Let the Gospel roll The Anointing 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 dont 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.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 08:00:48 +0000
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