Understanding the Anointing pt 1
Last week I started ministering on the subject of RENEWING OUR MINDS TO THE WORD OF GOD, but as I began to minister, the Lord changed much of my message to ministering on the anointing of God, along with other things. As I was seeking the Lord on what to minister on for today’s message, I felt the Lord leading me to teach on the Anointing and why all of us need the anointing.
The term “ANOINTING” is thrown around quite often in Christian circles today. We here people say that he was anointed, or that she is anointed for that, and we here the phrase, “The anointing breaks the yoke.”
I) But what is the ANOINTING?
A) As we get into the Word and begin to study this out in the next few messages we’ll see WHAT THE ANOINTING IS, HOW TO OPERATE IN THE ANOINTING, and HOW TO QUALIFY FOR THE ANOINTING.
1) Yes, I said QUALIFY for the anointing.
2) Only 1 type of person is truly able to understand the nature of the anointing and walk in it.
(a) And that is the person that has come to the point of Genuine HUMILITY.
(i) The thing that qualifies you for the anointing is genuine HUMILITY.
(b) Notice that I said “GENUINE HUMILITY.”
(i) Most people don’t know what that is because they judge it by the world’s definition.
(ii) Many people are called humble, but are actually prideful and vise versa.
3) According to the world’s standards, a humble man walks around with his head down, his shoulders slouched and is a quiet person, doesn’t say much.
(a) But the world’s standards are wrong.
(b) A quiet person is not necessarily humble.
(i) A person can be silent and still be rebellious; they can be quiet and yet be selfish.
4) On the other hand, a person who displays confidence and knows who he is, is not necessarily arrogant and prideful.
(a) Confidence is not pride.
(b) A servant can be confident and bold to carry out his master’s command.
(i) He is confident, yet at the same time, he is yielding to the authority of another.
B) So then what is true HUMILITY? Well, to answer that we have to go to the Word.
1) Let’s look at 3 Vs in the book of proverbs. 1st turn with me to PRO 16:19, PRO 29:23, and PRO 11:2
2) The word “LOWLY” in this V is the same Greek word for “HUMBLE.”
(a) As a matter of fact, the word “HUMBLE” can be translated either “HUMBLE OR LOWLY.”
(b) The Bible says, “HUMILITY” is “LOWLINESS or the ACT OF BEING LOWLY.”
(i) And according to these Vs the LOWLY have WISDOM and it’s better to have a humble spirit than a spirit of pride.
C) So what is HUMILITY?
1) In a very basic sense, to be humble means to be “SUBMISSIVE.”
(a) It means to take your authority, power, and independence and yield them to another.
(b) It implies becoming totally obedient to a higher authority.
(i) It means that you step down and look up to another.
2) When you are HUMBLE IN THE SIGHT OF GOD it means that YOU HAVE PLACED YOURSELF IN A LOWLY POSITION UNDER THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD.
(a) You are under His authority and power.
(b) It means that you refuse to move until you find out WHERE He wants you to go, WHEN He wants you to go, and WHAT He wants you to do when you get there.
(i) Let me give you this side thought, If you’re continuously saying that God told you to do something and then a few weeks latter you say, “Well, God wants me to do something else now.” You’re not hearing from God.
(ii) God’s not confused. If He told you to do something, plan to do it for at least a few years, and most of the time even longer. God doesn’t say, “Oh I did that wrong, I’ve changed my mind now.”
(c) Let touch on another subject that I really feel that I have the mind of God on. And that’s what I call CHURCH HOPPING. Going from 1 church to another and stay there for a few month, even a year or 2, and then going to another. Then after another year or 2 going some place else.
(i) That is not God. God doesn’t put you in a church and give you something to do and then tell you to pick up and go somewhere else. I’LL TELL YOU WHAT THAT IS, IT’S PRIDE.
(ii) Pride exalts your own plans, programs, and ways of doing things above God’s.
(iii) When God has put you here and given you something to do in this church, I would rather be faithful in doing that the rest of my life than to jump around from church to church because you want to and call it GOD.
(a) You might be thinking, “Well, God hasn’t given me anything to do.”
(b) Yes He has. He has called you to pray and to intercede for this church.
(c) Everybody is always looking for their ministry, but it’s always been right there. You’re called to pray. (We have prayer Tuesday night, Thursday night, and Sunday morning.)
(iv) And as you’re faithful God will use you in many ways. (But there is none greater than prayer.)
(d) Look with me to MATT 25:14-30
(i) How long were they doing that 1 thing that the Lord gave them?
(ii) I don’t know, but (V 19) says that the Lord didn’t come back for a long time. They kept on doing what the Lord gave them to do and it was a long time.
3) Look at MATT 24:45-46
(a) Notice that He doesn’t say anything about a servant that was working hard for the master in doing many things, BUT the SERVANT that was BLESSED was the SERVANT that was DOING WHAT THE MASTER TOLD HIM TO DO.
(i) The blessings came upon the servant that did the 1 thing that the Lord asked him to do, because he was faithful in doing it.
4) For those of you that are new to this church, let me give you some peace of mind. There are some reasons that God would want you to move from 1 church to another.
(a) # 1 if the pastor is not teaching the Word of God. Or that what he is teaching is mostly stories of current events from the news. Sometimes the Word of God is so watered down that it becomes skim milk.
(b) # 2 the teaching is wrong.
(c) # 3 that there is no move of the spirit of God. Some churches become so structured that they structure out the HS. YOU MUST HAVE ORDER IN THE SERVICES, but God is a God of order. When the HS begins to move and to change a service there’s order to it. It may not be what we planed, but it’s what the HS planed.
(d) # 4 if the pastor or leader of the church are living in sin. I’m not just talking about missing it 1 time. None of us are perfect. But I’m talking about continuously practicing sin.
(i) I wouldn’t go to a church where the Pastor is a drunkard, or in an adulterous relationship.
(e) # 5 Listen to the Lord, maybe the Lord has led you here to help out in this ministry. If He has you’re going to be here for a while.
II) I don’t know why the Lord had me share all that, but someone or maybe many needed it. Before I got on that side journey I was talking about PRIDE.
A) Pride doesn’t listen to the Lord. It does it’s own thing and says now God bless it.
III) What does this have to do with the ANOINTING? EVERYTHING.
A) If you want the anointing of God flowing in your life you have to be totally submissive to God, to His will and His plans.
1) You have to humble yourself under the might hand of God.
(a) You have to have the attitude that Jesus had, “Father, not my will, but your will be done.”
B) You have to adopt God’s ways of doing things before you can enjoy the success the anointing brings.
1) You will have to humble yourself before God before He will exalt you and bless you.
2) The Bible is full of accounts of men who did exactly that.
C) In (1 KINGS 3) Solomon was the newly crowned king. God told him that He would give him anything that he asked for.
1) It would have bee easy for Solomon to get into pride.
(a) He could have thought, “Look how great I am. I have so much power and authority. No one better do a thing against me.”
(b) But Solomon didn’t let PRIDE get in.
2) Listen how he prayed. 1 KINGS 3:7-9
(a) In (V 7) Solomon said, “I am but a little child.”
(b) Solomon wasn’t a little child in the natural sense, but what he was saying was, “Father, I am as a little child. I don’t know how to lead this people; I’m inadequate to judge such a great country. I need your help, your guidance, and your instruction.”
(i) Solomon realized that his own knowledge and resources were limited, so he made a decision to seek God’s plans.
(ii) He chose to rely totally upon God, by doing that he tapped into God’s limitless power and resources.
3) How did God respond to Solomon’s humility, his act of being humble? 1 KINGS 3:12-14
(a) Because Solomon humbled himself before God, to seek God’s plans and not his own, God exalted with both riches and honor.
(b) (1 Peter 5:6) Says, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” KJV
IV) What does this all have to do with the anointing and how does it pertain to you?
A) If you want the break through anointing in your life so that you can break through into the favor of God, which would include Prosperity, healing, deliverance from the enemy, safety, soundness on mind, and the blessings of God, you have to humble yourself before God.
B) Prosperity, healing and all the promises of God are in the power of the anointing. If you want the break through anointing, you must humble your self before God and get involved in God’s plans, and He will exalt you.
WOLCC Sunday 6/22/1997 from Creflo Dollar’s book called “Understanding God’s purpose for the Anointing.” PG. 1 through 4