In the New Testament age, Holy Spirit is the carrier of the Glory and the anointing of God. Believers have to daily hunger and thirst for the infilling of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to empower all believers.
Acts 1 and verses 8
But you shall receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Just as God authorized His own Son, He authorizes you and I to perform His will by anointing us with the Holy Spirit.
We have been adopted into the royal family of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
1 Peter 2 v 9
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, his own special people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
What does a king do? He rules and reigns over his kingdom. God has anointed you and I to rule and reign. When? Not in the future, but now, here on earth.
According to Acts 1 v 8, we are empowered by the Holy Ghost to be witnesses for Jesus.
1 John 2 v 20, “You have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things”
1 John 2 v 27, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him”.
While the Savior repeatedly told His disciples during the evening before His death that He would be going away from them for a time, He also reassured them that He was not abandoning them. He told them, “I will not leave you comfortless” (John 14:18).
John 16:13 13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:26)
In today’s verse, Paul clearly explains why we need the Holy Spirit’s help when we pray. We need the Spirit’s intercession because, left to ourselves, we are too weak. Due to our pride, we may not like to admit that we really don’t know as much as we think we do. In fact, Paul reveals that too often we don’t even know what or how to pray.
Not only are we weak in knowledge, but the burdens of life are too much to bear alone. In this life, believers face trials, temptations, and persecutions (John 16:33; 2 Timothy 3:12). Jesus told His followers that the world would hate them, so we shouldn’t be surprised when we face opposition for Christ’s sake (John 15:19). Even without the added persecutions, life is difficult because we live in a sin-cursed world (Genesis 3:17–19).
On our own, we struggle even to cry out to God for help. So, like the disciples of Jesus, we have to ask, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Thankfully, God has given us His Holy Spirit as a Helper who “will teach you all things” (John 14:26). And when we don’t know how we should pray, “the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Thanks to the help of the Holy Spirit and our Savior’s sacrifice, we can come boldly in prayer before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). The Apostle Paul summarized it well: “For through [Christ] we [all] have access by one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18). May we continually pray in the Spirit, as Scripture commands:
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18, NIV)
Here are some reasons why there might be a blockage to the Holy Spirit infilling and the increase of the anointing in a believer’s life
- Doubt or intellectual pride. In the 1960s a journalist named John Sherrill decided to write a book discrediting the phenomenon of speaking in tongues. But after he interviewed countless people about this experience, his doubts were shattered, and he was baptized in the Holy Spirit himself. His book, “They Speak With Other Tongues”, became a Christian classic. Spiritual experiences cannot be figured out with the mind. To receive the Spirit’s infilling you must let go of your intellectual arguments and display childlike faith (see Matt. 18:2-4).
- Religious tradition. I read about an Episcopal priest who was filled with the Holy Spirit in the 1970s in New York City. He was excited about the new vitality he felt in his faith—and thrilled that his wife had experienced a physical healing. But when he shared his testimony with his bishop, he was told he was crazy! And the bishop referred him to a psychiatrist! Religious people who are locked into “the way we’ve always done it” find it hard to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit. You must be willing to break free from tradition.
- Fear of the supernatural. Some Christians grew up in denominations that taught against the infilling of the Holy Spirit. They were told that Pentecostals are all fanatics who go into trances, speak mindless gibberish and swing from chandeliers. Actually, the first disciples in the New Testament spoke in tongues and experienced miracles—yet their faith was not strange. It should be the norm! People who are afraid of God’s supernatural power will struggle to receive it.
- Unconfessed sin. This is mainly so especially when a believer has a call of God in their life, but they continue in sin or rebellion against God. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit can be “quenched” as well as “grieved” (1 Thess. 5:19; Eph. 4:30). Because He is so holy, our sinful habits and attitudes can cause Him to withdraw. This is why it’s so important for us to walk in constant communion with God, and to be willing to repent quickly when we know we have sinned. Some people “stuff” their secret sins in the closets of their hearts. If you want to be filled with the Spirit, you must be willing to open those closets and invite the light of God’s holiness into every dark corner of your life.
- Emotional wounds. Some people are just too burdened with emotional baggage to be filled with the Spirit. Some have been abused, and rejected by others, weighted down by anxiety and others grieved or depressed. The are spiritually wounded. They need healing first. Like Lazarus on the day he was raised from the dead, they are bound by the grave clothes of the past, and they need to be unwrapped before they can experience God’s full anointing (see John 11:44). Healing is often needed before a person can receive the blessing of Holy Spirit baptism.
- An unyielded spirit. You cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit if you are full of yourself. Some people are too willful. They have not surrendered their plans, finances, relationships or time to God. They have their lives planned out and they don’t want God interrupting their agendas. Yet God is looking to fill hearts that have been emptied and surrendered. Only the fully yielded can experience the fullness of His power.
Other hinderances to the anointing
Proverbs 6:16-18 – These six things doth the LORD hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
- A proud look,
- A lying tongue,
- Hands that shed innocent blood,
- Heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
- The feet that be swift in running to mischief,
- A false witness that speaketh lies, and
- He that soweth discord among brethren.”
If you have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or if the flow of the Spirit has been blocked in your life, empty your heart today and prepare for your own personal Pentecost.
Foundational Keys to experience the Power of God’s Anointing
- submit under the covering of anointed ministry
- develop an honest prayer life
- get a fresh infilling of the Spirit every day
- learn to yield to the Holy Spirit
- fellowship with the Holy Spirit
- be consistent
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