The Anointing on Every Believer
From The HeartPublish date: 03/21/1999
Foundation Scriptures: Luke 4:14 -19
Every believer is anointed with the ministry of reconciliation, but not every believer is anointed or equipped to stand in the fivefold ministry offices, as mentioned in Ephesians 4:7-11. The fivefold ministry is instituted and ordained by God. You cannot raise this ministry up in a Bible school or seminary setting. These gifts are given by God Almighty. They come from heaven above and not by the hands of man.
However, every believer is anointed when they get born again. God comes and makes His home on the inside of us. The scripture says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”
(II Corinthians 5:17-18 NKJ)
You are set apart. The Holy Spirit comes to live on the inside of you and the anointing of the Holy Ghost becomes available to you. You have the ministry of reconciliation – to tell others about Jesus.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. (I John 2:20 & 27 NKJ)
Under the Old Covenant, God anointed three groups of people. He anointed the prophets, the priests, and the kings. He would cause His Spirit to rest upon them. Then came the New Covenant. When Jesus cried, “It is finished,” the veil of the temple was supernaturally torn in two from top to bottom. The Holy Spirit came out of an earthly tabernacle made with the hands of man, never again to live therein. Now He lives in your heart and my heart. We have become the temple of the living God according to 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 2 Corinthians 6:16.
The fivefold ministry has a greater manifestation of the nine gifts of the Spirit – with a greater anointing than the laity. But any one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit found in 1 Corinthians 12, can operate through any believer, as the Holy Spirit leads. God did not say that it was just for the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. As the scripture says in 1 Corinthians 12:7, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.” The gifts of the Spirit are given to believers to profit and bless everybody.
The Well and the River
In John 4:14, Jesus said, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” I want you to notice it says a well. The scripture says, “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). We could call this first anointing a “well” anointing.
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39 NKJ)
In this scripture we see not only a well, but we see something that is bigger than a well. We see a river. You receive a “well” anointing when you get born again. You receive a “river” anointing when you get the baptism in the Holy Ghost.
Jesus told the disciples to tarry at Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. He said in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Power to Be a Witness
We can actually have power to be a witness. The word witness in this scripture means martyr. In other words, witnesses are a people who are prepared to die for what they believe. A witness is someone who is radical in his faith and the communication of it. We see this portrayed in the life of Peter, the one who had three times denied the Lord. On the day of Pentecost, after receiving the Holy Ghost, he boldly preached and proclaimed the gospel.
What a change had taken place, what a transformation! It was all because of the anointing – because of the touch of God.