ANOINTING’S FUNCTION
- Discernment: You will recognize the truth As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in Him (1 John 2:27). Something to remember: this passage was written to believers who John had instructed and who were in danger of being deceived by false teachers! Their ability to discern came from their previous teachings which existed in their hearts.
- Deliverance: What seeks to dominate and mock you will be broken. 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 (Isaiah 10:27).
- Refreshing: (Psalm 23:5) You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
The shepherds of the Middle East would stand in the door of the fold, and as the sheep came back from grazing to their place of shelter for the night, the shepherd examined each one. If there were any wound or bruise upon a sheep, the shepherd would pour oil on it as a healing ointment. But if there wasn’t anything the sheep needed, the shepherd would pour a little oil on the sheep’s head anyway just because sheep like it. David, who was a shepherd, is saying with this imagery: There are times when I don’t need anything but the Lord pours His oil out on me just because He knows I like it.
- Healing: Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. The oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit’s presence to heal (James 5:14). The healing isn’t in the authority of the elders’ office, or the power of their hands or even the power of the oil. The healing is in the anointing that the oil represents that’s ministered by the hands of those that carry the office of elders. The presence and power is the Holy Spirit’s, and He heals.
- Victory: Where the anointing is, there is life and victory. The Lord touches all the bases when people seek to walk in His Spirit and in His way. He providentially leads and guides and protects. 2 Samuel 1:21 is an example of this: “Omountains of Gilboa, Let there be no dew nor rain upon you, nor fields of offerings. For the shield of the mighty is cast away there! The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.”
In the Gospels, Jesus describes the new work of God, which is conveyed by the ministry of the Spirit, as new wine that is endangered when poured into old vessels. If the old wineskin isn’t prepared over time and meticulous conditioning, it is ruined. This is why you see a lot of people say they want more of Holy Spirit, but when He shows up and does things differently than they were used to, they freak out and say it can’t be God And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins… Others mocking said, They are full of new wine (Mark 2:22; Acts 2:13).
I want to become a case study of God making an investment and God finding an instrument. God wants to present Jesus in us and through us, in order to replicate His life through us, and to make us an standard through which He can reach the world. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2).