The Anointing is for Action
By Roberts Liardon

Jesus did not use the anointing to be a superstar; He ministered to the needs of the people. He did not use the anointing for personal gain The anointing was not the dominant factor in Jesus' life. The dominant factor was His relationship with the Father.

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 The anointing destroys or breaks the yoke of bondage. The yoke of poverty is destroyed by the anointing. The yoke of sickness is destroyed by the anointing. Whatever the devil tries to put on us or send against us is destroyed by the anointing.

The anointing is not something spooky, and it is not only for full-time ministers. The anointing is for the entire Body of Christ, so we need to put aside all the weird ideas we may have about it and learn to walk in it in the practical operation of our everyday lives.

There is no Hollywood in heaven, and there are no superstars in heaven. We are all called to be a particular part of the body of Christ and to flow together as one, but we cannot do it without the anointing. However, the anointing and understanding of the anointing is sadly lacking in the Church today.

What is the anointing? The anointing is the divine power God grants to a believer through the Holy Spirit to minister to the world and the Body of Christ. There are many different types of anointings, but there is only one Holy Spirit. Jesus is our example of ministering under the anointing.

You may say, "Well, Jesus was the Son of God." That is true, but Jesus did not minister on the earth as the Son of God. He ministered as a man anointed by the Holy Spirit - the same thing He has called us to do.

Jesus laid aside everything connected with being the Son of God and operated as a mere man whose power and authority came through the Holy Spirit. He would not need to be anointed if He were ministering as the Son of God.

Jesus was anointed for action. The Bible records the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry in Luke 3,4. Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized, and as John prayed "the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him" (Luke 3:21,22). The Holy Spirit then led Jesus into the wilderness for a forty-day fast, and He was tempted of the devil. Using the Word of God as a weapon, Jesus resisted all that the enemy sent against Him to try to stop His ministry. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit....

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, "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,To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

Luke 4:14,16-19 Verses 18 and 19 show what Jesus was anointed to do:

• To preach the Gospel to the poor. To heal the brokenhearted.
• To preach deliverance to the captives.
• To preach recovering of sight to the blind.

• To set at liberty them that are bruised.
• To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Notice that each item begins with a verb - an action word. Jesus was anointed for action. He was a man of bold action. Jesus was not anointed to take defensive posture. Each of the actions listed were a bold thrust against the enemy. Each was an offensive move to drive the enemy out of the lives of God's people.

What is the Gospel to the poor? They do not have to be poor anymore! There is an anointing that will go right into poor people that will begin to lift them and break the yoke of poverty over them. This anointing works anywhere in the world. It is not just a "North American Gospel." It is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. When the poor are taught to give, God will bless them, and the spirits of poverty and lack will be driven out of their lives as well as out of entire regions.

Healing the brokenhearted does not mean joining them in a pity-party. Healing comes when things are boldly dealt with, even if it hurts. If an arm or leg needs stitches, it will hurt in the beginning but be a blessing in the long run. Jesus was compassionate but bold in dealing with the source of the problem. He cast out spirits of self-pity, grief and sorrow.

What is preaching deliverance to captives? The Lord showed me a vision once of people in a cage. All of them had weird smiles. The Lord said, "Go up there and look at them. This is what many of my churches are like."

So I went and saw there also were people walking by outside the cage. I looked more closely and realized that the people in the cage thought they were free and thought the people outside were in captivity! They were deceived into thinking
that captivity was freedom!

Preaching deliverance to captives is boldly speaking the truth in love and breaking the bondage of deception. That takes strength and anointing. The Church needs this kind of preaching, because so many are captives of sickness, captives of the flesh, captives of soulish theology, captives of the past, captives of bitterness, and so forth. Many are deceived and ignorant of the enemy's devices. The anointing blasts through those deceptions and brings the liberty of the
truth. (John 8;32.)

To preach recovery of sight to the blind means both natural and spiritual blindness. Jesus opened blind physical eyes and blind spiritual eyes. Your physical eyes are valuable, but the eyes of the spirit are more important. In this day of great spiritual activity, if you have no discernment and cannot
operate in the realm of the Spirit, you will be bound. Christians need to operate individually as well as corporately in the realm of the Holy Spirit. To set at liberty them that are bruised requires tremendous strength and anointing.

People crushed by the enemy really need help from anointed ministers of God to receive healing and deliverance. The anointing will help put their lives back together according to the Word and teach them to stand against the devil.

What is preaching the acceptable year of the Lord? It is preaching the timings and seasons of God. We need to be aware of what God is doing in the earth and flow with Him as the anointings change.

Right now, the season is changing. We are seeing God working in a different way from what we have become accustomed to. We have been in a teaching season, but now we are moving into a preaching season. The teacher lays out points-one, two three - but the preacher comes in with boldness and goes kaboom. The preacher must know how to flow in the anointing or he is a big loud "boom" that means nothing.

Preaching is a part of God's weaponry against the devil in these last days. THE POWER TO DO GOOD. These are the things Jesus did as He ministered in the earth under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He took bold action against the
works of the enemy. He ministered in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. 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.

Acts 10:36 Everywhere Jesus went, the anointing and power went with Him to heal, to deliver, to set free, and to destroy the works of the devil. He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). He was ministering under the anointing when He blessed the children and when he drove the moneychangers out of the temple. He was anointed when He fed the five thousand and when He cast out demons. He
went about doing good for people and blasting the devil.

The anointing was for Jesus' ministry, but it was not for His day-to-day living. He walked by faith in the everyday affairs of life. he did not try to live in the anointing. His personal life was based on prayer and absolute obedience and submission to the Father.

Remember Jesus regularly went apart to pray and fellowship with the Father. That is when He got His "marching orders." There was no independent action in Jesus' life. He prayed to the Father in faith, heard what the Father said, then went out and did what the Father said to do, and He did it under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said: For I have not spoken of myself; but of the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

John 12:49,50 We can see from the life of Jesus that the anointing is for ministry to people. Also, the anointing is a mighty weapon against the enemy - a forward thrust to destroy the works of the devil, not just a defensive weapon to ward off attack. The anointing sets people free and defeats the enemy. The anointing breaks the yoke of bondage; it is the power to change things.

The anointing is for service and not for show. Jesus did not use the anointing to be a superstar; He ministered to the needs of the people. He did not use the anointing for personal gain or His own private affairs. It was for the public and before the public. The anointing was not the dominant factor in Jesus' life. The dominant factor was His relationship with the Father. The anointing is important, but it is not the most important thing in life - God is.

The anointing is for everyone in the Body of Christ. Ecclesiastes 9:8 says, "Let the head lack no ointment," or anointing. We need the anointing to do the will of God, because we cannot do it out of the flesh. We cannot meet the needs of other people in our own strength and ability. It must be by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. "Not by might, nor by power, by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 4:6)