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Spiritual Anointing

Why the Spirit-on-you?


1) One baptism

There are two verses found in Ephesians that have created much confusion in the body of Christ. EPH 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, Only one baptism? How can that be? This is the confusion. Many want that one baptism to be the baptism into Jesus' death which replaced John's baptism of repentance. In the baptism of death we identify with Jesus' death so that we may be able to partake in his resurrection life. Is Jesus' resurrection life limited to just the Spirit-in-us? No!

Jesus after His resurrection tells His disciples to wait for His promised anointing in the Holy Spirit. ACT 1:4 And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 1:5 for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Since Jesus is God incarnate, He would not have caused the confusion to the one baptism scripture if He did not know the reality of one baptism. How did Jesus know about baptism? He was the first to experience the two parts of the one baptism. MAT 3:13 ¶ Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 3:14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" 3:15 But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him. 3:16 And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him. Why would Jesus need to be baptized? What righteousness was fulfilled? Jesus sought to be baptized by John to identify with His own death that was only years away. In doing this not only would Jesus lead His followers by example but also set new precedent. There may have been a need for Him to do this seeing that He did posses a human body that was under the same adamic sin. We can declare that when Jesus came out of the water He was, just as we are, coming up to new life. But before He could come out of the water to new life He had to go down into the water, which is a figure of death. Water baptism is just that, an identification into the death of Jesus. Was there a need for Jesus to do some kind of atonement for Adam's sin which He inherited through physical birth? I don't know, but what we do know is that Jesus' experience didn't stop here. After he identified with his own death (remember that Jesus was half human) He came out of the water and immediately the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. Some of us may find a need to separate the water part of this baptism from the descending of the Spirit, thus making this story just about water baptism. If God knew that there would be confusion over the idea of one baptism why would God allow both of these happenings to occur together? Because Jesus' experience represents what the one baptism is, water and spirit.

If this is not clear to us yet, let's look at what happened when Paul met people who only knew John's baptism. ACT 19:1 And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country came to Ephesus, and found some disciples, 19:2 and he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said to him, "No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." 19:3 And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" And they said, "Into John's baptism." 19:4 And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 19:5 And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. We can clearly see that the people from Ephesus were water baptized in Jesus before they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. This experience is nearly identical to Jesus'. We see both elements to the one baptism, water and spirit!

What is being said is that just being baptized into the death of Jesus (water baptism) is not enough. We must also be baptized into his resurrection life. GAL 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with (the anointed one) Christ. We can be clothed with the anointing if we fully enter into Jesus' baptism. Why would we want to stop short of having everything that is available to us? Jesus didn't move in any miracles until he was, 1) water baptized and 2) Spirit baptized. ROM 6:5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.

2) The Spirit-on-us

As has been seen in the section on one baptism, the Holy Spirit baptism is the second part of being baptized into Jesus. Unlike the Spirit-in-us which regenerates our spirit, the Spirit-on-us is for spiritual service. ACT 1:8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." That is not to say that the Spirit-in-us is impotent to perform spiritual acts in behalf of others. It is in our spirit that we grow in faith and this faith can be release to accomplish the impossible. The Spirit that clothes us (on us), gives us abilities that is not subject to a mature faith. When we are clothed in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit bestows supernatural gifts that can be used by the child of God immediately. It is not subject to understanding of how they work or knowing all there is to know about their particular gift. It is expected by most that they will flow in a spiritual tongue at the time of baptism in the Spirit. We even see in scripture that some have prophesied at the time of reception (Acts 19:6). Because this is not subject to maturity or understanding, it is imperative that we do not esteem and exalt the immaturely gifted to places of authority. We must allow them to exercise their gifts and grow in maturity which can mean difficult times for those who lead them. If we suppress the gifted and deny them the use of their gifts we stop the work of God and destroy our own harvest.

We can even receive some insight into the Spirit-on-us and the Spirit-in-us by looking at King Saul's beginnings. 1SA 10:9 ¶ Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart; and all those signs came about on that day. 10:10 When they came to the hill there, behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them. In this scripture we see Saul leaving Samuel after being told that he would be King over Israel. As soon as Saul turned to leave the scripture say; God changed his heart. The changing of the heart illustrates what we call the born again experience (the Spirit-in-us). In verse ten we see what we call the baptism of the Spirit (the Spirit-on-us). When Saul met the prophets the Spirit of God came UPON him and he prophesied.

When the Spirit comes upon us it is to clothe us in Power. It is similar to when Elisha took the mantle from Elijah, after Elijah was taken up in the chariot of fire. A mantle is a garment that was worn like a coat, and it was worn on the body. When the Spirit comes upon us it is not uncommon for us to be like Elisha and not sense anything different. 2KI 2:14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the waters and said, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over. In reading the account it seems as if Elisha was not sure that the power of God would work for him as it did for Elijah. Many of us after being Spirit baptized are not sure that it will work for us. If we act like Elisha and step out in the littleness of our faith we will also see God part the waters.

3) Power to minister in the gifts

It has already been stated that the Spirit-in-us can affect supernatural events but they are conditional to a mature faith in the inner man. When talking about the Spirit-on-us we can see supernatural events that our inner man does not have the faith to believe for. This may seem to be a contradiction but it is not. We can see this in the life of Ezekiel when confronted with the valley of dry bones. Ezekiel did not have the faith that those dry bones would come to life but he did have the faith to prophesy. EZE 37:3 And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord God, Thou knowest." 37:4 Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.' 37:5 "Thus says the Lord God to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 37:6 'And I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.' “37:7  So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 37:8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Why wasn't there any breath in them? God told Ezekiel twice that He was going to put breath in them (see verses 5 and 6 again) and only once about the sinews, flesh and skin? To further emphasize the point that is being made, the bones came together and flesh was added to the bones but they did not live (or have breathe). If Ezekiel was believing with the maturity of inner faith (this is not to imply he was immature but lacking faith to believe that this was going to happen) he would not have to prophesy again for the fulfillment of his first prophecy. God tells Ezekiel to try again and we see the breath coming into the bodies. EZE 37:9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord God," Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life. "'" 37:10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life, and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. This is a great advantage to the body of Christ.If we actually would allow the people of God to move in the gifts of God we could advance without hindrance. Every member would be able to find the answer to their needs by one of the many gifts that are available in the body.

The apostle Paul says, 1CO 12:7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. The common good for whom? The body and ultimately the world! When the gifts of the Spirit are functioning the way that God intended, the body of Christ will be healthy. The power that it posses will overflow to the world at large. The lack of spiritual power causes a vacuum and the body of Christ suffers for it. The world seldom receives any help from a church that has a vacuum because the church is always too busy trying to put out fires (or close the vacuum). It is not just the lack of spiritual anointing from the spirit-on-us that causes vacuums. If we choose not to live by the Spirit-in-us no amount of spiritual anointing will stop our downward slide. Many think just because they continue to move in the anointing that they are in good standing with God. A closer look will reveal their lack of Spirit-in-them and the dangerous deception they are in. ROM 11:29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

When the body moves in gifts of healing, faith, discernment and all of the other gifts, a person in need is able to go to the person who moves in the particular gift and have their needs met. Without these abilities can God meet all of your needs according to His riches in glory? Yes, but by the time you develop your personal faith to receive it, it may be too late. Why else would the church be called the BODY of Christ? Just as Paul said, not all members of the body have the same function. Thank God that other members can supply the things that I do not posses.

The direct opposite is what is more common in the body of Christ today. The majority does not move in any gift and only have an impotent understanding of counseling. Churches resemble more of a club then the body of our Savior. We should be ashamed when we have a form of godliness but deny the power of God. Equally as bad are those churches that only move in one gift (tongues) or maybe two (tongues and prophecy) and then only one or two people, all the time suppressing all the other members from moving in their respective gifts. This is usually a lack of understanding about authority and a selfish and insecure leadership. Authority will be discussed in a later section as well as the role of leadership.

4) Ability to know what we are called to and thus know our place in the body

Through the gift of prophecy as well as growing up in the Spirit (Spirit-in-us as well on-us) we should come to an understanding of what we are called to. We are to serve the body according to our gifts not according to the need. That is not to say that we cannot fill a need temporally but that we would be better able to serve the body by ministering in the capacity of our gifts. This is not just a reference to spiritual gifts but also a calling to an office. It is an injustice when a "pastor" overlooks a gifted person because of prejudices and personal feelings about the individual. Many churches miss out on the benefit of such people because of leaving them in menial tasks for many years or because of jealousy. In the world today, members of the church have the ability to grow far beyond the local leadership. With Christian television and radio, we are able to tap into all the current revelations that are being understood by the Apostles and prophets of today. We can partake of anointed ministries that are hundreds or even thousands of miles away and grow into a mature Christian without much help from the local church. This very fact causes these anointed and capable people much harm for many are considered deceived or rebellious because they do not agree with local "authority." It is true that gifted people are more vulnerable to spiritual attacks then the ignorant because they are more of a threat to the devil. It soon becomes overwhelming to the spiritual person when they are attacked not only from wicked forces of satan but also by the local leadership and they may give up their fight. They may not know that giving up the fight may turn out to be an almost fatal mistake. Attacks should not continuously be lodged against them by the local leadership for much harm can come to the person as well as the church.

The goal of any church should be to have the people become mature in their God given abilities and exercise them. It is through the anointing that comes upon us that encourages us to continue to move farther in God. The result of moving further is a revelation of who we are and what we are called to do. It is important that people understand that the local authority may not identify with what you are called to. This doesn't mean that you are wrong. Changes are happening very quickly within the Body of Christ today and your local authorities may not have the revelation that you have. We must also be open to the fact that we may have missed the Lord and are in deception. Satan's goal is for us to believe some lie about God, our self or someone else. We need to be one hundred percent sure that we are hearing accurately from God and not believing the devils lies. This is why we should look for confirmation from a reputable prophetic voice concerning our calling.

 

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