At our last family gathering, as I prepared to teach families about what it means to be anointed, I asked them who had ever been anointed by oil. Most of the children and adults raised their hands. But when I asked who really knew what it meant to be anointed – no one answered. The reality is, within the church we uphold certain traditions because it is simply what has always been done. Our assumptions and lack of discipleship about why we do what we do have yielded a religious and powerless church. Whether it is raising our hands, singing, dancing, praying in the spirit, clapping, or being anointed with oil – if we can’t answer why we do what we do as we worship and serve the Lord then the result will be of no effect. We are just wasting our time. God is not interested in rituals and ceremonies of the Old Testament law and the tradition of men. He is interested in our worship in spirit and in truth.
It is my deepest passion in ministry to teach both children and parents the eternal significance, impact, and power that true worship in spirit and in truth brings to their lives. Today I want to do that by revealing to you the significance of the anointing oil, both in the natural and in the supernatural.
You have heard me say over and over again: “God always uses things in the natural to teach us about things in the supernatural.” The anointing oil is no different. When you have a clear understanding what natural oil does, then you can apply it to the supernatural realm. Most who are reading this will know what oil is in the natural and most have used some form of it in one way or another. I am reminded of several principals of oil:
- Oil is an agent of ChangeA.When oil comes into contact with something it leaves an oily residue and that residue is difficult to get off.B.This residue changes the very nature and characteristic of how that object will function and react to things. (That is why you use cooking oil in the kitchen).
- Oil is an agent of separationA.Oil does not mix well with other liquids. (Try putting dirty water in a bottle with oil and mix it up. Soon you will see the two layers separate).B.When we place oil in a cake pan and pour cake mix inside of it, the oil separates the cake mix from the surrounding environment of the pan.
- C.Oil makes it difficult for anything else to stick to that object.
Now let’s look inside the pages of the Bible and find where we can begin to apply these principals to spiritual things. The very first act of anointing anything with oil is found with Jacob. In Genesis 28:1, Jacob falls asleep on a stone only to encounter a dream or vision of angels coming down and going up from heaven. He is so moved by what he sees that he gets up the next day and anoints the stone with oil and calls the place the “House of God.” Now interestingly enough, Jacob somehow got it in his head to do this even though this was way before God began to instruct His children to make anointing oil and use it in the wilderness. What was Jacob thinking? Why was He compelled to use oil on this stone?
Applying the principals of oil we can easily imply that Jacob anointed the stone with oil to change its very characteristics and
purpose. The stone was not just any stone anymore. It didn’t simply function as a stone in the dirt – it was a place to encounter God. The oil on that rock also made it difficult for the environment of dirt that surrounded it to contaminate and stick to it. The stone became holy or set apart; sanctified for God’s purposes.
But oil was not just used to anoint things in the Bible, but people too. The very first people we see anointed with oil in the Bible are Aaron and his sons as priests unto God. Priests were a called out and separated people who did not have the same function and calling as all the others. The very character and nature of a priest was to serve and worship God 24/7. They were a holy people. Now, you might know where I am going with this as we move into the New Testament. In 1 Peter 2:4 it says, “And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ”. In this scripture we are both called to be the living stone like Jacob’s stone and the priest like Aaron and his sons. We were made to have anointing oil all over us! You can find many examples in the Bible of how people were anointed with oil, but I believe this scripture breaks it down the best. The anointing oil calls us to become the living stone, a holy and sanctified house of God as well as the Priest or the one called to worship and serve Jesus 24/7.
So when you are invited to be anointed with oil, declare these things over your life. But we must remember this also: anointing oil has no power in and of itself. It is only a representation of something far greater in the spirit; the Holy Spirit. Oil cannot change who you are, how we function, and how sanctified and holy we become. This job can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit. The very purpose of the anointing of the Holy Spirit is to do what oil does in the natural – set us apart from the world we live in, change how we function in this world, change what our calling is, and to keep us holy and sanctified. Not only does the oil of the Holy Spirit change us, when we touch others we transfer our oil to them. Our anointing has the ability to be transferred to our children, family, and others around us!
In order to get the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we must do what we have to do in the natural…rub up against Him. When we spend time with the Holy Spirit in worship, the residue of His oil saturates us and changes who we are. We must spend time with Him! And we must do it as often as we can. Remember the wise and foolish virgins? We must keep our lamps filled with the oil of His presence or we will find ourselves dim and without light before Jesus comes back.
Get the oil, get the oil, get the oil! It will change your life!
Family Act of Worship
Bake a cake and explain the principals of oil as you do. Then spend some time sharing stories in the Bible where anointing oil was used while reflecting on the characteristics of oil. Finally, as you worship turn to 1 Peter 2:4 and charge your family with this scripture as you anoint them with oil.
Author: Alicia White, KIMI Ohio