Anointing

Here is the answer. Because every good leadership course you’ve ever taken has declared that you should never ask a question which you do not already have an answer for. Lawyers in courtrooms ask questions the way they do because they already know the answer they want to be given, or at least they think they do. The basic premise is that if you do not know the answer, how can you know the right question to ask. While answers sometimes surprise and turn us in new directions of thought, it is still driven by what we thought was the answer. God uses the same tactic when speaking with men. He always knows every correct answer and yet asks questions anyway. God’s reason for asking the question is so that we might know the correct answer and get our thinking on the same page as Him.

Adam gets the first recorded question in Genesis chapter three: In Sunday School children are taught that Jesus is the answer to every question in life. It is true, but simply writing in His name will not get you a good grade on a math test. Everything we might desire to know about life, about the Creator of life, or even about how to answer the next question is provided in His Word, the Bible. He is the author of life and knowledge and wisdom. When we walk in step with Him we succeed. When we set aside our own personal “stinking thinking” and become strengthened in His Holy Spirit led thinking, we succeed. When we cease to question His purpose and authority, when we desire to be His answer instead of a rebellious question, we succeed. So what is the answer?

Anointing; The scriptures clearly declare that it is the indwelling presence of the living loving Creator God of the universe which is the answer to the question. If He is not present, it is hardly possible for us to even be able to frame the correct question. Anointing is more than just the hair raising goose bump sensation which is a normal reaction to the influences of the spiritual realm upon the physical. Anointing is more than just the understanding beyond your human ability in spiritual matters. Anointing is more than wisdom and understanding given as His gifts to a thirsty and needy people. Anointing is the restoration of the three part being He originally made us as when He said “Let us make man in our image”. The “us” is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Trichotomous means three parts. Your dictionary gets it wrong because they do not know the answer. They say it means divided into three parts. God says it is when three parts are combined.

Inanimate things such as rocks and dead plants or animals have only a physical presence, a body. A dead body is singular. It is alone. Animals and some would argue, plants as well, have both a physical and a living presence. The Bible declares that all living creatures have a body and a soul. God alone has the Spirit which He has given to each of His children. The Bible uses a word meaning “a breathing creature” to indicate a soul. This makes a dichotomous or two part being. It has a body and vitality or life. Such is the existence of all creation, except man. While some might make a similar distinction for the angels of Heaven, we will leave that for another discussion. Human Beings, mankind, men and women, or collectively ‘Man’. Man is uniquely adorned in the Garden of Eden with the breath of God. Job declares that even in his agony he has life in his body and the Spirit of God as well. Body, soul and Spirit. Or as the Scripture declares in Thessalonians “Spirit and Soul and Body”.

It is in that context that the answer comes. It is in that venue and that alone which the answer is correct and true and right according to God’s standard of righteousness. The Anointing is the indwelling presence of the Spirit of the Living Lord. He enters by invitation and remains by His power. He can be rejected but cannot be uninvited. When He permeates every cell of His chosen vessels He seals His place beyond the ability of any mere mortal to effect. No one can pluck Him out. It is that very overwhelming presence which is power beyond our ability to define power. He alone changes us and molds our desires and wills us to be willing. Although our flesh struggles against His leadership and full control, we become more like to His being as we obey each thought and instruction wherein we say “Yes, Lord”. It is not possible for any enemy to remove or defeat His power yet the greatest adversary is the distraction Eve was given. It raises to the thinking mind the question of authority.

If one is able to recall the time before the indwelling, only questions will abound. Any semblance of answers gender more questions. But since the day, the hour, the moment, in which out heart surrendered to His ownership and gave Him full authority to rule and reign in our life, He has been, He is, that Anointing. In the beginning He is the seal protecting until the day of complete physical and spiritual redemption. He is the earnest, the down payment, of the promise unto that time. He is the comforter who comes along side in the darkest nights, the lowest battles. He is the power of God unto salvation for which we are not ashamed. Anointing is the boldness which overcomes the enemy of physical death. Anointing is the assurance of the impossibility of spiritual death. Anointing is the over-comer of fear by the perfect love He is. He can be imitated, mislabeled, maligned and lied about. He can never be defeated, downtrodden or diminished. These are attributes of our own which appear when we refuse obedience and attempt to walk in our own way.

Yet He lovingly waits as we finish our atrocity and reminds us of the horrible impact of our choices. Lovingly He seeks our repentance through His goodness. Graciously He forgives and restores. Faithfully He teaches and protects. Then in the most indescribable amazing moment He declares we are without fault. Solomon says “Thou art all fair my beloved; there is no spot within thee”. Anointing claims the blemish as though it had never been. Restoration replaces grief, agony and doubt. He is God and we are not. Anointing is the answer to the question, “What if I…” Because it is likely that you will. He knew that before He anointed. He would not anoint any vessel He would later reject. Although many appear to walk similar to the anointed for a time, eventually their true nature will reveal itself.

Anointing dwells not in cheap grace, halfhearted commitment, or self serving profiteering. To think that God could be fooled into placing Himself into a vessel which would one day burn in the pits of eternal fire and condemnation is to believe He is not that singularly powerful expression of who He is. Anointing inhabits the praise of His people. Anointing witnesses to the worship of His children. Anointing is that which springs up within our being reminding us that God breathed His breath into Adam’s nostrils and man became a living soul. We live life in a body by His creative acts in the beginning. We live eternally in His presence by the Anointing which is in us and through us and is our very being. Whatever the question for the believer, the answer is His Anointing.