Spiritual Anointing
The Spirit-In-You vs. The Spirit-On-You
Why the spirit-in-you?
When we are talking about the spirit-in-you, we are talking about God's spirit not some demonic spirit that is falsely portraying itself as God. We receive God's spirit when we are born again. It is at this time that God takes up residence in our lives. If God does not dwell in us then we are not born again nor children of God. At the time of receiving the Spirit of God we are transferred from living in satan's kingdom to living in God's. This does not mean that we will always do the right thing, but we are given the ability to do right. Everything that we will ever do and be in God will be a direct result of God's Spirit living within us.
1) Salvation
The beginning of our spiritual life is at the time of salvation. At the moment of salvation we are totally redeemed and stand perfect before God, having our sins covered by the blood of Jesus. We say by faith that we have received salvation and yet we work out this salvation on a daily basis. At the beginning of salvation we are cleansed from all immoral and unrighteous acts that we have committed. This cleansing occurs in our spirit and makes a home for the spirit of God to live in. When the Spirit of God moves into the residence of our spirit this is the beginning of the Spirit-in-us. We posses no inherent knowledge on how to live in this new position that is why we are now called babies in Christ. Those in this position have a great need to be taught and nurtured in order to grow up into a mature spiritual person. The Spirit of God begins to instruct our spirit so that our spirit may increase. This instruction will come from our own reading as well as preaching and teaching in the word. When our spirit increases it increases the amount of room the Spirit of God has to occupy, thus providing great flows of grace that will also flow from our lives to others. Satan and his demons are constantly attempting to place chains around our spirits in order to limit our growth, thus stopping the flow of grace to others.
2) Adoption as a Son
As we grow up under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, we come to realize that we are not worshiping and serving a God who is untouchable but a loving Father. A Father who provided to us as sons the ability to come into His presence anytime we want. We are able to barge right into the Holy of Holies without fear or ceremony. Even as a father's young child will run up and jump into their father’s lap, so we can do the same. Not only can we do the same but God wants us to love him this way. If we boil the scriptures down to a single concept, the main concept from Genesis to Revelation is: God desires us to have a deeper relationship with Him. All that He has done is for this very purpose. God is our Father and we are His children.
Women may feel uncomfortable with being called a son. There are valid reasons why we are called sons of God not sons and daughters. In the Old Testament only the sons received an inheritance. While the first born son (first fruit) received a double portion of the inheritance as well as the blessing. GAL 4:5 in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. In Romans we read, ROM 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. If we are sons then we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. This means that we have complete access to all that God has because we are His sons. The first born, Jesus, is an inheritor of a double portion but we are fellow heirs right along side of Him. If we can grasp this concept we would live our lives in victory every day. Thank God that we are sons and are eligible to share in the inheritance.
3) Eternal life
While all humans will exist for eternity, not all will partake of eternal life. We only have two choices when it comes to our eternal existence, spending eternity with God in heavenly places or in the lake of fire with the devil and his angels. This is what the Bible has to say about the lake of fire and some of our destinies: REV 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. And also, REV 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The sad fact is that there is only one book of life and several books containing the names of those who are not in the book of life (Revelation 20:12).
For those of us who are partaking in the Spirit of God (His spirit living in us) we are receiving eternal life right now. This eternal life we receive comes through His spirit into our spirit. It is through this power that we are transformed from vile and ungodly people into holy and righteous ones. The inward Spirit provides the Christian his greatest strength and ability to live a Godly life. The more we are aware of the eternal life we receive now the more confidence we will have in knowing that our salvation is a fact.
4) Power over sin and satan
It is through the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit that we have access to the Throne of God. Without it we would be practicing a vain religion that has no power to change our life, let alone someone else's. We drink of the Spirit's strength when we are in prayer and worship which in turn gives us power to live godly. Receiving this strength (or grace) is invaluable as an overcoming saint. Without it we live as mere men. But if we only drank fluids our whole life (I'm speaking physically) we would be frail in our body and never develop fully. So it is in the spirit. We must eat of His word as well as drinking of His spirit. When we eat of His word through our own reading and study or by listening to someone else preach, we are given wisdom and understanding as to how we are to use this power we receive. The truth is that the preached word contains it's own power to mature us. The word lays a foundation on which we can build our life. Without the word we will have NO FOUNDATION! We need a foundation of faith and truth in order for us to stand during hard times. A foundation also provides strength for securing our inherited rights in God. It is through this foundation that we come into a revelation of who we are and what we are called to be.
Jesus said, JOH 6:53 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. What is the flesh and blood? The first chapter of the gospel of John says that Jesus is the word and that the word became flesh. So the flesh of Jesus is His word. So when we read and mediate on the scriptures we are actually eating of the reality of who Jesus is. In the gospel of Matthew we read "MAT 4:4 It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" Power and life are imbedded in the words of the bible. If we mix faith with what we read we will see the reality of God.
What about the blood? We have to go to the Old Testament for this answer. GEN 9:3 "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. 9:4 "Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And in Deuteronomy, 12:23 "Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. So we see that the blood is the life. The flesh of Jesus is His word and the blood is His life. But how are to drink of His life? What is his life? JOH 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 2CO 3:6 ... but the Spirit gives life. According to these scriptures the spirit is Jesus' life. If we are to grow we must eat His flesh by reading and studying His word and drink his blood by receiving His Spirit when we pray, praise, worship and read his word.
If we just feast on the word and not drink of His spirit we will not be able to sustain our spiritual life. It is no different in the physical world. We could not live eating food and drinking no liquids as well as vice versa. We may exist for a short period of time but would soon die from maladies. Our physical bodies require many minerals and vitamins, proteins and carbohydrates, and water for a healthy life. Our spirit requires many things for it to grow healthy and strong as well.
It is in the increasing of spiritual strength that gives us victory over sin and satan. Maturity in the inward man of the spirit equips us to posses any part that is or was underneath satan's control. When our spirit is enlarging it allows greater flows of God's Spirit, which will displace sin and satan. The displacing of sin and satan occurs as we exercise our will and stand on the word. We must not be deceived on this point, as long as we desire for any sin to remain in our lives, God is powerless to drive it out. If we desire to get rid of sin in our life, all we must do is war against it according to Romans chapters 6-8 and in a short time we will see freedom.
Maturity should be the goal of all Christians. When talking about maturity we are not saying that length of time in Christ is an accurate measurement of maturity. There are many people who have been in Christ for 30, 40 and 50 years who remain infants. This may not be totally their fault seeing that religious spirits have run rampant in the twentieth century church.
Maturity cannot be obtained by the inward dwelling of God's Spirit alone. Even though the Spirit-in-us is more important than the Spirit-on-us we need both to fully comprehend all that God wants us to know and do. When these two anointings work together we have power to break yokes (Spirit-on-us) as well as spiritually heal, strengthen, encourage, save, and share our life with those who need a spiritual transfusion (Spirit-in-us). This brings us to the Spirit-on-us.
