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V. Different levels of anointing

A. There are different levels of experience in God’s power or anointing.

1. Enlightenment

 The first level of experience is “enlightenment.” Enlightenment is when we receive salvation and
darkness is replaced by light. Salvation is the first spiritual experience that we all need.

 The Old Testament speaks of the leper's anointing. Leviticus 14 teaches that the leper remained
outside the camp and that the priest was to go out to him and apply the blood of the sacrifice, bring
him into the camp, apply the blood again, and then apply oil, making "atonement for him before the
Lord."

 Every born-again believer has experienced the leper’s anointing, which deals with salvation.

2. Tasting of the heavenly gift

 It would seem that this is the gift of tongues. Even though there are many wonderful gifts from the
Holy Spirit, the heavenly language is something that is an essential part of your spiritual life.

 It is not everything, but to have a prayer language that does not rely on your brain is a wonderful
thing.

 Paul thanked God that he spoke in tongues, as does everyone who speaks in tongues.

 As a believer, cleansed through the precious blood of Christ, born again and sealed by the Spirit, you
can and should move to the second anointing: the priestly anointing.

 For we are all priests of God, although not necessarily ordained to stand behind a pulpit or to
conduct evangelistic and healing services. If we, therefore, are ministers to God, we must have the
power of the Spirit to do so.

 And that means we are to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is the priestly anointing of the Holy
Spirit upon us. Without it, we will accomplish little.

 Also, and this is important, the priestly anointing is evidenced through unity in the Body of Christ as
life in the Kingdom of God.
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o The priestly anointing comes in oneness, in unity, as the church functions as one body, i.e.
the Upper Room.

o This priestly anointing is not a one-time anointing, which the leper's anointing is.

o Under the old covenant, the priests were anointed with oil every day. The same with you
under the new covenant. You need a daily anointing.

o The priestly anointing brings the presence, the communion, and the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit.

 The leper's anointing (salvation) is a one-time experience and cannot be lost unless you willfully
walk away from it.

o God will never let you go unless you let Him go.
o This would require a decision that you would rather perish than be saved.

 The priestly anointing (the presence), on the other hand, can be lost, for if sin comes into your heart
it lifts.
o That is why it must be renewed daily.

o It can bring you into the presence of God - so near, so real that the tears will course down
your cheeks.

 Learning to host the Presence of God is the biggest challenge of the Christian life.

3. The kingly anointing

 Nothing can compare with the kingly anointing, the most powerful of them all.

 This lifts a person to a place of high authority in God, giving him authority over devils, the power to
rout demons with one word. Only this will give you the power to send the enemies of God flying as
the apostle Paul did.

 The kingly anointing is the most difficult to receive.

o Whereas the leper's anointing comes by accepting Jesus and the priestly anointing comes by
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fellowship with Jesus, the kingly anointing comes by obeying Jesus.

o It is when you hear the rhema word of the Lord spoken just for that moment, which says,
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"Thus says the Lord," that you receive the kingly anointing. You see, there is the logos, or

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written Word, the Bible. But that does not give you the anointing, although the logos is
terribly, terribly important, being settled in heaven and forever true.

B. The anointing in different covenants

7
The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel
could not bear to look at Moses' face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was
already fading away. 8Shouldn't we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving
life? (2 Corinthians 3:7-8)

1. We must expect superior things from a superior covenant.

 Moses’ life stands today as an invitation for all to enter a deeper place with God. The amazing part is
this: all Moses experienced happened under an inferior covenant.

 His accomplishments and experiences should be held in high esteem by the Church. It would be
foolish to do otherwise.

 But it would be equally foolish to ignore the fact that the high-water mark of the Old Testament was
not to remain the high-water mark for the New. It is improper to expect superior blessings from an
inferior covenant.

 Our New Testament heroes of the faith understood this. It gave them permission to press in for
more.

2. The death of Christ satisfied the requirements of the Old Covenant while igniting the fires of the New.

 When Jesus died, He paved the way for people to come directly into the Presence of God daily. This
was unheard of in Moses’ day. Only the high priest could do that, and it happened only one day a
year— the Day of Atonement.

 The blood made it possible to be a people of His Presence.

 Certainly this possibility is much more available to us than it was to Israel under the Old Covenant .
But the life-altering factor is this: Jesus’ death made it possible to not only come into the Presence
of God daily, but for the Presence of God to come into us permanently.

 We have become the eternal dwelling place of God (Eph. 2: 22). Incomprehensible!
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3. The Old Testament is filled with teachings and revelations that were for the practical expressions of life
and worship in Israel. Yet ultimately they were things that prophesied and spoke to the future. The New
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Covenant era is what the prophets looked ahead to see and spoke about.

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C. The “resident anointing”

The anointing of the Spirit manifests in three arenas:

1. The anointing on a gathering – “the corporate anointing”

2. The anointing on an individual – “the ministerial anointing”

3. The anointing within every believer – “the believer’s anointing” (1 John 2:27; Romans 8:16)

But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is
true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just
as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ (1 John 2:27).

 There is an anointing that abides in us.

 The inward witness is a sensation telling us what is right or wrong. We should rely on this anointing
to judge.

 We can grow in the believer’s anointing so as to become more discerning, more intimate with the
Lord, and have more peace and joy.

D. We can experience an increase in the believer’s anointing.

1. The anointing we operate in is proportionate to our faith (Romans 12:6). Growth in faith produces an
increase in the believer’s anointing.

2. The operation of anointing is also dependent on grace; however, grace can be multiplied and increased
through the knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18; John 1:16). Growth in grace produces an increase in
the believer’s anointing.

3. The glory of God on your life is the characteristics or attributes of God showing through your character
(2 Corinthians 3:18). Growth in glory produces an increase in the believer’s anointing.
16
But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory
of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his
glorious image (2 Corinthians 3:18).

4. We also grow by using the spiritual senses that we have (Hebrews 5:14).
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Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between
right and wrong.
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 Like an athlete who has honed his skills through constant practice, believers can hone their spiritual
skills through practice.

 He gives you a little and watches you. Then He gives you more. But before He gives you more, there
are additional lessons to learn, more battles to fight.

 Every time the anointing is increased on me, for example, I will go through a period of learning new
things about Him and His ways.

VI. Different kinds of anointing and manifestations

A. Any person who has sensed the anointing more than once knows that the anointing feels different at different
times (1 Corinthians 12:11).

It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

1. Sometimes you may not even feel the anointing, but if you continue to move in faith, you will see the
manifestations of it.

2. Nevertheless, we should continually strive to feel and operate in the anointing.

B. Because the Holy Spirit has so many different attributes and people have so many different needs, there are
many different kinds of anointing.

1. He has so many different things to achieve.

2. We should become familiar with the different manifestations of the power of the Spirit so that we can
respond to God in obedience.

3. The Holy Spirit is called (as well as many other things):

 The Spirit of wisdom (Deuteronomy 34: 9; Isaiah 11: 2)

 The Spirit of judgment (Isaiah 4: 4; 28: 6; John 16: 7-11)
 The Spirit of burning (Isaiah 4: 4)
 The Spirit of understanding (Isaiah 11: 2)
 The Spirit of revelation (Ephesians 1: 17)
 The Spirit of counsel (Isaiah 11: 2)
 The Spirit of might (Isaiah 11: 2; Romans 15: 19; Colossians 1: 29)
 The Spirit of knowledge (Isaiah 11: 2; Romans 15: 14)
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4. Because the anointing is a manifestation of the attributes of the Spirit, each of these names of the Spirit
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reflects a different anointing.

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 Each anointing therefore “feels” different. It stands to reason that the fear of the Lord will feel
different than the joy of the Lord.

 Through experiencing each anointing personally, we can begin to discern which type of anointing is
manifesting.

 The Holy Spirit does not always manifest the same attribute. So it is not a matter of sensing an
anointing and responding in the same way every time.

 If the leaders of meetings only validate certain manifestations of the Spirit, then they are doing
people a great disservice.

 We need to know what the Holy Spirit can bring to ourselves and to others so that we can receive
every anointing He is bringing and be excited about what He is doing with us.

5. It is not difficult to know what anointing God is bringing to us if we understand His character, i.e. peace.

6. One great way to experience different kinds of anointing is to get around people who operate in them,
i.e. Saul and the prophets.

D. There are different reactions that people have with the anointing of God.

1. Some deny the power of God (2 Timothy 3:5).

They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like
that!

2. Some stand in the way of God. Some people in the Bible did stand in the way and they suffered the
consequences.

 Ananias & Sapphira (Acts 5:3-5)

3
Then Peter said, "Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some
of the money for yourself. 4The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the
money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us but to God!" 5As
soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified

 Simon (Acts 8:18-21)

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17
Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18When Simon
saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this
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power. 19"Let me have this power, too," he exclaimed, "so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive

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the Holy Spirit!" 20But Peter replied, "May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God's gift can be
bought! 21You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God.

 Judas (Acts 1:18)

Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery. Falling headfirst there, his body split
open, spilling out all his intestines.

 Herod (Acts 12)

Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people's worship instead of
giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died.

 Elymas the sorcerer (Acts 13:8-11))

8
But Elymas, the sorcerer (as his name means in Greek), interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to
what Barnabas and Saul said. He was trying to keep the governor from believing. 9Saul, also known as Paul, was
filled with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye. 10Then he said, "You son of the devil, full of every
sort of deceit and fraud, and enemy of all that is good! Will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord?
11
Watch now, for the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you, and you will be struck blind. You will not see
the sunlight for some time." Instantly mist and darkness came over the man's eyes, and he began groping around
begging for someone to take his hand and lead him.

3. Some are unchanged by the power of God.

 King Saul prophesied but his character was unchanged.

 The troops who came to arrest Jesus fell over in His presence, but then they got up and arrested
Him.

4. Some make a religion out of a specific manifestation.

 It is a mistake to think that because God gave you an experience He wants to give the same one over
and over again. That is the nature of religion.

 God does something wonderful and people begin to focus on the experience rather than on God
(Matthew 17:1-6).
1
Six days later Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be
alone. 2As the men watched, Jesus' appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his
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clothes became as white as light. 3Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. 4Peter
exclaimed, "Lord, it's wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I'll make three shelters as memorials—one for you,
one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 5But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from
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the cloud said, "This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him." 6The disciples were terrified
and fell face down on the ground.

o It seems many people try to prescribe some sort of formula to experiencing God’s power –
unless, of course, it’s a scriptural pattern.

o Ultimately it is our own heart and attitudes that determine what we receive from God, but
we must be careful that we do not get caught in the trap of expecting God to anoint us in
the same way He has done in the past.

o If you’re not hearing from Him today, you have lost the power connection.

 Many great church movements have started out having God’s power, but they fail when they set up
religious practices that do not connect people to God (Mark 7:13a).

And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition.

E. Falling under the power of God

1. There are real experiences when people encounter God in such a way that they cannot stand.

2. Strange things can certainly happen when the Spirit of God comes upon you. In the book of Acts we see;

 People appeared drunk.

 They spoke with new tongues
 They preached boldly.
 They had dreams and visions.
 People were saved by the thousands.
 There were supernatural giving, signs, and wonders, great fear of God.
 They had daily meetings, simplicity of heart, and favor with people
 There was a refreshing, powerful shaking of a building.
 They were supernaturally released from prison.
 Saul fell to the ground and was blind for three days, until he was prayed for and scales fell off of his
eyes.
 Dorcas came back from the dead.
 Peter fell into a trance.
 When John was receiving the book of Revelation, he “fell at Jesus’ feet as one who was dead.”

3. Falling over may be one of the side effects of the power of God coming on a person, but it is never the
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main purpose.
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 We do see in Scripture that there were instances of powerful anointing that left people unable to
function (2 Chronicles 5:14; Exodus 40:34-35; Acts 9:3-4).

The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD filled the
Temple of God (2 Chronicles 5:14).
34
Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle. 35Moses could no longer
enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle
(Exodus 40:34-35).
3
As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4He
fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:3-4).

 The purpose in all of these was to help people – not to make them fall over.

 The one time when God’s power was intended to make people fall over as the primary purpose was
probably when people came to arrest Jesus in John chapter eighteen where He raised His hands and
they fell over.
4
Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. "Who are you
looking for?" he asked. 5"Jesus the Nazarene,"* they replied. "I AM he," Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him,
was standing with them.) 6As Jesus said "I AM he," they all drew back and fell to the ground! (Jean 18:4-6)

4. There is no scriptural basis for judging the spirituality of a person by whether or not he falls under the
power.

 A holy man like Daniel fell (Daniel 10:7-11)

7
Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to
hide. 8So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and
I felt very weak. 9Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there
with my face to the ground. 10Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees.
11
And the man said to me, "Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you.
Stand up, for I have been sent to you." When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.

 An obedient prophet like Ezekiel fell over (Ezekiel 1:28). God asked him to stand up so he could
speak to him.

All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day. This is what the glory of
the LORD looked like to me. When I saw it, I fell face down on the ground, and I heard someone's voice speaking
to me.
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 The evil people trying to arrest Jesus fell over (John 18:5-6), but it didn’t change their pursuit.
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 Paul, a persecutor breathing murderous threats against the believers fell over (Acts 9:3-4). It was
during this time that he was commissioned by God.

 Not all those who fell over were changed or transformed.

5. It is clear that Scripture teaches falling over as a side effect and not something to be sought.

Example:

John G. Lake tells of a young man who prayed for 150 people and about one hundred fell. Lake observed that
only the first twenty-five were really healed, and after that they just fell to the floor. He asked the young men if
he knew why this was so. He did not but said he was glad they fell. Lake said to him:

When you started to pray for those people, your soul was lost in the Son of God and you were hardly conscious
anybody had fallen. But when you saw them strewed all around you, then you forgot the face of Jesus, and
became absorbed in the phenomena. That is why they did not get anything . You forgot to connect faith with
power.

VII. Faith and the anointing

A. The power of the Spirit (or the anointing) comes through faith (Galatians 3:14; Acts 14:9-10).

Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we
who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:14).
8
While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from
birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting 9and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul
realized he had faith to be healed. 10So Paul called to him in a loud voice, "Stand up!" And the man jumped to his
feet and started walking (Acts 14:9-10).

1. The man who was healed in Acts 14 had faith. Paul had the anointing. The man’s faith caused the
anointing that Paul had to flow to him.

2. We know God’s promises, so we step out in obedience. We act as if the Word is true, which it is, and the
anointing flows.

3. Smith Wigglesworth, known as the Apostle of Faith, boldly proclaimed, “Faith is the audacity that
rejoices in the fact that God cannot break his own Word. Faith is not agitation. It is quiet confidence that
God means what he says and we act on his Word."

4. Faith sees and responds to unseen realities.

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5. Faith doesn’t come from the mind; it comes from your heart or spirit.
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 Yet a renewed mind enhances our faith through an understanding of the unseen.

 It finds its fuel in knowing the ways of the Holy Spirit – how He moves.

B. We need to understand our doubts.

1. Doubt checks our faith level (Mark 11:22-24).

22
Then Jesus said to the disciples, "Have faith in God. 23I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, `May
you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have
no doubt in your heart. 24I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be
yours.

2. The Greek word used here for “doubt” is “diakrino” which literally means “have another opinion” and is
otherwise translated “discern” or “judge” as in prophecy.

 Doubt informs us of whether we have faith for a thing or not.

 Doubt is our friend because it tells us in what things we should go away and build our faith more
before we proceed.

3. The vigor of our spiritual life will be in direct proportion to the place held by the Bible in our thoughts and
life. George Mueller

4. The greatest sin in the world is to disbelieve God's Word. We are not of those who draw back, but we
are of those who believe, for God's Word is a living Word and it always acts.

5. The anointing will not flow and touch anyone if I'm afraid. Boldness is a must.

 I must use the weapons He's given me, His words and His name. He said, "In My name, do it!"

 Now this is important: Those who try to use those weapons in His name and lack His presence and
His anointing are fools.

 Anyone who pronounces, "By His stripes I am healed," and who doesn't have the presence, is
wasting his time.

C. The anointing is dependent upon our words. God will not move unless I say it. Why? Because He has made us
coworkers with Him. He set things up that way.
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VIII. Our relationship with God and the anointing.

God made us, and God is able to empower us to do whatever he calls us to do. Denying that we can accomplish
God’s work is not humility; it’s the worst kind of pride! Warren Wiersbe

A. The anointing comes through relationship (Read: Acts 4:8-13).

1. The Holy Spirit is a person and He releases His power through us because He trusts us.

2. Like Peter and John, we can tell when someone has recently been with Jesus because they are
empowered. Great people move in that way because of their relationship with Jesus.

3. We need to attract the power of God to our lives. Attracting the power of God is first of all about
drawing near to the person of God.

4. When we try to do anything in the Kingdom, it must flow out of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Anything else is dangerous. The sons of Sceva found out the hard way (Acts 19:11-16).
11
God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles. 12When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely
touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.
13
A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord
Jesus in their incantation, saying, "I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!"
14
Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. 15But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, "I
know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered
them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

 They foolishly thought they could be like Paul.

 In the church today, people still try to copy those who are having great success in their ministries.
We can learn from them, but trying to copy them could prove to be disastrous.

 Many people want the power of God and think they can take short cuts to get it, but the only way to
the power of God is through our relationship with Him.

o We need to have a clear conscience and an open channel for Him to flow through.

o It is a matter of being a yielded vessel.

B. If you have a relationship with Him and submit to His commands, His name will have power in your life.
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1. If you don't do this, you'll be mocked by devils.

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2. No, you must flow with the will of God in the service of God to obtain the power of God.

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HOMEWORK:

1. List and briefly explain the different levels of experience in God’s power or anointing.
2. Why should be expect more under the New Covenant?
3. What are the three arenas in which the anointing of the Spirit manifests?
4. What is the believer’s anointing and how can we increase it?
5. Why are we able to experience different kinds of anointing? Please explain.
6. What are some of the different reactions that people have with the anointing of God?
7. Is falling under the power of God a valid manifestation of the anointing? Please discuss.
8. What role does faith have in the anointing? What role does doubt have?
9. Discuss our relationship with God and the anointing.

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