Preparing for the Glory by John Arnott

Author:John Arnott [Carol Arnott, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Destiny Image, Inc.

NOTE

1.David Francis Bacon, Memoirs of Eminently Pious Women of Britain and America (New Haven, CT: Daniel McLeod, 1833).

Chapter 7

The Anointing

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because he has anointed Me....

—LUKE 4:18

I WANT TO CHALLENGE YOU AS YOU READ THIS CHAPTER TO NOT just let it be information. Let the topic of the anointing spread from your head all the way down to your toes. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you exactly what I’m talking about. Pray right now: “Come, Holy Spirit. Don’t let this be just one more chapter in a book. I’m asking for an encounter with You! Anoint me, Holy Spirit!”

Someone once asked Randy Clark why people fall down. Without missing a beat, he answered, “Because they can’t stand up.”

The Toronto Blessing has been characterized by lots of people falling down, shaking, laughing, or crying. But what we call the manifestations are only evidence of what’s really going on—people are responding to the presence of the Holy Spirit. I asked the Lord once why He likes it when people fall down. What He said to me was, “Because when people fall down, there are generally two issues being addressed—fear and pride. It’s not the same when you’re sitting down and someone prays for you, or even when you’re already kneeling; you still get to hold on to your dignity. But when the Holy Spirit takes you down to the floor, He is addressing both fear and pride in you.”

Now, I’m not talking about what we call a “courtesy fall”; you know, where you feel like you have to fall down. Nor am I talking about being pushed over. That’s not helpful at all. I’m talking about when the Holy Spirit comes on people with power and moves upon hearts and lives. We call that “the anointing.”

Anointing

The word anointing actually means to be smeared with oil or ointment. In the Old Testament, new kings would have oil poured on them, symbolic of the Holy Spirit coming upon them to enable the person to function in the office into which God had placed him. This practice was followed for commissioning prophets, priests, and kings. That’s what happens when the Holy Spirit comes on us—we are smeared with the oil of His presence. It gets all over us, from our head to our feet, and we are empowered to be kings and priests and prophets on the earth. We have been anointed.

We are talking about a life-giving Spirit. In John 6:63, Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” This is weighty; He says here that without the Spirit, anything you do is not profitable. In Luke 4, Jesus makes the bold claim, “The Spirit of the Lord…has anointed Me” (Luke 4:18). Even Jesus couldn’t do ministry without the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

John Piper describes the Holy Spirit this way: “The Holy Spirit is the eternal love that flows between the Father and the Son as they delight in each other.

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