The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor …. and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised ~ Luke 4:18.
Introduction:
Touching lives with the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ sometimes looks very easy, but it is not always so. You definitely need Someone bigger than you — the Holy Spirit Himself — to excel in the spiritual arts of doing good and touching other lives for God on earth!
Quite unfortunately, many people remain oblivious of this fact until reality teaches them. See, reality can be very innovative; it always finds a way to humble people, particularly the top-notch armchair critics.
We can have fulfillment in doing good and making our world better only with the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. However, the degree to which we operate in this power is completely left to us.
We can choose to be walking spiritual dynamos, full of power, performing miracles and operating in the manifestations of Holy Ghost wherever we go, or choose to be spiritual weaklings, failing to utilize the enormous gifts we have received (Ephesians 3:7, 20).
God the Father is the Anointer, Jesus Christ is the Miracle Worker and the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, Who binds us to God and His acts of goodwill on earth (Acts 10:38).
The anointing of the Holy Spirit is the supernatural potion that signalizes God’s presence on human flesh to accomplish what man cannot do for himself. It is the outpouring of God’s marvelous grace and glory.
We must note that God's grace is not only in His willingness to forgive us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but also in His resources for shaping and using our lives as believers. Hence, the anointed man is the man relevant to God’s agenda in any generation.
Oil, as an emblem of the Holy Spirit, was often poured upon prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament to denote the outpouring of gifts, wisdom and grace from God upon them to qualify them for their respective offices.
Today, when a believer is remarkably anointed by the Holy Spirit, God’s presence becomes manifest, and real spiritual power is experienced in strange victories round about (Acts 1:8). Those who receive this anointing are made alive unto God, and are expressly referred to by Apostle Peter as living stones (1 Peter 4-5).
We Are Anointed to Terminate Satanic Oppressions
Unknown to many people, all Christians are authorized to defeat the enemy, to enjoy total victory in Christ and to touch the world for good (1 John 2:20). Notwithstanding, the Word of God clearly states that those who are born-again of the Spirit have the authority to overrule Satan (John 3:5-8; Luke 10:19).
Of a truth, many spirit beings, good and bad, inhabit the unseen realm. The good ones are agents of goodwill, but the bad ones are structured to do maximum damage to the Kingdom of God and to God’s people in general (Ephesians 6:12-13).
However, we need not fear because Christ already disarmed the evil spirits when He triumphed over them on the Cross (Colossians 2:15). Moreover, we believers are mightily weaponized in the spirit realm, and our weapons have divine capabilities to demolish every fortress of the enemy (2 Corinthians 10:4).
Yes indeed, God freely delegated His authority and divine privileges to us as His favorite children (John 1:12). But, sometimes, we treat them with carelessness and levity, just like we often do with other free things in life, forgetting that, in the real sense of it, there is nothing actually free, only what is paid for by someone else.
God paid the supreme price for our empowerment. He did! Jesus Christ had to die for the Holy Spirit to find fitting spaces in the believers today (John 16:7).
God is the Original Owner of every good thing — greatness, power, glory, victory, majesty, riches, honour, strength, might, and all that is in the heaven and in the earth, etc — but, He has chosen to give portions of these to His children (1 Chronicles 29:11-12; 1 Corinthians 15:57; 1 John 5:4).
Furthermore, with respect to the believers in Christ Jesus, the Bible also says: “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). The important question is: “who is this Person in us”?
Christ Jesus is He! He took up residence in our hearts by the Holy Ghost when we received His gift of eternal life (Colossians 1:27). He also gave us both authority and power in the Holy Spirit to frustrate the plans of the devil, to defeat persistent difficulties in life and to guide us through all our Christian journeys.
What Happens When We Are Truly Anointed
Basically, we are anointed to touch lives in our generation, and to make our world a better place to live in. To accomplish these, the Holy Ghost installed in us incredible capacities for genuine love (Romans 5:5). It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that makes God’s covenant speak out very effectively in the believer’s life (Psalm 89:28).
Ideally, the greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. Yes, the value of life is computed not by its duration but by its donation. It is not how long we live that matters, but how full and how well. Notwithstanding, it takes the anointing to generate true and lasting impacts.
Without impacts, you cannot be significant, and nobody will be interested in you. But, when you get connected to the Holy Spirit, and you utterly depend on His power, supernatural things begin to happen, and you are bound to make great impacts in the lives of other people.
To do or to see good things on earth requires the workings of the Holy Ghost. Yes, healing is peculiar bread for God’s children; even then, it takes the Holy Spirit to bake it.
Cultivating the Holy Ghost Power Within
Many Christians today are not utilizing the opportunities and the power that are so freely given us; consequently they lead lives beneath the believers’ privileges. Albeit, by divine mercy, they still retain the distinct honor and the awesome responsibility of cultivating this power that is latent within.
This we can do by our sensitive and implicit reliance on the Holy Spirit, trusting God all the way through in our Christian journeys, and releasing confidence in His unfailing power by faith and by our right confessions.
When we trust the Holy Spirit, He makes our inner man stronger so that we can stand equipped to carry on with His purpose on earth. This magnificent "treasure"of strength in our "earthen vessels" is the power of the Holy Spirit from on high (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Moreover, with the Holy Spirit presence in our lives, wisdom is automatically made available to us regarding every situation we face in life (Ephesians 1:17-19). The Holy Spirit is our Present Help, making ways for our profit in all aspects of life (Romans 8: 24-28; 1 Corinthians 1:7).
Friends and brethren, the glorious assignment of influencing people for good will always require the assistance of the Holy Spirit (Psalm 89:25). We must go, therefore, for whatever it takes to get the power of His anointing (Hebrews 1:9; Psalms 89:20). In this essential power encounter, may you never miss out, in Jesus name. Amen. Happy Sunday!
* Bishop Taiwo Akinola,
Rhema Christian Church,
Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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