THE ANOINTED

To be anointed is to be set apart, empowered, or protected. Many can be anointed, but there is a single anointed one who made it possible for all. Anointing intends to set apart a person, place, or thing for divine use. It is meant to empower people to accomplish God’s work, for protection, or to describe the Messiah’s deliverance.

The act of “Anointing” or being “Anointed” is being smeared or rubbed with oil as part of a religious ceremony to make someone or something sacred.

Acts 10:38 says, “And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” The anointed one could have been anyone appointed by God to be set apart or to carry out a task.

While many could be anointed, Jesus is the Messiah, the ultimate anointed one. He is our deliverer and the bridge that empowers all Christians to be empowered to carry on his works. If it weren’t for Jesus’s work, God would not have sent the “Helper,” or the Holy Spirit. Without Jesus, our reach in carrying out God’s work would have been limited.

Can other people be anointed?

You do not have to become a king to be anointed. We can anoint our homes, our communities, our family, friends, fellow believers, etc, but the requirement is that it must be an act of the Lord. This means that we cannot anoint ourselves and then claim to be all-powerful. And we should not anoint our home and claim it is more valuable than it is. This heart position is not of the Lord.

Many Christians believe that power is in the oil itself. While the oil is a symbol of God’s protection and blessing, the power itself is a calling from God to carry out the work of his heart here on earth.

Anything that goes outside of the word or the fruit of the spirit Galatians 5:22 is not of God and should not be anointed as such.

Jesus is the pioneer for man and should be viewed as the one who anoints. He is the greatest of these. He is the bridge that led to the Holy Spirit being imparted to us. He said in John 14:12, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father.”

The works that Jesus was doing were spreading hope, sharing love, giving healing, and these are the very things He called us to do.

In John 14:26, He said, “But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

We can look to his demonstration in Luke 7:45-46 as the path to carrying out this great empowerment. Here, an “immoral” woman from the city, apparently full of guilt, approached Jesus while he was having dinner. He shares a valuable lesson here about forgiveness when Simon questions Jesus’ involvement with the woman. In the verse, Jesus tells Simon, “You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.”

What makes this moment so special is that Jesus acknowledged the woman for her faith.

In Ephesians 2:8, we read “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this.it is a gift from God.”

Jesus saw God in the woman through her guilty spirit. Jesus was empowering this woman to continue on this path of repentance that she was on and showed us how God reacts to our acts of faith.

As much as she anointed Him for being the Messiah, He anointed her to go out and do the same act of forgiveness for others. This is the ultimate act of anointing, to carry out the work of God through love and empowerment.