What is Anointing?

The anointing is the act of the Holy Spirit on or in a person to perform supernatural activities. It is divine empowerment to do the unusual. The anointing is when God’s supernatural power empowers you to perform a task which ordinarily you can’t do with your natural ability. Anointing can fall of anything whether human beings, mantles, or rock or bones.

Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength (Acts 3:1-7 NKJV). 

And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch (Acts 5:12 NKJV)

You can see from the above scriptures that it is the Holy Spirit who worked through Peter, John and the apostles. Peter had no material thing as he said but he had something more powerful and valuable than any material thing the beggar needed. By the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, he commanded the cripple to walk. This can only be the act of the Holy Spirit because this cripple had been receiving alms for many years but no one was able to cure him except when Peter had the anointing. Again, the Holy Spirit did many signs and wonders among the people through the Apostles. The anointing worked through them.

The anointing does things beyond human efforts. It is the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, which causes human beings to function extraordinarily.

There is a difference between the art of a person (which could be known as talent or skill), and the act of the Holy Spirit. The art of a person is when man is in control but the act of the Spirit is when the Holy spirit takes over. There are people who perform on the pulpit and pretend as if they are being used of God. They do it to impress. The anointing is different from charisma, talent, and skill. It is worth noting that charisma, talent, and skill are all humanistic and these human attributes are human centered. In contrast, the anointing supernatural. It is neither acquired by training nor education. Pastoral training does not give anointing. Nevertheless, pastoral training is beneficial because it enables one to acquire knowledge and develop skills in ministry.

The anointing is imparted; it is not a skill you develop or a talent you acquire. However, you can grow in the anointing by observing some spiritual principles. The misconception at times is that being charismatic means you are anointed. One should not misconstrue charisma for the anointing.

The anointing is God’s grace that comes to fulfil an assignment. God anoints people for specific assignments so there are different levels and types of anointing. The types of anointing you operate in depend on your ministry calling and gifts. The grace of God in your life would be commensurate with the assignment God gives you because the anointing comes for a purpose.

God will give you what is needed for to accomplish His assignment. Nevertheless, you have the responsibility to grow in the anointing and sharpen your ministry skills as a minister of the gospel. It is important to know that you can be anointed to perform assignments and duties that are not related to ministry. You can be anointed to be an educator, an author, a songwriter, and so on. In fact, you can do all things if you are in Christ and Christ is in you.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13 NKJV)

The anointing is the power of God, which comes upon a person for the performance of an assignment(s). It is the divine ability one obtains, which is given by the Holy Spirit. How can a mere man overpower a lion and kill it with his bare hands without supernatural strength? Indeed, something unusual came upon Samson in order for him to achieve that success.

The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done (Judges 14:6).

When the anointing came on Samson, there was an overwhelming result. The power to kill your lion is inside you. You only need divine empowerment. May the Lord equip you to perform the unusual tasks. May the Holy Spirit anoint you to finish all the projects you have started. You may not need to be a great person or a popular person for God to start using you.

The anointing makes people great. You do not also need to be strong for God to use. You may be feeble but the anointing will make you strong. God will use you if only you are ready. With the anointing, you can kill lions and giants like David and Samson respectively. What you need is the anointing because it is the anointing that makes the difference.

Your Goliath is about to fall because of the anointing, which is coming upon you now. Remember Goliath tried to mock all the armies of Israel but not when the anointing was upon the lad, David. (1 Sam 17:4-50). Others may be hiding but you will come out. Others may be afraid that you will confront all that threatens you. With the anointing, you will receive boldness to triumph. You are about to experience the supernatural power for your miracles.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him (1 Sam 17:50 NIV)

How can an inexperienced teenager fight and defeat a war veteran with just a stone and a sling if there were no divine empowerment? The anointing can turn you into a warrior, an intelligent person, a brave or a successful person. Your stone, sling, bare hand, mind, or anything you have can be anointed to cause havoc to the kingdom of darkness. What you need in order to break through is the anointing to come upon you. It will give you total victory over negative circumstances. What the devil fears about you is the amount of God’s power in your life. The Devil does not fear your academic, financial or social status. He fears the anointing on your life. Certain things happen to you because of the anointing. Stir the anointing on you and you will break through. The anointing is an enabler. It comes to strengthen what one already has. David had stones and a sling ready for the fight. Moses had the rod ready to cross the red sea. What do you have?

For more information, read my book, “The Seven Secret to the Anointing” to learn more about how to receive the anointing. You can get this on Amazon.

By Pastor Daniel Borti