The Anointing -Part 1-day 4

The Anointing Pt. 1

The Anointing

By Les D. Crause

Luke 4:18 – The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are bruised.

There was a time when Jesus’ enemies sent some people to arrest Him while he was preaching publicly. These men came to take Him, but as they listened to Him speak they could not bring themselves to arrest Him. On returning to their superiors the only excuse they could give for their failure was, “No man ever spoke like this man.” There was something about the way Jesus spoke that had an effect on people.
Perhaps you have noticed the same thing when you have gone to listen to someone preach. Sometimes you just hear an average preacher speaking. But at other times there seems to be something special about the way a person speaks. It is not so much the way they preach. It might not even be connected to the subject they are preaching on. There is just an air of authority and something in their words that seems to hit you.

In the early days they used to call this ‘unction’. Today we tend to speak about ‘the anointing’, and you will hear people say something like, “That preacher is really anointed.” It can even be applied to a singing group. In fact anyone who is speaking or performing publicly in ministry can manifest the anointing. And although you cannot always put your finger on what makes the difference, you find yourself wanting to come back and listen again.

When a person ministers under the anointing, something happens. An old book I read once had a cartoon with the caption, “Unction in the pulpit, action in the pews.” It showed the preacher carrying an anointing, and the people responding in repentance. I remember once seeing a preacher present a gospel message and then giving an appeal for salvation, but no-one responded. He gave several appeals, but still no one responded.

Then another preacher stood up to close the meeting in song and prayer. He sang a chorus, and spent a short time in praise and worship, and then he gave another appeal for salvation. Immediately several people responded to the appeal and this resulted in several decisions for the Lord. What made the difference? Was the message preached not effective? Was it a case of the people not liking the first man of God? No the difference was the anointing. The second preacher had that quality which was missing from the first one.

Have you ever wished you could be more effective for the Lord? Would you like people to respond more positively when you share with them? Would you like to see more results in your ministry? Then the key to what you want is right in this quality that we call the anointing. It is what makes an ordinary preacher into a powerful man or woman of God. It is what makes the difference between mediocre and outstanding ministry.

It was this anointing that caused Jesus to do the things that He did. And until He received the anointing at the baptism of John, Jesus remained behind the scenes in obscurity. But when He came out of the water after being baptised, something happened that caused Jesus to be launched on the main purpose for His life. He saw the heavens opened and the Spirit of God coming down on Him like a dove. Only then could He do what He had come to do.

Then when Jesus ascended back to Heaven, He gave His disciples some clear instructions. He told them that they too were going to receive the anointing. And He said that once they had received this anointing they were going to go out and do great exploits for God. They were going to spread the Gospel all over the world. And in Mark 16 we read that He told them that miraculous signs would accompany the preaching of the Word.

But then He made one thing very clear. He told them that they were not to do a thing until they had received this anointing. He told them to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from above. And until that new anointing by the Holy Spirit came, they were not to attempt any ministry. If Jesus could not do any effective ministry without it, and if the early apostles could not do anything without it, then where do we stand? Could we possibly accomplish anything at all without the anointing? I don’t think so.

So perhaps you are now in a position where you desire to do something for the Lord. You would like to minister to others by sharing the Gospel or teaching, or praying for those in need. Then the same instruction comes to you. Do not even think about it until you have received the anointing, because without the anointing you can accomplish very little. Of course the big question then is how to receive the anointing, and if you have received it, how to know if you have received it. And if you know if you have received it, how to use it effectively. I will be talking about it for the next while, so stay tuned and you will find all the answers you might be wanting.

The Anointing-P.2-day 3

The Anointing Pt. 2

How to Get the Anointing

By Les D. Crause

John 7:37 to 39 – On the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If any one is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink.
He that believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his inward parts shall flow rivers of living water.
(But he was referring to the Spirit, which those that believe in him would receive: for the Holy Spirit had not yet been [given]; because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)

The anointing is something that is so special, that when someone ‘gets’ it, people will come from far and wide to come and experience it. As someone said once, “If you get on fire for God, someone will come and watch you burn.” Today there is a hunger all over the world for the mighty touch of God. People are seeking God for revival and a fresh experience of His power. Some ‘fortunate’ folks are experiencing an outpouring of the Spirit of God, and people are flocking from all over the world to come and get a taste of it.

But the million dollar question is always, “How do I get it?” If the anointing is such a wonderful thing, then surely everybody should try to get it. But yet so few people seem to have it. If only we could find out how these people managed to get it, then maybe we can try and do the same things they did. And so there is a great desire amongst many believers to try and experience the fullness of the anointing of God, and they are looking everywhere for answers to this question.

I mentioned last time that the anointing is something that was given to Jesus. In fact if you look at the name that Jesus is called by, you see that it embraces His relationship with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. He is called the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord is the title that was given to God in the Old Testament. And the word Christ means literally ‘the anointed.’ Jesus is Christ – the anointed one. And we are Christians – also anointed ones. The anointing is in us because Jesus is in us.

So I want to ask you the question, “When does a person receive the anointing?” Those who have experienced some of the power of God will probably tell you that the anointing seems to come upon them at different times. They can actually feel it. It is a wonderful feeling of the presence of God, and sometimes it is like raw power that floods through your whole being. It is better than being high on drugs or alcohol and more exhilarating than passionate love. And this is why when people experience it they want to keep getting more and more of it.

But when does a person receive this anointing? Some will say that it happens when they go to a revival meeting, or when someone who is operating in the anointing prays for them. So they flock to meetings where these things are in manifestation. And sure enough, as the Spirit of God begins to move, they experience the sensation of the presence of the anointing. It is like a river flowing through them. It is like a river that they are swimming in. And in fact the river has become the most common symbol of the anointing in these places. But afterwards the anointing seems to vanish away. So they have to return again to the river, to get a fresh touch of the presence of God.

When does a person receive the anointing? Some will tell you that it comes only once you get rid of sin in your life. God will not pour His Spirit into an unclean vessel. The river of life will not flow through unclean channels. So they seek to deal with every wrong thing in their lives. They seek to produce holiness and righteousness through giving up things that displease the Lord and through continual confession of all known sin in their life. There is a continual process of setting oneself apart from sin and allowing the Lord to become prominent in their lives. But though we get rid of the external appearances of sin, there still remains the wickedness of the heart. And like Paul we cry out, “Who will deliver me from the bondage of this death?”

So I ask again, “When does a person receive the anointing?” Some say that it comes only after an extended time of fasting. In fact the longer the fast, the greater the anointing is likely to be in the life. After all, Jesus fasted for forty days before He could enter into His ministry, so surely we should all also fast for forty days if we expect to move into the kind of power that He had. But who can fast for forty days? Certainly not the vast majority of people who hold down normal jobs and live active lives. And even amongst those who are able to commit themselves to this, who could survive such a feat without severe hardship or physical damage?

So when you get down to brass tacks, you find that for the vast majority of believers, all hope of receiving the anointing begins to fade away, and all that they are left with is a way of explaining why they failed to obtain it. And this is when the problems begin. You see, I cannot admit that I have failed to attain, so I have to blame either the people who have succeeded or the Lord Himself.

So there are those who condemn the revival movements. They speak out against the organisations and people who are operating in these things. They try to teach that these people are carnal and worldly, seeking only sensation and not the Lord. They are called the Laodicean Church and many other things. All this, to cover up their own failure to attain.

And then there are those who have to acknowledge that these things are of God, but yet because they have not attained themselves, they try to explain the reason for the failure as being the will of God.

“God is Sovereign,” they say, “And He pours out His anointing where and when He chooses.”

So we just have to keep praying and hoping and wishing and waiting, until one day God decides to pour out His Spirit upon us. Maybe we too can be fortunate enough to be like one of the revival churches and have God choose us to be one of the spots where He is going to pour out His blessing. But when does a person receive the anointing? Jesus gave us the answer in the passage we read above. He said quite simply that, “He that believes in me,” will experience the outflow of rivers of living water. Paul explains it to us using the word anointing in 2 Corinthians 1:21 and 22: He says:

Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, [is] God;
Who has also sealed us, and given the guarantee of the Spirit in our hearts.

What is Paul talking about here? He is talking about the same thing as Jesus. He is saying that every believer has received the Spirit of God. It is the Holy Spirit that is the anointing. It is the Holy Spirit that is the seal that guarantees, not only our salvation, but also the continual presence of God in our hearts.

Now what is interesting here is that Paul uses a Greek tense called the Aorist. This is a special past tense we do not have in English. It refers to an act that is carried out and completed. It does not need to be repeated. In other words Paul is saying that you are anointed once for all, and this process does not need to be repeated. This anointing took place when you received Jesus, because He is the Anointed One. And when you received Him you received also the seal of the Holy Spirit who dwells in your heart if you are a believer. Then just to make sure that we don’t put too much on just one verse, the Apostle John tells us something that says it even clearer, in 1 John 2:27:

But the anointing that you have received from him abides in you, and you need not that any man should teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you about all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him.

So I ask once again in conclusion then, “When does a person receive the anointing?” And of course the answer is quite simply, “When he or she is born again.” If you would like to pick up your Bible Concordance and look for every occurrence of the word anoint, anointed or anointing, you will find that there is not much more there than those that I have mentioned. There is nothing complicated about the anointing. We have all received it as believers, and the process never needs to be repeated.

So why doesn’t everyone experience the anointing then? Why do we have to go to revival meetings to find it? Why do some people experience it and not others? In the grace of God I am going to try to explain this to you next, and then we are going to see how to experience the anointing that is already in every believer. Instead of going to find a river, you will learn how to create your own!

Joy-your source of strength-day 2

Joy – Your Source of Strength

By Daphne Crause

Nehemiah 8:10 – Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

If you’ve ever suffered the misfortune of being plagued by depression you’ll know just how tired you seem to be. Your body feels like a ten-ton weight that you’re carrying around. You have no energy, and feel weak and unenthusiastic about everything. Life itself is dull, boring and painful.

Is there any way out of this awful scenario you may ask? Yes there is. Get joyful about something! That may seem like an impossibility if you feel like you’re carrying the earth on your shoulders, but Nehemiah must have experienced it to say that the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Depression is usually caused by a feeling of rejection or failure, and so you tend to become introspective and zero in on the way you feel, your hurts, your bruised and tender heart, and you feel like having a pity party rather than facing the problems. Your whole system slows down and you become what I described above.

So now, how can you change the way you feel and get some life and energy back into you? By praising the Lord and singing. It’s sometimes as simple as that. I experienced this very recently when I became extremely depressed and simply couldn’t seem to break out no matter how much I tried to do so.

It was then that I discovered the power of praise and worship. I was just doing routine household activities at the time but I began to sing in tongues. At first I sounded quite pathetic because my voice was hoarse and squeaky because I felt like bawling my eyes out, but nevertheless I continued. After a while I could sing a little better and didn’t feel quite so blue and I began to feel my spirit clearing and lifting up as I praised the Lord.

I was quite amazed to find that it became a habit in me that I couldn’t stop once I got started, and within a short space of time I had full joy bubbling through me and I was back to my usual bouncy self. Most definitely the Lord’s joy was my strength, both physically and emotionally. Little problems that had seemed insurmountable earlier on melted away, and even my faith became stronger and I began to see the Lord’s victory in my life.

The reason why singing is so powerful and causes so much joy to spring up in you is because you’re getting your eyes off yourself and onto the Lord. Also, you cannot sing and be sad at the same time. Singing generally brings with it a joy and forces you to focus on the positive rather than the negative.

So, if you’re feeling down and don’t know what to do or where to turn, turn to the Lord in song and focus your eyes firmly on Him. You know, whatever your problems and whatever your failures, He is the one who will give you what’s needed for any particular situation to sort each problem out. It’s useless wasting your time on trying to figure it out yourself. Why not give it to the One who knows everything you need, feel and want. He’s waiting to fill you up with joy – and bless you with every need and desire.

Remind me Oh Lord-day 1

Remind Me Oh Lord!By Les D. Crause

 

John 14:26 But the Comforter, [who is] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.(GMR)The human mind has an amazing ability to hold knowledge. I look at the educational standards of today and compare them with the things I learned many years ago when it was my turn to study for my future, and I am amazed by how much young people are given to learn now. How can they possibly remember all that stuff?

Then I think back on the many things I learned at school, and I think on how much of that knowledge has really remained in my mind, and I realize that I have forgotten most of it. Just sit down with any young person as they go through their studies and you begin to feel almost stupid at your lack of knowledge. It seems that the human brain just does not hold on to a lot of what passes through it. We have to make a special effort to get this to happen, and usually we are just too lazy to make that effort, so it just passes away.

Your spiritual knowledge is also like that in many ways. The Lord has taught you many awesome and wonderful things. You have seen some powerful truths in the Word that really turned you on to serve the Lord with great zeal. Perhaps you received some wonderful revelations from the Spirit of God, or the Lord gave a powerful prophetic word that really motivated you to go out and do great things for the Lord. But now as you look at the state of your life and your spiritual experience, it is just not there any more.

You go about your daily duties doing the same things you have always done before, but somehow the power has gone. The presence of the Lord is not as real as it used to be. Your faith just seems to not be so strong any more. Your prayers seem to fall flat instead of reaching up into the throne of God to bring change in the earth. And you ask yourself, “Lord where have I failed? What did I do wrong?”

I want to stir you up today in remembrance of the wonderful things that God has done for you in the past. The wonderful things that He has revealed to you in the past. The wonderful truths that He has given you, which you have taken for granted and allowed to slip. For these things had the power to set you free when you first learned them, and they put a fire in you when you first heard them. But now they are no longer exciting to you, and you take them for granted.

Can you remember the fire that was in you when you were first born again? Do you remember that experience you had in the presence of the Lord, when His Holy Spirit first came upon you and anointed you with His power? Do you remember how awesome it felt when you first shared the Word with someone else, and poured out the simple things that God had done in your life?

But that fire has gone now, because you have forgotten to remember what the Lord has given you. You have forgotten the truths of His Word that set you so aflame once. You have forgotten the touch of His Spirit on your life. You have forgotten to remain in His Word to receive fresh manna to feed your soul. You have forgotten to spend time in His presence to draw on that limitless resource that is to be found in the Spirit of God.

Paul in writing to his spiritual son Timothy, spoke the following words:

2 Timothy 1:6 Therefore I want to remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.(GMR)

Today I want to do the same for you. I want to remind you to stir up the wonderful treasures that God has given you. Stir up the knowledge that He has given you that will set the world on fire, and cause you to do the impossible. Stir up the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, and who will come upon you as you step out boldly to do what God has called you to do.

And above all, realize that there is a world out there who do not have the knowledge that God has given you. And the little things that you have taken for granted, will be to them a gift from heaven. The things that you have heard so often and now consider trivial, are the very words of life that will release God’s power in their lives, and also again in yours if you will but bring them back to remembrance, put them in your lips and act on them once again.

 

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