ANOINTING, 26.02.2018

Radioprogram, Anointing, 26.02.2018

Announcer 1: In our days, it is very important to understand the meaning of the anointing, to go deeper into it and to move in it. Today we will discuss how the anointing of the Holy Spirit comes upon each person. I will try to explain what the anointing is, how it operates, how it grows, and what can create obstacles for it. Then I will bring examples of manifestations of the anointing and will explain how to operate in these manifestations.

There are two basic ways of learning about the anointing; reading the Bible and personal experience based on the Word of God. Our faith is based mostly on the Bible, and not on our own experience; however, our experience testifies that the Word of God is true. The disciples lived with Jesus, they saw His works, and then testified about everything they saw and heard. We are to do the same. As long as personal experience corresponds to the Word of God, it can be very significantin understanding the spiritual life.

The Holy Spirit is our Teacher. The Holy Spirit and the spiritual world are real. The human nature makes our spiritual hearing dull when we need to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and flow in His anointing. We do not always understand what He tells us, and we need time to realizeit. However, God wants to teach us to understand what the Holy Spirit does, so that we can always be led by Him and do what is right.

That is why we are given the anointing. Its goal is to allow us to do what God planned for us.

The anointing can grow and make us wiser in everything we do.

First John 2, verse 27 tells us, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12 clearly shows that God gave us the ministry gifts for building up the Body of Christ. One of them is the teachers, which means that teaching is one of the main goals of the Holy Spirit.

First John 2, verse 27 does not imply that learning is not necessary; quite the opposite – it tells us that we have a Teacher, the Holy Spirit, even when there is no one around.

There is something indwelt in us that allows us to know whether what we see and hear is right or no. I apologize for such a comparison, but it is as if we have a guiltless child deep inside our heart.

For example, you meet someone whom everyone considers a wonderful person, but you feel something very different about them. The reason of such a feeling can be the Holy Spirit telling you that something is not right with that person. If you do not learn to be led by the Holy Spirit and flow in the anointing, you can end up in self-condemnation, because your opinion about that person contradicts what majority thinks about them.

You might try to have good disposition toward them or put you in their place, but still, you will have some anxiety inside. You can have twinges of conscience because of it, but God wants you to be open and honest in such a situation. You have a blameless child inside, and due to that, you can know what others do not see. Sometimes you want to restrain yourself, because you do not like it, or you think about what others will say about you. However, when you come to know the Holy Spirit and understand His precious presence inside you, you will not feel fear about dealing with such things. His anointing can teach you everything.

The anointing does what man cannot. It can flow through you, - through your hands, - to other people. Words cannot describe the feeling when you receive the anointing.

The anointing lifts you up, sharpens your mind and makes you more receptive. Through it, you can say things you knew nothing about, and make wise decisions. The anointing brings with itself the holy presence of God, sweet and dear fellowship with Jesus, and noticeable beauty.

God wants every believer to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit, to understand Him, to learn to cooperate with Him and to have peace and harmony in Him.

The Lord wants to teach us to walk in the anointing even more; He wants the anointing to be multiplied in our lives, so that it can be passed to others.

John 16, verse 13 says, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

Here Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit. The Lord tells us that He will be with us through the Holy Spirit, and He will not leave us helpless. To be an orphan means to be helpless, but we received a Helper. His name is Helper, which means “called to one’s side” to establish, support and counsel us, so that we are able to do what we are called for.

Remember once again that the Holy Spirit lives in us from the moment of being born again.

Jesus also called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth. His words are not like what this world speaks.

Remember that this world cannot receive Him. Babylon will not receive Him, as He is the Spirit of the Lord, holy and righteous. The spirit of Babylon opposes the Spirit of God; this opposing spirit is led by what it sees, feels, experiences and knows. The spirit of this world is led only by sight and hearing.

However, the very difference of Christians is that they have the Holy Spirit. Christians have another Leader Who guides them. They are not guided by their sight and hearing. Christians are different from the world because they humbly receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Christians understand that whatever they see and hear is a result of limited senses, which not necessarily are comprehensive or correct, if they are under the influence of this world. No matter how enticing and strong the spirit of this world might seem at a given time, it is defeated. Even though it seems dominant and overcoming, it is defeated and has no future. On the other hand, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Victory, and defeat is not for Him. He is the Victory Himself.

Remember that the Holy Spirit is our Ally, not our adversary. We can hear His voice in our hearts, and the fact He does not do what we want or what we have decided, does not mean that He is against us. He saves us from danger. Jesus says about the Holy Spirit that He will be in us, will lead us, will tell us about the future, will remind us the things we heard before, will train us and will establish us in truth.

This is why we walk by faith, not by sight. Faith leads us to problem solving, to victory. Sight leads us to disappointment.

When we gain knowledge not only about the Holy Spirit, but also from Him, we learn the things that are against the doctrines of this world. Then confrontation cannot be avoided. Then the spirit and the flesh start to fight one another. The Bible teaches us that the flesh always opposes the spirit; the flesh will always do it, unless it fully admits its capitulation before the spirit.

Every time Christians have fights between their spirit and flesh, spirit and soul, they see how their flesh and soul betray them. The flesh and the soul are the worst allies of anyone who wants to have victories in this world. They are first to provoke a person to fight and are first to desert them.

Oftentimes, during spiritual warfare people get weak and unable to do anything, when they see how the spirit of this world seems stronger and dominant on the outside. However, we need to receive inner conviction and confidence from the Holy Spirit to continue in the warfare until peace and victory comes. Sometimes victory is not tangible at the moment, during the first days or even weeks, but the Spirit of Power inside you tells you “Be still, everything will be well; wait for the victorious end!” In this case, start waiting in humility and praising Him. And you will see that at the right time, at the time assigned by God and not by man, it will come to pass!

It is so important not to be familiar with the Holy Spirit, but to know Him. We must know Him! Jesus says in John 14, verse 17, “…but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

This means it is possible to know the Holy Spirit intimately. That is why First Corinthians 2, verse 9 says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor haveentered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

And 1 Corinthians 2, verses 10 to 12 says, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

Paul writes that we speak words that the Holy Spirit gives us. The Third Person of the Trinity is not a mysterious cloud that soars in air and sometimes is manifested in wonders. When we study the Bible, we can see that the Holy Spirit has all the qualities that describe a person. He speaks, He has feelings, He can be sad or joyful. As the Father and the Son, He has all the qualities of a person.

The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person Whom we can know intimately. He has a very important task of giving glory to Jesus. This is especially why we need to know Him, listen to His voice and understand the ways He manifests Himself.

The Holy Spirit equips us supernaturally to serve God and to be a blessing to others.

Today you can meet people that grow in the anointing and mature very fast, as in the spiritual world, maturity can happen faster than in the material world. The Holy Spirit is eternal; our spirit is eternal as well. When the Holy Spirit indwells us, we become united with others who have the Spirit of God. And the more we read and receive the Word, the more the anointing can increase in our lives.

Job 32, verses 7 and 8 say, “I said, ‘Age should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.” Yes, it is the Lord Who gives understanding through His Spirit.

The Lord can raise in ministry those who are young and seem inexperienced. Yes, they are young, but since they surrendered themselves to the Holy Spirit and are obedient to Him, they have more wisdom and spiritual experience than others do.

Remember that when we listen to, receive, confess and act according to the Word of God, our inner man becomes stronger. Then we truly allow the anointing of the Holy Spirit to flow, and it is easier for us to listen to God’s voice and to understand the things He does.

We do not need years of experience for our spiritual man to grow and become stronger. We receive from Him Who is called the Ancient of Days in the book of Daniel.

Thus, the anointing can help us to accomplish in a very short period what others achieve in years. For example, in my Christian life, I have seen people that acquired knowledge through years, but I have also seen others who without much effort, just because of being obedient and remaining in love received such revelations and abilities from the Holy Spirit, that might not be acquired even through years of studying. Of course, this does not mean that we must not have Christian education, as it is very important. However, remember that when we flow in the anointing, we have greater results and we reach greater goals that exceed our natural abilities.

I want to tell a story about an experience with the Holy Spirit. This story happened in the former Soviet Union, to a family that is very close to me. One of the family members left for a very far country to study in a Bible School. She was just 18 then, with no experience in travelling or living alone; it was her first step into a mature life, and it was natural that she could have some trials. The family prayed for her, but because of bad telephone connection, they were not able to talk to her for months. They had no information whether her needs were met. Or whether she was able to pay the rent or her flat. Or whether she was healthy or seek. The family knew nothing about her. And because she changed several addresses in that country, her parents did not know a valid address to send financial help to her.

The only one they could trust in such a setting was the Holy Spirit. They prayed through His help, feeling either peace or a sense of alarm from Him.

One evening, at 8 p.m., a family member felt a strong urge from the Holy Spirit to pray for her sister who was abroad. When she went into her room and started to pray, the Holy Spirit revealed to her spirit that her sister was very sick and in bed.

To be sure, she called another member of her family and said, “Let us pray together. If the Holy Spirit tells you who we pray for, tell me.” In several minutes, the other family member named their sister and said, “I heard in my spirit that we pray for her and that she is very sick.”

Immediately, they were in panic. They stopped praying, and the whole family started to make decisions to go to her. However, one of them received a word from the Holy Spirit, “Have I said that for you to create panic? Pray and intercede for her, and I will act…”

The whole family surrendered themselves to that inner voice. They started a spiritual warfare, which was not against flesh and blood, but against the dark powers. Then they started interceding. After almost one hour of prayer, a sense of peace and joy came to all of them. They had so much peace that did not even try to contact her during the next few days. They simply marked that day.

In several months, their sister was back home after finishing the Bible School. For many days, she told stories that happened to her in that country, and mentioned an experience that was the worst thing she had in her life. And it was the exact day the Holy Spirit urged them to pray.

That day, because of an inexperienced conduct of one of her roommates, a criminal group attacked the house the students lived in. Although police was there in time, she became sick because of fear. She had high temperature and even was unconscious for hours, and the other students had nothing in the house to help her. She was so weak because of fear, that she thought it was the end of her life. They could not even call an ambulance, as at evening and night hours, they had noelectricity or telephone connection. It looked like the whole hell went against her.

However, the next morning, she gradually started to recover. The temperature fell, she came to her senses and then asked for some food. Then a victorious and powerful feeling came upon her. She got up from her bed and started to pray for herself with power. Until noon, she was completely recovered, as if nothing happened to her. She said that after that day, any thoughts of fear that tried to come to her disappeared very quickly.

Upon returning to her homeland, she served in a Church, which planted a lot of Churches by the hand of the Holy Spirit. And today she is in a pastoral ministry in a country that is very far from her own country.

Praise God for His Spirit! He awakens those who listen to Him at the right time. It is very important to receive the leading of the Holy Spirit!