“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.
Foundation Scripture: Luke 4:14 -19
14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.
15And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
It is so important to have an understanding of the anointing in the day and time that we are living. Many today do not recognize the power of God. They wouldn’t recognize the anointing if it slapped them in the head!
When I was a child growing up, there was not much information on the subject of the anointing. There had been more teaching from the standpoint of the Old Testament – about the anointing oil, the make up of the oil, etc. As far as the Church goes, I think that there has been a limited understanding of the anointing and the administration of that anointing, from the New Testament standpoint.
We have to realize that the anointing has absolutely nothing to do with the natural world and the natural mind. The anointing is God’s presence. That alone, puts the anointing in the classification of the realm of God. This means that you cannot put God on paper or try to work Him out with your carnal mind. The things of God have to be understood with the heart of man. The word “anointing” many times has been used very glibly. It has become a cliché, used without any understanding of what it really is or what its purpose is.
People often say, “Oh, the anointing is here,” but when you ask them how they know, they reply, “Well, it’s just here.” They don’t know any more than that. If it is happening in the realm of the Spirit, then it will be manifested in the natural realm. You will feel it and see it. People may say that a singer, who sings very well, is anointed, but a good voice alone, is not at all the same thing as the anointing.
Many people, including ministers, do not recognize the anointing when it is present – the anointing is the presence of God, manifested. They don’t recognize the tangible presence of God. They have difficulty comprehending how a personal Father God can touch His people with His presence, in a tangible way. This is evident to me, especially when I begin to pray for people. There are times that I will call those who sense His presence upon them to come forward for prayer. Some people come to the front, but you can see that they have no anointing on them. Others sit in their seats, trembling under the power of God, not realizing that God was touching their life, maybe because they have never felt His presence before. When I finally pick them out of the crowd and call them forward, and I tell them the power of God is all over them, they say, “Oh, is that what this is?”
What Is the Anointing?
The anointing is not some mystical something out there. The anointing is the presence and power of God manifested. We could say that the anointing is the manifest presence of God.
We need to realize that there is a vast difference between the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God. The Lord is always omnipresent, but He is not always manifesting or displaying His power everywhere. When God’s power does manifest in a way that we can see or sense, then something is going to happen. I can give you many Old Testament examples. When God created the heavens and the earth there was a visible display of His power (Genesis 1). When Moses stood in front of the burning bush there was a visible display of God’s power. Moses took off His shoes (Acts 7:30-34). When a band of men from the chief priest and elders came to capture Jesus, He said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They said, “We seek Jesus of Nazareth.” He said, “I am He!” As soon as He said to them, “I am He,” they went over backwards and fell to the ground (John 18:16).
When Jesus rose from the dead, the keepers of the tomb fell as dead men (Matthew 28:4). When Saul of Tarsus was on the Damascus road, a great light shone from heaven and he fell to the ground, hearing Jesus saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:1-5). John on the Isle of Patmos – when Jesus appeared to him – fell at His feet as dead. (Revelations 1:9-17). We read in Luke 5:17 that the power of the Lord was present to heal. When God walks into a person’s life, something happens, something takes place. The anointing is tangible. It can be felt. Just as electricity is tangible, so the anointing is tangible. This is not about man meeting man, but about man coming into contact with a living God – the creator of heaven and earth. This power – this anointing – was promised to us by Jesus (Acts 1:8).