Winter Bible Seminar 2011: Called and Anointed

//Kenneth W. Hagin

“‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’” —Luke 4:18–19 (NKJV)

Based on Jesus’ own words, we see that He did not operate during His three years of ministry as deity. If He did, He would not have needed to be anointed, because He was the anointing.

Scripture says that Jesus took upon Himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:7). And whenever He ministered—whether He was preaching, teaching, or healing the sick—He did so by the anointing. We could exchange the words power and Spirit for anointing, because these terms all refer to the same thing.

How did Jesus know how to feed the 5,000? Why did He minister healing in different ways? Sometimes Jesus laid hands on a person. At other times He told the individual to rise and walk. One time Jesus even spit in dirt to make clay, placed the mud on a blind man’s eyes, and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam (John 9:6–7). He ministered differently in each situation, but each time someone was healed.

FAITH IN ACTION

Think on These Things Let’s face it. When you’re going through a hard time, it can be easy to think about your problem constantly. Employees at Kenneth Hagin Ministries were asked how they keep their focus on the Lord during trying times. Here are some of their suggestions. Remind yourself of the times when God came through for you in the past, and know that He’ll do it again. Pray in the Holy Spirit and meditate on “in Him” scriptures. Practice Philippians 4:6–9 by thinking on things which are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of a good report. Follow Jesus’ advice. He said, “Take no thought. . . .” In other words, don’t accept thoughts that lead to worry, but resist them with the Word. Constantly remind yourself of God’s promises. Write them on index cards and place the cards on mirrors, on the refrigerator, in your car, and so forth. Sing Word-based songs that fit the need.

How did Jesus know what to do? He knew by the anointing. The Holy Spirit dwelling inside Him showed Him what needed to be done.

We all experience times when we don’t know what
to do. During those times we need to remember that
the same Spirit Who dwelt in Jesus resides in us today! If we will learn to pull on the Holy Spirit—the anointing— then the answer will rise up inside us.

The anointing is the answer for every situation we face. And since the anointing dwells inside us, we already have the solution we need. It’s simply a matter of becoming sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit and obeying what He tells us to do.

One key to staying sensitive to the anointing is to never panic, no matter what we are facing. Giving in to fear makes it harder for us to hear what the Holy Spirit is telling us. Jesus is our example. Regardless of what He faced, He never panicked. Whether it was a storm threatening to sink the boat He was in (Mark 4:37–39) or an angry crowd trying to cast him over a cliff (Luke 4:28–30), Jesus remained cool, calm, and collected. He knew that the anointing would see Him through.

It’s by the anointing that we can fulfill our call in life—whether it’s ministering fulltime, working in business, or staying home and raising our children. The anointing enables us to answer the needs of others. And the anointing causes us to be on top of every situation. Because of the anointing we are successful wherever we go and in whatever we do.

To maintain a strong anointing, we must spend time with God. All of us have probably purchased an electronic device that required its battery to be charged before we could use it. Cell phones are one example. It may take 24 hours to fully charge the battery. But just because we charged the battery once doesn’t mean we never have to charge it again. We have to charge it repeatedly.

Some people were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit in 1972 and they’re still trying to run on the charge they got back then. That won’t work. We have to charge our “spiritual batteries” continually. This requires reading and meditating on the Word of God and spending time communing in prayer with our Heavenly Father.

It’s when we are fully “charged” that we can rise up and set the captives free and know the right decisions to make in the most trying circumstances.

We don’t have to be helpless Christians, anxiously waiting for things to get better or desperately hoping for the return of the Lord. By the anointing we can press through any situation and take back what the devil has stolen.

So let’s march forward in the power of the anointing and take the Gospel to people who are sick, sinful, and bound. Let’s operate our business or work on our jobs in the power of the Holy Spirit. We can do this if we believe that the same Spirit that rested upon Jesus rests on us. Let’s rise up and boldly declare, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon us, and we are anointed!”

_____________
(Editor’s Note: This article was adapted from Kenneth W. Hagin’s Winter Bible Seminar 2011 Thursday night message.)