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    The Anointing: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
    The Anointing: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
    The Anointing: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
    Ebook250 pages4 hours

    The Anointing: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

    By R.T. Kendall

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    • Holy Spirit

    • Spiritual Growth

    • Anointing

    • Spirituality

    • Personal Growth

    • Chosen One

    • Hero's Journey

    • Power of Faith

    • Mentor

    • Mentorship

    • Reluctant Hero

    • Prodigal Son

    • Call to Adventure

    • Spiritual Journey

    • Fall From Grace

    • Faith

    • Leadership

    • Christianity

    • Courage

    • Grieving the Holy Spirit

    About this ebook

    Fresh ANOINTING for you Today

    Do you have a fear of being a "has-been"?

    Although you may long to be blessed by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, R.T. Kendall believes it is possible to abuse this anointing- and become yesterday's man or woman. This happens by trying to move outside your calling and capabilities, for example, or even through impatience. Drawing on the Bible, especially the lives of Saul, Samuel and David, as well as his own experience, he helps you to identify your current usefulness and urges you to seek a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit each day. God wants to give His anointing to everyone. But have you stepped into your fullness and potential? Don't let your past ruin what God has for you today. Don't be too busy to hear His voice. Learn how to wait patiently for God's perfect timing and the promotion tht will be here tomorrow. The fresh anointing is available to you...right now.

     "The material within this book is not only unique; it is superb. You will benefit from reading it the first time, but you will be changed by reading it more than once." Michael Youssef The Church of the Apostles, Atlanta, Georgia

    "R.T. Kendall takes us into, as the prophet Ezekiel says, 'waters to swim in'! Read with spiritual ears wide open; God's Spirit will speak-He really will!" Paul F. Crouch, President Trinity Broadcasting Network

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCharisma House
    Release dateJan 3, 2017
    ISBN9781599798202
    The Anointing: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
    Author

    R.T. Kendall

    R. T. Kendall was the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, England, for twenty-five years. He was educated at Trevecca Nazarene University (AB), Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (MDiv) and Oxford University (DPhil) and has written a number of books, including Total Forgiveness, Holy Fire, and We've Never Been This Way Before.

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    • 5/5
      Great book, I enjoyed learning more about the Holy Spirit and what it means to have an anointing and lose it if we’re not careful and obedient with the spirit
    • 5/5
      What a book. Great read and transformative. I loved it.

    Book preview

    The Anointing - R.T. Kendall

    day.

    CHAPTER ONE

    THE ANOINTING

    One of the most frightening comments I have heard since I entered the ministry was uttered by an Episcopalian priest in America: If the Holy Spirit were taken completely from the church, 90 percent of the work of the church would go right on as if nothing had happened!

    What a travesty of what the church was meant to be! And can it be true also of our personal lives—that many of us are churning out Christian activity that has no touch of God upon it?

    There is only one antidote to such a situation. It is breathtaking in its possibility, it is awesome in its power, and it is liberating in its effect. It is quite simply—the anointing.

    I will never forget an incident that occurred a few years ago. It was when I was with Jackie Pullinger. I had walked with her in the Walled City of Hong Kong and watched her minister to ex-drug addicts. I was scared at just being in that part of the city, but Jackie had now lived there for twenty years. I was amazed at all God had achieved through this woman. Later on came an off-the-cuff comment: R.T., she said, to the spiritual person the supernatural seems natural.

    The anointing is the power of the Holy Spirit. At the end of the day there is no better definition. This book is about the power of the Holy Spirit. But there is a more refined definition that I would like to offer at this stage.

    THE MEANING OF THE ANOINTING

    Several years ago someone came into my vestry and asked me, What do you mean by the anointing? I remember replying something like this: It’s a gift that functions easily when it’s working. I had never said it like that before, but I must have thought it. The seed for this thought probably came from what Jackie Pullinger had said. The person who is filled with the Holy Spirit is able to do extraordinary things, but to him it seems quite natural. It is easy. That is, when it’s working.

    It does not follow, of course, that all that functions easily is our anointing. Some things come easily that are not necessarily good—eating, talking too much or watching more television than is good for us. Temptation comes easily, and we may find it natural to do things that are not productive. The anointing, however, leads to what is good; it blesses and encourages others. And its function is carried out with ease and without strain or fatigue. It is also self-edifying.

    I say again: When it is working, it functions easily. The late John Wimber kindly called on me in my vestry at Westminster Chapel several years ago. While we were talking I heard Bill Reynolds’ voice outside the door. Bill was our church secretary and one of our deacons. I thought he might like to meet John, so I went to get him. As soon as I introduced him, John began to prophesy to him: You’re like Cornelius whose prayers have come up as a remembrance to God. And then John prophesied about Bill’s two sons.

    John had no way of knowing Bill had two sons, but what stunned Bill was that Paul Cain had said the same thing to him about those two sons three years before! I remarked, Well, Bill, I bet you didn’t expect that when I called you in here! Bill was staggered at this, whereupon John said in a matter-of-fact manner, I can’t turn it on, and I can’t turn it off.

    When the anointing is working, it is as natural and easy for our gift to function as eating or talking with friends. The gift is always there but doesn’t always function easily. The anointing of that gift makes it function with ease. A further example of this was when I was doing the Bible reading at Spring Harvest in 1994. That year I preached at both Minehead and Skegness. When I preached through Isaiah 49 at Minehead, I felt unusual help—there was a definite anointing on my preaching (at least I felt it). I assumed that when I repeated the same sermon a week later at Skegness I would have the same experience. Wrong! I struggled, preached with nervousness and thought it would never end! I couldn’t believe the contrast between the two occasions although I had the same set of notes for each.

    You can’t turn it on, and you can’t turn it off. That doesn’t mean we lose control when the anointing unexpectedly emerges. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets (1 Cor. 14:32). But Jesus said, The wind blows wherever it pleases (John 3:8). We are continually surprised over the unexpected moment when the Holy Spirit flows from within.

    The problem is, life goes on, and we do our best with the gifts we have. You have to go to work whether you feel like it or not. I have to speak several times a week whether I feel like it or not. There are times when there is such an anointing on my preparation that I can hardly wait to preach. There are also times (most of the time, if I’m honest) when I work and work with no great feeling of inspiration. Once in a while my whole sermon preparation unfolds in seconds, and the preaching of it is as good (or better) than when the preparation took days.

    This is true no matter what your calling is. A Spirit-filled nurse may be walking down a hospital corridor to give a patient an injection when she suddenly feels a sense of God’s presence. She continues with her work but does so with the knowledge that God is with her in a special way. There is no greater feeling. Whether you are a secretary, professional person, homemaker, truck driver or minister, the possibility of the anointing is there all the time; you never know when God will manifest Himself in an unusual way. Therefore, in my own work—whether in public speaking or in the solitude of intense preparation—I never know when that sense of God will come on me.

    Why? There are probably two explanations. First, it could be me—my mood, how much sleep I had, with whom I have just been talking, how clear my mind feels, whether I am rushed or having to meet a deadline. It could be largely physical or emotional. It has much to do with whether I am under pressure. Or even if I have something to look forward to, like spending time with a trusted friend. It may, therefore, have little to do with the Holy Spirit.

    The second explanation is the sovereignty of the person of the Holy Spirit. The anointing is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is a person. God the Father is a person with a personality. God the Son—Jesus Christ—is a person with a personality. The Holy Spirit likewise has His own personality. He therefore moves in at will when we least expect it, and sometimes when we are least deserving of it. A lot of prayer no doubt has something to do with it, but there are times when the Spirit operates sovereignly when I haven’t prayed as much as I should. The anointing is unmerited favor—it is sheer grace.

    Gift and anointing are words that can sometimes be used interchangeably, but the liveliness of the anointing determines whether that gift works at its best. We should pray for the anointing on our gift—or even pray for an anointing on our anointing! This is because of the various ways the Holy Spirit manifests Himself. Whereas He is on deposit in every Christian, as Paul wrote in Romans 8:9 and 1 Corinthians 12:11–13, He can be grieved or quenched (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19). In 1 Samuel 16:14, He is said to have departed from Saul, and yet the Spirit came upon him after that and Saul prophesied (1 Sam. 19:23)! Saul was rejected as king but was still referred to as anointed (1 Sam. 16:1; 24:6). This is why gift and anointing can be used in much the same way, and yet the term anointing is used in more than one way.

    The anointing functioning at its best is being at home with our gift. At ease. No pressure. Having nothing to prove. At home.

    Next to the gift of salvation and the sure knowledge that we will go to heaven when we die, the anointing is our most precious possession.

    THE ANOINTING AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

    The anointing, then, is the Holy Spirit. It is really just another word for the Holy Spirit. It is one of John’s special words for the Spirit. You have an anointing from the Holy One . . . The anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you (1 John 2:20, 27). Because the Holy Spirit is our teacher, he will teach you all things and will guide you into all truth (John 14:26; 16:13).

    I would rather have more of this than anything. I want more of the Holy Spirit than I want anything in the world. In Proverbs the anointing is called wisdom and understanding. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding (Prov. 4:7). James uses this word wisdom: If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him (James 1:5).

    In a former generation the word was sometimes unction, probably because the King James Version uses that word in 1 John 2:20. It was often referred to regarding preaching—whether a minister preached with unction. I have often said I wanted unction on my preaching and that I would push a peanut with my nose across London if that would bring it.

    I said something like that one evening when I was being interviewed at Spring Harvest. About ten to fifteen minutes later, someone raised his hand and asked, Whatever is unction? My first reaction was surprise, or that the person might be putting me on. But I have come to see that some of us frequently have used terms that many people sincerely did not understand. I therefore want to take adequate time to explain the term unction in this chapter. Unction appears in the great hymn or psalm The King of Love My Shepherd Is, which was sung at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

    Thou spread’st a table in my sight;

    Thy unction grace bestoweth:

    And O what transport of delight

    From Thy pure chalice floweth!¹

    Jesus stood up to read in the synagogue. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place (Isa. 61:1–2) where it is written:

    The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

    —LUKE 4:18–19

    The word anointing, or unction, is translated from the Greek chrisma. I shall stick to the term anointing. The dictionary definition refers merely to the application of ointment or oil. The anointing of oil, sometimes called Extreme Unction, is one of the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, generally used when a person is dying.² It is based on James 5:14: Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. But there is no indication this should be done only when someone is dying. While I was pastor at Westminster Chapel, we administered the anointing of oil and had a number of people testify to being

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