John 7:37 to 39 - On the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If any one is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink. He that believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his inward parts shall flow rivers of living water. (But he was referring to the Spirit, which those that believe in him would receive: for the Holy Spirit had not yet been [given]; because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)
The anointing is something that is so special, that when someone 'gets' it, people will come from far and wide to come and experience it. As someone said once, "If you get on fire for God, someone will come and watch you burn." Today there is a hunger all over the world for the mighty touch of God. People are seeking God for revival and a fresh experience of His power. Some 'fortunate' folks are experiencing an outpouring of the Spirit of God, and people are flocking from all over the world to come and get a taste of it.
But the million dollar question is always, "How do I get it?" If the anointing is such a wonderful thing, then surely everybody should try to get it. But yet so few people seem to have it. If only we could find out how these people managed to get it, then maybe we can try and do the same things they did. And so there is a great desire amongst many believers to try and experience the fullness of the anointing of God, and they are looking everywhere for answers to this question.
I mentioned last time that the anointing is something that was given to Jesus. In fact if you look at the name that Jesus is called by, you see that it embraces His relationship with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. He is called the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord is the title that was given to God in the Old Testament. And the word Christ means literally 'the anointed.' Jesus is Christ - the anointed one. And we are Christians - also anointed ones. The anointing is in us because Jesus is in us.
So I want to ask you the question, "When does a person receive the anointing?" Those who have experienced some of the power of God will probably tell you that the anointing seems to come upon them at different times. They can actually feel it. It is a wonderful feeling of the presence of God, and sometimes it is like raw power that floods through your whole being. It is better than being high on drugs or alcohol and more exhilarating than passionate love. And this is why when people experience it they want to keep getting more and more of it.
But when does a person receive this anointing? Some will say that it happens when they go to a revival meeting, or when someone who is operating in the anointing prays for them. So they flock to meetings where these things are in manifestation. And sure enough, as the Spirit of God begins to move, they experience the sensation of the presence of the anointing. It is like a river flowing through them. It is like a river that they are swimming in. And in fact the river has become the most common symbol of the anointing in these places. But afterwards the anointing seems to vanish away. So they have to return again to the river, to get a fresh touch of the presence of God.
When does a person receive the anointing? Some will tell you that it comes only once you get rid of sin in your life. God will not pour His Spirit into an unclean vessel. The river of life will not flow through unclean channels. So they seek to deal with every wrong thing in their lives. They seek to produce holiness and righteousness through giving up things that displease the Lord and through continual confession of all known sin in their life. There is a continual process of setting oneself apart from sin and allowing the Lord to become prominent in their lives. But though we get rid of the external appearances of sin, there still remains the wickedness of the heart. And like Paul we cry out, "Who will deliver me from the bondage of this death?"
So I ask again, "When does a person receive the anointing?" Some say that it comes only after an extended time of fasting. In fact the longer the fast, the greater the anointing is likely to be in the life. After all, Jesus fasted for forty days before He could enter into His ministry, so surely we should all also fast for forty days if we expect to move into the kind of power that He had. But who can fast for forty days? Certainly not the vast majority of people who hold down normal jobs and live active lives. And even amongst those who are able to commit themselves to this, who could survive such a feat without severe hardship or physical damage?
So when you get down to brass tacks, you find that for the vast majority of believers, all hope of receiving the anointing begins to fade away, and all that they are left with is a way of explaining why they failed to obtain it. And this is when the problems begin. You see, I cannot admit that I have failed to attain, so I have to blame either the people who have succeeded or the Lord Himself.
So there are those who condemn the revival movements. They speak out against the organisations and people who are operating in these things. They try to teach that these people are carnal and worldly, seeking only sensation and not the Lord. They are called the Laodicean Church and many other things. All this, to cover up their own failure to attain.
And then there are those who have to acknowledge that these things are of God, but yet because they have not attained themselves, they try to explain the reason for the failure as being the will of God.
"God is Sovereign," they say, "And He pours out His anointing where and when He chooses."
So we just have to keep praying and hoping and wishing and waiting, until one day God decides to pour out His Spirit upon us. Maybe we too can be fortunate enough to be like one of the revival churches and have God choose us to be one of the spots where He is going to pour out His blessing. But when does a person receive the anointing? Jesus gave us the answer in the passage we read above. He said quite simply that, "He that believes in me," will experience the outflow of rivers of living water. Paul explains it to us using the word anointing in 2 Corinthians 1:21 and 22: He says:
Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, [is] God; Who has also sealed us, and given the guarantee of the Spirit in our hearts. What is Paul talking about here? He is talking about the same thing as Jesus. He is saying that every believer has received the Spirit of God. It is the Holy Spirit that is the anointing. It is the Holy Spirit that is the seal that guarantees, not only our salvation, but also the continual presence of God in our hearts.
Now what is interesting here is that Paul uses a Greek tense called the Aorist. This is a special past tense we do not have in English. It refers to an act that is carried out and completed. It does not need to be repeated. In other words Paul is saying that you are anointed once for all, and this process does not need to be repeated. This anointing took place when you received Jesus, because He is the Anointed One. And when you received Him you received also the seal of the Holy Spirit who dwells in your heart if you are a believer. Then just to make sure that we don't put too much on just one verse, the Apostle John tells us something that says it even clearer, in 1 John 2:27:
But the anointing that you have received from him abides in you, and you need not that any man should teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you about all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him.
So I ask once again in conclusion then, "When does a person receive the anointing?" And of course the answer is quite simply, "When he or she is born again." If you would like to pick up your Bible Concordance and look for every occurrence of the word anoint, anointed or anointing, you will find that there is not much more there than those that I have mentioned. There is nothing complicated about the anointing. We have all received it as believers, and the process never needs to be repeated.
So why doesn't everyone experience the anointing then? Why do we have to go to revival meetings to find it? Why do some people experience it and not others? In the grace of God I am going to try to explain this to you next, and then we are going to see how to experience the anointing that is already in every believer. Instead of going to find a river, you will learn how to create your own!
