LEADING AND ANOINTING OF THE SPIRIT

 This is an anxiety-laden topic. Many verses inform us that we are led or guided by the Spirit, like “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). Likewise, Psalm 23 promises that “He guides me in paths of righteousness.”  Although these promises are comforting, they also raise the uncomfortable question, “How can I be sure that I am being led by the Spirit?”

Most of us understand that He guides us through the Word:

·       Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2; Proverbs 3:5-6)

Others would add that in order to understand the Word, we must practice it:

·       But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

However, there are many decisions that Scripture does not fully address:

·       What career or job should I pursue?

·       What ministry should I get involved in?

·       Who should I marry?

The list is endless and also stress-producing. It should not be surprising that views vary. Here are three:

1.    POPULAR: This view emphasizes that God has a plan for our lives, and we need to discover it through Bible study, circumstances, Spirit promptings, and sage advice. However, this view still leaves us with the uncertainty that perhaps we haven’t heart the Spirit correctly and are taking ourselves out of His will.

2.    CHARISMATIC/PENTECOSTAL: This view is very similar to the first. However, it also includes seeking God’s leading through supernatural leadings, gifts of the Spirit, words of knowledge, and even dream analysis.

3.    PROVIDENTIAL: This view is substantially different from the first two, even though it affirms many of the same truths. First, it emphasizes the fact that God has a detailed plan for our lives:

·       Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (Matthew 10:28-30)

Jesus not only claimed that God knows the number of hairs on our head; He has even ordained them, along with the number of days we will live (Psalm 139:16). Consequently, even the deeds that we are to perform have been decided:

·       For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10)

This Providential View also stresses the fact that we don’t have to discover God’s plan for our lives or His leading, since He seldom reveals it to us. Instead, we can have confidence that God is still able to guide us infallibly by His Spirit.

Admittedly, this doesn’t make complete sense. After all, how could God possibly be guiding us as we are making our freewill decisions! It seems impossible that the two could possibly go together. However, they do! God guides our footsteps all the time, even when we are unaware of it:

·       In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

·       A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way? (Proverbs 20:24)

Here is something even more amazing about our God. He is able to infallibly direct those who don’t even want His guidance:

·       The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. (Proverbs 21:1)

There are just so many examples of our Lord bringing heathen nations to just the right place and at just the right time to accomplish His will. If He can do this with those who don’t want Him, how much more can He guide those who are His friends and are seeking His guidance!

This is not only biblical, but this understanding also enables us to trust God and to get our attention off ourselves and our doubts about discerning the Spirit’s leading. Instead, knowing that God is fully able to lead us, even without our being aware of this, gives us peace.

Before, I understood this, I had been thoroughly obsessed with whether or not I was truly hearing God and following His leading. Now, through the truths of Scripture, I have found rest:

·       Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7)

Meanwhile, there are others who are unbiblically confident about the leading or “anointing of the Spirit.” They claim that we if are led by the Spirit, we do not need Scripture, teachers, pastors, or any other assistance. Gnostic/New Age/Emergent “Christians” fall into this error, claiming that they have the truth within them and, therefore, do not need the Scriptures. They often appeal to this verse:

·       I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.  As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him. (1 John 2:26-27)

Some mistakenly conclude that if we are anointed by the Spirit, we will not “need anyone to teach” us anything. Therefore, we do not need teachers, pastors, or even the Bible. However, if this were so, there would be absolutely no reason for John to write to those having this anointing. Instead, he wrote:

·       That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3)

·       My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)

·       I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

If their anointing teaches them “about all things,” why then would John even bother to write to them? Instead, he claimed that listening to the Apostles was a necessary indication that they are of the truth:

·       Whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. (1 John 4:6)

If the anointing of the Spirit alone was adequate, why then would there be any need to “listen to us!” Instead, some could retort, “I have the Spirit. I don’t need to listen to you!”

Instead, the entire New Testament has affirmed the need for teaching, even among the anointed. Therefore, new believers sat under the teachings of the Apostles:

• And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. (Acts 2:42-43)

Evidently, Christ believed that teachers were necessary:

·       So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Eph. 4:11-13)

If the anointing had been enough, there would have been no need for teachers. However, the Spirit has gifted us variably for the up-building of His Church.

Instead, the anointing worked in conjunction with Scripture and Apostolic teaching. Without this anointing by the Spirit, Scripture was useless. The natural man would remain hardened against it:

·       But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor. 2:14)

·       “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)

Without the work of the Spirit and His anointing, Israel continually resisted the Word of God. The Jews had Scripture. However, without the Spirit’s work, the things of God would remain foolishness to them:

·       But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains un-lifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:14-18)

Israel not only needed the Gospel; they also needed to have minds unveiled by the Spirit. Consequently, Paul wrote about the ministry of the Word as a twofold phenomenon. It is both the product of Apostolic writing/teaching and the Spirit:

·       You are our letter…clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. (2 Cor. 3:2-3)

As a result, the anointed became the epistle of two agents – the ministry of the Apostles and of the Spirit. Both agents were necessary. No one could therefore say, “Well, I have the anointing and, therefore, don’t need Paul and his writings.”

The reality of this joint ministry is reflected in many ways. Paul wrote:

·       Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. (2 Timothy 2:7)

What Paul had written was not enough. Instead, the Lord also played a necessary role to provide illumination or understanding (and even the inspiration of his writings). The Spirit’s anointing was necessary, but it didn’t work apart from Scripture.

Without the anointing of the Spirit, we remain blind to Scripture:

·       The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4-6)

It is the anointing of the Spirit that illuminates Scripture for us, implanting it upon our hearts. In John’s church, all had the Hebrew Scriptures and the Apostolic teachings. However, all did not have the anointing:

·       They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. (1 John 2:19-20)

Without the anointing, we remain in darkness. With the anointing, we “have knowledge” through the Word of God. This is why we must continue to meditate on His Word both day and night (Psalm 1; Joshua 1:8).

IS THE HOLY SPIRIT A DISTINCT PERSON OF THE TRINITY

The cults insist that the Holy Spirit is just a mere impersonal force, but the Scriptural evidence shows us otherwise:

·       ACT 13:2 - As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Impersonal forces do not have intelligence and do not speak. The Spirit intercedes for us according to His superior wisdom. Impersonal forces like the wind do not have wisdom:

·       ROM 8:26 – 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 groaning which cannot be uttered.

To intercede, the Spirit must be a distinct Person. It doesn’t make any sense that God would intercede with Himself.

Jesus referred to the Spirit as ANOTHER Helper. That suggests that He is distinct from the Father and the Son:

·       JOH 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever –

·       JOH 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

“Spirit” (“pneuma” – Greek) is neuter, while “He” (referring to the Spirit) is clearly not. Of course, this is a masculine pronoun and, ordinarily, it is grammatically incorrect to be associated with a neuter noun. Instead, “pneuma” should take the neuter pronoun “it.” However, the writers of the NT opted to be theologically correct and grammatically incorrect to demonstrate that the Spirit is a Person and not an “it.”

The Spirit has His own authority. Impersonal forces do not:

·       JOH 16:7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you…16:13-14 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.

·       1 Cor. 12:11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

This doctrine is not a NT invention. Instead, we find that the Spirit as a distinct Person even in the OT:
 

·       Isaiah 63:9-11 In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit…Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them,

·       2 Samuel 23:1-2 Now these are the last words of David: The oracle of David, the son of Jesse, the oracle of the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel: “The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue.”

·       Ezekiel 11:5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the LORD: So you think, O house of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind.

The Spirit sends, speaks, and is rebelled against. We cannot rebel against an impersonal force, as we cannot rebel against the wind:

·       Ezekiel 2:1-3  And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.”

PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT

The Spirit has emotions. Impersonal forces do not:

·       Ephes. 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 

The Spirit is vulnerable to offense. Impersonal forces are not

·       Acts 5:3-4 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God [the Spirit]."

·       Acts 7:51 "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.

·       Hebrews 10:29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

·       Matthew 12:31-32 "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”

Yet the cults call us “liars” and “deceivers” for maintaining this. They also claim that we have borrowed this doctrine from paganism. I hope that the above evidence will put such charges to rest.

THE SECRET OF PRAYER

Actually, there is no secret about prayer. Instead, God lays out His concerns rather clearly in Scripture. However, for us, prayer might seem confusing. We therefore ask:

·       What does God want from us in prayer? Hours? Fervent emotions? The expectation that we will receive what we are asking for? Confidence? Asking according to God’s will?

If we look at the life of Jesus, many of these questions can be resolved. For one thing, Jesus spent many hours in prayer, sometimes the entire night:

·       One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. (Luke 6:12; NIV; Matthew 14:22)

However, I think that there was something even more significant than the length of time about Jesus’ prayers. He was heard by the Father because His prayers were the product of His humble submission:

·       During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. (Hebrews 5:7-8)

These two verses are highly informative. Somehow, His “reverent submission” was the product of suffering. As a human, He too had to be taught by the strict taskmaster of suffering. If this was true for Jesus, it is especially true for us. We too must learn humble submission through suffering.

There was also fervency in His prayer – “cries and tears.” These didn’t have to be artificially manufactured. They were a byproduct of two things – the understanding that He had to rely exclusively on the Father and suffering.

However, He was heard, not because of His tears but because of His “reverent submission.” He was continually about His Father’s business:

·       "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34)

·       So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." (John 8:28-29)

Jesus taught us that we had to seek God above all else:

·       But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)

However, for Jesus, it wasn’t just about seeking God above everything else; it was about seeking Him exclusively. No wonder all things were given to Him in prayer. He also knew to ask according to the will of the Father.

But don’t worry that you have to first reach a high degree of spiritual maturity for your prayers to be heard. Our Lord knows how to take care of us babes:

·       In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. (Romans 8:26-27)

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