The Anointing is the POWER of the Holy Spirit!

The Anointing is the Holy Spirit!

The Anointing is unmerited favor it is sheer - GRACE!

“Next to the gift of Salvation and the sure knowledge that we will go to heaven when we die, the anointing is our most - precious gift!” (R.T. Kendall)

What has been and is now being taught regarding the infilling of the Holy Spirit is and has been missing some important facts! If the facts had been taught correctly there would NOT have been and would Not be more defeated Christians than - victorious ones!

Let me explain:

The misconception began many years ago and I say that because I was one of the individuals who wanted the Holy Spirit in my life, and I wanted it as soon as possible. When I discussed this issue with a friend, a deacon, a pastor, or my Sunday School teacher – I received the same answers. Here is what I was basically told: “The moment you pray and ask Jesus to come into your life everything is going to be all right! Everything is going to change! Jesus is going to hear your prayer and all the things that bother you are going to disappear!”

That is NOT how it works! When presented to someone in that manner it gives them the idea first that they do not have to do anything but pray and second, they can do what they want and then pray, and Jesus will fix their – MESSES! God does NOT work like that! I have heard individuals told exactly what I have just said to people who are on their knees at the altar in church! Church members quite often see someone at the altar, and they go up and put an arm around the person and begin to tell them what they need to do and say and how it is all going to happen. Example: “All you have to do is ask God to forgive you and ask Jesus to come into your heart! And you will be a new person. And Jesus will handle everything for you!” Now, when the individual comes up to the person on their knees – they are interrupting what God is trying to do! Plus, at that moment God does NOT need our assistance! He is perfectly equipped to handle that moment in someone’s life! Let the Holy Spirit handled it! Most importantly, the Holy Spirit could be speaking to the individual and you have just interrupted Him!

The biggest fact missing is – just saying a sinner’s prayer as someone directs you too or repeating after them what they are telling you to say or simply thinking that is all an individual must do – this thinking is totally and completely off! It is NOT truth! God wants to hear what the individual is saying to Him – NOT what someone is telling them to say!

When we ask God into our heart most individuals want a - Quick Fix! That is NOT going to happen! People are told (I know I was) that by repenting and asking Jesus into my life – I was going to be a new person FROM THAT MOMENT ON - just like that! Wrong! Those type of statements imply that its – INSTANT BREAKFAST!

David Jeremiah puts it this way. “The morning after saying a sinner’s prayer you will not wake up a complete other person! You will NOT wake up no longer being selfish, angry, mean, etc.!”

The infilling of the Holy Spirit into our lives comes in what I call levels, as an individual is transformed into who God created them to be! It is one step at a time - as God directs!

We must change! We must understand that the person we were before saying a sinner’s prayer NOW needs to change into who the person God created you to be, and that requires – WORK and CHANGE! All the wrong choices we have made that hurt others and, all the hurts, disappointments and pain that came our way because of what others did to us. The leftovers of all the mistakes we made, must be worked out with God! We cannot hang on to the past or things in the present that keep us from becoming who God intended us to be.

Without change we are no different than the world. The Holy Spirit cannot be invited into a dirty vessel. You cannot put fresh food on a dirty plate! You can’t work out in the yard all day, come in, put on clean clothes, and go to a wedding without bathing! You can’t take an expensive bottle of perfume to a garbage dump, pour it out and expect the smell to change. There must be a moving out for the Spirit of God to come in! When you accept Christ as Savior, you must make room for Him. There’s no way that the Holy Spirit can dwell, in its fullness, without a cleaning out of our old ways! Jesus declared:

"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." (NIV) Matthew 9:16-17

The teaching that is in many churches tells us when we accept Christ, we receive all the Holy Spirit that we are going to get! Not true! That was not true of the disciples! They were with Jesus for three years night and day! They listened, learned, and were corrected by Jesus if necessary! They had the opportunity to observe how Jesus handled situations and they were tested! There was not any Instant-Breakfast for them!

Jesus made a very important distinction here: The following statement was made to the disciples by Jesus just before he ascended into Heaven. “On one occasion, while

Jesus was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

“Then they gathered around him and asked him. ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up to the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said. “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:4-11 (NIV)

After this this the disciples returned to Jerusalem it was a days’ walk, and went to the Upper room and waited, and prayed and ask the Lord who would replace Judas.

In Acts chapter 2:1-4 the following states: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

The baptism with water is the giving of your life to God. "I baptize you with water FOR repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (NIV) Matthew 3:11

The infilling of the Holy Spirit is a different level, a different experience, a different godly jolt. It is just different. If it weren’t different, Jesus would not have made that distinction. We couldn’t possibly get all the Holy Spirit at the time of salvation.

“. . .because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. (NIV) Acts 8:16

The disciples themselves didn’t receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit until after Jesus returned to the Father. They were ready at that time to receive the infilling of the Spirit. God’s timing is perfect. After three years of being with Yeshua and getting cleaned up and being taught, they were ready. Here are just a few examples of how they were taught, corrected, and prepared for the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

“The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

“Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." (NIV) Matthew 16:23

“The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." (NIV) Luke 10:17

Jesus said to them: “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (NIV) Luke 10:20

Every one of the disciples had to have been called strange, weird, and crazy, because they left their wives, their children, their jobs, and the comforts of their homes to follow Jesus! They left everything. They paid the price. There is a price, and that price must be paid! We can’t stay the same. We must be willing to be changed. With that process of change comes correction and redirection. There must be a cleaning from the inside out. Wrong teachings must go. Ungodly habits must go. We must lay down everything and allow God to say what He wants left in our lives. We must be willing to be offended. There is no other way. Then you are ready. After three years, they were ready.

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (NIV) Acts 2:4

When you accept Christ as Savior, you are choosing to make room for God in your life and you will eventually become a new creation. At that time, you give God space. You open your heart to God, and you give God a place in your life. Then if you walk in obedience to His plan, and you start hearing His voice, and you start walking in His perfect will. All the rest of the stuff that has been taking up room in your life will begin to leave.

There must be that moving out for God to move in. You must make room for Christ. You must make room for God – and the Holy Spirit in your life. We very freely make room for pets in our lives. We very freely make room for hobbies and for friends. We allow all sorts of things to take up space in our lives, so why shouldn’t we have to make room for Christ and for the Father and the precious Holy Spirit? He just doesn’t pop in for a visit. He just doesn’t come into our lives without us inviting Him. By the way, He doesn’t want to rent a room. He wants to - occupy!

To receive the empowering, you must want more of God. You must want God to do whatever it takes to get you where He wants you to be. You must be willing to do whatever it takes and give up whatever He wants you too. If you want that and you’re willing than you must ask. By just simply saying to God, “God, I’m willing if you are willing to give me a try.” It has got to be more than just a salvation prayer of giving your life to God.

Once you’ve prayed the prayer or if you’ve been prayed for, it doesn’t stop there. You can’t go around saying I’ve received the baptism of the Holy Spirit;

I’ve been saved, and I’ve got it all! All you have at that point is the – TOOLS!

The starting point is step #1, which is your salvation. That is where you say, “God, I’m willing to be cleaned up, take my life God, do what you want with it, get me ready, do what you need to do”. Then there is step #2. The Holy Spirit comes after being invited to give you what I call a “beginners boost the size of a mustard seed.”. Some individuals call it “a Mustard Seed of Faith.” (See: Matthew 17:20, Matthew 13:31)

Let’s stop right here and make something very clear. The individuals heart motive and their heart attitude for wanting to obtain all that God has for us, must be - pure! You must want this for the right reasons. You can’t fool God! You cannot even attempt to fake God out!

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask – because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” (NIV) I John 3:21-22

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (NIV) Matthew 6:33

It is a step-by-step process. With the “beginners boost the size of a mustard seed” the Holy Spirit will start to infiltrate your life. It is not a one-shot deal. You can’t just go up to the alter, get prayed for to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and think that you have it all. That is contrary to the Word of God!

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing, and perfect will. (NIV) Romans 12:2

To be transformed by the renewing of your mind, is an ongoing action! It is not a “one shot deal”. It takes time! You can’t do it any other way. That “beginner’s boost” allows us to be empowered with the Holy Spirit step by step by step. It doesn’t happen just because you have accepted Christ or because you have been prayed for the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

(sw-h)

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