§ Yielding to the Kingdom Anointing

May 11, 2012 by bartimaeus

§ Yielding to The Kingdom Anointing

Go into all the world …

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …” (Matt. 28:19)

“And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened” (Luke11:9-10)

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

One of the major problems we have as Christian laity today is not only that we are not aware of being able to enter the Kingdom that is “at hand” but we are also unaware of how to operate in the Kingdom Anointing that is our heritage in Christ. In fact, without this anointing we cannot fully carry out the “Great Commission” wherein Christ directed us to go out to the world, not only to proclaim the Good News but to make disciples as well (Matt. 28:19). Without the Kingdom Anointing working in us and through us as disciples, we are powerless to “make disciples”, since we have to be a disciple to participate in the process

The Anointing Empowers us to be His Witnesses

The unspoken implications we laity receive from the religious culture today is that only the “ordained” may operate under the “anointing” and, that, unless you have an Master of Divinity Degree from an approved seminary you are out of your element in attempting to comply with the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19). What they obscure with this type of thinking is the scriptural reality that all who believe and are baptized have the “anointing” residing in them – that is, through the Spirit of the Christ the Anointed One of the Father, who abides in us. This anointing that empowers us to be His witnesses, comes with our conversion, Baptism in water and the Holy Spirit. The only thing we lack is an awareness of our spiritual inheritance an adequate instruction in the Word to activate the Kingdom and the anointing which is “at hand” within each of us.

St. Luke tells us that to enter the Kingdom, and the anointing that comes with our entry, all we need to do is “ask, seek and knock” (cf. Luke 11:9-10). However, we in our modern religious culture have been blinded as to the real meaning of this scripture, thinking of it as merely a promise to fulfill our own personal desires rather than the Father’s desire to empower us to fulfill the roles He in His infinite sovereignty has determined for us.

When we are called to “enter the Kingdom”, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus (cf., John, Chapter 3), we are entering into a continuation of His ministry here on earth through us who believe. This is the “Kingdom” that He declared was at hand and which he commanded His disciples to proclaim with signs following to affirm the reality of the manifestation of His commission to bring the reality of the Father’s Love to all humanity.

Yes, The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of His Love, and since the Love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom.5;5) through Baptism and Confirmation we also are called to be sharers in Christ’s ministry by proclaiming the Kingdom and calling down the power of His Love to the very place in which we live! Praised be His Holy Name!

The Kingdom Anointing as Manifested in Jesus’ Ministry

When, in doing His will, we act on the Word in His Name, the power of His Kingdom is made manifest on Earth through us to the degree necessary to communicate His Love. In His Ministry Jesus demonstrates for us how He called forth the manifestation of the Father’s Love by casting out demons:

“And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.

But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you.” (Luke 11:14-20)

Here Luke is attempting to communicate that Jesus, acting in the will of the Father, and with the authority given Him, exercises that authority through the Kingdom Anointing (the power of the Holy Spirit) he has received to carry out His calling. As Jesus himself stated, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.” (Luke 4:18).

The Kingdom Anointing is a special manifestation of the Spirit of God that empowers the authority under which Jesus was operating. Jesus received this anointing immediately after His baptism when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. He, the Son of God, when he became human, emptied Himself of His divine prerogatives (cf., Phil. 2:5-11) and totally submitted Himself as “the Son of Man” to the Father to be empowered by the Spirit to do the works of the Father. As the Father’s “only begotten Son” the fullness of god’s Spirit was placed on Him not only to do the Father’s works of power but to sacrifice His life for humanity as the “Lamb of God”. As King, the Kingdom Anointing is His anointing to accomplish the work the Father destined for Him

All Believers Share in Jesus’ Anointing

Now, each of us, as members of the body of Christ, are partakers of His anointing but NOT in its fullness. We are each to be empowered as the spirit wills (cf.,1 Cor.12:7-11). Our empowerment is given according to our calling so that we can manifest the Kingdom in the particular circumstances of our lives, where the Father has placed us. Think of the anointing as the “talents” (cf.,Matt.25: 14-30) with which the Lord of Life has entrusted us. Let us not bury these “talents” but use them wisely for the Glory of God.

In the scripture previously quoted, Luke uses the example of Jesus’ casting out of a demon to demonstrate that it was through this anointing of God (the “finger of God”) by which He cast out evil spirits. Jesus explains to his critics that since He casts out demons by God’s power then God’s Kingdom is being manifested in their midst (the Kingdom of God is come upon you). It is through this Kingdom Anointing that God’s Kingdom is made manifest in this world!

Now, you and I may not be called to be exorcists, but we are called to be wives and husbands, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, teachers, students, businessmen, professionals, tradesmen, lectors, choir leaders as well as clergy. Whatever the Lord has called us to do, just as He empowered Jesus, He will provide us the anointing of the Holy Spirit we need to help us fulfill that role in His Name. So that we, like Jesus, can be His instruments to bring the salvation of His Kingdom into this world. All we have to do in every occasion in our lives is ask (for the anointing) and keep on asking and we shall receive!

Under the Kingdom anointing, we activate our Faith and His calling by acting on His Word as He directs us, thus bringing forth His Kingdom for the Glory of His Name!.

The Kingdom Anointing must be used wisely

Jesus further implies that those who operate under the anointing also need to use it wisely, under the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit, not only casting out evil spirits but bringing the possessed person to conversion and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, to prevent a worse situation in the satanic victim.

“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

[Luke 11:21-26, NRSV]

This leads us to the awareness that we need also ask for the gift of wisdom when operating under the anointing. The wisdom to understand that the situations the Lord will lead us to work under His anointing are not always simple situations where we merely exercise the authority we have been given to bring about a deliverance. We must look deeper and bring a complete ministry to the person or persons we are serving in the Lord’s name.

Yes, we may pray for and see a great deliverance of a person from drugs or sexual immorality but we also have a responsibility to see to that person’s welfare afterwards so that he is removed from the circumstances that brought that person into addiction in the first place and to pray for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. That responsibility means having to be personally involved in the details of that person’s life and to bring that person into the caring context of a believing community. This will require a different type of anointing, an anointing of self-denying love, which we must also ask for and act on.

To be an instrument of God’s Kingdom involves a total giving of ones self to the task at hand. It involves a dying to self, to do things which we would not normally do, so that God’s love may be properly communicated to those in the world to which we are called to minister. Most of the time the actions the Father requires go against our very natures, against our instincts for self-preservation and self-aggrandizement.

For this reason we are all called to be disciples, because we are all called to become like Jesus in every aspect of our lives. And it is through the process of discipleship that we permit the Holy Spirit to work in our lives Not only to transform us in His Holiness but also to permit us to share in His empowerment and anointing so that we can be His partners in bringing to fulfillment His mission in this world, namely, …

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,…”

( Luke 4:18)

Becoming a disciple, however, requires a decision by us – a decision that goes beyond our baptismal confession – a decision to yield ourselves completely to Jesus and His Holy Spirit – a decision to yoke ourselves to our master and to follow Him and Him alone in the obedience of Love! Praised be His Holy Name!

We cannot call Him Lord and then attempt to pick and choose what we will do for Him and what we will not. We cannot call ourselves disciples and decide that we will not receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to be empowered to do His work. As disciples we place ourselves at His beck and call in obedience to His Word, not on what and how we think we ought to do or act. As His disciples we must open ourselves to hear the voice of the Spirit so we can respond to His Call. As disciples we must be continuously into His Word and in prayer consult Him regarding everything in our lives. In order to follow Him these are the issues you must respond in the affirmative, because that is what it takes to begin to be a disciple.

Becoming a disciple thus entails not only an intimate relationship with The Master but also the taking up the cross of self-denial and to put aside our own desires and ambitions to fulfill only the direction and desires that He Himself places in our hearts. God in His compassions and grace does not compel us in making this decision and there is no condemnation regarding our salvation facing us if we decide not to enter into a full discipleship relationship. As Jesus told his disciples, “… many are called but few are chosen”. And as St. Francis de Sales stated in his motto, “All through love, nothing through constraint!”.

Entering into discipleship is first and foremost, an act of agape Love, and such Love is not Love if it is coerced or forced. It is a sacrificial offering of yourselves as is well stated by the apostle Paul:

“ I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom. 12:1-2)

It is this transformation process, the renewing of our minds, working in us that marks a true disciple; and it is only through the Spirit’s transforming work in us that we can truly become channels of His Divine Love and Power! Glory be to Him forever and ever! Amen!

So I tell you .ask and thus yield yourself to His Anointing, seek HIM with all your Heart, knock at the portals of His Loving Heart and you can be sure He will open the Door into His Kingdom!

With this said, brethren, I commend you to God’s Grace that His Spirit may speak to your hearts so that you may truly understand His Calling and His Love for you.

May His Face Shine upon you and bring you Peace!

Your Brother and Fellow Pilgrim … Bartimaeus

Related Links

Releasing the Spirit

Praying in the Spirit

The Kingdom of God: Our Spiritual Inheritance

Reclaiming Our Legacy In Christ

Hearing God’s Voice, and Obeying It

Pentecost and the Promise of the Father

The Empowerment Gifts (Part 1)

The Empowerment Gifts (Part 2)