Be Anointed with Fresh Oil

As we have seen in my previous messaged, in the Old Testament, men were set apart or consecrated to the sacred offices of prophet, priest, and king by the anointing oil. Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit. The anointng with oil symbolizes that the Holy Spirit would come upon men or women to anoint them to stand in a particular office.

In the New Testament all believers are made kings and priests:

"To Him (Jesus) who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (Rev. 1:5, 6, NKJV, emphasis added).

"And has made us kings and priest to your God; and we shall reign on the earth" (Rev. 5:10).

Romans 5:17 tells us that we are now reigning and ruling through Jesus as kings and priests:

"For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (Emphasis added).

Therefore, just like the kings and priests in the Old Testament, we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to reign as priests and kings. Not only we need to be anointed, we also need to be anointed with flesh oil.

The psalmist said, "But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil" (Ps. 92:10, NKJV, emphasis added".

Horn and wild ox are symbols of great strength or power. Therefore the anointing with fresh oil enables us to reign with power. It is reasonble to assume that the psalmist had already been anointed previously with oil. He couldn't very well be anointed with fresh oil, unless he had already been anointed with oil some time before.

An important Biblical principle is revealed here. After a person is born again, there should be an initial infilling with the Holy Spirit, but then there should be many refillings of the Holy Spirit or many flesh anointing in his Christian walk.

Full Reservoirs and not Empty Cisterns

The Lord said, "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).


God was saying that His people (both Israel and the Church) left God's plan and made their own plans. And because their own plans were man-made, they could not prosper. Believers need to be anointed with fresh oil in order that they might continually follow and fulfill God's plan for their individual lives. God wants His people to continually receive a fresh anointing so that they would not be empty cisterns. And God has made provision for all believers to be full reservoirs at all times, even in the midst of tests and trials. Continually receiving a fresh anointing will enable God's people to be full reservoirs to His glory.


God wants our reservoirs to be continually filled with two things:


1. Full of His Word


It is the will of God that all Christians be filled with His Word to the full.


Paul said, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16, emphasis added).


In what manner the Word of Christ should dwell in us? The Word is to dwell in us richly and in all wisdom. We need wisdom to know how to rightly divide the Word of God (Please refer to my previous message - "Rightly dividing the Word of Truth") so that we can apply it correctly in our lives. Many Christians, including Pastors and professional Bible teachers, abuse the Word by taking it out of context and saying things that God doesn't say.


2. Full of the Spirit


To be full of the Spirit means to be fervant in Spirit.


Paul said, "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer" (Romans 12:10 - 12, NKJV, emphasis added).


No one can be fervent in Spirit without first being filled with the Holy Spirit continually. it is interesting to discover that other translations read: "Be aglow with the Spirit" (RSV); "Be aglow and burning with the Spirit" (The Amplified Bible).


To be fervent in Spirit, or to be on fire with the Spirit, or to be aglow with the Spirit involves both your spirit and the Holy Spirit. It is God's will for you to maintain the glow of the Spirit, but unless you were filled up to overflowing with the Spirit you cannot maintain the spiritual glow of the Spirit. and it means you have to be anointed with fresh oil to be aglow with the Spirit.


Characteristics of those with a Fresh Anointing


Many Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians failed to understand that there is one initial infilling of the Holy Spirit in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but they cannot be full reservoirs without numerous refillings or numerous anointing with fresh oil.


This becomes clear if you listen to what Paul said to the believers in Ephesus:


"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18, NKJV, emphasis added).


Paul was writing to born-again, Spirit-filled Christians. They had already received the baptism of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts 19:1 - 6. By saying to them, "Be filled with the Spirit", Paul was telling them to maintain a constant experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit - by being anointed with flesh oil.


Let us now consider the results of being anointed with fresh oil and the characteristics of those who maintain a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit in their lives. let us study a few verses in Ephesians 5:


"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God" (Eph. 5:18 - 21, NKJV, emphasis added).


1. Speaking supernaturally to one another and to the Lord


Speaking supernaturally is speaking by the unction of the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, other than speaking in tongues, you can also speak to one another supernaturally in psalms, hymn, and spiritual songs by the unction of the Holy Spirit.


When the Scripture talks about psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, it is not referring to singing songs out of a songbook. It is talking about a supernatural utterance given by the Spirit of prophecy. Psalm, hymns and spiritual songs are given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit at the spur of the moment; they are not learned or rehearsed. Notice these are prophetic utterances and we must not to be confused this with that of the ministry of a prophet.


There is a parallel Scripture which gives us some further revelation on speaking in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord:


"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16, emphasis added).

We are to minister to one another, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.


2. Giving thanks to God for all things


The Scripture does not admonish us to give thanks if it suits us, but to give thanks for all things. This does not mean that we are to thank God for what the Devil is doing. But in the midst of every circumstance, no matter what it is, we can thank God for His goodness. We can thank God that we have another opportunity to believe Him and trust Him. We can thank God that we have another opportunity to exercise our faith and see His faithfulness and righteousness being performed on our behalf.


"Give thanks to God for all things" means, in every circumstance maintain a heart that is full of thanksgiving and praise to God. you should give thanks and praises to God even if no one ever recognizes you in the Church; even no one ever notices you or no one asks you to do anything in the Church. No matter what happens, maintain a thankful attitude.


3. Submitting to One Another in the Fear of God


To submit to one another means to give in to one another. It certainly does not mean that you rule over one another. It means that you give in to one another but that you are not hardheaded and stubborn and always demanding your own way. Submitting means giving in to one another in a spirit of love and meekness. Sometimes it might be better to just keep your mouth shut and not say anything, even if you do have the right to have something to say in the matter.


Submission indicates a broken and humble spirit. Christians are to learn to submit to one another in the fear of God. It is easy when you are constantly filled with fresh oil to submit to the other fellow in the fear of God.


Wrong concept of submission


Paul said, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord" (Eph. 5:22).


The above does not mean the husband should tell the wife what to do and rules over her. When the Bible talks about submission in the marriage relationship, it is not talking about the husband ruling over his wife with an iron fist, so to speak, any more than it is talking about believers ruling over one another. Biblical submission is referring to Christians getting along with one another by submitting to each other in love. We are to maintain a teachable, humble spirit, and walk in love toward one another.


The danger of the non-submitting attitude


In the body of Christ, if someone comes to you and says: "I'm right and you've better listen to me. you can't tell me anything because I know it all and I can tell you a thing or two!" For a Christian to have an attitude like that is extremely dangerous. God may just have something He wants to get across to the person with the wrong attitude through someone else in the body of Christ (or in the Local Church). With an attitude of not submitting himself to anyone, this person is liable to wind up dying prematurely, or sick or with all sorts of infirmities. Spiritually, he is similarly judged as taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner.


Paul said, "For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep (die). For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged" (1 Cor. 11:29 - 31, emphasis added).


The word "discerning" comes from the Greek word "diakrino" which means "rightly judging". Therefore, "not discerning the Lord's body" literally means, "not rightly judging other members of the body of Christ". In other words, this believer is presumptuous and does not recognize the unity and function of the body of Christ - the Church.


Having and maintaining a Teachable Spirit


A teachable spirit is a submissive spirit. I don't mean you should accept someone's ideas or someone's opinion blindly, without checking with the Scripture first. What I mean is that if someone brings me light and revelation from the Word of God, I will receive it, an I will be ready to walk in the light of God's Word.


A person, someone who is born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, without a teachable spirit, comes along, and when you bring the truth of God's Word to him, he will be offended. Christians ought to have a teachable spirit. By not having a teachable spirit, we can miss many blessings that God has for us. When people have the right spirit, they do not mind the least bit in the world for being corrected. It is true that we need to be careful to correct people in the right way - in a spirit of love and gentleness.


Paul said, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess. 5:21).


He also said, "Let all things be done decently and in order" (1 Cor. 14:14).


We are to submit to one another in the fear of God and not be un-teachable with one another.