The Multi-faceted Anointed

The Multi-Faceted Nature of the Anointing

By Abraham Israel



There is only one nature [i.e. Character] of God but He expresses His ability through various methods and means. His nature is a Holy set apart nature, which is unique from the way we humans think, act and do things (Isaiah 55:8, 9). His nature is pure. The meaning of multi-faceted is having many different parts or faces or expressions. One example for this is the many facet of a diamond stone. It has many facets but the same stone (1 Cor 12:4-7). When it is rotated or moved each facet glitters in various intensity, as much as the stone cutter has polished it and designed it (1 Peter 2:4-5).

[ The meaning of facet is one part of a subject, situation, etc. that has many parts.
Ex: She has so many facets to her personality.
It also means one of the small flat surfaces cut on a precious stone
Multi-/many-faceted means having many different parts: A multi-faceted personality (of several aspect or parts of someone’s character, a situation etc). ]

The anointing is one, which is the person of the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20, 27; John 14:26). But He can relate to each person differently according to each one’s heart condition (Psalm 18:25-27; Galatians 6:8). In other words the way you relate to God the Holy Spirit, He will relate to you. If you seek intimacy with the Holy Spirit of God with an intention to know more about Jesus, you will have it (2 Cor 13:13). If you seek Him earnestly and persistently by giving yourself to Him and His righteous ways, you will find Him (2 Chronicles 7:14-15; Daniel 10:2-5, 7).

When you stop seeking God and His anointing, you will degenerate in to doing evil because the natural state of every man’s heart is evil (2 Chr 12:14; Jer 17:9-10; 16:12; Heb 3:12). Whenever a person departs from the living God it will be because of the evil heart of unbelief(Genesis 4:16; Heb 11:4). When sin is allowed to rule in our life with out sorrow or repentance (Rom 2:4; 2 Cor 7:9-10; Gen 4:7), it will harden our heart (Heb 3:13). We will not be able to continue in the anointing of God with this hardened heart condition because the anointing is the living person of the Holy Spirit whom we experience in the living way that which Jesus has opened for us (Eph 4:30; Gen 4:16; 6:3, 6). When you don’t value the anointing of God and His various ways of manifestation, you will quench the Holy Spirit (2 Thess 5:19). In the Bible, there were many who grieved and quenched this anointing (1 Sam 16:14; Judges 16:20; Gen 6:3, 6; 1 Sam 15:10, 11; Joshua 7:10-13; Num 14:42-45). The hardened heart is the one sin that will surely lead a person to death (1 John 5:16, 17; Heb 6:4-8; Rom 2:4-11; Heb 12:15-17; 10:26-31; Matt 12:31-32; Rom 11:22-24; James 5:19-20).When you have no regard for the nature of the anointing which is holy (1 Peter 1:15-17), you will grieve the Holy Spirit. When you continue in sin despite the Holy Spirit’s continuous conviction, you will grieve Him extremely (Eph 4:25-32; Ex 30:33). When you grieve Him with out regret, slowly you will start to continue in your evil ways, where you will still get more and more bounded in it and you will become deafened to the voice of the Holy Spirit who is the anointing working in you. If you continue like this with out repentance, you will eventually die physically before your God appointed time in this planet earth (Ps 39:4; 90:10, 12; 102 :24; Gen 6:3; 1 Cor 5:5).

The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, which means as long as the world [world system which is ruled by Satan by instigating lawlessness] influences a believer or an unbeliever and is in him and especially if he is entangled in it, the Holy Spirit will convict that person irrespective of whether he is a believer or not. Even a believer in Christ may sin and may become hardened with an evil heart of unbelief (John 16:7-11; 2 Peter 2:20-22; Heb 10:26-31; 6:4-8; 2 Sam 12:1, 9,13-15; Acts 5:3-5; Heb 3:12-13). The Holy Spirit will stop at the place of conviction of sin for an unbeliever, but with the believer he will continue to show the righteousness that Jesus has purchased for him and will speak to the believer of the Judgment of the verdict that happened at the cross on the ruler of this world and the need for repentance(John 16:7-11; 2 Cor 5:21; Eph 2:2; John 12:30-33). That is why Jesus told, ‘I have come to call the sinners to repentance, not the righteous [who think that they don’t need the righteousness that Jesus gives].’(Luke 5:32).

Repentance will bring a person to experience more of Christ’s fullness of life through the anointing (Acts 11:18). Repentance will bring salvation or deliverance from bondages through the anointing (2 Cor 7:10; Isa 10:27).You will be delivered from the molestation of the enemy[Satan] when you live in a continuous attitude of repentance by changing your mind regarding all that Christ has said to be true. That’s why Peter told the sorcerer who sinned to repent by praying to God so that the thought of his heart [sinful thought which leads to action if not repented (Matt 5:28)] may be forgiven him (Acts 8:22). Every human being is prone to sin because we have all fallen short of the glory of God and are all fallen being right from the first Adam to the last man who will live till the destruction of this present earth and heaven (1 John 1:8; Rom 7:17-21; 3:23; 2 Peter3:10; Rev 20:7-10). The anointing of the Holy Spirit is the one which connects us to the Father and the Son (1 John 1:3, 4; 3:24; 4:13; 2 Cor 13:14; 1 Cor 12:13).

When we sin, sin condemns us and we feel unworthy to connect to the Holy God, and our fellowship gets cut off (Heb 12:14; Gen 3:10; Rev 12:10, 11). But if we confess our sins to God and walk in the light of the revelation of what Jesus has done for us, our sins will be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, which our advocate Jesus Christ represents us in heaven before God the Father (1 John 1:7, 9; 2:1-2). The cleansing power of God will be released from heaven and the transgressor will be cleansed and will be considered perfect after this is done each time, so that the fellowship of God will be restored eventually. This is done through the anointing that dwells in us (Heb 9:14; 1 John 3:24). By this anointing only you will know that God is abiding in you [i.e. consciousness of God’s presence and His voice]. All this we do is not for asking forgiveness from God again and again, God had through Jesus Christ once for all forgiven your past, present and future sins forever (Eph 4:32; Heb 10:17; 1 John 2:1-2; Acts 3:19-20; Ps 103:12; Isaiah 44:22). For God to blot out our sin is to cover or hide it completely. This is how God covered Adam and Eve with the lamb skin after which they no more felt naked, as long as they continued in that lamb’s skin covering (Gen 3:21).

This is where our responsibility starts; once God clothed them they continued to wear it, so also with us (Rom 13:14; Galatians 3:27). This righteousness that God gives us is like a robe and we have the responsibility to wear it and keep it clean through the cleansing of the blood of Jesus by the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Is 61:10; Rev 3:18, 4-5). The anointing of the Holy Spirit is that clothing that covers you as righteousness (Rom 3:10, 11; Isaiah 61:11; 2 Cor 5:2-5; Heb 9:14). If we try to please God with out the anointing of the Holy Spirit, our works that we do for God is like filthy rags or robes of leaves which will whither off and will make us feel naked [i.e. a feeling of imperfection before His absolute perfection] before Him(Isaiah 57:12; 64:6; Gen 3:7, 9-10). Adam and Eve were covered by the glory of God which is the anointing that God gives to us personally. For this reason they were not ashamed even when they were physically naked (Gen 2:25). This is because they were more filled with God-consciousness than self-consciousness or world consciousness. In other words they were nearer to God than they were to each other and their surroundings.

Man tries to regain that lost glory again by an inward desire through his own ability and wisdom and so have become fools with out God who is the source of all wisdom (Rom 1:22-25). But this anointing and glory can be received freely and given freely but only through Jesus Christ whom God has ordained to distribute and restore it to man (1 Cor 15:45; John 6:63). In other words Jesus who has the Spirit with out measure in His spirit, gives us life through the words that He speaks to us which the Holy Spirit takes and gives in to our spirit releasing the life of God in to us. Don’t try but just receive it from God through Jesus Christ and release it to others by doing good works through it (Zech 4:6; Matt 10:8; 3:11; John 3:34; Acts 10:38).

Paul confidently said “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). What is he saying? The meaning of Christ is the anointed one [the one who has the Spirit without measure]. Here the Apostle Paul by his experience in receiving and flowing in the anointing of the anointed one, he came to a mature stage where in reality, everything was possible through Christ’s anointing which worked in him mightily (Gal 2:8, 9; Acts 19:11-12; Luke 1:37).

The anointing of the Lord is tangible. It can be felt by touch and the proofs, results, advantages etc are easy to see so that there can be no doubt. That is why Jesus Tangibly feeling the power of the Anointing leave His body, asked the crowd of people, ‘Who touched Me?’ when the woman with the issue of blood touched Him and got healed instantly by the power of God (Luke 8:43-47). Always the touch of Faith will release the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Luke 8:48).

Where did this power flow from? It flowed out of Jesus which shows that it flowed out of His spirit which is joined to the Lord the Holy Spirit, the power of God like rivers of living water[think how powerful the current of the water is when it flows in full force] flowed out of His innermost being (Luke 8:46; John 7:37-39; 1 Cor 6:17). The anointing that we receive is the same but in various measures we have Him.

For example Jesus had the Holy Spirit with out measure (John 3:34). Elijah had a unique measure of the Spirit and John the Baptist had the same measure of the Spirit in his spirit (1 Kings 2:9, 10; Luke 1:17). Elisha had a double portion capacity of Elijah’s spirit (2 Kings 2:9, 10).

To give an understanding of the measure of the Spirit, we see from the Bible that Elijah worked eight miracles with the measure of the Spirit that God had given Him.

[Three years of drought / Multiplying of meal and oil / Resurrection of a boy / Fire from heaven / Rain after 3 ½ years / Fire from heaven / Fire from heaven / Drying up of Jordan (1 Kings 17:1; 17:8-16; 17:17-24; 18:30-40; 18:41-45; 2 Kings 1:9-10; 1:11-12; 2:7-8)].

Elisha who received a double measure of Elijah’s measure of Spirit worked exactly sixteen miracles with that measure of Spirit.

[Drying up of Jordan / Healing of the waters / Bears from the woods / Water filling ditches without rain / Increase of widow’s oil / Bareness healed / Resurrection of a boy / Pottage healed / Bread multiplied / Leprosy of Namaan healed / Judgment of Gehazi / Making iron to swim / Blinding Syrian army / Provision of food in famine / Resurrection of a dead man (2 Kings 2:13-15; 2:19-22; 2:23-25; 3:16-20; 4:1-7; 4:12-17; 4:32-37; 4:38-41; 4:42-44; 5:1-14; 5:25-26; 6:1-7; 6:18; 7:1-8; 8:1-2; 13:20, 21)].

The Holy Spirit has put on record for us an exact double portion of miracles in Elijah’s life to show us that Elisha functioned in twice the power that Elijah had functioned. The anointing can be measured!

Here the spirit [Note: small ‘s’ is used to indicate the human spirit and any other spirit, big ‘S’ is used to indicate only the Holy Spirit] speaks about the Spirit’s measure that is held in the human spirit. The Lord took the measure of the Spirit that Moses had and placed it upon seventy elders in a different amount of divided measure, so only they never prophesied again after the first time (Num 11:17,25). To prophesy one needs a continuous flowing measure of the Holy Spirit (Micah 3:8; Job 32:18-20; Rom 12:6).

Jesus is the one who gives us the Spirit without measure because He had received from God who has given Him Spirit without measure (John 3:34, 35). Because Jesus had the Spirit without measure, Jesus worked out miracles that cannot be counted (John 21:25). The Baptismal measure of the Spirit that we receive is the starting point of our access to receive the gift of the Spirit with out measure from that point of time onwards as long as we die physically when we will leave this body to be with the Lord in various glory, this glory is that which we acquire from God more and more by our pursuit after the clothing of the Spirit of God (Matt 3:11; Eph 5:15-18; 2 Cor 5:2, 4; Rom 8:10). This is why Jesus told to His followers who believed His words and followed Him, ‘You will do the things that I do and greater things than these [i.e. the miracles that He did when He was on the earth] you will do’ because He went to the Father who is the source to release from there the same measure of the Spirit with out any limit (John 14:12).

Jesus only had 3½ years of ministry time to give out the Spirit of God that flowed through Him. He had only limited period of time given to Him by the Father to do this miracle ministry. But because he had sent us in to the world with out any time limit [i.e. as long as we live in this earth], we have more time to walk in the Spirit in the perfect will of God for our life and work miracles by the Spirit of God flowing through us to bless others (John 20:21-23; 3:34; 14:10, 12-14; 5:19-20, 30, 36). This is the will of God for our lives: to be filled with the Spirit of God with out any measure by believing in the words of Jesus and dwell in it by living it out in our life (John 6:28-29; 15:5, 7-8; Col 3:16; 1 John 2:14; 3:24).

The anointing is the same person of the Holy Spirit, but He manifests differently in each person, as they are designed differently, individually and uniquely according to the gifts and callings of each person (1 Cor 12:4-7, 11). There are various capacities in which our spirit can hold the Spirit of the Lord (Colossians 1:27, 29; Luke 11:13). If there are no various categories of capacity, why did Jesus tell the disciples to ask for much more of the Holy Spirit to God the Father who is the source and the giver of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4; Luke 11:13; James 1:17)? The more we have the Holy Spirit of God, the more He can work through us. The more He works through us, the more the power of God will be exerted or manifested through our life and ministry, so that people recognizing it can come and receive it by faith on their part and our part. This is what happened when people realized the tangible power of the anointing flowing through Jesus; they sought to touch Jesus and whoever touched Him were Healed (Luke 6:19). The same thing happened when Peter’s shadow fell on people, the people by faith received healing by the power of the anointing that was flowing through him(Acts 5:15-16). Jesus promised the disciples and apostles before His ascension that the Holy Spirit will come upon them in greater measure, so that they will feel and receive the power of the anointing tangibly (Acts 1:8).

Some people question this statement saying, it was not greater measure of the Spirit, but they were born again and received the Holy Spirit for the first time. But the word of God is very clear regarding this matter. The apostles and other disciples already have received salvation measure of the Holy Spirit in them so only they were able to understand the spiritual message that Jesus told them after His resurrection (John 20:21-23; 16:12,22-26,28; Acts 1:1-5,8). If there are no various measures of the Holy Spirit that we can receive why should Jesus command His apostles and disciples to wait till the day of Pentecost to receive the Baptismal measure of the Holy Spirit upon them when they already have the salvation measure of the Spirit in them? From this we can understand that the anointing is the same person of the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20,27), but He can manifest in various capacities from our spirit man according to the measure we have of His influence and His presence (1 John 3:24; 4:13; John 16:7; Rom 8:16, 14, 23). So the more closer we are to the Holy Spirit by having Him in greater measure in us, the more we will experience the power of God in our life and ministry.

It is one thing for the Holy Spirit to come upon us but it is another thing for him to stay or remain upon us continually in that capacity and closeness. If we want the Holy Spirit to stay in that Greater measure continuously upon us then we need to overcome the temptations that come our way and be victorious by His power that is upon us. For this to be seen we need to train our will to be completely bent towards Him always and this is known as surrendering our life or losing our life in God the Holy Spirit, where He will completely start to lead you by His will (Luke 3:16, 21-22; 4:1-15; John 1:26, 29, 31-34). Whoever upon whom the Holy Spirit remains in the same capacity of His presence are testified as sons and daughters of God. These will be led by the Holy Spirit completely (John 1:33-34; Rom 8:11, 13-14; 2 Cor 6:16-18). The good news in the New Testament is that the Baptismal measure of the Holy Spirit is an overwhelming measure. In other words you can be filled to the full continuously with out measure (Eph 5:15-21). The will of God in every believer’s life is to be filled with the Spirit of God always. This is possible in the New Testament because of the perfect life that Jesus lived with out ever grieving the Holy Spirit when He was on this planet earth. Because of His perfect life that He lived, God the Father has given to Him Spirit without measure (John 3:34).When He was seated at the right hand of God the Father, He started to represent each one of us in substitution before our Holy God and continued to overwhelm everyone by giving them the Spirit of God with out measure. Because of His perfect life that is substituted for our life, the Holy Spirit is able to live in our spirit which is the new creation of God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ by the Spirit (2 Cor 5:17; Rom 5:18; Eph 2:18).

This new creation in our spirit which has the life of God [the Holy Spirit (Ps 104:29-30)] in it is created in the very image and righteousness and holiness of God (Eph 4:24). Jesus has fulfilled all of God’s righteous requirement for us and said “It is finished.” (John 19:28-30; Luke 23:44-46, 47). The moment He said that, the Holy Spirit’s presence left the earthly temple to fill the spirit of Jesus as the temple substitute to take Him to the Father by ascending in to the heaven (John 4:23-26; Rev 21:22).

Some may question this and say, ‘How can Jesus enter heaven with out His resurrected body?’ To that my question is ‘How can a believer enter into heaven before he gets resurrected in the rapture or at the second coming of Jesus Christ?’ (Mark 14:62; Acts 7:55-60; Phil 1:23). With what [i.e. their physical body or spirit] does the believer go to heaven after death? We can know from the scripture that it is the spirit man that will enter heaven until resurrection happens. As Jesus cried out with a loud voice before He gave up His spirit in to the Father’s hand, Stephen also cried out with a loud voice and he did this being full of the Holy Spirit. So also Jesus must have cried out being filled with the Holy Spirit while dying on the cross (Acts 7:55, 59-60; Luke 23:46). Jesus after His death first went to heaven where God the Father is and then to Sheol to preach the gospel to the dead (John 16:16; 1 Peter 3:18-20; 4:6). This He did by the Spirit of God (Rom 10:7; 8:10, 11).

He was able to cry out with a loud voice because of that Spirit’s power, so only the centurion was amazed. A person crucified on the cross will bleed to death slowly, when they have no more strength to speak, then they will die of thirst (Luke 23:46; John 19:30).

But Jesus did not die due to exhaustion but He chose to give up His life by laying it down in to the hands of the Father, which made the centurion who saw this to confess, ‘ truly this Man was the Son of God ' ( John 10:17-18; 5:26; Luke 23:46-47; Mark 15:39).

When the Spirit filled His spirit He died like any other human being in the natural, but made alive [means the Spirit of God did not leave Him alone when He died physically but continued to dwell in His spirit man and took Him to the Father God] for the first time in the planet earth as the Last Adam. Only the first Adam had the Spirit’s life in his spirit which died [Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence left] after the fall (1 Peter 3:18-19; 1 Cor 15:45; Gen 2:16-17; 3:8-10, 22-24).

Jesus was forsaken by the Father only for a moment of time. When at the cross this happened darkness was over all the land and Jesus cried out in desperation at the end of it saying, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt 27:45-46; Isaiah 54:7-10). After that the Spirit of God returned to be with Him forever and ever as the temple of God (Matt 27:50-51; John 2:19-22). The moment all the requirement for salvation was achieved, Jesus committed His spirit in to the hands of the Father God. This is where the trinity again got reunited, by the Spirit of God taking Jesus back to the Father (Luke 23:46; 1 Peter 3:18-19). This is the moment Jesus even though put to death in the flesh on the cross was made alive [to be alive here means Spiritually alive which is the presence of God the Holy Spirit continuing with His spirit taking Him to the Father and then to Sheol] by the Spirit. The Spiritual death that happened to the First Adam was here revoked to the Last Adam because of His perfect obedience even unto death (Phil 2:8). This is what the Bible calls as “through one man’s righteous act the free gift [the presence of God the Spirit] came to all men….” (Rom 5:18). Because of what Jesus had achieved for us on the cross, from that time onwards the Holy Spirit began to dwell in every man as His temple who received Jesus as their Lord and Savior through the Gospel (1 Peter 3:18-20; 4:6; John 4:23-24; Matt 27:50-53).

The one thing that makes the people of God different from the people of the world is the presence of God [i.e. the anointing] present among them (Exodus 33:15-16; 2 Cor 6:16). Even the unbelievers recognized and confessed it openly (Gen 41:38-39; Dan 4:8-9, 18; 5:10-12). It is the privilege of the people of God to live differently with the power of the anointing of God acting in them. This is the reason why God declared that His people are a holy [set-apart]people and that He has chosen them [to supply His Spirit to them and set them apart] to be a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 7:6; 1 Peter 2:9).
God gives His Spirit and works miracles by our faith in Him. The more of the Spirit we receive, the more of the miracles we will see it done through us by the Spirit’s power and by our faith (Galatians 3:2-5). The more our faith, the more the Spirit we will receive from God(Acts 6:5). The Spirit of God is the real miracle worker who works through us in Jesus Name(Matt 12:28; John 5:30). Jesus represented the Father through the Spirit of God, we represent Jesus through the same Spirit of God (John 14:9, 10; 1 Cor 11:1; Col 1:27, 29; John 14:12, 13). Jesus who is the king of kings has sent us in to the world, His word carries power through us in to the world to transform it (Eccl 8:4; John 20:21; 17:18, 20; Rev 19:16). Because Jesus rules now over all those in the heavens, on the earth and those under the earth, we can exercise our authority in all these three realms (Matt 28:18-20; Philippians 2:9-11; Luke 9:1; 10:19). But the only key to use the authority that Jesus has already given to us is to believe and live exercising it (Mark 16:15-18). When people asked Jesus ‘How can we work the works of God?’ Jesus told them only one thing, believe in Jesus whom God has sent (John 6:28-29). This is all that is required to work the works of God (John 14:12), and even for working out greater things than what Jesus did [i.e. bringing people from darkness to light through the message of the gospel].

As we have seen before, the anointing is unique to each individual according to the design specification of God’s plan and profession that which He has purposed for each individuals. During the time of Moses leading the people in the wilderness, some of them [skilled workers]had special anointing to design things for the tabernacle to be builded. In modern language we can call it as the anointing of an Engineer or a builder. Because of this anointing over their life, they will excel all others in their profession of work. This anointing was dominant because of their type of calling (Exodus 35:30-33, 35; 36:1-2). There is also the anointing of gifted engineering leaders who are able to teach the same skill to others [entrepreneurs] (Exodus 35:34). Some of them had artistic or designing anointing which is also a unique gift from God(Exod 35:25-26). Some people have a strong anointing to do business in order to give it back in to the kingdom of God (Exod 35:21; 2 Kings 22:4-5; 1 Chronicles 22:14; Deut 8:18). There is also a anointing that God has for prophetic worship leaders (1 Chr 25:1, 3). These types of anointing will stir up the person to do God’s work effectively and efficiently without much effort and toil and labor. This is because of the empowerment from God; they will enjoy doing what they do.

The anointing need to be recognized and nurtured by experienced fathers who have this measure and those mature mentors who flow in this anointing freely. The young people who are new in the Lord need to be trained, and they should excel by hard work and passion (1 Chr 25:5-8). There is a measure of anointing that will be released by God for leadership roles and leaders (Num 11:16-17). This is the anointing that will give boldness to speak on behalf of God (Acts 4:29-31). All these various anointing will not come upon us automatically by default. The call of God have to be pursued with our whole heart after which God will take us step by step in to the deeper level of anointing that He has planned to give us.

There are three main ways in which we can receive the anointing of God.

First is by seeking after God for increased measure and variety for different needs and utility (Acts 1:4, 5, 8; 2:1-4; 4:29-31; Matt 3:5-6, 11; Luke 11:13, 1, 9-10).

Second is individual baptism or filling with the Holy Spirit through a Spirit filled man of God or an apostle (Acts 9:17; 8:14-18; 19:2, 6). This was the standard pattern set by the apostles through which the 1st century believers received the baptism of filling with the Holy Spirit.

The third type is the corporate baptism or filling with the Holy Spirit in which all those present in the place will be filled supernaturally by the Holy Spirit falling upon them in great measure. This will happen mostly with the man of God releasing it by the supernatural command of the Holy Spirit, or even with out his knowledge as in the case of Peter and his Jewish apostolic team of elders who were taken by surprise because they did not wholeheartedly co-operate with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4; 10;28-29, 34-48; 11:15-18; 15:7-10).

The more we obey the voice of the Lord, the greater will be the measure of the Holy Spirit that will be given to us who obey the Lord by doing His will through surrendering our self to Him (Acts 5:32). So seek the Lord to be filled again and again with the Holy Spirit of God always! Praise the Lord!

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