The anointing the Bible is talking about here is the manifest power of the Holy Spirit. We can learn an important principle regarding how the anointing works by following the ministry of Jesus. For instance, in Mark 5 we see an illustration of the healing anointing in demonstration in the case of the woman with the issue of blood.
Mark 5:25-34, "And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but
his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And
Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said
unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the
woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague."
There are two pivotal words in the account of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. Those words are “virtue” and “faith.” The Greek word “virtue” is translated dunamis or miraculous power.
Jesus knowing immediately that virtue or power had gone out of him, looked around and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” Then Jesus turned around and saw who
had touched Him, and said to the woman, “...Daughter, THY FAITH hath made thee whole...” (Mark 5:34).
Some people say, “I thought that the power that flowed out of Jesus - the healing anointing - made that woman whole! But Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you whole.”
Why did Jesus say that?
A professor at a well known university said, “In discussing Bible truths, very often it is like climbing a mountain. You climb up one side and you see one view. You climb up the other side of the mountain and you see another view, but it is the same
mountain. Which view is right? It depends upon which side of the mountain you’re looking at.”
Bible truth is that way too. From one view point, it was healing virtue coming from Jesus that effected the healing in the woman’s body. On the other hand, it
was her faith that received her healing because it was only when her faith activated the healing anointing that it broke the yoke of bondage - the sickness in her body.
When Jesus asked, “Who touched my clothes?” the disciples said to Jesus, “...thou seest
the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou who touched me?” (Mark 5:31). In other words, they were saying, “How can you ask who touched you when
so many people touched you?”
You know yourself if you were in a crowd of people when everyone was pressing in upon you, you would get touched on every side. But the power of God isn’t
activated by just the incidental touch.
I’m sure there were many who reached through the crowd and touched Jesus out of curiosity to see if anything would happen, and nothing did. The power of God also isn’t activated by curious touch. No, Jesus said,
“Daughter, THY FAITH hath made thee whole...” (Mark 5:34). It’s the touch of faith that releases
the power of God to flow!!
We know Jesus was anointed with power, because Acts 10:38 says, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. . .” Then
we also read where Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me . . .” (Luke 4:18). In that same passage, Jesus said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:21). In other words, Jesus was saying, “I AM ANOINTED!”
So we know Jesus was anointed or empowered by the Holy Spirit, yet most of the time He didn’t heal people by the anointing alone. For the most part, the other
person’s faith was also involved.
As you read the four Gospels carefully, not one time will you find where Jesus ever said to anyone,
“According to My faith be it done unto you.” Not one
single time did Jesus say to anyone, “According to the apostles’ faith be it done unto you.” But as we saw in this account of the woman with the issue of blood, again and again Jesus said, “According to your faith be it done unto you” (Matthew 8:13; 9:29; 15:28; Mark 10:52).
We need to realize that God is present everywhere. Because He is present everywhere, so is His power. His power may not be in manifestation, but it is
there.
Why doesn’t God’s power come into manifestation in every circumstance to heal every sick person? It doesn’t for one simple reason that it takes someone
exercising faith to release or activate the power or anointing. You see, the power of God is inactive, passive, or inert until faith is exercised. But once God’s power is activated, it will break every
yoke.
This same principle of activating a power source applies in the natural realm. For instance, plugging a fan into an electrical outlet on a hot summer day
activates the power of electricity and causes the fan to cool the air.
However, if no one plugs in the fan, the fan won’t work and the
room
stays hot. In that
same case, the power of electricity is present and available to
cool the
room, but it isn’t
being utilized or activated. In order to tap into the power and
cool
the room, someone
has to plug in the fan!
You can imagine how strange it would be for someone to say, “I
have a
fan to cool this
room. It’s not plugged in, but I’m just waiting for the
electricity to
make this fan work!”
That fan is not going to work until someone plugs it in! The
electricity is already there;
someone just needs to tap into it to activate it. It is the
same with
healing. We just need
to tap into the power of God that is already available and
activate it
by faith in His Word!
When faith is mixed with the power of God, the anointing breaks
every
yoke!
If people only realized it, there is enough power - more than
enough
power - in every sick
room to heal anyone who needs healing. We can see an example of
this in
Jesus’ ministry
in Luke 5.
Luke 5:17, "And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was
teaching,
that there
were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were
come out of
every town
of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord
was
present to
heal them."
Notice two things. First, the power of the Lord was present to
heal
people. Jesus was
anointed with that power.
Second, notice that even though the power of the Lord was
present to
heal people, it
doesn’t mention one singe person getting healed. The only
person the
Bible records being
healed in this account was the paralyzed man who was lowered
through the
roof of the
house by his four friends (Luke 5:18,19). And the Bible says
Jesus
healed that paralyzed
man because He saw their faith (Luke 5:20-25).
The faith of the four men, plus the faith of the paralyzed man,
activated the power of God
to effect a healing and a cure in the man’s body and the
paralyzed man
immediately rose
up healed!!
That’s where some Christians have missed it. They’ve though, We
don’t
have the
anointing. That’s the reason we’re not receiving from God. No,
they
had the power of
God all the time; they just didn’t mix any faith with it. They
just
didn’t know how to tap
into the power that was already available to them.
The power of God won’t do a thing in the world by itself. It’s
inactive, inert, and passive
until faith is mixed with it - until someone taps into it by
believing
and acting upon God’s
Word! You see, faith gives action to the anointing or the power
of
God. If there is no
faith to give action to the anointing, nothing will happen!
Whatever you are believing God for, mix faith with it! Exercise
your
faith and watch God
work on your behalf as His anointing breaks every yoke of
bondage!
