At the end of last week’s sermon – Ministering With a Godly Vision – one of the church members, as we fellowshipped, began to talk about his trepidation of sharing scripture with others. He said, “I worry about when I share something that’s in the Bible because somebody will ask me where it is and I won’t be able to show them where it is in the Bible.” I believe this is a common feeling many believers share.
Admittedly, we don’t know everything there is to know about our faith. No matter how many sermons we have listened too, or no matter how many bible study classes we have sat in, there are undoubtedly still many things that we are trepidatious about in our faith.
So, it becomes very easy for us to lose confidence, not in the Word itself, but we lose confidence in our ministering of the Word. We think to ourselves, I’ll stay back and let those who know a bit more about the scriptures minister for me. We say to ourselves, “I’ll stay back and let the people who sound better when they pray, do the prayer ministry”. Again, I say that ministering is something that we as believers should all participate in because we are all capable of ministering.
What I want to focus on today is staying confident with your anointing.
The Holy Anointing
Somebody may think to themselves, “what does the anointing have to do with ministering?” Some may even think to themselves, “well, I have never been anointed, so how can I stay confident in it?” You may have not been anointed physically but you most definitely have been anointed spiritually. Let’s take a look at our anointing
In his first epistle, John writes to us:
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
1 John 2:20 NKJV
The Holy One is none other than the Lord. Therefore, if it is God who has anointed us, this anointing has to be a spiritual anointing.
King David, who was physically anointed by Samuel (1 Sam. 16:8-13), said this in a very familiar psalm:
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
Psalm 23:5 NKJV
You anoint my head with oil;My cup runs over.
In ancient times, they would anoint the head of those who were royal or would become royal. In this psalm, you should understand that David was not saying this to Samuel. David sang this song in reference to what God had done for him.
I profess to you today that all believers are anointed by God. God is our
Our anointing is very significant, but it took time for me to understand just how significant our anointing is and I want to share with you the significance. My curiosity was not necessarily what an anointing was because I knew it dealt with rubbing oil on the forehead. I believe my curiosity was about the origination – what exactly was the purpose of an anointing?
History of anointing
The origin of putting oil on the head actually goes back to shepherds caring for their flock. Let’s keep in mind that the subject of Psalm 23 is that the Lord is David’s shepherd. David equates himself to a sheep that needs a shepherd. Again, I say that we are all just like David
Sheep need help with navigating – they like to wander and can easily get lost. We talk about how our dogs can find their way back home, which they certainly can, but sheep have absolutely no clue how to get back home. Sheep also lack a natural defense outside of maybe a headbutt here or there. So, what I am trying to say is that the sheep are very vulnerable animals that require good shepherds.
How vulnerable are sheep? Sheep get dirty and this attracts bugs. Bugs have the ability to get into their nose or their ears and lay eggs. This can cause worms to form in the nose or ear that could burrow into the sheep’s head and lead to death. However, let’s pay even closer attention to what David sings about his head being anointed with oil – this anointing is very significant for a few reasons.
Anointing the sheep’s head with oil would help to prevent the bugs from laying eggs in its nose and ears. We could consider this both a protective and preventative measure for sheep. Anointing the sheep’s head with oil would also help to prevent direct impacts on its head from other sheep. (Sheep will often ram their heads into other sheep as a means to establish position or dominance.) Lastly, the anointing of the sheep’s head was also a means to help heal wounds and cuts.
If we apply the origin of anointing sheep to our spiritual anointing, I believe we can truly understand the significance of our anointing. The Holy Spirit (God) cares for us daily. He anoints our hearts (our soul) with oil for the healing of our wounds. God anoints our hearts with oil because He knows that there will be clashes, but the impacts of those clashes will be glancing blows that do not damage our spirit. Our hearts have been anointed with oil so that nothing can get inside our soul and destroy us from the inside. My God is a wonderful God! That should make you should for joy!
The Christian Anointing
My key verse of this sermon takes a look at what John says in his first epistle. John writes:
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 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.
1 John 2:26-27 NKJV
I feel like all of us as believers need to hear this today. Let me say this to you, ministering is not easy. In ministering the Word of God, you will often see what others have to go through and, in many cases, it’s never good. There may even be times where you feel absolutely helpless and cannot do anything. You take those things and add in the fact that there are many people who will be ungrateful for your help and this can absolutely drain anybody. With all of that being said, we have this anointing inside of us that can keep us and sustain us if we stay with our anointing.
John also tells us that our holy anointing is an anointing of truth. John says that with this truth we do not need for anybody to teach us. The anybody that John references there has nothing to do with other believers; it has everything to do with those who he says are antichrist (1 John 2:18, 20). We consider these to be those who are of the world and not of Christ – deceivers. We should also not leave out the devil from this scripture or from
Satan wants to tear down the ministry of Christ. The devil certainly wants to keep us from ministering Christ. To do this, Satan searches for our weaknesses, but Satan also searches for the ministries that are trepidatious in their ministering. Many times when you feel you are not adequate for ministering, that is Satan whispering in your ear that doubt.
Enter our holy anointing
The Holy Spirit never tells you what you are not capable of doing. Remember, we are told that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us (Phil. 4:13). When we are busy telling ourselves, “that’s not my calling” or “I can’t do that”, understand that’s not the Holy Spirit – your anointing – say this to you. Yes, we all have
So, John reminds us of the anointing that we received from the Lord abides in us – the Holy Spirit abides in our soul. There is nothing that the deceiver can teach or show you. The Holy Spirit will teach you and anoint you daily. We must listen to the calling of the Holy Spirit and ignore that devil and his devils.
Whatever your ministry may be, I tell you that you should stay confident with your anointing. Your anointing is true and comes from the Lord. Do not let your trepidation hold you back. The worst thing that we as believers can do is hold back our ministry from those who are in distress or in need.
John also wrote this in this epistle:
17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
1 John 3:17-18 NKJV
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Shutting up our heart would be shutting up our soul. To shut up the soul would be to shut up the Holy Spirit. To close off the Holy Spirit would be to abandon that holy anointing that we received from the Lord. The same anointing the heals us, sustains us, and protects us. Let us not take our holy anointing in vain.