Monday, August 6, 2012

Moving in the Holy Spirit (An adapted sermon from Pastor!)


The anointing of the Holy Spirit

It was such an honor to have my Zone Pastor Ya Lan to come to our cell group meeting last week. She really did bless us all with a very powerful message that impacted me deeply.  I would like to take some time to note down some of the points she made in order to bless you readers!

The anointing of God has to always abide in us. This is as God loves to be in partnership with us. In fact, Paul even says that we are ‘co-creators’ in Christ. So why should we have the Holy Spirit in us?
Well, with the Holy Spirit, we can accomplish things way beyond our natural ability. Lester Sumrall was a highly anointed preacher who moved in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He was such a passionate individual that he never stopped serving God till he was 80 years old. In 1 John 2:27, it says “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him.”  He had the anointing of God and in fact, most of the time, he would only sleep for a total of 2 hours! And yet still be recharged to do whatever he needs to do to fulfill his kingdom purpose. (Wiki mentioned here that she needed 10 hours). Why could he do so? Because had the supernatural anointing of God that he constantly desired for, and this gave him energy for his ministry! 

You see the anointing gives us wisdom and access to the knowledge of God. With this knowledge and power we are thus able to minister to others. Luke 8:45 talks about the women with the issue of blood. When she touched Jesus, she was healed. The key is that in this incident, Jesus felt a portion of his anointing leave him. Although we can’t see the anointing, we can certainly feel it and know when it has left us. Thus, we must be very careful not to grieve the Holy Spirit as the anointing can just freely disappear from our lives.
The story of Kathryn Kuhlman spoke a lot to me during service is that the moment she decided to be with ‘mister’, she felt a very strong prompting of the Holy Spirit. Despite of this, she continued to marry ‘mister’ and this led to her having no peace for the next few years, until she decided enough is enough and left to continue her amazing ministry which indirectly led to the Charismatic renewal in Christianity! If we choose to follow God and the Holy Spirit, He said in Matt 28:20, “behold, I will be with you always, even until the end of the world’ (If anybody has the repentance prayer she made could you email it to me thanks! )
The anointing of the Holy Spirit is like oil from heaven, straight from the throne room of God! And oil lubricates. It can remove frictions of trials, tribulations and conflicts. Here are a few pointers about the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit ! 

1.       With the anointing oil, complaining dies! We become do-ers of the word and not complainers
2.       We will have a more positive outlook to life under the anointing 

3.       Anointing oil burns, and we draw the anointing by fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit! That is how can we constantly keep the fire burning so that we will not feel dry or burn out. Instead, we can do mighty works for God! 

Isaiah 40:31 says “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,they will walk and not be faint.”

What does it mean to wait? It means to look for/gather. When a soccer player is anticipating a pass, he would naturally look at the ball and wait with anticipation so that he can catch it. In the same way ‘to wait’ means that we should gather all our senses on the Lord in order to draw the anointing. 

An illustration Pastor Ya Lan did that really impacted me was that she told us the importance of lifting up hand in worship. It is not only a sign of surrender but it is also signal of desire for the anointing! During Joshua’s battle against the Amalekites, Moses hands were always lifted up and this made the difference between defeat and victory. 

Drawing into the presence and the anointing of the Lord always us to exchange our own strength with God’s strength! 

The anointing oil moisturizes and makes us clean from our unwanted attitudes. The oil also amplifies flavor (highlights our strong personalities). This means that when people are near us or when we are around people, the anointing allows our strengths, talents and good character to be amplified so that we can impact lives for Christ! 

Therefore, it is very important to build a relationship with God. One way to always be on your guard is to check on yourself before others check on you. Don’t be someone you do not want to become! If you feel bitter or negative, don’t let it affect you. Check on it at the slightest hint and deal with the issue head on! With the Anointing, we can overcome! God is always waiting for us as it is in the cultural mandate to ‘subdue the earth’ and the great commission to ‘make disciples of all nations’ We must be ready, we must be equipped, we must learn to wait upon the Lord for the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which allows us to accomplish things way beyond our natural ability. To bring GLORY to God! 

This post is adapted from the sermon courtesy of Pastor Ya Lan, adapted to be a blessing !
Regards,
Daniel Foo

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