FireSide Chat

Dear Teresa

How can I get a greater level of anointing on my prophetic words?

- Wanting More

Dear Wanting More,

There are different levels of anointing that we can minister in, and the level is relative to each of us. It varies a bit from time to time, and I like to think of it as:

• regular anointing - the level of anointing we usually operate in.
• weaker anointing - a lower level of anointing than what we usually operate in.
• stronger anointing - a higher level of anointing than what we usually operate in.
• very strong anointing - a much higher level of anointing than we usually operate in, something that we consider beyond the level we operate at.

Most of the time we operate at a given level of anointing, but we will have our "bad days" (weaker anointing) and our "good days" (stronger anointing). The goal, of course, is for the "regular anointing" that we operate in to continuously increase. E.g., the level of anointing that is normal for us should keep getting stronger and stronger as we grow in the Lord and as we mature in our gifting.

Let me give you an example of this growth. When you first start giving prophetic words, you may find that people's responses is simply a polite "thank you," and there doesn't appear to be a great deal of power in the word that you are releasing to impact the person's life. But as you grow and increase in the prophetic, you notice that people are getting blessed by your words. Then you grow some more, and they are not just getting blessed; they are relating strongly to what you prophesy, and giving you somewhat serious feedback. At some point you grow to the point where your prophetic words break the yokes of bondage off of people or cause something to spark in them to transform them--and your words have a very deep impact on people.

In short, the level of perceived anointing on the prophetic words you give increases, and the level of God's perceived presence as you minister also goes up.

We should not compare our level of anointing to another person's level because that tends towards competition and division. Instead, we should each be our own yardstick. Compare where you are at now to where you were six months ago, and to where you were a year ago. It should be stronger now than it was then. If it is the same as before, then you may have become stagnant. If it was stronger then than it is now, you are moving the wrong direction, and you need to take action to fix that.

When the level of anointing is not increasing as it should, the remedy is to press more strongly into the Lord; to pursue a deeper level of personal intimacy with Him. You may need to review your own spiritual disciplines as well--prayer time, bible study, worship practices, etc. It can be too easy to get so caught up in everyday life that we allow our personal spiritual disciplines to slip, not realizing that our relationship with the Lord is also slipping.

We cannot have anointing apart from that deep relationship with God, because the presence of the Lord is what releases the anointing. I like to think of anointing as a synonym for the tangible presence of the Lord. It is the degree to which we are able to sense God's nearness and empowerment on what we are doing. It is also the ability to sense His directions and do precisely what He is doing, similar to how the Son saw and did what the Father was doing. Anointing is not a "thing" to be obtained, it is a degree of personal relationship with God Himself; it is our ability to enter into His presence, then to carry His presence with us as we minister for Him. That is why you cannot get a higher level of anointing apart from developing a deeper personal intimacy with Him.

Assuming that your intimacy with God and spiritual disciplines are in place, God likes to invite us into a higher level of anointing from time to time. The way He usually does that is to give us a taste of what it feels like to move with Him in a much higher level than we are used to. The taste usually only lasts for a short while. God intends it as an invitation; He gives us a taste of it so that we begin to pursue Him to allow us to enter into that new level on a more consistent basis. Of course, that means giving Him more of ourselves, and it means making a deeper commitment to His Lordship--obeying Him in whatever He asks because we love Him. Then He begins to ask more of us, and as we obey Him in that, we find ourselves living at the next level of anointing.

The levels are all relative. What seems "normal" to me may seen "high" (or "low") to you. But the real issue is not what is your level compared to my level. It is: what is your level today compared to what it was a while ago? Are you growing and increasing in the level? If you are not, then you have a problem. We should all be growing in our anointing and in our personal walk with God.

I would like to talk about those times when God invites us to a new level. It often happens when we don't feel adequate for the task, or when we feel weak and spent. We tend to rely more on God, sort of expecting that since we have less to offer, the level of anointing will be "weaker." But God steps in and it is amazingly stronger, and we go, "Wow!"

Those types of experiences are an invitation from God. He wants us to covet this next level of anointing; He lets us taste it so we will be hungry for it.

God likes to get us to a place where we know we can't give what is "required" so we have to depend on Him. Then as we do depend on Him, He releases a strong level of anointing. I will share an example of this in next week's fireside chat, to give you an idea of what it feels like when He does this.