The Anointing

"What is the anointing of God? It is that divine energy that comes upon you and separates you from yourself and fills you with His power! As a result, when you speak, it is like God speaking…and when you act, it is like God acting." -Oral Roberts

I was hesitant to write a blog titled "the anointing" because I know that people from all different backgrounds read my posts, so I try to keep them practical and simple so that they can be easily understood and applicable to everyone who reads them. But I also promised when I started this blog that I would be faithful to share with you what I am learning in my own life, so here it is.

I included the quote from Oral Roberts at the top of this post in order to give us a clear meaning of what it is to be anointed. Unfortunately, church leaders have done a great job of skewing what people perceive this term to mean. Now days, when we hear the term "anointing" we associate it with self-assigned titles that ministers use in order to boost their egos and promote themselves as men and women  working on behalf of God. The irony in this, however, is that the anointing is actually the absence of oneself. Real, authentic anointing comes when all you are is an empty vessel and your self is not inhabiting any part of you.

I spoke two weeks ago now at a women's conference in Brenham, Tx. It was one of the most awesome speaking experiences I have ever had. Usually when I get up to deliver a message, it takes me about 5 minutes to get my body to relax and get my spirit to engage with my mind. Not this weekend, however. As soon as I hit the floor for the first time on Friday night, the Lord was doing all of the talking. I literally walked around up front with a microphone and just listened to God deliver the message. In that moment, I was experiencing the anointing. And let me tell you, that message was a whole lot better than it would have been if I would have gotten up there and shared my own thoughts and opinions. I was an empty vessel, being inhabited by God, allowing Him to use me to say what He needed to say.  Is that how I am all the time? No, of course not. There are things that I say that are obviously coming from Alexis and not God, and it is obvious to everyone around me when that's the case.

But wouldn't everyone appreciate it if I were more often speaking the heart of the Father and not my own? If I were more often walking out in the anointing? Yes, the answer to that question is yes. So how does someone reach that point? I think John sums it up pretty well when he says "I must decrease so he may increase." It all goes along with the breaking I wrote about a few days ago. As the Lord refines us and retrains us, he is pouring the "us" out of us so that we can be filled with more "Him." As time goes on and the breaking process continues, there is more and more room for Him. That means more and more of His message; more and more of His heart. It's all a process that has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. Our sole role in it is our unconditional surrender of ourselves to be emptied and used by Him.

Broken to be Used by God

broken |ˈbrōkən| [no obj. ] (of a person's emotional strength) give way: tame or train (a horse).

Have you ever seen a wild horse running thorough a meadow, completely free to do as it pleases? It's a beautiful sight to see, unless of course you need to make a long journey and horseback is the only way to get there. In that moment, even more beautiful than a horse in the wild is a horse in a stable, saddled-up and ready to go. In fact, the only thing that wild horses are good for is to look at. You can't use them for work, and you certainly can't use them for transportation. A useful horse is a broken one. It sounds kind of harsh. To a horse it probably sounds like the end of their freedom, the end of their glory days. 

But pretend with me for a moment that horses can reason and think logically. Now, imagine that there is a horse in a meadow somewhere that is completely untamed, free to roam the land and do as it pleases. It has no real purpose, but wanders around day to day searching for something new to indulge itself in. One day a man and his companions approach this horse, over take it, and despite all of its kicking and bucking, manage to get it into a secure stable in the near-by town. Every day the man works with the horse to break it in and train it for a rider, and though the he is as kind and as gentle as possible, the horse is absolutely miserable about it! He dreams of the days when he was galloping through the fields free to do as he pleased, overlooking, of course, the fact that those days lacked purpose. Day by day, the will of the horse is being broken, until one day he is finally ready to be ridden. The man walks into the stable early that morning as he did every day, but this day something was different about the man's appearance. Instead of his usual attire of work clothes, boots, and riding gloves, he is adorned in the attire of a king. After all, he is in fact the king. Another thing that differs about this day is the way that the man saddles up the horse. Instead of the usual saddle that is placed on it's back for training, the man places a beautifully embroidered saddle on the horse and places a bit of gold in the horse's mouth. The king then mounts the horse and parades it through the street as the people cheer and throw petals for it's feet to tread on. The king then leads the horse out of the city and into the camp where the other soldiers are waiting, ready for battle. The horse in that moment realizes that he has been given the most noble task of any other in the land. He is the King's horse and has the honor of leading Him into the battle. Wandering aimlessly through the fields no longer appeals to this horse. There could be no greater satisfaction found than the satisfaction that comes from being the King's. Now he knows true freedom- the ability to wholeheartedly serve the King.

So, where are you? Maybe you are in the field, roaming around aimlessly with no purpose, holding on to a false definition of freedom. I, however, find myself in a season of being in the stable, in a season of being broken. The King comes in and meets with me daily, retraining me that I may be used by Him. Most days it hurts. He is kind and gentle, but He applies the pressure necessary that I may be changed and transformed into who He needs me to be. Some days I find my flesh dreaming about the times when I was free to do as I pleased, overlooking, of course, the fact that those days lacked purpose. Forgetting, of course, that those days only provided temporary fulfillment. In the process of being broken, there are days when I feel completely exhausted as if one more ounce of pressure will not only break me, but completely destroy me. But then I remember that that is the old horse talking. The horse that didn't understand that the King's desire isn't to destroy me by any means. He desires only that I be in a place where I will know true satisfaction and freedom. A place where I am free to respond to Him wholly as the person He has created me to be.