THE ANOINTING
What It Is and How You Can Experience It
By Tom Smith
What is the
anointing in the believer’s life?
Have you
ever considered how you, as a believer in Christ, can discern what is divine
reality in contrast to satanic deception?
The answer
is “the anointing.”
The
Apostle John said,
“And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in
you, and you have no need that anyone teach you, but as His anointing teaches
you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has
taught you, abide in Him.” (1 John 2:27)
But
what is the anointing that the believers have received from God that enables
them to know the divine truth, or reality in order to abide in Him?
We’ll
now consider what is the anointing in the believer and how it teaches us and
enables us to abide in God.
The
anointing is GOD Himself moving and working within us.
Just
as the inner life is GOD Himself within us, the anointing is GOD Himself
moving, working, and operating within us.”
In the Scriptures, the ointment
typifies The Spirit of The Lord.
The anointing signifies and presents The Triune GOD with all the elements of
Christ’s person and work as its active ingredients.
When this divine ointment, GOD Himself, is moving, and working
within us—that’s the anointing.
Where “in
us” do we experience this anointing?
In
our spirit.
The
LORD, as The Life-Giving Spirit,
dwells in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). This is why we need to repeatedly turn our
spirit in prayer (Eph. 6:18) to contact Him.
Since
Christ is GOD’s Anointed One (Heb.
1:9), when we contact Him in our spirit, we get anointed. The simplest way to
contact The LORD to receive His anointing is to call on His Name from deep
within –“Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus!”
‘The
anointing’ teaches us concerning all things.
‘The
anointing’ teaches you. It is the anointing that teaches us.
By
the anointing, we learn and comprehend a Word from The Lord—by the anointing,
we learn what God teaches us.
So how can
you apply this anointing in your Christian experience?
Whenever
you turn to The LORD in prayer and inquire of Him saying, “Lord
what do you want me to do in this situation?”— He responds by
anointing you with more of Himself as The
Anointed One.
It
is not an outward teaching by words but an inward teaching by the anointing,
through our inner spiritual consciousness. This teaching by the anointing adds
the divine elements of The Trinity, which are the elements of the anointing
compound Spirit, into our inner being. It is like the repeated painting of some
article: the paint not only indicates the color, but also by coat upon coat
being added, the elements of the paint are added to the thing painted. It is in
this way that The Triune God is transfused, infused, and added into all the
inward parts of our being that our inner man may grow in the Divine Life with
the divine elements.
So
God’s response to your inquiries is to “paint” you with coat after coat of
Himself. This is the best teaching. In this way, He teaches you and makes His
intention known.
By
God’s repeated applications of the anointing, He teaches concerning all things
especially concerning what is the Divine Truth. This is the primary effect of
God’s teaching by anointing us in First John 2. However, this can also be
applied in all the small or large matters in our life including the clothes we
wear or occupation we choose.
God’s
intention is to anoint us with Himself.
It
is encouraging to see that God’s intention isn’t just for us to know what He
wants and to try to do it. Rather, God intends to anoint our inner being, to
“paint” us with coat after coat of Himself, until we simply express Him.
You may want
to pray,
“Dear Lord, I open to you to receive more of
your anointing today. Move and operate in Me. Apply more of Yourself to me as
“the Divine Paint” until I’m fully one with You and express You.”
God’s purpose with the anointing is that we may
abide in Him.
It’s
really important to realize that God’s purpose in anointing us is not merely
our outward obedience but our inward abiding.
Read
the ending of 1 John 2:27 once again,
“…even as it [the anointing] has taught you,
abide in Him.”
I’m afraid that even our success in obeying
God’s commands outwardly might distract us from God’s purpose—our abiding in
Him.
‘The
anointing’ is simply God Himself moving and working within us.
The
anointing teaches us concerning all things, especially concerning what is the
Divine Truth or Reality.
God’s
intention is not merely our outward obedience but it is to anoint us with
Himself until we express Him from within.
God’s
purpose in anointing us is that we may abide in Him.
This
post was inspired by Practical Lessons on the Experience of Life, Chapter Nine,
by Witness Lee.