different types of manifestation isn’t the anointing being made manifest, however, it is the spirit and the power of God in different areas such as wisdom, knowledge, truth, fear of the Lord, counsel, understanding, and strength. Anointing is dealing with being set apart; being holy and consecrated for a special purpose.
Before the spirit of the Lord comes upon someone They must first be anointed inwardly by God, then a second external manifestation of anointing occurs whereas the Holy Spirit manifests himself to show that you are Holy, Set apart, and consecrated, and then begins to witness or testify to the validity of the Gospel of Jesus that you preach. After we receive the Holy Spirit He then separates us and sets us apart by testifying that the message of Jesus which we are delivering is true and valid. 1 John 2 it speaks of the anointing that abides in you. This is showing is that there is an internal indwelling of the Holy Spirit before there is an external manifestation of the Spirit.
For example, John the Baptist baptizes Jesus. After he does this then the Holy Spirit comes down on Jesus as an external display or physical manifestation of the spiritual anointing that Jesus had already received. I will quote this verse frequently, "the spirit of the lord is upon me because I am anointed..."
An interesting side note about Jesus baptism: The reason that Jesus was baptized was not that he was a sinner. It was not because he had sinned, or was born a sinner. The reason he was baptized was that it was a symbolic cleansing that was required of anyone that was going to begin their priestly duty.
Exodus 29: "4 Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 5 Take the garments and dress Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself and the breastpiece. Fasten the ephod on him by its skillfully woven waistband. 6 Put the turban on his head and attach the sacred emblem to the turban. 7 Take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head."
What was happening here was showing that God had already consecrated Aaron. After he had been cleaned, then he was anointed. Today we are cleaned by the blood of Jesus, who is also the sacrifice that was required for us to become priests per the requirement of Exodus 29:1-3. After we are cleansed, then we are anointed inwardly by God and externally by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which is the anointing of God. When Jesus said he didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, he meant it. Everything he did met the requirements of God in order for us to be partakers of the full inheritance that is now ours.
Let’s take a look at 1 Samuel 10:1. “Then Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it out on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you ruler over His inheritance?”
Note that the first thing Samuel did was let Saul know that he was anointing him because God had already spiritually anointed him. If you will also notice, there is no mention of the power of God coming down on him yet. It is not until a full day later that the Spirit of God comes down on Saul. “6 Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be transformed into a different person.”
This same pattern is followed by God even today. It is the same in the old testament and the new. In the new testament and modern-day Christianity, it looks like this; You receive the cleansing of Jesus Christ which is the New Testament means the anointing salvation (Mashiach and Christ mean anointed/anointing in Hebrew and Greek), then you say a prayer and receive the Holy Spirit who manifests through you for others to see that you are spiritually set apart.
Many people ask, why do we have to receive the Holy Spirit if we receive God when we receive Jesus? The answer is simple. When we accept Jesus sacrifice for us, we then receive the indwelling spirit of the Lord. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, we are then immersed completely by him and transformed into the new man that God intended for us to be. If we refer back to 1 Samuel, we see the same pattern identified where in verse 1 Saul receives the anointing. Then it is not until a day later when the spirit of the Lord comes upon him that he is transformed and begins to operate in one of the gifts of God and becomes a new man.
“5 “After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes, and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. 6 The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into a different person. 7 Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.
8 “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”
9 As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10 When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. 11 When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”
If you will take note the same pattern was set in the New Testament. In John 20:22 You see the first instance where anyone received the indwelling spirit of God. “And with that, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit...” It wasn’t until later in Acts 2 that they became fully immersed by the Holy Spirit and fully filled with him as well. Now Holy Spirit was manifesting externally in a manner that others could see so as to verify that the gospel that they preached about Jesus was true.
You see the same evidence of the Holy Spirit coming upon them as you did when Saul received God’s Holy Spirit. “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Shortly after this Peter began to prophesy speaking the words from the prophet Joel, and speaking the words of King David who was also considered to a prophet. From the moment those 120 men that were in the room were set ablaze by the Holy Spirit, it was evident that they had completely changed. From that moment on Peter, James, John, and eventually Saul would preach and teach about what it meant to be living as the new man; what it means to live life the way God desires. But, none of this would have been possible until they had first been anointed as Christians (anointed ones) and then received the spirit of God.
There is no mention in the new testament of any type of special anointing that a person needs to operate in. There is no mention of the anointing of Paul or the anointing of Peter. Nowhere in the bible does it say to seek the anointing of John G. Lake, or John Paul Jackson, or any other “famous” Christian general. The only anointing that you are told to go after is the anointing of Jesus Christ. What we do see is that God says that he will pour out his spirit. Each gift that we operate in is the result of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and the gifts are manifestations of Him in order to validate the Gospel that we are preaching. When we are operating in different gifts as listed by Paul, then we are operating in different aspects of the spirit of God. The spirit of Wisdom, Spirit of Prophecy, Spirit of Knowledge etc. Are you getting it yet?
All Christians have access to the same anointing to do anything. Let me explain to you in a way that will help paint a picture of why you are anointed. When you became a Christian you also became a bride of Christ. This doesn’t mean just women, this applies to both men and women. The bride of Christ is the church. In Isaiah 54:5 it says your maker (God) is your Husband, and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel (Jesus). Since God and Christ are one, then anything that applies to God also applies to Jesus. It says in the word that we have been espoused to one husband (that is Jesus/God) that we may be presented to Jesus as a chaste virgin. Scripture also refers to Jesus as the bridegroom. Since we have become married to Jesus, then we have taken on his last name.
Since Jesus’ last name means anointed, then when we betrothed him and took on his last name, his very identity, then we have become George Anointed, Tom Anointed, Mary Anointed, Robyn Anointed etc. Sometimes I like to remind myself and that members of my congregation that I am Robyn Christ, you are Brandi Christ, you are Asher Christ. This gives us a sense of oneness with Jesus Christ as one flesh.
I believe that one of the main reasons that people are so focused on a person being anointed to do a certain thing is A: poor teaching of the church, and B: because it relieves a person from having to step out and try to do the same thing themselves.
To see a person, pray for the sick and they become healed is easier to dismiss as the anointing to heal the sick, thus the observer has passed the buck by saying, “They are so anointed! God bless them for stepping out into their anointing.” If you were to actually take and change that word anointing to Christ it would make you feel ashamed and I dare say may even inspire you to act more like them. Here’s how that goes when you replace anointed with Christ; “Wow! They are so Christ! God bless them for stepping into Their Christ!”
This makes me think, if that’s their Christ that’s performing those miracles, healing the sick, prophesying, and showing up in such power then I want their Christ! Apparently, your Christ is weak and powerless! The moment that you grasp this, your walk with Jesus is going to Change!
I feel as though the church has integrated a system of idol worship into common practice today by chasing after a person with a gift and chasing after a person with an anointing. When we find ourselves saying, “I need this pers to pray for me and I will be healed,’ or “I wish I had their anointing to do that.” or anything along those lines, then they are wanting to emulate a person more than Jesus. They are wanting to go to a person for healing or for a word when all they need to do is go to God, access the Holy Spirit and believe that they are capable of doing the same things, having their prayers heard the same way, and are just as anointed as the next person.