Get to Know the Holy Spirit Pt. 4

The Holy Spirit-The Anointing : December 2022

I really love studying the Holy Spirit. It seems like there are endless truths to study about Him. We will spend the rest of our lives getting to know the many attributes and facets and ways of the Holy Spirit. Like I’ve said He is the biggest factor in obtaining the “MORE” that God has for you. He is our Helper, our Edifier, our Answer, our Fire, our Power and so, so much more. Becoming sensitive to Him, close to Him, and full of Him, is really going to unlock things in your spiritual life and your physical life that you’ve never thought possible. This week we are going to take a look at what happens to us when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. He empowers us and makes us in to people that we never thought we could be. He is our strength in our weaknesses. He empowers us with His gifts to accomplish the things of God. Often times the call that God places on our lives seems like something we could never do. In our natural selves, the call of God seems to be too out of our league, as though we’re not enough and that we could never accomplish it on our own. But the anointing of God is what makes us into what we need to be, to accomplish the call that He has placed on our lives.

Throughout the Bible, The Holy Spirit is called the anointing. Specifically, it says in Acts 10:38 NLT, “And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” And then in 1 John 2:20 AMPC, “But you have been anointed by [you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from] the Holy One, and you all know [the Truth] or you know all things.” So we can see in these two verses that the anointing and the Holy Spirit go hand-in-hand. Today, when we see someone “anointing with oil” it’s typically just a little dab of oil on someone’s finger then placed on the forehead of the person being anointed. But back in Bible times the action of being anointed was a much bigger thing. The person who is doing the anointing would literally pour oil over the person being anointed. So that person would be dripping and drenched in oil. That is how it is when the spiritual anointing comes on us, we are spiritually dripping and covered by the Holy Spirit. This process of being anointed gives way for the Holy Spirit to come upon us and make us into someone that we were not before. It’s funny how you hear so many stories about how people are called by God to do things they do not feel equipped or capable of doing. But that’s why it’s always a God story! God is able to show up and there’s no question that it’s God’s power working through us and not our own.

There are two Bible stories that I want to focus on when it comes to the anointing of God making us into someone that we are not so that we can accomplish the will of God for our lives. The first story we see this in, is recorded in the life of King Saul. One day Saul’s father sent him looking for lost donkeys. While Saul was out searching for the lost donkeys, God sent the prophet Samuel to him. Samuel was to anoint Saul as the new king of Israel. When Samuel had told Saul this, this was Saul‘s response in, 1 Samuel 9:21 NLT. “Saul replied, “But I’m only from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, and my family is the least important of all the families of that tribe! Why are you talking like this to me?” Here we see how Saul perceived himself, his family history, and his abilities. He felt very insecure, his first response was basically “why are you talking to me about this, I am so not the man for the job?” This is often our own response with regard to the call of God on our lives. We can feel like we are incapable or there’s someone better for the job or that our abilities or our talents are not where they need to be to accomplish it. Yet look at what happens next in the story of Saul after receiving this news that he is being anointed king. He went with Samuel for a short time and then was sent home and we pick up in 1 Samuel 10:5-6;9-11 AMPC. “After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; and when you come to the city, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and you will show yourself to be a prophet with them; and you will be turned into another man.” -“And when [Saul] had turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart, and all these signs came to pass that day. When they came to the hill [Gibeah], behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he spoke under divine inspiration among them. And when all who knew Saul before saw that he spoke by inspiration among the [schooled] prophets, the people said one to another, What has come over [him, who is nobody but] the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” Oh I love this! In the story we see a man with low self-esteem, with a very unimpressive résumé, and a weak family background, given a very high calling by God. We get to see this man‘s doubts and concerns about who he is in the natural. But then we see the Spirit of God come upon him, anoint him and turn him into a new person capable of fulfilling the high call that was placed on his life! This transformation and this anointing was so evident that the people who knew him before were so shocked to see this new man standing before them. This same thing can happen for you and for me too.

Let’s now take a look at the life of Samson. Samson was a man born with another special calling on his life. Before he was born his parents were given specific instructions on how to raise Sampson as a Nazarite. He was going to have a unique gift of incredible and unmatchable strength. But the key was that he was never to cut his hair and was to follow the Nazarene rules. The only way Samson had this incredible gift of strength was through the Spirit of the Lord. Aside from the anointing of God’s Spirit, Samson was just your average human being. It says in Judges 14: 5-6 NLT, “As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion suddenly attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah. At that moment the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother about it.” And also Judges 15:14-15 NLT, “As Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting in triumph. But the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists. Then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed 1,000 Philistines with it.” As you may know, a series of unfortunate events occur for Samson after he yielded his secret to the enemy. However, A while later after his hair began to grow back he was taken to a large philistine event where he was meant to be used for their entertainment. He prayed once more for the Spirit of God to come upon him and empower him with strength so that he could bring the building down. In that moment the Spirit of God came upon him made him supernaturally strong and he was able to defeat many, many philistines and accomplish the call that God had put on his life. You can read this full story in Judges chapters 13-16.

What we learn from the lives of these two men, is how powerful the anointing of the Holy Spirit is in our lives to take us from who we are without Him to who we can be with Him. Without the anointing of the Holy Spirit we are left to our own natural capabilities, our own family histories, our own failures, our own weaknesses to accomplish the mighty will of God for our lives. We can be sure when we receive an assignment or call from God that we in ourselves aren’t capable to accomplish, He is faithful to anoint us with His Spirit and power, “making us into another person,” capable to accomplish it. Then it is God Who is glorified in the situation! Others who knew us before the anointing came upon us, will say, “how did they do that?” It is because the person we were without the Holy Spirit anointing could have never done any such thing.

I pray that the anointing of the Holy Spirit comes upon each of you this week and empowers you to do the thing that you thought was completely impossible or totally out of your wheelhouse. I pray that you are so surprised and astonished by how God’s strength shows through in your weakness. I encourage you to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to come upon you and empower you and make you into the person that you need to be to do the thing He has called you to do.

I like to close each teaching with an invitation to salvation for anyone that has not yet welcomed Jesus into their life. Maybe you’ve read this and felt a pull on your heart. Maybe you’re in a place where you just need a solution. If so, this was meant for you and if you’re ready for the “moreness” of God, then believe in your heart and say out loud the following prayer: “Jesus, I repent for my sins, please forgive me for living a life apart from You. I believe that you are the Son of God and that you died on the cross for my sins and were raised to life again. I confess you as Lord over my life. Take my life and do something with it. And I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ Name amen.”

It’s as simple as that. Welcome to the family! That is solely the most important decision you will ever make. If you prayed that prayer, please send us an email and let us know. We would love to help get you connected to a Life-filled church in your area and help you get started on your journey of “moreness” with God. Click the chat button at the bottom of each page and send us a message!