Why Anointings?
Covers the subject of anointings and healing.
Norbert Bohnert - February 2, 2020
*(Sermon Link)
Transcript Below.
Covers the subject of anointings and healing.
Norbert Bohnert - February 2, 2020
*(Sermon Link)
Transcript Below.
Why Anointings? By Norbert Bohnert - February 2, 2020 - Covering the subject of anointings and healing in the life of a believing Christian. Anointing or anointings, do you fully comprehend what anointing is all about? In this message by Norber, he covers several aspects of this topic.
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FEBRUARY 8, 2020
WHY ANOINTING?
Greetings brethren, today I thought I would like to cover a topic that we are all mostly aware of but just wanting to rehearse a few things about anointings and the importance and implications of what anointing actually is and what does it involve for each one of us in our Christian walk with God.
We know from all the prayer requests and so forth that many among us brethren are sick from time to time and have many ailments, some of them chronic that we are dealing with on a daily basis.
While we pray for these brethren and wish them a speedy and full recovery, it does not always happen in the time frame we would like or prefer – and for some, not even in this lifetime. But our faith is that our well-being is according to God’s will and that the ultimate healing is sure and positive. We must always keep that in mind brethren, whatever the circumstances may be.
The all-encompassing blessing is to know that God wants no one to perish and would have everyone live a more abundant life. JOHN 10:10
What does anoint me? It means to make sacred, or to consecrate for office or religious service. The anointing is done with the laying on of hands and the application of the oil, according to God’s instructions. HEBREWS 6:2; JAMES 5:14
II PETER 3:9 – We know that God is not willing that any should perish. That is not talking about just in the physical life, but that is talking about in God’s eternal realm. God gave His only begotten Son, so that we could all eventually be saved. Unfortunately, Satan does his dirty work and there are those who will not follow in sincerity and truth the things that God would have us do. There is a weeding out process that is going on right now brethren and we are a part of that scenario. God’s desire is that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
JOHN 10:10
So, I ask the question, why do we not always receive healing quickly? What is our part in the healing process? Our part in the healing process is a great deal.
I thought with all that is going on with many of us in our aging years and otherwise , it might be encouraging to look into this subject about anointing, and the many aspects that are mentioned in the scriptures that tell us about different kinds of anointing, and extension that take off from anointing.
Anointing is not always exactly as we picture it in the church. In the Church of God, when we think of anointing, we usually think of a phone call or email message to the minister. Or maybe we will catch a minister, elder as a special service or at Sabbath Services and stay that we would like to be anointed. We generally don’t think of it too much past that. The elder, minister will say a prayer and we pray, and we hope that God will answer. We look at it most of the time from our perspective and that is many times the only way we think of anointing. We think only of the prayer of faith for the sick.
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Here let us review the instructions from God:
JAMES 5:14
If that was the only kind of anointing that there was, we could simply say just anointing him and you would not have to mention with oil, as it would be known. WE say that Jesus Christ anointed the blind man with the mud that he had made from the spittle. And the verse says, “anointing his eyes “
Verse 15
We see that God is doing the healing here. This word anointing is aleipho in the Greek, and it means anointing or to anoint. AS we go through this subject of anointing, we will find often that there is a laying on of hands associated with anointing with oil and healing. HEBREWS 6:2; LUKE 4:40 Now there is no mention of oil here. It just mentions that Jesus Christ laid His hands on every one of them and they were healed. We associate anointing a great deal with the healing process, but we will see that anointing is for other things besides healing.
LUKE 13:10-12
This is a beautiful story, and we will see some more of them, showing that Jesus Christ is the healing God.
MARK 6:4 – In other words, when you go home you are not going to have the respect and the honor, even if you are a prophet of God, that you would somewhere else. He was not even recoginzied by His family as the Prophet that He was. Verse 5
Jesus could not work mighty miracles there. He is Jesus Christ the Son of God and He should be able to go anywhere and work mighty miracles. What is this telling us brethren? He is telling us that because of the attitude of the people, the attitude of unbelief, that Jesus Christ was unable to work any great miracles. Read on verse 5
Just as a sidebar here brethren. In the past in our church history and I think you may be able to relate. somewhat that in some church organizations or individuals would not pray for somebody that was not in the Church of God or not within their organization. Is that Christian brethren? Is that right? If someone asks prayers for their parents, or their sister, the elder would ask if they were in the church, It might be said well we can say a private prayer for them but we are not going to mention it to anyone else. Here is the challenge to that attitude: Go through the entire scriptures and try to find one single place where Jesus Christ ever healed a converted person. Yet Jesus Christ laid His hands upon a few sick folks, and He healed them. Everywhere that He went He cast out demons and He removed all manner of sickness.
MARK 6:6
They lacked faith. Brethren, if you saw someone bowed over, and Jesus made her stand up straight, you would have to say that is something very important and unique going on there.
VERSE 7, 12-13 So Jesus Christ gave this gift to the disciples. They could not begin to go out and heal anybody of their own power because they did not have it. The power comes from God and no one else.
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LUKE 10:33-34; 35 A man beaten to the pulp
It is right and proper that we should always do what we are able to do in the physical realm. Sometimes, in God’s Church, we run into the concept that some people hold that God is going to heal them, but they do not have to lift one finger to get out of the rain or the cold, or to stop what they are doing that is causing them to be sick.
Brethren, we have our part to do. So, we see that the good Samaritan poured in oil and wine. The oil keeps the flesh supple and soft. The wine acted like an antiseptic and cleaned the wound.
We can now start to understand what is going on in the physical realm about healing. Keep these two realms separate. There is the physical healing and the spiritual healing, and we like for those to come together. When we send an anointed cloth as elders to somebody, we always try to thank them for their faith in God’s healing power. They are looking to god, know that He is going to intervene in their lives. That is a reward, in itself.
God says “ to call the elders of the Church” because He wants this petition to be done in a proper and formal way as described in JAMES 5:14. The elder says a prayer, which is in effect bringing a petition directly to our loving Father, as the person has requested. The anointed cloth that is sent along represent the faithful prayer. There is no power in the cloth, there is no power in the olive oil, but it is God who heals, and that is according to our faith.
MATTHEW 9:29
WE know very clearly that faith I sone of the things that is considered when it comes to healing.
People sometimes get confused on the matter of faith, in association with the healing process, and they will say, I really, really with all my strength believe that I am going to be healed. This is not the kind of faith that Jesus Christ is speaking of here. The correct kind of faith is faith towards God and His will being done.
Do we believe that God is all powerful? Do we believe that God promises us to heal? Our faith must be toward God and His will, and what He knows is the right thing. When we pray the prayer of faith, we understand that God is going to apply the stripes of His Son Jesus Christ for healing. This healing is an additional gift that we receive, over and above Jesus selfless act of love for us, in giving His life. Jesus gave His life so that we could have our sins covered. ROMANS 5:8-9
I PETER 2:24 Because Jesus has done His part, it is a done deal, and healing is positively assured.
Peter was quoting ISAIAH when he said “by whose stripes ye were healed. “
ISAIAH 53:5
Jesus death paid for our sins [ that would have been enough – but He went further and suffered so that we would be healed. By Christ’s suffering, wounds, and bruises, we have healing.
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Our past guilt is removed, and our past sins are covered, when we are redeemed and justified by the precious blood that He, Jesus Christ shed. Some think that Jesus did it all and we do not have a part in it. But really brethren, we have a huge part in it. We cannot hate, despise, or reject any of the saints as that behavior defines not discerning the Lord’s Body. We are told that we are to discern the Lord’s body and that is what we are talking about here with this healing process. Hating someone defines not discerning the Lord’s body. We are obligated to extend our love, our care, and our realm of fellowship, to include all, especially those who have the earnest of God’s Holy Spirit (GALATIANS 6:10)
Paul characterized our self-examination as a priority. He said that we must be properly discerning the Lord’s body.
The minister, elder, having him pray and not it is all on God’s back. Some surmise, “If something does not happen, then God is not coming through” This is totally not true. We hear many times that God is not healing people today. Also, not true. I’ll touch on that in a few minutes.
What we need to do first brethren is absolutely grasp the definition of the Lord’s Body from the Bible itself.
The Body of Christ is the Church of God. The concept of Christ’s Body, being composed of all Church brethren, interaction and unity with God’s children.
If we, who are called of God, do not possess a genuine devotion and Godly tenderness for all the brethren, we diminish the sacrifice of Christ, and we will suffer sickness and death
(I CORINTHIANS 11:30) God is not going to come and heal us despite ourselves. If we want to be undesirable people, and live our lives in vile hatred of others, we cannot ask God to come in and be part of that, with an anointing – and heal us.
“He bore our sins in His own body on the stake, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: In other words, Jesus suffered so that we could be considered righteous. In God’s eyes we are imputed with the righteous of Jesus Christ and with His stripes we are healed. (ISAIAH 53:1-5,
I PETER 2:24)
It is good that you have chosen to exercise faith in God and follow His instructions in asking for prayer for your healing, according to the Scriptures.
Now, when a minister or an elder is unable to visit and perform an anointing in person, we follow the Biblical example of Apostle Paul. Paul understood that some of these things, like anointing, are pictures of a greater reality. The reality is taking place in our minds and hearts brethren, and in God’s mind and heart. It is not happening with the oil, or the cloth – they have no power. Please notice that it is God who works the miracle of healing, not any physical thing we do.
ACTS 19:11-12
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Notice that it was God that did it. It was a common occurrence. Paul did not do this once, but as a matter of course. As we do today, he sent out an anointed cloth.
There are things God does and there are things that we do. Please take care of yourself and do everything you can to receive the best physical care that you can obtain. God does expect us to do our part to look after our health.
Brethren, as a side bar this brings me to a situation years ago that I witnessed as a younger adult in the church. There was a couple who were relatively new in the church and had been attending only about a little over two years. They had three beautiful children and were very enthusiastic and wanting to learn more about the Word of God and His way of life. Unfortunately, suddenly one of their daughters became deathly sick in what was called an adhesion at the time in where the bowel kinks. These adhesions can cause a bowel obstruction, blockage and strangulation. It is usually a condition in which bodily tissues that are normal separate grow together. This condition basically shuts down everything and the process of digestion is shut down, that including the blood supply and nerve supply to the bowel and everything else. Basically, the bowel begins to die, and it turns gangrenous. Gangrene is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a mas of body tissue dies.
At the time in the church, brethren were told that hospitals and going to the doctor were not necessary and the poor couple did not understand or were led to believe that the principle I just mentioned earlier to do what we can physically for ourselves is important. The teaching at that time, which was totally ludicrous in my opinion was that we must put it totally in God’s hands. So, the couple waited and everyone prayer and fasted over the situation as instructed by the ministry. The daughter could not eat for over a week and was losing weight and became totally dehydrated. She became comatose.
With the situation being so severe, the couple went to the ministry at the time and pleaded with them that there must be something that they could do. She was just lying there dying in front of them. She needed intervention and some relief from the condition she had. The ministry turned their backs on the couple and washed their hands of it, stepping back because they were not supposed to challenge or get in trouble with so called Headquarters in the Church’s teaching. They were to hold the company line and not counsel any other way.
The couple was devastated and were feeling very depressed and thinking they were lacking the faith required. They were told by the ministry to step back and watch their daughter die even though they knew there were things that could be done. They knew the medical profession had procedures that could correct the situation. It came to a breaking point and the couple decided at that point that they would bring the daughter to emergency and at that time, it was a real scene from the show ER if you have every seen that show. It was considered life threatening and after numerous tests and so forth the medical team took out a large section of her gangrenous bowel. After the operation, for two weeks it was not known if she would survive or not. There was concern she would never be able to have children and she ended up missing school for a year.
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Well, she did survive, and she married, with four healthy beautiful children. Brethren, why did I relay this. Well God is a merciful and He is loving and He of course in the One who does the healing. But the couple did what they could for themselves and learned that no matter what they decided to do physically, they are only physical remedies and the whole time they were asking God to intervene on their behalf along with so many other brethren in a much Higher perfect miraculous spiritual way.
ISAIAH 55:8 - Our loving Father knows our needs before we ask. The couple going through that trial in their lives early in the Church teach us all a lot of things. They felt helpless and they had to rely on God. It teaches us the compassion and understanding that we must have and that is the way we should always counsel with others whether it be the ministry, elders or towards each other.
Many brethren might consider what the couple did as lacking total faith in God and that the couple should have believed that the daughter would be healed, and that God would work a miracle with them as a couple unwilling to lift a finger. God acts before and when we do not know how to act. God’s Spirit knows the answer even when we do not know the question (ROMANS 8:26)
Brethren, when asking for an anointing cloth, we must not wait for the mailman to deliver the cloth. When one asks for the anointing cloth, God hears immediately, and it is in the Spiritual realm. God begins to answer prayer as soon as we ask Him. But He does want us to ask. It is a very powerful thing to get God involved. It is not a matter of putting you head on the pillow and saying “God heal me. “God wants it to be formal – that is why we are instructed to call on the elders. It is formal because God is involved. Always, lets think of that when we are looking at an anointing.
The oil on the anointed cloth is a symbol of God’s Holy Spirit and as such, represents His healing power. The Bible puts no limits on how many times you can go to God and ask to be healed. There are those that say because Paul asked God three times to be healed and God did not intervene, that is a limit. That is hog wash, pardon the expression. You can go to God a thousand times and beseech God to intervene. Ask for anointing again every time that you know something new, every time there is a change in a condition or every time there comes a new condition in your life. You can always cry out to God as many times as you want brethren.
We must understand when God is going to intervene, when God is going to heal and when God is going to be actively involved in a miraculous powerful way in the healing process. It is on God’s time.
I JOHN 3:22
Brethren, it is a must a prerequisite that we must be doing these things with all our might and with all of our heart. We must have a relationship with God and be reconciled to God to even be able to talk to God.
It’s not like a drunk at a bar saying, Oh God make me sober. God is not going to make him sober.
I JOHN 5:14
So, it must be in accordance with the will of God. When somebody gets to be 98 years old and their body is riddled with cancer and they have had a good life, and God is ready to take them, we pray “Father whatever your will is.”
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Verse 15 – That is our faith, that God is going to answer the petition – that God is going to do the healing and God is going to do the work.
David shows us the attitude that is necessary when we go to God for healing.
PSALMS 35:13
We must go to God, heartfelt prayer and fasting, for situations as well.
In Christ’s day, rubbing a little oil on the face and head was a sign of being neat, tidy well=groomed and well kempt. When one arrived from a long journey, sometimes the host would wash your face and oil your head. It’s a little like the treatment you would get at a barbershop with some after shave and lotion.
LUKE 7:46
Why do I bring this up? Because we are talking about anointing. Anointing is not just for healing but is for other things as well. This particular anointing referred to be a prophetic sign that Jesus was about to His life for all mankind.
MARK 14:8
Jesus counted that anointing of his fee as a prelude to His death and being anointed. There are other scriptures that show that they came and anointed Jesus body with the good smelling spices.
Brethren, with this said, we must be careful not to get carried away as there was in the past about special healing oils. It was stated that if you get the right kind of oils like that used in the scriptures, they were much better oils to use than olive oil. It is of the pagan world to get caught up in those kinds of thins and think that certain oils have some special kind of power. Let us not go off on these tangent brethren as many times people are mislead and get this bizarre idea. Let’s think to the Spiritual and look to God, no one else – the olive oil that we use in anointing is only symbolic – but it is symbolic of God’s spiritual power of healing.
God instituted and established anointing for us to see His direct intervention in our live and because H was us to look to Him. The reason that Do tells us to bring a formal petition to Him, through the ordained elders is because an anointing for the sick represents God’s direct intervention in our lives. That is why we tend to kneel down if possible when anointing someone. We are coming in the presence of God and we are bringing Him into the equation. It is on the level of miracles, because that is what it is. Don’t let people tell you that God does not formally intervene when we are ill. Some people suggest that there are no healings today. That is total blindness and a lack of faith brethren. I believe it is blasphemous when you are denying God’s power and involvement. If in some persons life there is not healing taking place, and he knows of none, there may be a reason for it. The problem may be on that person’s end, not on God’s end. We draw near to God and He will draw near to us, that is a promise.
So, brethren from a Biblical perspective there is a whole lot to be known about anointing. To anoint means to make something sacred., to consecrate someone for healing or an office or religious service. Anointing is used in all kinds of ways.
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We see Christ is the Anointed One. He was anointed by the Father. Christ comes from the Greek – Christos meaning the “Anointed One “The Messiah is anointed to rule over all the earth and rule over the Kingdom of God. To be the Christ, or the Messiah is to be the Anointed One, chosen of God. Jesus is the only anointed Messiah, the soon coming Christ of the millennium.
In the OT we find the prophecy of Christ the Anointed One.
ISAIAH 61:1
This anointing consecrate Jesus to perform His two-fold coming. Jesus Christ came two thousand plus years ago and He is about to come again. The first coming was His earthly ministry for there and a half year and the second will be His one-thousand-year reign on the earth in the Millennium
Jesus Christ quote these words that He inspired Isaiah to write:
LUKE 4:18-19
Did God the Father use some olive oil, before the world was created, to anoint Jesus? Do we understand that the oil that we use today is an outward token of God’s Spirit in action, in power, and in force?
When God the Father appointed, anointed, and consecrated Jesus Christ to be the ruler, the King of kings during the Millennial reign, He did not take some oil and anoint Him like we do at a healing.
HEBREWS 1:8-9
When God the Father was anointing Jesus Christ, there was a spiritual ceremony taking place and we must understand that brethren.
ACTS 4:26
I want you to pick up on the fact that God the Father anointed Jesus Christ.
ACTS 10:38 – God anointed Jesus Christ with Holy Spirit and with power. I point that out because a lot of times people very simply say The Spirit of God is the power of God. They do not look into the Spirit of God anymore that that. God’s Spirit is so much more than that. It is the mind of God, the love of God and His compassion, His mercy, His forgiveness His wisdom and it is very good and spiritual characteristic of God.
Jesus Christ was anointed with Holy Spirit and with power.
So, brethren, here is an incredible thing that many times we overlook. In the same way that Jesus was anointed to perform His duties, we, too are anointed with a special calling.
We are begotten by God the Father’s Spirit and it makes us his children, with His Spirit just as Jesus became the Son of God.
The Spirit of God is the earnest, and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
II CORINTHIANS 1:21
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Who is it that has anointed Paul and us? It is God the Father.
II CORINTHIANS 1:22
Brethren, we are established in Christ, and we are members of the Body of Christ. God the Father has anointed us just as He anointed Jesus. He has sealed us as His children. The Father has given us the pledge of His Spirit.
John put is this way in I JOHN 1:20
Anointing is something very special and important. Anointing is the prescribed procedure for performing a number of divine functions:
Due to lack of time, you can go through many scriptures covering this topic of anointing. We know that
Kings were anointed; prophets are consecrated and anointed. I SAMUEL 15:1; I KINGS 19:16
The pillar stone was anointed by Jacob GENESIS 31:13
The sons of Aaron and the priests were anointed and consecrated. EXODUS 28:41; EXODUS 29:7
Holy bread was anointed. – EXODUS 29:2
The altar, and the sin offering bullock, was anointed. EXODUS 40:10; EXODUS 29:36
The Tabernacle of the congregation and everything in it was anointed. EXODUS 40:9
The Ark of the Covenant was anointed. EXODUS 30:26
King David was anointed more than once. I SAMUEL 16:13; II SAMUEL 2:4; II SAMUEL 5:3
Jesus was anointed for burial. MARK 16:1
The Two Witnesses - ZECHARIAH 4:3, 11-14
Brethren in closing, when we are baptized with the laying on of hands, we receive the promise of the Father, which is God’s Holy Spirit in us.
We use anointing in our lives to point us to God, so that we might know that we have been anointed by God the Father for a special calling, to be His children, to be healed, to be whole for all eternity and to be with Jesus Christ and rule in the Millennium, Kingdom of God.
There is so much to understand about this relationship we have with God, and God’s direct intervention in each and every anointing.
FEBRUARY 8, 2020
WHY ANOINTING?
Greetings brethren, today I thought I would like to cover a topic that we are all mostly aware of but just wanting to rehearse a few things about anointings and the importance and implications of what anointing actually is and what does it involve for each one of us in our Christian walk with God.
We know from all the prayer requests and so forth that many among us brethren are sick from time to time and have many ailments, some of them chronic that we are dealing with on a daily basis.
While we pray for these brethren and wish them a speedy and full recovery, it does not always happen in the time frame we would like or prefer – and for some, not even in this lifetime. But our faith is that our well-being is according to God’s will and that the ultimate healing is sure and positive. We must always keep that in mind brethren, whatever the circumstances may be.
The all-encompassing blessing is to know that God wants no one to perish and would have everyone live a more abundant life. JOHN 10:10
What does anoint me? It means to make sacred, or to consecrate for office or religious service. The anointing is done with the laying on of hands and the application of the oil, according to God’s instructions. HEBREWS 6:2; JAMES 5:14
II PETER 3:9 – We know that God is not willing that any should perish. That is not talking about just in the physical life, but that is talking about in God’s eternal realm. God gave His only begotten Son, so that we could all eventually be saved. Unfortunately, Satan does his dirty work and there are those who will not follow in sincerity and truth the things that God would have us do. There is a weeding out process that is going on right now brethren and we are a part of that scenario. God’s desire is that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
JOHN 10:10
So, I ask the question, why do we not always receive healing quickly? What is our part in the healing process? Our part in the healing process is a great deal.
I thought with all that is going on with many of us in our aging years and otherwise , it might be encouraging to look into this subject about anointing, and the many aspects that are mentioned in the scriptures that tell us about different kinds of anointing, and extension that take off from anointing.
Anointing is not always exactly as we picture it in the church. In the Church of God, when we think of anointing, we usually think of a phone call or email message to the minister. Or maybe we will catch a minister, elder as a special service or at Sabbath Services and stay that we would like to be anointed. We generally don’t think of it too much past that. The elder, minister will say a prayer and we pray, and we hope that God will answer. We look at it most of the time from our perspective and that is many times the only way we think of anointing. We think only of the prayer of faith for the sick.
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Here let us review the instructions from God:
JAMES 5:14
If that was the only kind of anointing that there was, we could simply say just anointing him and you would not have to mention with oil, as it would be known. WE say that Jesus Christ anointed the blind man with the mud that he had made from the spittle. And the verse says, “anointing his eyes “
Verse 15
We see that God is doing the healing here. This word anointing is aleipho in the Greek, and it means anointing or to anoint. AS we go through this subject of anointing, we will find often that there is a laying on of hands associated with anointing with oil and healing. HEBREWS 6:2; LUKE 4:40 Now there is no mention of oil here. It just mentions that Jesus Christ laid His hands on every one of them and they were healed. We associate anointing a great deal with the healing process, but we will see that anointing is for other things besides healing.
LUKE 13:10-12
This is a beautiful story, and we will see some more of them, showing that Jesus Christ is the healing God.
MARK 6:4 – In other words, when you go home you are not going to have the respect and the honor, even if you are a prophet of God, that you would somewhere else. He was not even recoginzied by His family as the Prophet that He was. Verse 5
Jesus could not work mighty miracles there. He is Jesus Christ the Son of God and He should be able to go anywhere and work mighty miracles. What is this telling us brethren? He is telling us that because of the attitude of the people, the attitude of unbelief, that Jesus Christ was unable to work any great miracles. Read on verse 5
Just as a sidebar here brethren. In the past in our church history and I think you may be able to relate. somewhat that in some church organizations or individuals would not pray for somebody that was not in the Church of God or not within their organization. Is that Christian brethren? Is that right? If someone asks prayers for their parents, or their sister, the elder would ask if they were in the church, It might be said well we can say a private prayer for them but we are not going to mention it to anyone else. Here is the challenge to that attitude: Go through the entire scriptures and try to find one single place where Jesus Christ ever healed a converted person. Yet Jesus Christ laid His hands upon a few sick folks, and He healed them. Everywhere that He went He cast out demons and He removed all manner of sickness.
MARK 6:6
They lacked faith. Brethren, if you saw someone bowed over, and Jesus made her stand up straight, you would have to say that is something very important and unique going on there.
VERSE 7, 12-13 So Jesus Christ gave this gift to the disciples. They could not begin to go out and heal anybody of their own power because they did not have it. The power comes from God and no one else.
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LUKE 10:33-34; 35 A man beaten to the pulp
It is right and proper that we should always do what we are able to do in the physical realm. Sometimes, in God’s Church, we run into the concept that some people hold that God is going to heal them, but they do not have to lift one finger to get out of the rain or the cold, or to stop what they are doing that is causing them to be sick.
Brethren, we have our part to do. So, we see that the good Samaritan poured in oil and wine. The oil keeps the flesh supple and soft. The wine acted like an antiseptic and cleaned the wound.
We can now start to understand what is going on in the physical realm about healing. Keep these two realms separate. There is the physical healing and the spiritual healing, and we like for those to come together. When we send an anointed cloth as elders to somebody, we always try to thank them for their faith in God’s healing power. They are looking to god, know that He is going to intervene in their lives. That is a reward, in itself.
God says “ to call the elders of the Church” because He wants this petition to be done in a proper and formal way as described in JAMES 5:14. The elder says a prayer, which is in effect bringing a petition directly to our loving Father, as the person has requested. The anointed cloth that is sent along represent the faithful prayer. There is no power in the cloth, there is no power in the olive oil, but it is God who heals, and that is according to our faith.
MATTHEW 9:29
WE know very clearly that faith I sone of the things that is considered when it comes to healing.
People sometimes get confused on the matter of faith, in association with the healing process, and they will say, I really, really with all my strength believe that I am going to be healed. This is not the kind of faith that Jesus Christ is speaking of here. The correct kind of faith is faith towards God and His will being done.
Do we believe that God is all powerful? Do we believe that God promises us to heal? Our faith must be toward God and His will, and what He knows is the right thing. When we pray the prayer of faith, we understand that God is going to apply the stripes of His Son Jesus Christ for healing. This healing is an additional gift that we receive, over and above Jesus selfless act of love for us, in giving His life. Jesus gave His life so that we could have our sins covered. ROMANS 5:8-9
I PETER 2:24 Because Jesus has done His part, it is a done deal, and healing is positively assured.
Peter was quoting ISAIAH when he said “by whose stripes ye were healed. “
ISAIAH 53:5
Jesus death paid for our sins [ that would have been enough – but He went further and suffered so that we would be healed. By Christ’s suffering, wounds, and bruises, we have healing.
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Our past guilt is removed, and our past sins are covered, when we are redeemed and justified by the precious blood that He, Jesus Christ shed. Some think that Jesus did it all and we do not have a part in it. But really brethren, we have a huge part in it. We cannot hate, despise, or reject any of the saints as that behavior defines not discerning the Lord’s Body. We are told that we are to discern the Lord’s body and that is what we are talking about here with this healing process. Hating someone defines not discerning the Lord’s body. We are obligated to extend our love, our care, and our realm of fellowship, to include all, especially those who have the earnest of God’s Holy Spirit (GALATIANS 6:10)
Paul characterized our self-examination as a priority. He said that we must be properly discerning the Lord’s body.
The minister, elder, having him pray and not it is all on God’s back. Some surmise, “If something does not happen, then God is not coming through” This is totally not true. We hear many times that God is not healing people today. Also, not true. I’ll touch on that in a few minutes.
What we need to do first brethren is absolutely grasp the definition of the Lord’s Body from the Bible itself.
The Body of Christ is the Church of God. The concept of Christ’s Body, being composed of all Church brethren, interaction and unity with God’s children.
If we, who are called of God, do not possess a genuine devotion and Godly tenderness for all the brethren, we diminish the sacrifice of Christ, and we will suffer sickness and death
(I CORINTHIANS 11:30) God is not going to come and heal us despite ourselves. If we want to be undesirable people, and live our lives in vile hatred of others, we cannot ask God to come in and be part of that, with an anointing – and heal us.
“He bore our sins in His own body on the stake, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: In other words, Jesus suffered so that we could be considered righteous. In God’s eyes we are imputed with the righteous of Jesus Christ and with His stripes we are healed. (ISAIAH 53:1-5,
I PETER 2:24)
It is good that you have chosen to exercise faith in God and follow His instructions in asking for prayer for your healing, according to the Scriptures.
Now, when a minister or an elder is unable to visit and perform an anointing in person, we follow the Biblical example of Apostle Paul. Paul understood that some of these things, like anointing, are pictures of a greater reality. The reality is taking place in our minds and hearts brethren, and in God’s mind and heart. It is not happening with the oil, or the cloth – they have no power. Please notice that it is God who works the miracle of healing, not any physical thing we do.
ACTS 19:11-12
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Notice that it was God that did it. It was a common occurrence. Paul did not do this once, but as a matter of course. As we do today, he sent out an anointed cloth.
There are things God does and there are things that we do. Please take care of yourself and do everything you can to receive the best physical care that you can obtain. God does expect us to do our part to look after our health.
Brethren, as a side bar this brings me to a situation years ago that I witnessed as a younger adult in the church. There was a couple who were relatively new in the church and had been attending only about a little over two years. They had three beautiful children and were very enthusiastic and wanting to learn more about the Word of God and His way of life. Unfortunately, suddenly one of their daughters became deathly sick in what was called an adhesion at the time in where the bowel kinks. These adhesions can cause a bowel obstruction, blockage and strangulation. It is usually a condition in which bodily tissues that are normal separate grow together. This condition basically shuts down everything and the process of digestion is shut down, that including the blood supply and nerve supply to the bowel and everything else. Basically, the bowel begins to die, and it turns gangrenous. Gangrene is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a mas of body tissue dies.
At the time in the church, brethren were told that hospitals and going to the doctor were not necessary and the poor couple did not understand or were led to believe that the principle I just mentioned earlier to do what we can physically for ourselves is important. The teaching at that time, which was totally ludicrous in my opinion was that we must put it totally in God’s hands. So, the couple waited and everyone prayer and fasted over the situation as instructed by the ministry. The daughter could not eat for over a week and was losing weight and became totally dehydrated. She became comatose.
With the situation being so severe, the couple went to the ministry at the time and pleaded with them that there must be something that they could do. She was just lying there dying in front of them. She needed intervention and some relief from the condition she had. The ministry turned their backs on the couple and washed their hands of it, stepping back because they were not supposed to challenge or get in trouble with so called Headquarters in the Church’s teaching. They were to hold the company line and not counsel any other way.
The couple was devastated and were feeling very depressed and thinking they were lacking the faith required. They were told by the ministry to step back and watch their daughter die even though they knew there were things that could be done. They knew the medical profession had procedures that could correct the situation. It came to a breaking point and the couple decided at that point that they would bring the daughter to emergency and at that time, it was a real scene from the show ER if you have every seen that show. It was considered life threatening and after numerous tests and so forth the medical team took out a large section of her gangrenous bowel. After the operation, for two weeks it was not known if she would survive or not. There was concern she would never be able to have children and she ended up missing school for a year.
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Well, she did survive, and she married, with four healthy beautiful children. Brethren, why did I relay this. Well God is a merciful and He is loving and He of course in the One who does the healing. But the couple did what they could for themselves and learned that no matter what they decided to do physically, they are only physical remedies and the whole time they were asking God to intervene on their behalf along with so many other brethren in a much Higher perfect miraculous spiritual way.
ISAIAH 55:8 - Our loving Father knows our needs before we ask. The couple going through that trial in their lives early in the Church teach us all a lot of things. They felt helpless and they had to rely on God. It teaches us the compassion and understanding that we must have and that is the way we should always counsel with others whether it be the ministry, elders or towards each other.
Many brethren might consider what the couple did as lacking total faith in God and that the couple should have believed that the daughter would be healed, and that God would work a miracle with them as a couple unwilling to lift a finger. God acts before and when we do not know how to act. God’s Spirit knows the answer even when we do not know the question (ROMANS 8:26)
Brethren, when asking for an anointing cloth, we must not wait for the mailman to deliver the cloth. When one asks for the anointing cloth, God hears immediately, and it is in the Spiritual realm. God begins to answer prayer as soon as we ask Him. But He does want us to ask. It is a very powerful thing to get God involved. It is not a matter of putting you head on the pillow and saying “God heal me. “God wants it to be formal – that is why we are instructed to call on the elders. It is formal because God is involved. Always, lets think of that when we are looking at an anointing.
The oil on the anointed cloth is a symbol of God’s Holy Spirit and as such, represents His healing power. The Bible puts no limits on how many times you can go to God and ask to be healed. There are those that say because Paul asked God three times to be healed and God did not intervene, that is a limit. That is hog wash, pardon the expression. You can go to God a thousand times and beseech God to intervene. Ask for anointing again every time that you know something new, every time there is a change in a condition or every time there comes a new condition in your life. You can always cry out to God as many times as you want brethren.
We must understand when God is going to intervene, when God is going to heal and when God is going to be actively involved in a miraculous powerful way in the healing process. It is on God’s time.
I JOHN 3:22
Brethren, it is a must a prerequisite that we must be doing these things with all our might and with all of our heart. We must have a relationship with God and be reconciled to God to even be able to talk to God.
It’s not like a drunk at a bar saying, Oh God make me sober. God is not going to make him sober.
I JOHN 5:14
So, it must be in accordance with the will of God. When somebody gets to be 98 years old and their body is riddled with cancer and they have had a good life, and God is ready to take them, we pray “Father whatever your will is.”
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Verse 15 – That is our faith, that God is going to answer the petition – that God is going to do the healing and God is going to do the work.
David shows us the attitude that is necessary when we go to God for healing.
PSALMS 35:13
We must go to God, heartfelt prayer and fasting, for situations as well.
In Christ’s day, rubbing a little oil on the face and head was a sign of being neat, tidy well=groomed and well kempt. When one arrived from a long journey, sometimes the host would wash your face and oil your head. It’s a little like the treatment you would get at a barbershop with some after shave and lotion.
LUKE 7:46
Why do I bring this up? Because we are talking about anointing. Anointing is not just for healing but is for other things as well. This particular anointing referred to be a prophetic sign that Jesus was about to His life for all mankind.
MARK 14:8
Jesus counted that anointing of his fee as a prelude to His death and being anointed. There are other scriptures that show that they came and anointed Jesus body with the good smelling spices.
Brethren, with this said, we must be careful not to get carried away as there was in the past about special healing oils. It was stated that if you get the right kind of oils like that used in the scriptures, they were much better oils to use than olive oil. It is of the pagan world to get caught up in those kinds of thins and think that certain oils have some special kind of power. Let us not go off on these tangent brethren as many times people are mislead and get this bizarre idea. Let’s think to the Spiritual and look to God, no one else – the olive oil that we use in anointing is only symbolic – but it is symbolic of God’s spiritual power of healing.
God instituted and established anointing for us to see His direct intervention in our live and because H was us to look to Him. The reason that Do tells us to bring a formal petition to Him, through the ordained elders is because an anointing for the sick represents God’s direct intervention in our lives. That is why we tend to kneel down if possible when anointing someone. We are coming in the presence of God and we are bringing Him into the equation. It is on the level of miracles, because that is what it is. Don’t let people tell you that God does not formally intervene when we are ill. Some people suggest that there are no healings today. That is total blindness and a lack of faith brethren. I believe it is blasphemous when you are denying God’s power and involvement. If in some persons life there is not healing taking place, and he knows of none, there may be a reason for it. The problem may be on that person’s end, not on God’s end. We draw near to God and He will draw near to us, that is a promise.
So, brethren from a Biblical perspective there is a whole lot to be known about anointing. To anoint means to make something sacred., to consecrate someone for healing or an office or religious service. Anointing is used in all kinds of ways.
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We see Christ is the Anointed One. He was anointed by the Father. Christ comes from the Greek – Christos meaning the “Anointed One “The Messiah is anointed to rule over all the earth and rule over the Kingdom of God. To be the Christ, or the Messiah is to be the Anointed One, chosen of God. Jesus is the only anointed Messiah, the soon coming Christ of the millennium.
In the OT we find the prophecy of Christ the Anointed One.
ISAIAH 61:1
This anointing consecrate Jesus to perform His two-fold coming. Jesus Christ came two thousand plus years ago and He is about to come again. The first coming was His earthly ministry for there and a half year and the second will be His one-thousand-year reign on the earth in the Millennium
Jesus Christ quote these words that He inspired Isaiah to write:
LUKE 4:18-19
Did God the Father use some olive oil, before the world was created, to anoint Jesus? Do we understand that the oil that we use today is an outward token of God’s Spirit in action, in power, and in force?
When God the Father appointed, anointed, and consecrated Jesus Christ to be the ruler, the King of kings during the Millennial reign, He did not take some oil and anoint Him like we do at a healing.
HEBREWS 1:8-9
When God the Father was anointing Jesus Christ, there was a spiritual ceremony taking place and we must understand that brethren.
ACTS 4:26
I want you to pick up on the fact that God the Father anointed Jesus Christ.
ACTS 10:38 – God anointed Jesus Christ with Holy Spirit and with power. I point that out because a lot of times people very simply say The Spirit of God is the power of God. They do not look into the Spirit of God anymore that that. God’s Spirit is so much more than that. It is the mind of God, the love of God and His compassion, His mercy, His forgiveness His wisdom and it is very good and spiritual characteristic of God.
Jesus Christ was anointed with Holy Spirit and with power.
So, brethren, here is an incredible thing that many times we overlook. In the same way that Jesus was anointed to perform His duties, we, too are anointed with a special calling.
We are begotten by God the Father’s Spirit and it makes us his children, with His Spirit just as Jesus became the Son of God.
The Spirit of God is the earnest, and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
II CORINTHIANS 1:21
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Who is it that has anointed Paul and us? It is God the Father.
II CORINTHIANS 1:22
Brethren, we are established in Christ, and we are members of the Body of Christ. God the Father has anointed us just as He anointed Jesus. He has sealed us as His children. The Father has given us the pledge of His Spirit.
John put is this way in I JOHN 1:20
Anointing is something very special and important. Anointing is the prescribed procedure for performing a number of divine functions:
Due to lack of time, you can go through many scriptures covering this topic of anointing. We know that
Kings were anointed; prophets are consecrated and anointed. I SAMUEL 15:1; I KINGS 19:16
The pillar stone was anointed by Jacob GENESIS 31:13
The sons of Aaron and the priests were anointed and consecrated. EXODUS 28:41; EXODUS 29:7
Holy bread was anointed. – EXODUS 29:2
The altar, and the sin offering bullock, was anointed. EXODUS 40:10; EXODUS 29:36
The Tabernacle of the congregation and everything in it was anointed. EXODUS 40:9
The Ark of the Covenant was anointed. EXODUS 30:26
King David was anointed more than once. I SAMUEL 16:13; II SAMUEL 2:4; II SAMUEL 5:3
Jesus was anointed for burial. MARK 16:1
The Two Witnesses - ZECHARIAH 4:3, 11-14
Brethren in closing, when we are baptized with the laying on of hands, we receive the promise of the Father, which is God’s Holy Spirit in us.
We use anointing in our lives to point us to God, so that we might know that we have been anointed by God the Father for a special calling, to be His children, to be healed, to be whole for all eternity and to be with Jesus Christ and rule in the Millennium, Kingdom of God.
There is so much to understand about this relationship we have with God, and God’s direct intervention in each and every anointing.
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