Recently I asked myself a question ‘why do I want the anointing? At the time I was meditating on Numbers 13. After careful consideration of the question (you know when God gets your attention), my honest answer was that I wanted God’s power live an empowered and victorious life. Whilst this is a noble answer and indeed I  think that the answer is right but God wanted to show me another perspective, I believe that when we call out for God’s presence, His glory, anointing or even gifts of the Spirit, the primary purpose should be so that we can serve God.

Let’s consider a few scriptures to this effect. I have underlined the ‘connection’ in these scriptures.

Numbers 33:11-12.

12 Then Moses said to the LORD, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people.' But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.'   13 "Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation [is] Your people."   14 And He said, "My Presence will go [with you,] and I will give you rest."  

The conservation that took place between God and Moses which ended with Moses asking to see God’s glory, started with Moses wanting to serve God (verse 12 – i.e. leading God’s people into the Promised Land). Moses already had a good relationship with God but now he was asking for God’s empowerment so he could serve God better.

Second example: Mark 16:15-18

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they[b] will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Here the Lord Jesus is giving last minute instructions to His disciples. Look again at the word at beginning of verse 17 ‘And’, Jesus is saying here that we an go out and preach the gospel by the power of God. This view is further reinforced in Acts 1:8

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me[a] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Coming back to the question that we started with, when you ask for God’s supernatural assistance, is it for the purpose of serving Him? What I have tried to show through these scriptures is that the anointing is for service. Basically God empowers us to serve Him.

Whatever the reason that you are seeking God’s presence, make sure that serving Him is one of them.

I trust that this post has also been a blessing to you, so until I appear again in your inbox, stay blessed

Ola

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One of my favourite bible characters in recent years has been Moses. His knowledge and experience of God and His glory encourages me to know God more.

Reading through the book of Numbers recently, I was struck by how Moses reacted to the constant complaints and criticism by the children of the children of Israel. What I found particularly interesting was that whether the criticism was justified or not, Moses’ response was always the same. He would take it to God in prayer.  When the people were wrong and God wanted to judge them, he would stand in the place of intercession for them. He always prayed to get a Godly perspective and in some cases Godly instructions. He never acted alone.

Let’s consider a few examples:

Numbers 12:1Here his own brother and sister rose up against him because of the Ethiopian woman he had married. So angry was God at this revolt that he caused Miriam to have leprosy. To have leprosy in those days was to be an outcast. So you can imagine Miriam the prophetess being an outcast in the house of God. So what did Moses do? He prayed ( Numbers 12:3) and God removed the leprosy. Remember, Moses was the guy who was wronged.

So on to Numbers 14 – this time the turn of the leaders. The Israelites in disbelief, because of the bad report of the spies, had refused to proceed into the Promised Land. So the people complained against Moses as if it was Moses’ idea in the first place to take them out of Egypt. The people then decided to turn their backs on God, return to Egypt and before they went, decided to stone Moses and his brother ( Numbers 14:4). Stoning Moses could well had resulted in Moses death, if they had gone ahead. Moses’ reaction is exemplary. In response to this, Moses and Aaron prayed and bowed before the Lord ( Numbers 14:5, 11-20)

Moses prayed a prayer of intercession: “Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of your mercy, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt until now”. How often do we pray for those that have wronged us, especially when we are in the right?

Fast forward to Numbers 16:1-3 – the sons of Korah were now up against Moses. The sons of Korah were responsible for the tabernacle, the house of God. Remember the ark of covenant, representing the presence of God, was in the tabernacle. The sons of Korah stated that Moses had exalted himself above the people The people responsible for ensuring ‘God’s presence’ was carried in the right manner ,were fighting for more position. They did not realise what an honourable position they actually had.

So they complained against Moses and what did Moses do? Yes, you guessed, he prayed to God ( Numbers 16:4). This did not avert the judgement of God as the ground opened and swallowed them up.

You would have thought that by now, the people would be in awe of God and Moses and stop their complaining, but after seeing what happened to the sons of Korah, they complained against Moses, stating that Moses had killed their leaders ( Numbers 14:41)., As was his custom, Moses turned to God in prayer.

Unfortunately the people’s criticism and complaints were too much for Moses, so much so that  he acted in anger when God told him to speak to the rock. Instead he struck it, thus leading to him disrespecting and dishonouring God before the people. As a result, he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.

Moses is a great example to us today. We need to examine our reaction to criticism. The question is whether we pray before we do anything? And when the people who criticise us are wrong, do we stand in a place of intercession for them? This is what it means to be partakers of the divine nature.

May the Lord cause and enable us to walk according to these truths. Let’s learn from Moses and ensure that people’s constant criticism does not wear us down or get us to the point where we jeopardise the best that God has for us. I pray that the Lord will help us in Jesus’ name.

Just a thought for another day, but until I appear again in your inbox, stay blessed and feel free to share this with anyone that might be blessed by it

Ola

The holiday season is over and I took a well-deserved break, so unfortunately, I was not able to post as much as I would have liked to, they should become a bit more frequent now.

Oh! By the way, if you have never been to the wonderful Island of Crete, off the Greece mainland, it is thoroughly recommended.

For the past few weeks, there has been a thought at the back of my mind. It’s one of those thoughts that wouldn’t go away and has also informed the directions of my prayers. The thought centres on the anointing.

Many of us are very familiar with this word. Many times in church, we sing about the anointing and invariably end up asking the Holy Spirit to anoint us. However, the thought that I want to share with you in this post is quite simple. The anointing does not come in isolation. It is given for a purpose.

The anointing simply means a supernatural endowment from God to fulfil a particular task. It is God’s supernatural empowerment or enabling. From the Old Testament, we are familiar with the Priest, Prophets and Kings being anointed before they could function in their posts.

The same principle is illustrated in the New Testament. Perhaps the one that stands out the most is Acts 10:38where it is recorded that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and He went about doing good and healing people.

In fact in Luke 4:18-19, Jesus talks about the Spirit of the Lord being upon Him as He was anointed to….and He goes on to list why the anointing was necessary. The anointing was present to:

• Preach the gospel to the poor
• Heal and restore people
• Proclaim freedom to the captives
• Open blind eyes
• Set people free

So fast forward to our present world. There can be no doubt that we need the anointing. Remember, the key is – What do we need it for?  As Christians in the marketplace, we need the anointing to stand out. The anointing can be given to us to live Christ-led lives and function as kings in the marketplace, whether we are in business or working as an employee. To excel in these arenas, we need the anointing as it portrays our reliance on God. It is the anointing that will set us apart from other people.

To get the anointing, we simply need to ask for it. Prayer or in this case asking is a basic principle that ensures our lifeline with God. To succeed in whatever God has put in your hand, you need to have the anointing of God for it to be successful and stress-free.

So whether these truths are new to you or whether you have heard it before but have not asked for the anointing for a while, why not join me in going before God and asking for His supernatural empowerment to succeed in the marketplace.

I believe that He will give us what we request as long as our motives are right i.e.  to build His Kingdom.

Today’s post is short but I trust a blessing to you, so until I appear again in your inbox, stay anointed

Ola

Ola