Is there a case for levels of anointing in scripture ??

[whatfor]

Elisha wanted a double portion Elijahs spirit?

9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

 

[tturt]

Yeah, can you imagine what kind of response a believer would get on these forums if they revealed that they had requested that from Yahweh?

whatfor, good point.

 

[Optimus Fortis]

Elisha wanted a double portion Elijahs spirit?

9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

Normally that is understood in the context of the Old Covenant (or more precisely) pre-Day of Pentecost when a small minority of the faithful received power through the Holy Ghost in differing measures.

The resurrected Christ told the disciples that they'd be better off if he left them physically, sat at the right hand side of the Father and sent them the Holy Ghost. If we are honest with ourselves, very few of us have accepted this. Most of us would trade in a lifetime baptised with the Holy Spirit for 24hrs with the resurrected Jesus.

The objections towards Charismatics who call for more/ fresh/ double/ new anointing is from a pentecostal faith perspective which suggests that a believer being baptised in the Holy Ghost has as much power as he is going to get. Therefore such prayers would be from a position of unbelief or a lack of understanding of the post-Pentecost era.

I harmonise this through the fact that there are different callings which would be empowered by different anointings.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Elisha wanted a double portion Elijahs spirit?

9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

Yeah, can you imagine what kind of response a believer would get on these forums if they revealed that they had requested that from Yahweh?

whatfor, good point.

Once again a DIFFERENT dispensation. Elijah called for the destruction of others and Elisha called a bear to kill some children so sure if you're going to go that way.

Go ahead and ask the Father, I just choose to believe we all have the same anointing. And the only scriptures anyone here is using to support the idea of different anointings are from the Old Covenant, a different dispensation.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Normally that is understood in the context of the Old Covenant (or more precisely) pre-Day of Pentecost when a small minority of the faithful received power through the Holy Ghost in differing measures.

The resurrected Christ told the disciples that they'd be better off if he left them physically, sat at the right hand side of the Father and sent them the Holy Ghost. If we are honest with ourselves, very few of us have accepted this. Most of us would trade in a lifetime baptised with the Holy Spirit for 24hrs with the resurrected Jesus.

The objections towards Charismatics who call for more/ fresh/ double/ new anointing is from a pentecostal faith perspective which suggests that a believer being baptised in the Holy Ghost has as much power as he is going to get. Therefore such prayers would be from a position of unbelief or a lack of understanding of the post-Pentecost era.

I harmonise this through the fact that there are different callings which would be empowered by different anointings.

I almost agree. I would think instead of different anointings I personally would say different manifestations of the same anointing.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Elisha wanted a double portion Elijahs spirit?

9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

well now what you ask is a hard thing .. because if you're there when God dies you can receive it . if not .. then not .

 

[mrhappy3]

Its hard to define and pin down isn't it !

From my own experience, I have on occasion felt the tangible presence/glory/anointing or whatever you want to call it - come right over me - its a fantastic place to be - the experience makes everything all so real. I'm open to the Spirit moving at any time, in any place. I don't put any mind blocks up. So, the manifestation and outpouring is down to the Lord. Yes, I was anointed initially on being born again, yes I have had the experience of rivers flowing out from within me - with tongues (what some refer as a Baptism in the Spirit) and yes, I have had additional MANTLE experiences, similar to what the old testament chosen ones received. THERE IS MORE....but how to define it...mmm...that's another matter.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Its hard to define and pin down isn't it !

From my own experience, I have on occasion felt the tangible presence/glory/anointing or whatever you want to call it - come right over me - its a fantastic place to be - the experience makes everything all so real. I'm open to the Spirit moving at any time, in any place. I don't put any mind blocks up. So, the manifestation and outpouring is down to the Lord. Yes, I was anointed initially on being born again, yes I have had the experience of rivers flowing out from within me - with tongues (what some refer as a Baptism in the Spirit) and yes, I have had additional MANTLE experiences, similar to what the old testament chosen ones received. THERE IS MORE....but how to define it...mmm...that's another matter.

yepp God just pours stuff on and on without measure , to idolize the experiences for the purpose of saying i'm better than some people is something to watch out for.

but where it says to clothe yourself with righteousness and zeal and all those other things in the scriptures . perhaps these experiences are related to that, we're God's kids and he's clothing us .

 

[mrhappy3]

Amen x

 

[Optimus Fortis]

Its hard to define and pin down isn't it !

From my own experience, I have on occasion felt the tangible presence/glory/anointing or whatever you want to call it - come right over me - its a fantastic place to be - the experience makes everything all so real. I'm open to the Spirit moving at any time, in any place. I don't put any mind blocks up. So, the manifestation and outpouring is down to the Lord. Yes, I was anointed initially on being born again, yes I have had the experience of rivers flowing out from within me - with tongues (what some refer as a Baptism in the Spirit) and yes, I have had additional MANTLE experiences, similar to what the old testament chosen ones received. THERE IS MORE....but how to define it...mmm...that's another matter.

I would say that this has more to do with your differing levels of perception rather than alternating levels of presence/ anointing/ etc.

When Elija's servant saw the angelic host, they were already there before his eyes were opened to the spirit world. His ability to see through the veil made no difference to the course of events or to any individual angel in the heavenly host. It made all the difference to the servant's morale though!

What I am saying is that in the NT, it is not Jesus' or the Holy Spirit's presence which fluctuates but our mental and physical facilities.

And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha

 

[whatfor]

Another example was when Jesus healed a paralytic , and the power to heal was present.
It sounds like the annointing was different even with Jesus.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Another example was when Jesus healed a paralytic , and the power to heal was present.
It sounds like the annointing was different even with Jesus.

Almost... Even reading verses that say "He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief" would make it seem that way until you actually read the scripture and see it wasn't Jesus' lack of anointing, but rather a lack of faith that limited the manifestation.

In Luke even with that story you reference, it is in connection with faith that it says Jesus healed. So again, it isn't a greater anointing, but rather a correlation of the faith in those who are affected by it.

 

[Optimus Fortis]

Almost... Even reading verses that say "He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief" would make it seem that way until you actually read the scripture and see it wasn't Jesus' lack of anointing, but rather a lack of faith that limited the manifestation.

In Luke even with that story you reference, it is in connection with faith that it says Jesus healed. So again, it isn't a greater anointing, but rather a correlation of the faith in those who are affected by it.

I was going to write exactly the same thing.

That Jesus 'could not' do something must make those who misapply the Sovereignty of God doctrine go berserk.

Mark 6:40, Jesus puts out all the scorners from Jairus' daughter's bedside before commanding "Talithacumi" and bringing her back from the dead.

Judges 7:3 Yahweh sends the fearful home to allow Gideon and those of faith to supernaturally defeat the enemy...

Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.

 

[Tobias]

^ All good ideas posted above!


Another thought. "Faith" is listed as a gift of the Spirit. Perhaps part of the formula for when God shows up in power is the gift of faith is given to the recipients?

I've been to several Benny Hinn meetings. There was no denying that the "anointing" was present there, in greater measure than what most other ministers ever encounter. But I don't think that Benny was the only person there who was experiencing the anointing! I think the people also were anointed, to receive. And that is why so many ministers are jealous of Benny Hinn; because they know that if the people would just look to them in the same manner that they looked at Hinn, signs and wonders would happen in their ministry too!

I think it's a gift. Given to the people. When circumstances are just right, God anoints both the preacher and the congregation to receive from Him.

 

[whatfor]

So it is not level of anointing but the level of faith?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

So it is not level of anointing but the level of faith?

think of it as a relationship . think of a tree and the older it gets the more "rings" it has, the only time someone can count the rings is when the tree is cut open .. so in the same way .. keeping count isn't really edifying . growing is edifying .

 

[Tobias]

So it is not level of anointing but the level of faith?

Well, if faith is a gift rather than something earned or attained...


I would think that times, places, and people with the "greater anointing" would be gifts given to the body of Christ as He chooses, right?

Most of the time we are conditioned to think that this is something we need to strive for, that we need to "fix" certain problems in our lives or the church before God will reward us with His presence. Or that we are somehow missing the full purpose of God if we fall short of a lifestyle similar to what we read in Acts. Maybe that's not the case?

We read in Acts that there were large gaps between the times when the Holy Spirit moved in power. Also that there were a limited number of people through whom the Spirit moved with those gifts. Maybe we aren't falling short of the fullness of God, if we live a life of faithfulness to Him without seeing the masses healed through our own hands?

Arron and Hur stood beside Moses and held up his hands, because he was the vessel that God chose to use at the time. Sampson was perhaps the least qualified of all Israel to carry God's anointing. If we could just see the gifts of the Spirit as... Gifts... from God... then who the individual is that carries the gift is unimportant. God is important. And helping to get that gift out to the world is the only job we are called to do!

 

[AbbaLove]

So it is not level of anointing but the level of faith?

Agree! Why did so few OT men, such as Abraham and Noah have such a level of faith?

Jesus rebuked His disciples more than once for their lack of faith and that was before the presence of the Holy Spirit came upon them during the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost).

Matthew 17:20
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Mark 4:39-40
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

 

[tturt]

posted: Its hard to define and pin down isn't it !

Yeah, it sure is. It's hard to put into words many spiritual processes. Sometimes one word will make some think it's ungodly, when it isn't or vice versa.

We've been to Benny Hinn meetings also. Yahweh's anointing was present.

posted: When circumstances are just right, God anoints both the preacher and the congregation to receive from Him.

I agree with you and eagerly pursue nailing down what when circumstances are just right means.

A woman told about her mother breaking her leg and as a child she could see the bone as she stood beside her mother's bed. They didn't have any money and there weren't any doctors or hospitals close by. They sent word to their neighbors who responded by bringing their musical instruments. After praising and worshiping Yahweh for a while, they ask Yahweh to heal her and He did.

 

[AbbaLove]

A woman told about her mother breaking her leg and as a child she could see the bone as she stood beside her mother's bed. They didn't have any money and there weren't any doctors or hospitals close by. They sent word to their neighbors who responded by bringing their musical instruments. After praising and worshiping Yahweh for a while, they ask Yahweh to heal her and He did.

Being created in the image of God He has given each of us a measure of Faith. Special Faith (Wondering-Working Faith) is one of the nine supernatural Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

What is interesting is that when Jesus was with His disciples -- before baptizing them in His Holy Spirit (with fire) -- He chided them for their little faith. Yet, at the same time Jesus says:

Matthew 17:20
NKJV
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

This does give a whole new depth of meaning to believe as well as nothing will be impossible for you as has been grasped by Hagin (Mark 11:23-24) and the Full Gospel movement that grew into what today is known as Word of Faith (charismatic movement).

Mark 11:23-24
NKJV
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.