Anointing With Oil

Posted on by korgrocker

“You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honour me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever”.
Psalm 23:5-6 NLT

The custom of anointing with oil was an important part of the Jewish faith, and the first mention of anointing oil appears in Exodus 25:6, “olive oil for the lamps; spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense“. In Exodus 30 there are detailed instructions supplied for how to make anointing oil, with choice spices to be added to the olive oil base. Its use was described in verses 30-32, “Anoint Aaron and his sons also, consecrating them to serve me as priests. And say to the people of Israel, ‘This holy anointing oil is reserved for me from generation to generation. It must never be used to anoint anyone else, and you must never make any blend like it for yourselves. It is holy, and you must treat it as holy“. But the oil David described in Psalm 23 was not of the priestly anointing variety. David will have remembered that occasion when he was anointed with oil, and we can pick up the story in 1 Samuel 16:1, “Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king””. We can read how David came to be selected as the future king in the intervening verses, but we then come to verses 12-13, “So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.” So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah“. So perhaps when David wrote Psalm 23 he remembered that time when he was honoured before his father and his brothers. 

Olive oil was an essential commodity in Israel in those days, being used as a base for food as well as oil for lamps, but it came to be regarded as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. David was anointed as king of Israel and we are told that when that happened “the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on”. Jesus told a parable of ten virgins or bridesmaids in Matthew 25, with five of them having planned ahead for the wait for the bridegroom with an ample supply of oil for their lamps, and the others not having enough. For some reason the bridegroom was delayed and the oil for the five “foolish” bridesmaids ran out, meaning that their lamps went out as well. They had to go out and try and buy some but unfortunately for them the groom arrived back before they did and doors were locked. Their knocking at the door got them no where, because the groom denied even knowing them. It’s an important story because it reminds believers everywhere that they need to be ready for Jesus’ return, even if it is delayed. And if we add into the mix that oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, then it perhaps indicates that only those who are filled, and who are continually being filled, with the Spirit will be truly ready for the Second Coming of Jesus. 

The Apostle James made a connection between the Holy Spirit and prayer for the sick which we can read in James 5:14, “Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord“. Apart from that, there seems to be no clear reason why anointing with oil should be necessary in these years of our Lord. But the principle remains in spiritual planes, as the Holy Spirit anoints us with His presence. 

Are we pilgrims filled with the Spirit? There are some who minimise the presence of the Spirit and who fail to honour Him and His gifts in the way the New Testament describes. In John 1:32-33 we read about the anointing of the Holy Spirit, or as referred to in the Scriptures, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. “Then John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptise with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit”. Jesus is the Baptiser, the One who anoints all believers with the oil of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:4-5 we read, “Once when he was eating with them, [Jesus] commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptised with water, but in just a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit””. I firmly believe that Jesus still baptises us with His Spirit because He is still alive and working in the lives of men and women everywhere. I can find no Scripture verse that conflicts with this view.

So today, we believers, pilgrims on the journey to Glory, have an opportunity to once again receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit, as we reach out to God. Luke 11:13, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him”. Ask away, folks. God won’t say no.

Dear Father God. We pray for a fresh infilling of Your Holy Spirit in us today, and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Indwelling One

Posted on by korgrocker

“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.”
John 14:15-17 NLT

God created man with a physical body and a spirit. We all have these attributes but it is how we consider them that is important. The societies in which we live are full of people making their claims about diets and nutritional foods, all to help us live healthier or longer lives but little attention is paid to the spiritual side of our beings. This is left to the gurus and the yogis, the ministers and the rabbis and imams. But the relationship with God through the Holy Spirit is definitely only appreciated by a minority of people, with even many Christians wary of a contact with the third member of the Trinity. In our secular cultures, the Holy Spirit is generally ignored or avoided.

About the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognise him”. Why is that, do we think? One answer is that the devil has indeed blinded people’s eyes and senses, and propagated a lie about God. Another reason is that we live in a touchy feely world, where anything intangible or invisible is avoided and ignored, leaving an obscure academic cohort of philosophers to debate such things. But the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit is denied and ignored.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit visited certain people at a time of necessity to empower them for a particular task. For example, we read in Judges 6:34 how the Holy Spirit came upon Gideon, “Then the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power. He blew a ram’s horn as a call to arms, and the men of the clan of Abiezer came to him”. In 1 Samuel 16:13 we read, “So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah”. David was not only anointed with oil, he was anointed with the Holy Spirit as well. In the following verse, we see how the Holy Spirit departed from King Saul, “Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, … “.  

In John 14:17, Jesus also said, about the Holy Spirit, to His disciples,  “But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you”. An incredible verse, with Jesus perhaps saying that His presence and that of the Holy Spirit, were one and the same, but Jesus could see forward to the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to live in each one of the people present in that upper room, and has been available for every believer ever since. We can see the many occasions in the Acts of the Apostles where the Holy Spirit came to live with believers. 

Sadly, there are those today, who claim to be Christians, but who deny the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. In his book “The Normal Christian Birth”, David Pawson writes about the four factors present in a born again believer. We can also find them in Acts 2:38, “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. We repent of our sins, we believe in the Lord Jesus, we seek and realise baptism in water, and we receive the Gift of, or baptism in, the Holy Spirit. John 1:33, “I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptise with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit'”.

So, dear fellow pilgrim, have you received the gift of the Holy Spirit? Have you been baptised in the Holy Spirit, as John said of Jesus? Does He dwell within you? If not, then seek God today because the Holy Spirit is waiting at the door of your heart, ready to enter. And He will never leave you and He will lead you into all truth. How do I know? Well, Jesus said so. And Peter continued – Acts 2:39, “This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God”. 

Dear Father God. In this moment we reach out to You and receive once again a fresh infilling of Your Spirit. Your Spirit moves within us and changes a monochrome world into a vivid multi-colour world. Thank You. Amen.

Another Baptism

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.””
John 1:32-34 NLT

In John 1:33, John introduced another baptism, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. While he was baptising the people in the Jordan, he was on the lookout for the One who was the baptiser with the Holy Spirit. And sure enough, it happened. John saw something that no-one else did – the “Holy Spirit descending like a dove”, and resting upon the head of Jesus. The implication of this can be missed or overlooked in Christian circles, but without that Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence, no Christian can realise their full potential in God. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit occasionally fell upon someone and they were empowered to do some task as God ordained. But in the New Testament we find that people were permanently indwelt with the Holy Spirit. This was something that Jesus promised, as we read in John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you“. And then, just as Jesus was about to leave Planet Earth, He said to His disciples, “John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”(Acts 1:5). 

The Holy Spirit is offered by God as a gift for everyone who believes in Jesus, and He said that the Holy Spirit is available for everyone who asks. Luke 11:13, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him“. The Holy Spirit empowers all believers in the ministries they have been assigned. He constantly supplies gifts and He helps us in our needs. In other places the Holy Spirit is likened to rivers of living water, refreshing our very souls. 

So, pilgrim, have you received this baptism in the Holy Spirit? A believer without the indwelling Holy Spirit is like a car without any petrol. The car might look very nice and shiny, and be packed full of all the technology ever needed, but it won’t go far until it has been refuelled. So it is with us pilgrims. We need a constant supply of Heavenly resources, supplied through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Father God. We pray for more of Your Spirit to fill us to overflowing, equipping us to be Your beacons in a sad world. Amen.