The Anointing Breaks the Yoke

I've noticed a dynamic at play when I'm preaching the Word of God. Before I get up to preach, I often feel physically weak, and after I've preached (usually an hour or so later), I generally feel quite exhausted, but while I'm preaching, I actually feel 100% well and 100% healthy!

Now on one level, this is simply the result of an answer to prayer. For example, the first time I preached a full sermon after my latest trip to hospital, I had to sit down during most of the worship in song. One of the songs, I remember, was "Let the Weak Say I am Strong", and at the time I made this a real prayer before the Lord. James 1:5 instructs us, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." Well, I believe this verse applies to other areas of lack as well, and I paraphrased it in this way:

"If any of you lacks [physical strength], he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

And when I began to minister God's Word, I literally felt the physical strength of God energise me. This is not just the result of an "adrenaline rush" or some physiological effect - I believe it is very much a practical expression of God's grace flooding into my physical body

If you'd like to see what I'm talking, you can see me "in action" last Sunday by watching the video, "The Lazarus Lesson". What you'll notice, when you watch is that I look healthy and full of energy. There is no way to "fake" this (considering that just prior to my taking the pulpit, I was feeling extremely weak). In fact, I had people come up to me afterwards and, tongue in cheek, as me if I was really ill, because looking at me there was no indication of ill health whatsoever.

Now the reason why I mention this is because it set me thinking. Yesterday, the Lord spoke to me from Isaiah about the principle of "rising on the wings of an eagle" (see "Wings of Eagles"). And I really experienced that yesterday, even though later in the morning I had a "reversal" which was a very clear demonic attack (more on this in a moment). But as I was praying and applying the "eagle" principle, the Lord again drew my attention to the phenomenon I experience each time I preach God's Word. In short, what I'm experiencing is the "anointing" of God's Spirit, which simply means that God's grace, through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, comes upon me to enable me to fulfill a task through His strength and gifting. It's an experience I frequently have when ministering, but I suddenly realised that this "anointing" of the Holy Spirit is not designed just for the odd occasion behind the pulpit. Rather, it is an experience we are meant to walk in on a daily basis.

In Ephesians 5:18 says:

"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."

The expectation is that we should be "filled with the Spirit" as a daily, ongoing experience. This is echoed in 1 John 2:27, which says:

"As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit - just as it has taught you, remain in him."

This anointing (of the Holy Spirit), says John, remains in us, and teaches us to remain in him. In other words, there is a connection between the experience of being "anointed" by God's Spirit and the act of "remaining" or "abiding" in the Lord, something that Jesus himself taught in John 15:4-8.

You'll remember from yesterday's post that the "eagle principle" of Isaiah 40:28-31 is that we are to "mount up [close to God]" in the same way that eagles "mount up to the sun." The picture is, once again, of "abiding" or "remaining" close to the Lord. Out of this closeness comes the anointing of God's own strength and power.

As I entered the day yesterday, I really took Isaiah 40:28-31 to heart. The first part of the morning was very much defined by the Lord's strength and empowering. But later in the morning, while I was waiting for a blood test, I got hit by fatigue and illness "like a sledgehammer." In fact, I haven't felt so ill since the days before my last admittance to hospital. My mum (who is presently in Melbourne) picked me up from the clinic and drove me home, and my dad prayed for me over the phone. After a rest, however, I was soon back on my feet, applying the principle of Isaiah 40:28-31. What I realised at the time was that this was the enemy's challenge to God's Word, and so I stood firm in what God had spoken to me that morning. And the rest of the day was very much a day empowered by God's strength.

In Isaiah 10:27 (NKJV), the prophet declared:

"It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil."

The anointing of God's Spirit, which I experience in public ministry, is also, I believe, the key to my healing. I'm asking the Lord for his anointing to be on my life today, so that I can experience the 100% health and 100% strength that can only come from him. Today, Micah 3:8 is my personal declaration:

"But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD..."