As a Christian Must one be anointed to serve God?

This is a word which many have heard of and mostly in the Christian circles and it is a word which is loved by many and also hated by many nearly with an equal measure. When someone talks about an anointing this is someone who is talking about God related issue or this person is talking about the Holy Spirit impartation upon someone.

The bible has explicitly known how to use the term anointing but I have just realised that we have not failed to just try to use this word anointing exactly as the bible has used it. The term anointing is a simple word which simply means ‘‘to smear or pour oil’ although you will find that what brings significance in this issue is ‘What, Why and Who’’. The term anointing as I have stated it means to smear or pour oil as the physical action upon the body of a person.

There is an anointing for the general purpose like where people pour or smear themselves with oil either after bath.

 Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor:……..

Ruth 3:3 KJV

You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.

Luke 7:45 KJV

This is the general term for the word anoint, just rub the oil on a body which does not affect anybody spiritually but mostly physically. 

There is also this anointing with oil which releases us from sickness or demonic oppression in our lives. Which in simply brings healings in our lives or relieves us of and dis-ease either spiritual or internal.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

Isaiah 10:27 KJV

And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.

Mark 6:13 KJV

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

James 5:14 KJCV

There is also an official anointing which has the physical smearing and pouring of oil but has a spiritual implication connected with it. This in the spiritual realm which can also denotes to ‘‘Consecrate or set apart something or someone for a purpose which is mainly for a divine service’’. That is why I am saying that for us to understand this word we must ask a few questions to help us understand the biblical interpretation of the word. I just want to begin with this verse in the bible;

I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. 

Gen 31:13  KJV

This was God giving instruction to Jacob when he was at his uncle’s place, God told him exactly what Laban has done, trying to short-change him many times and then God instruct him to go back to his father’s land and reminded him of the vow he made and the place he ‘‘poured oil on’’ .

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Gen 28:16 – 22 KJV

This is the first place that I believe is going give a very good understanding to this word called, ‘‘anointing’’. Jacob in the dream realised that the place is very dreadful and is none other than the house of God. He woke up from the dream and took an action of arranging the stones and pouring oil on it, which in simple term anointing the place. I am looking at God when He is speaking to Jacob, He reminded Jacob that He is the God of Bethel not Luz. In other words God was in Luz before Jacob but after pouring oil on the altar that he built and named it Bethel then God identifies with Bethel.

We realised that anointing ‘Consecrates’, to consecrate is very simple, it is to make or declare sacred. So Jacob declared Luz to be Bethel and became sacred for God. So it is very simple act with so much spiritual connotation and so here is here when using the questions we have set to work on this is to find the WHO, the WHY and the WHERE? When you look at these issues together,

Who, here is Jacob after getting the revelation of the place and he takes the oil and pours on an altar he build for God.

Why, this is because God was here this place is the House of God and because of this he decides to set this place apart as a house of God and a sacred place for which should be used for offering sacrifices.

Where, it was a place called Luz, but now Bethel because it now belongs to God after being consecrated to God.

The issue of anointing is to me a very simple case because it is just a physical action which connotes a spiritual event. So in simple to anoint is to confer a spiritual convocation to a physical item in order to make it sacred for purpose of God. Or in a simpler term is to specifically commit something to God’s use which we call sacred.

In the time of Jacob we don’t know the oil which he used but it came a time where God decided to define the ingredient or the content of this oil and this He did to Moses.

Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.

Exo 30:22 – 25 KJV

This is the passage where God decided to make people know the content of this anointing oil. God instructed Moses how to make that anointing oil in and He said that this will be His holy oil for the purpose of anointing, or consecration or for setting apart people or things for His use.

So, with the issue of anointing there is a verb which is the act, there is noun which is the person or the thing poured oil on or consecrated. This has brought negatives and positives in the same measure because.

When looking at three types of anointing I have mentioned above, which are;

1. The General purpose anointing
2. The Relieving type of anointing
3. The Consecrating type of anointing

These types of anointing, we have to learn that the content of the oil used here are two different types of oil types of oils, like the one for the General type of anointing is different from the one for relieving and Consecrating type of anointing. The one Moses was given instruction on how to make is the one fit for both relieving sicknesses and consecrating people and things.

This anointing is done physically but it is a spiritual representation of empowerment and also legal mandate from God that someone has been accepted and given legal divine mandate to fulfil a purpose or to stand in a certain office.

So to be precise there is also an anointing like that of Jesus which has no oil and no one to pour oil on anything but the word anoints a person.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Luke 4:18 KJV

And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

John 1:20 – 23 KJV

When we are looking at these two incidences, nobody anointed them but they were referring to a prophetic word about their mandate. They both cited the prophet Isaiah prophecies about the anointing and the mandate of Jesus in Isaiah 62, about John Isaiah 40.

This is a type of anointing that there is no human hand or no oil but it is still and anointing which I call Prophetic anointing. In this prophetic anointing, it an anointing that has a prophetic reference an it is discussed

This type of anointing has brought many problems even in the bible it brought so much challenges because people are used to the traditional methods of anointing mostly to those who are not understanding spiritual things or those who don’t walk with God.

And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?

Math 21:23

This verse will automatically tell you that there were some people who had a problem or did not understand the mandate of Jesus Christ and they asked to, by what authority…. and who gave you that authority. This is simple is telling Jesus that we have not witnessed the traditional way of getting God’s authority being processed and we are part of the team who should confer such kind of act and because we have not done that to you so we don’t know you. When we continue with the conversation, Jesus asked them about John the Baptist authority and who gave him that authority, because this was their main issue. Jesus know how to reveal the hidden question behind the question which someone is asking.  

This was a very technical question to these people because they believe only them have the authority to confer such kind of authority or they are the only people to anoint anyone. This issue is also another problem in our Christian lives today because religion wants to own people and also doesn’t want to walk with God exactly as it was in the time of Jesus. Nowadays we have pastors, prophets, apostles and teachers anointed by religion, while religion does not want prophets, teachers, pastors anointed by God.

Anointing, the official anointing does not confer the spiritual authority to any human being but it is an outward declaration of an inward validation. This is something that people should understand that when somebody is anointed God has to approve of it and mostly God is the one who instructs it. Many kings were anointed under the instruction of God, it was always God sending His servant to go and anoint a person to be a priest a priest, prophet and also king.

The fist instruction from God to anoint a person was for Moses to anoint Aaron and his sons to become the priest.

Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him. 

Exodus 29:7 KJV

As you can see it was an instruction from God, not because of any theological graduation, not because of denominational need BUT because of God gave the instruction. Anointing when I look at it is just a physical confirmation of spiritual authentication of God’s mandate upon someone’s life to accomplish a certain task on behalf of God.

Also when we go to Israel there was no democracy, there was a theosophy where God had to choose the leader and the person who was doing what, because it was not a democracy but a nation where God was the king but He was choosing who would lead the kingdom or nation. This also the state at which the church is, the church is not a democracy but a theosophy where God guide or choose whoever is leading the church.

The church, as the heavenly government operating on earth and the King and the Leader is God, who appoints who to do what. God told Jeremiah that I knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb, I selected you and ordained you to be a prophet. This means that God is the appointing authority in church and that is why the church cannot be democratic as the organizations are. In any church where there is politics, God will leave that place because God doesn’t work the way human being operates.

The official anointing as we can now see that it just the outward display of what God has inwardly authorized and it is no wise the other way round. When you see all the kings of Israel were anointed because God had already picked. When you look at Absalom who thought that if you are anointed may let God work with you, which is what a lot of Christians nowadays are doing. There servants of God who think that if they anoint a person already the person will be what they want them to be because that person has been anointed. No human being by anointing can make God work with that other person because he or she has been anointed.

This has brought other challenges in the Christian ministry because some have thought as a career like accounting/law/management/nursing, that after graduating you seek for a job. So many have gone to theological seminaries and colleges or university thinking that after having graduated with PHD in divinity and then anointed to preach you have been authorized by God. A VERY BIG NO. I don’t go against going to school, it highly necessary because all the apostles because they became apostles, they were disciples which means students. They called Jesus, master and teacher which means He taught them for three years before they received the Holy Spirit to allow them preach the gospel.

Jesus after teaching His disciples for three years told them that they should not Leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit come upon them. The day of the Pentecost was the day they were authorized and authenticated and it was also in the midst of the people because the bible records that, they spoke in tongues and many from different places understood their tongues in the dialects. So as the anointing is in-front of the people the audience was there. The same with the anointing of Jesus when He was reading the scroll, the bible records that it was in the synagogue and the people were there and He told them that, ‘‘today this prophecy has been fulfilled before your eyes’’.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. 

Act 10:38 KJV

How God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with power….. in looking at this verse we are not talking about God rubbing or smearing oil but this is where God is consencrating Jesus with Holy Ghost and then authenticating Him with authority that whenever He went exercising His authority because God was with Him. The last part of the verse is the very important because this is where most of us have avoided and this is the essence of the anointing.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward…………..

1 Sa 16:13 KJV

And Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal Saul’s daughter loved him. 

1 Sam 18:28 KJV

And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. 

Gen 39:3 KJV

When the phrase ‘God was with Him, he walked with God, The Spirit of the Lord was upon him’’, all these is just a confirmation that your you have authority from God and you have become partners in this Gospel business. The anointing as we can see is just a practical display what has been spiritually approved by God. When we see these people who were anointed, there were some demonstration of the presence of God in them because of their character and their doing which is manifestation of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Jesus did good wherever He went, David won battles, Joseph increased the wealth of Potiphar and that was a demonstration.

Anointing is empowering and this empowering is through the Holy Ghost who MUST be in you first. The bible says that when one is born again it MUST begin by being given the power to become the child of God John 1:12. Jesus said to Nicodemus that any person who is born again ‘..MUST be born of the Spirit and of water for you to enter the Kingdom of God’ John 3:5. Paul also said that those ‘who are led by spirit of God are the children of God’ Rom 8:14, which means that the Holy MUST have resided in someone’s life before the anointing explodes for manifestations.

John the Baptist put it somehow very exclusively when he said this,

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 

Mat 3:11 KJV

John the Baptist in the context of baptism mentioned that he is baptizing with water but there is another person who is greater than him who is going to baptize with water and with the Holy Spirit. This means that before fire for manifestations there must be Holy Ghost for transformation and fire for manifestations. So the Holy Ghost MUST be in someone’s life before the manifestation by fire which is displayed physically by anointing someone.

Paul said that our bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost in 1 Corinthians 6:19 and the Holy Ghost is the power for manifestation with which John the Baptist calls fire. Paul as he was talking to Timothy, he told Timothy that there is coming a time in the end times which shall be very perilous because people shall have the form of godliness BUT DENYING THE POWER thereof 2 Timothy 3:5. In reality the Holy Spirit is the mark of being born again and also empowerment for service and we mentioned above when Jesus told his disciples never to leave Jerusalem until they Holy Ghost comes upon them. They waited until the Holy Spirit appeared to them in cloven tongues of fire and sat upon each one of them, then the manifestation just started right there and then. They started speaking in tongues and then Peter became bold and started preaching the gospel.

Jesus told us that we shall know the false prophets by the fruits their but also parable of the wheat and the tares these people are not going to be removed any sooner but we shall live with these people who claim to be anointed or are even anointed physically but the Holy Spirit who manifest at and after the anointing is not in them. This becomes just becomes a human activity without God instruction or association which makes it vain. Whether you study theology which studying God and be anointed by ordination less the power of Ghost is the Holy Spirit you are still not of God.

I have seen many people quote David, when he said, ‘‘…the LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed,….’’  As he restrained his men in 1 Samuel 24. This has made even those who are not anointed by God but by themselves for their own purpose or gain to threaten people with these words. But there are also people who have faced so much trouble by just harming the anointed one of God.

We are living in a generation where patient is needed for a while in order to distinguish the anointed ones of God because plastic plants are so close to the original plants that wisdom and patient needs to be applied in order to distinguish between the real and the fake because they are closely alike if you don’t take you  time to study them. Paul told the Thessalonians that lawless one will come with the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.

As I summarize it that anointing whether for official or for relief as other call it for healing is the time for manifestation of the Holy Spirit which John the Baptist called the fire in order to manifest by bring change in one’s life and it cannot be gotten either through going through school or ordination by a denomination or a senior person in a denomination or man of clothe they call religious leaders because any true servant of God cannot anoint or ordain any person without getting any instruction from God.

Every Christian born again MUST be born of the spirit and of water or MUST have the power to become the son of God through Christ Jesus and MUST be led by the same Holy Spirit by being guided by the Holy Spirit. Then for every Christian to be effective in any service he or she MUST be empowered by the Holy Spirit through the gift of the Holy Spirit which is measured according to the grace that God has given to every individual. So spiritual anointing is a MUST to every servant of God because that is the atheization from God for you to minister under His authority, but physical anointing is also necessary to every Christian although there are some situations where God can send you somewhere not where you have grown up spiritually to be anointed by another person not as a celebration but by simply a laying of hands.