The Abuse Of Anointing Oil (4)

“Believers today need greater consecration and dedication to God. God's plan for their lives is hindered and many of His blessings are withheld because they haven't totally consecrated themselves to do His will instead of their own” – (Prophet Kenneth E. Hagin).

We are continuing our series on the abuse or misuse of the anointing oil. We have been dwelling mostly on the recent teachings of Pastor Peter Collins Obeng, who is an anointed Bible teacher. In last week's edition, we specifically discussed how God Himself anoints believers in Christ and how we can maintain and increase the flow of the anointing in our lives.

To achieve this, we need to separate and consecrate ourselves wholly to God. And as we walk in the light, we can have more of His power and anointing. We must also prepare ourselves for the anointing by studying the Word and spending time in personal prayer.

In so doing, we can maintain a spirit-filled life. Fresh anointing does not come on believers as they are anointed with oil. It comes by believers being filled with the Spirit. That is why God wants us to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.

For instance, the early disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The anointing thus came upon them. But they were filled again in Acts 4 as they gathered together to pray. It is thus written, “With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33).

Understand that by being filled the second time with the Spirit, the believers could experience a greater dimension of the anointing. Sadly, most Christians today do not know how to maintain a spirit-filled life to enjoy its benefits. Consider what Paul, through the Holy Spirit, admonished the church in Ephesus to understand and do.

“Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but ever be filled and stimulated with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:17-18).

Notice the will of the Lord for every Christian is to be ever filled and stimulated with the Holy Spirit. We need to be filled to overflow with the Spirit. This is one major way we can increase in the anointing to fulfill God's plan for our lives.

We can now safely say that we received the anointing by being filled with the Spirit. It stands to reason that we can maintain or increase in the anointing by a constant infilling of the same Spirit. You can understand why Paul encouraged the Ephesian believers who were filled with the Spirit in Acts 19:6 to maintain a constant experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit in his epistle.

Finally, believers must learn to yield to the Holy Spirit and flow with Him for greater power and manifestations in their lives. As we consecrate ourselves wholly to God, walk in love, maintain a spirit-filled life, and learn to depend on the Spirit, we will experience a greater measure of anointing in our lives.

It, therefore, appears insulting for any minister to pour oil on the head of a child of God with the aim of empowering him or assuring him of a fresh anointing upon his life. Every member of the household of God deserves the best of God, but we will never receive God's best until we become completely dissatisfied with fraudulent activities of ignorant or self-styled pastors and their unscriptural anointing services.

Moreover, it would be recalled that in one of the previous editions, we discussed how the sick can be anointed with oil. Well, it is necessary that we add a few things to that discussion before the concluding part of the series may be given.

We know that throughout the Bible, God has been the healer of His covenant people by the operation of His Spirit. He led the Israelites out of Egypt and all of them were healthy and strong (Psalm 105:37). Moreover, God revealed Himself to Israel in the wilderness as Jehovah Rapha meaning the LORD who heals. God healed all their diseases and sicknesses whenever they kept the covenant. And He has never ceased to be the healer.

During the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, He demonstrated the Father's heart to humanity and healed all kinds of diseases and sicknesses. And in His redemptive work, Christ purchased healing for believers which the Holy Spirit makes it real to us.

We may anoint the sick with oil and pray over them as recommended by the Apostle James in his epistle as one of the means that God heals the sick (James 5:14). But our faith must not be in the oil or the tangible substance used as a symbol. Like how the elements of bread and wine are used in the Holy Communion our faith should be directed towards the redemptive work of Christ – the significance of the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus – and not towards the elements.

The sick must, therefore, release his faith for the healing power of God which the oil symbolizes. “I cannot imagine how anyone may think that the fact that the apostle mentioned oil in James 5:14 meant that he was prescribing oil for the sick because of its medicinal value,” Pastor Peter Collins Obeng, who is the founder of the Grace Covenant Glory Fellowship in Tema, said.

To be continued…
By James Quansah
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