The Dynamics of the Anointing The way of an eagle in the air was one of four wonders that mystified the wise Agur (Proverbs 30:18, 19). Its too wonderful for me, he thought, as he studied he flight of the great sovereign of the skies. He watched, enthralled, as the eagle soared effortlessly in the air, spiralling, wheeling, and gliding on the invisible wings of the wind. He was filled with admiration as the bird plummeted from a great height – only to rise, wings fixed in flight – as that same mysterious power carried it aloft, leaving the earthbound Agur lost in amazement. The flight of the majestic eagle remained a marvel for many years, and Agurs words were echoed not only by those who studied the flight of the eagle but by those who watched great men of God move in the anointing, and wondered – How do they do it? But the way of an eagle in the air is no longer a mystery, for man has discovered how it flies and has joined it in the skies. Likewise, the once-mysterious ability to move in the anointing is now understood, and what was once regarded with awe as the domain of a few is now enjoyed by the increasing number of believers who are taking wing! The Bible tells us much about the anointed – those on whom the Spirit of God came, but little about the anointing itself – how the Spirit of God moved through those who were anointed. Knowledge of what the Bible does say is needed, and wisdom as well, for the anointing often brings exhilaration. In fact the uplift that comes with being used by the Spirit pf God is euphoric – much like a surge of spiritual adrenalin. Like the modern hang-glider, which can lift a man out of his limitations, the anointing can carry a Christian far beyond his or her own abilities, into the realm of the supernatural. Trouble is, most who want to move in the anointing imagine that they must somehow get up there into rarefied spiritual “air” before they can do so down here. In wanting to be spiritual high-flyers they miss the point, which is that the anointing is not found up there in the spiritual domain, but down here on the earthly plane. This is what the eagle teaches us. The people of Israel were told by the Lord: I bare you on eagles wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exodus 19:4) When we read the context, we understand that the Lord was referring to the deliverance of his people from their captivity in Egypt. He was saying that he had carried them in the same way that eagles carry their fluttering young when teaching them to fly. (Deuteronomy 32:11) That’s a strange way of putting it, when the children of Israel knew that they had walked out of captivity into freedom. Walked through the heat of the desert; walked across the bed of the Red Sea; walked through the dry, dusty wilderness – walked! Well, yes and no. Yes, they had walked. No, the Lord had carried them. In Israels eyes, it had been a walk but in the Lords eyes it had been a ride. Like the person in the famous Footsteps dream, they hadnt realized that theyd been carried – any more than we realize that when we grow weary the Lord carries us. Whew! we say, after we’ve been through a hard time -- I made it! We made it because He helped us make it. We made it because he carried us. We were moving in the anointing without being aware of it. It is only when we try to do something in our own strength and fail that we realize how powerful the anointing is, and how powerless we are without it. The most important thing we need to know about the anointing is that we are not always conscious of it. How do we know that we are anointed? Jesus said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me... (Luke 4:18) When the Spirit comes, the anointing comes. The apostle Paul writes, Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God. (2 Corinthians 1:21) But you have an anointing from the Holy One... the anointing which you have received from him abides in you... (1 John 2:20, 27) Whether we feel anointed or not has absolutely nothing to do with it, for the anointing abides. The anointing is not a feeling its a fact, in the same way that our being saved is a fact, whether we feel saved or not. In Bible days, prophets, priests and kings were anointed with oil. The oil was a symbol of the Spirit of God. Soon after, the oil was washed off. But the anointing, the presence of God, remained. From then on it was a case of: Do as occasion serves you, for God is with you (1 Samuel 10:7). Or, as The Living Bible puts it, From then on, your decisions should be based on whatever seems best under the circumstances, for God will guide you. The blessing of God comes with the anointing of God. Eagles arent always in the air – they need to descend to earth to feed. On the ground they are ungainly. When they begin to take flight, their great wings flap far less fast than other birds. The secret of the eagles ability to fly is not in the movement of its wings, but in the birds instinctive knowledge of how to use an upward current of air to lift its wings. All the eagle has to do is spread them. Thermodynamics is the science of relationships between heat and mechanical energy, or work, and the conversion of one into the other. This is the secret of the eagles ability to fly high; and its counterpart is the ability of the believer to live and move in the anointing. A thermal is an ascending current of heated air, usually found where the heat from a plain is pushed by prevailing winds against a mountain range. A thermals only escape is upward. The eagle haunts this type of terrain, because a thermal can carry it aloft with a minimum of effort on the birds part. All it has to do is extend its huge wingspan – the rising current of heated air does the rest. The eagle rises not by flapping its wings but by spreading them. Hang-gliding enthusiasts need thermals to get into the air – without them theyd never get off the ground. I once watched a friend who loved hang-gliding prepare for flight. First, he assembled the hang-glider, which resembled a huge kite. On the ground he looked ungainly – he had to support the hang-glider! But after he took a few strides down a mountain, the hang-glider supported him! In a matter of seconds, he was high up over my head! Soon he was gliding like an eagle, carried by the strong currents of air that ascended from far below. Hang-gliders haunt the eagles terrain. There have been times when they have been attacked from above by aggressive eagles that resented the intrusion into their territory of these rival birds. My friend told me of an incident when an inquisitive eagle flew alongside a friend of his for some minutes, studying him. After a while, the big bird gave him a piercing look, as if to say, Lets see what you can do – and with a slight adjustment of its wings was up and out of sight in seconds! Many Christians get in a bit of a flap trying to get up there among those who move in the anointing of God. They fail to see the paradox of the children of Israel walking and the Lord “carrying” them. The fact is that, like the eagle, the anointed have the ability to “rise” in the anointing whenever they wish – by means of spiritual thermals. A spiritual thermal may be a line from a favourite hymn or chorus, a treasured memory, a spiritual discovery, or an inspiring verse from the Bible. To many it is speaking in tongues: the spiritual gift that enables a believer to rise above the level of the understanding. Those who speak in tongues know that the gift works at ground level – in other words, the speaker doesnt have to be up there in order to use the gift. Any more than the eagle has to be up there to use its wings! An unlearned language – which is what an “unknown tongue” is – may at first sound a bit mechanical, uninspired. But a sudden awareness of the presence of God in the anointing soon changes that! What an uplifting gift! Not to speak in a tongue until we feel the anointing would be as ridiculous as an eagle on the ground waiting for a gust of wind to sweep it off its feet! True, the eagle flaps its wings at first – not unlike the way we move our tongue to get started. But once airborne, the majesty of the bird is seen in the spread of its wings – not the flap! Similarly, once we are consciously “in the Spirit” the ease with which we minister in the anointing is exhilarating! The ability to move easily in the anointing means that a Christians spirit is as much at home in the supernatural as his or her body is in the natural. In fact, to avoid imbalance, its very important that we are equally at ease on both levels. Many Christians have “crashed” when their lives became “too heavenly minded to of any earthly good.” It’s possible to become as obsessively compulsive about the euphoria the anointing brings as it is about anything else in life. The ability to move in the anointing comes from knowing where spiritual thermals are found. Praise has uplifting power; so too has heartfelt prayer; and worship can carry us high into God’s heaven! The terrain, of course, is regular fellowship, deep devotion, and spending quality time in the word of God. The way to move in the anointing, then, is not to get into a big flap but rather to know that you and I are anointed, and that the anointing of God will “carry” us – all we need to do is adapt our lives to the “way of the eagle in the air” by adopting the Eagle Principle. Its too wonderful for me! Agur exclaimed. Its not too wonderful for us, though – it’s just awesome! They shall mount up with wings as eagles, prophesied Isaiah. Isn’t it time you got airborne! Decide right now that you will never again wait for a feeling before speaking in tongues, prophesying, praying or laying hands on the sick. MAKE THIS AFFIRMATION I am an anointed child of God. The anointing abides in me. I can rise spiritually in the anointing, and live naturally in the power of the Holy Spirit. I am equally at ease in both the natural and the spiritual dimensions of life, because they are entwined in my life. I can worship freely in the anointing and be uplifted, and yet can minister to those who are unspiritual in the world around me. I worship Jesus Christ as my Lord, and I give God all the glory, as His Spirit fills me again and again!
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 20:26:47 +0000
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