Secrets of the Anointing
Marilyn Hickey – “It takes a foundation of prayer and fasting to have the miraculous in your life.”
“We have no hunger for God because we have nibbled all day from the world’s table.”
The anointing is not a formula capable of being learned. The anointing is the method of operation for the Spirit of God on earth. There is a price to pay for those who desire the anointing. Much of the price is separation. Separation from people, separation from our own will. We must separate ourselves from the mediocre spiritual life of other Christians and give ourselves wholeheartedly to God. If the anointing is not present in your own life, fast and pray until you have it. Nothing is more important than this.
Laziness is one of those foxes that will eat up our spiritual lives. To keep ourselves in the anointing of the Spirit will require a lifestyle dedicated to the Word, prayer, and fasting. We have to discipline ourselves to do this, even when we don’t feel like it.
If we want to impact this generation with the demonstration of God’s power, we have no other alternative but to separate ourselves from the world and mediocre spiritual life of other Christians and give ourselves whole heatedly and exclusively to the service of God. Without the anointing, ability will not produce effectiveness.
We will never be able to flow in the power of the Holy Spirit’s anointing unless we are willing to suffer! The first requirement in order to have the anointing of God is a hunger for God. The anointing does not depend on one isolated experience. It must be based upon a constant communion with the Holy Spirit.
It is impossible for me to live an abundant life without the anointing of the Holy Spirit operating in my life. I first learned that one of the secrets of the anointing is complete surrender. Each day, giving myself totally to the Lord.
One of the truths which I feel completely revolutionized my life and ministry was coming to the realization that the Holy spirit was not simply a “power” or an “energy” but instead, a Person with feelings, emotions, and desires of His own.
When I learned this, I began to relate to the Holy Spirit in a more personal manner. I began speaking to Him, asking Him to direct me from the moment I awoke early in the morning until I went to bed at night.
If the Holy Spirit is a Person, we must treat Him, as such; not as an “experience” we have from time to time. A person needs to feel loved, listened to, and appreciated! The Bible speaks about the possibility of grieving the HS if we fail to treat Him in the way He should be treated.
At first it was a little strange for me to speak with the HS, but as I broke with the tradition in my mind and began speaking to and worshiping the HS, I began to see spiritual matters with an increased clarity and presence I did not have before. The anointing does not depend on one isolated experience which we may have in our Christian walk, but rather, in our maintaining constant communion with the HS. We cannot continually ignore a person and then run to him when we need a favor.
How can one have communion with the HS? Everything begins with a decision to separate your life from the things that isolate you from the HS, Making Jesus the Lord of your life is a prerequisite in beginning the adventure of communing with the HS. Don’t feel disheartened if at first you fail to see any results; a relationship is not established overnight. It takes time, patience, anddetermination in the study of the Word and in prayer for the HS to reveal Himself to us.
The anointing comes through the grace of God not by any personal merit. THE ONLY WAY TO GROW IN THE MANIFESTATION OF THE ANOINTING IS TO ESTABLISH A SINCERE AND CONSTANT COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT SO THAT HE MAY GRANT US THE GRACE OF GOD WITH ALL THE BLESSINGS IN HEAVEN.
The HS is not the goal but the starting point for a life full of power & anointing. If we desire the anointing of the HS, we must be willing to pay a price.
If I want to partake of the benefits and the blessings of the ministry, it is vital that I have the right attitude toward the Person of the HS, and that I treat Him with the dignity, admiration and respect He deserves. If you want to know the secrets of the anointing, cultivate your friendship with the HS.
All who wish to receive a great anointing of God and impact the masses will be faced with the need to die to their on ambitions and desires. One of the secrets to living a powerfully anointed life is total and absolute submission to the will of God.
Man was in conflict and the HS said, “Which do you prefer: to win an argument against that person or to maintain your fellowship with Me and continue to flow in the anointing.” It is essential that those who seek a great anointing understand that Satan will try any means possible to make them sin and embarrass them before the public so people will reject their ministry.
The more I pray, fast, and consecrate myself to God, the more I realize my inability to do the work of God. It is almost impossible for the HS to ignore a man who constantly seeks Him and recognizes that without His presence he is completely inadequate. Therefore, make it a practice to daily depend on the Lord, and each day you will have the presence of His anointing.
The person who walks in holiness will have a greater anointing than the person who continually compromises with the world and sin. Prayer changes natural men and women into supernatural persons. He who prays learns to know God. The man who knows how to pray discovers that the secret of the anointing and spiritual power resides in complete dependence on God through prayer. All men of power are also men of prayer. God cannot entrust His anointing to people who do not pray. If we look carefully at the four gospels, we will see that J. spent considerable time each day in prayer, seeking the will and the mind of God in order to fulfill His earthly ministry. J. received all His power and anointing from on High, through prayer, He kept the heavens open during the whole time of His ministry. J. began His day in prayer and ended it praying; and in between He performed miracles.
One of the characteristics of a person who is anointed is the power of his preaching. Anointed, daring preaching produces supernatural results! Every preacher knows through personal experience that the level of authority in his preaching is directly correlated to the amount of time he spends alone with God in prayer. It is in those long periods of communion with God that we are so energized with the anointing from on High that when we stand to preach, we feel like a newly loaded machine gun. Those of us who have experienced this know that it changes us into a different person, it is called the anointing.
We should pray without ceasing until we are invested with great power. It is normal for an African to pray four to five hours a day! Anyone who is willing to pay this price will also receive the dividends of a life filled with the power and anointing of the HS. The power of preaching is not in studying, but in kneeling. God will still do it today through anyone who is willing to pay the price and put in the long hours in communion, prayer, and supplication necessary to receive power from on High.
Prayer must be a lifestyle for the person who seeks a great anointing. Our prayers cannot be limited to the moment before we preach or right after a moment of crisis. You always acquire the qualities of the person with whom you spend the most amount of time. The man who spends his time with God in prayer will be transformed into the image of what he sees, in the same manner Christ was transformed on the mount while He was praying.
There is one anointing that perpetually operates within the believer, but there is another that falls on a person at specific times and for a predetermined purposes. There are certain spiritual disciplines necessary to obtain a powerful anointing. These disciplines do not serve the purpose of convincing or forcing God to do something He has not promised; rather, they are indispensable in preparing the vessel for the deposit of God’s power. If we want our anointing to have substance and remain firmly within us, we must steadfastly seek the daily in filling of the Word with our own lives. I HAVE LEARNED THAT IF I AM NOT WILLING TO SPEND LONG HOURS SECRETLY PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT, I CANNOT MINISTER EFFECTIVELY IN PUBLIC. Some of my most powerful services have come after spending hours praying in the Spirit without feeling anything at all! On occasions when I have noticed the anointing diminishing in my life – even though I am continually reading the Bible and praying in the Spirit – I have resorted to fasting as a complement to increase my anointing. There is a strong correlation between fasting and the anointing to break the bonds of wickedness.
Many anointed men have failed because they did not know that by receiving a greater anointing they would also receive greater persecution. THE ANOINTING YOU RECEIVE FROM ANOTHER PERSON WILL ONLY BE EFFECTIVE TO THE POINT THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO IMITATE THE LIFESTYLE OF THAT PERSON! Every transference of the anointing costs time, dedication, persistence, and sometimes even money and material possessions.
It is important for those wishing to have a greater anointing in there lives to be cautious of those who want to lay hands on them. Through the laying on of hands, the spirit is transmitted – whether that spirit be good or evil. It is crucial for Christians to be wary of their associations and acquaintances with people who do not strengthen their spiritual walk. The anointing can be transferred by the words we hear. You can also capture someone’s anointing if you read his books or listen to his messages. The anointing must be demanded in order to be received.
Faith accomplished by a stubborn determination is what really helps us obtain what we strongly desire. Receiving from others does not make us inferior; instead we are more powerful, because in addition to the measure of grace given to us, we can also participate in the measure that God has given to others. We cannot hope to perform great signs and wonders if we violate the principle of carefully guarding our hearts.
Laziness is one of those foxes that will eat up our spiritual lives. To keep ourselves in the anointing of the Spirit will require a lifestyle dedicated to the Word, prayer, and fasting. We have to discipline ourselves to do this, even when we don’t feel like it.