The Anointing

[WhoIsLikeGod?]

What is it with Pentacostals' obsession with "the anointing?" What is it exactly? What are their scriptural inspirations?

 

[HTacianas]

I'm not sure if you mean "the annointing" with oil or "the annointing" with the Holy Spirit.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

What is it with Pentacostals' obsession with "the anointing?" What is it exactly? What are their scriptural inspirations?

The anointing is when the Holy Spirit flows out of you. Most of the time we live our normal lives - getting up in the morning, going to work, coming home, having dinner, enjoying our leisure time. We go to church every Sunday and enjoy the worship services. But that is just normal.

But there are special times when God wants to use us in a supernatural way. So, the Holy Spirit is stirred up within us and we gain an extra burst of faith and authority in the Spirit to accomplish things we couldn't do in the natural. The definition of "anoint" is to appoint a person to a place of authority in the Spirit to do certain things according to God's will at that time. In the Old Testament, the anointing consisted of the Holy Spirit coming on a person and then going away again once the job was finished. For Christians, the Holy Spirit lives in us, and the equivalent of the Old Testament anointing is when the Spirit flows out of us to do God's will in a special way, like the working of miracles, intercessory prayer, Holy Ghost preaching that saves souls and heals the sick.

But many Pentecostals have made this a doctrine, and so they get into some sort of emotional state and say that is the anointing. It is not really, because it puts the emphasis on the person instead of Christ. When the Holy Spirit anoints someone, people get saved, healed and demons cast out of them. That is what Jesus was anointed for. Read the Scripture about what Jesus said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me..." There is a burst of supernatural faith and spiritual authority over sickness and demons when that happens. It is not limited to Pentecostals, because this is the Bible. In Acts 4 when the place was shaken and the group were given boldness to preach the word and have signs and wonders following the preaching, that describes the true anointing, not some emotional hype that happens in a Sunday night meeting.

 

[WhoIsLikeGod?]

The anointing is when the Holy Spirit flows out of you. Most of the time we live our normal lives - getting up in the morning, going to work, coming home, having dinner, enjoying our leisure time. We go to church every Sunday and enjoy the worship services. But that is just normal.

But there are special times when God wants to use us in a supernatural way. So, the Holy Spirit is stirred up within us and we gain an extra burst of faith and authority in the Spirit to accomplish things we couldn't do in the natural. The definition of "anoint" is to appoint a person to a place of authority in the Spirit to do certain things according to God's will at that time. In the Old Testament, the anointing consisted of the Holy Spirit coming on a person and then going away again once the job was finished. For Christians, the Holy Spirit lives in us, and the equivalent of the Old Testament anointing is when the Spirit flows out of us to do God's will in a special way, like the working of miracles, intercessory prayer, Holy Ghost preaching that saves souls and heals the sick.

But many Pentecostals have made this a doctrine, and so they get into some sort of emotional state and say that is the anointing. It is not really, because it puts the emphasis on the person instead of Christ. When the Holy Spirit anoints someone, people get saved, healed and demons cast out of them. That is what Jesus was anointed for. Read the Scripture about what Jesus said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me..." There is a burst of supernatural faith and spiritual authority over sickness and demons when that happens. It is not limited to Pentecostals, because this is the Bible. In Acts 4 when the place was shaken and the group were given boldness to preach the word and have signs and wonders following the preaching, that describes the true anointing, not some emotional hype that happens in a Sunday night meeting.

Because I'm pretty sure Jesus was anointed and David was anointed but where does it say that we as followers are anointed?

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Because I'm pretty sure Jesus was anointed and David was anointed but where does it say that we as followers are anointed?

You say that Jesus is anointed, and you are correct. But 1 John 4:17 says that as Jesus was in the world so are we. So if Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was on Him to anoint Him to perform His supernatural ministry, and as He was in the world, so are we, then we have The Holy Spirit in us to anoint us to do the same. Jesus said that the works He did, we will do the same, even greater works because He was going to the Father.

When you think about it, the preaching of the Gospel and getting people saved is a greater work, because no one got saved during Jesus' time on earth. People got saved only after His crucifixion and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. So people being born again is a greater work. The formation of the Christian Church that started at Pentecost is a greater work, because there was no Christian Church before Jesus ascended into heaven. Also, getting filled with the Holy Spirit and moving in the gifts and ministries is a greater work, because before Pentecostal, only prophets, priests and kings had the Holy Spirit come on them to do certain things for God. After the Day of Pentecost, every believer is able to move in the Holy Spirit.

So, for a believer so say he is anointed to work for Christ to saved souls, move in the Spirit, and build up his or her local church, is fully Biblical. The anointing is not a feeling, it is an appointment by the Holy Spirit to do the will of God. If we want to know the will of God, read the Bible. If we want to do the will of God, do the Bible. Although the anointing is not an emotional or sensory thing in itself, it can be accompanies by love, joy and peace. Just because a person vibrates, jerks, or falls over, doesn't mean that the anointing it there. But when a person goes out and wins souls for Christ, gets people healed and delivered of demons, then that is the evidence that a believer is anointed.