Living an Anointed Life

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 Carl H. Stevens Jr. is pastor of Greater Grace
Church located in Baltimore, Maryland. Pastor
Stevens is also chancellor of Maryland Bible
College & Seminary and host of the international
Christian radio program “The Grace Hour.” This
booklet was created from a message preached by
Pastor Stevens.
Pastor Stevens can be seen weekly on cable
television stations throughout the United States.
Call us for information regarding programming in
your area.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from

the King James Version. Italics for emphasis are ours.

GRACE PUBLICATIONS
P.O. BOX 18715
BALTIMORE, MD 21206

Printed in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

Copyright © 1999

Grace Publications is a ministry of

Greater Grace World Outreach, Inc.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
THE POWER OF GODLINESS

Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
THE IMPORTANCE OF MANIFESTING THE
ANOINTING

Chapter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
ANOINTING AND THE GIFT OF REPENTANCE

Chapter 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
RECEIVE GOD’S GIFTS

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

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4
 INTRODUCTION

Very sincere Christians can find themselves

doing very wrong things, even though they are
trying to do good. They are born again, washed
in the blood of Christ, but when they would do
good, evil is present with them (Romans 7:20).
Things they should not do, they do, as Paul
wrote in Romans 7. Something is lacking from
their lives: They lack an anointing.
An anointing will see a Christian through
anything he might face. We have received “an
unction from the Holy One” (1 John 2:20). Every
born-again believer has an unction, or ‘anoint-
ing’, not just selected individuals. The anointing
we have received abides in us.
We were sealed with the Holy Spirit when
we first believed (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). We were
regenerated by that same Spirit (Titus 3:5), and
He came to dwell in our bodies. This is true of
every blood-bought believer. This booklet will
show that to experience the fullness of Christ’s

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life, His anointing needs to be manifested in
everything we do. Allow the Holy Spirit to show
the anointing of Christ that is within us.

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 Chapter One
THE POWER OF GODLINESS

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know

assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
“Now when they heard this, they were
pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and
to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,
what shall we do?
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall re-
ceive the gift of the Holy [Spirit].
“For the promise is unto you, and to your
children, and to all that are afar off, even as
many as the Lord our God shall call.
“And with many other words did he testify
and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this
untoward generation.
“Then they that gladly received his word
were baptized: and the same day there were

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added unto them about three thousand souls.
“And they continued stedfastly in the apos-
tles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers.
“And fear came upon every soul: and many
wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
“And all that believed were together, and
had all things common;
“And sold their possessions and goods, and
parted them to all men, as every man had need.
“And they, continuing daily with one accord
in the temple, and breaking bread from house to
house, did eat their meat with gladness and sin-
gleness of heart,
“Praising God, and having favour with all
the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:36-47).
The Power of Pentecost
The second chapter of Acts describes one of
the most powerful events that ever occurred on
the planet. It was called “the day of Pentecost,”
when the Holy Spirit first took up residence in
born-again believers, filling them with power.
Acts 2:14 says, “…Peter, standing up with the
eleven…,” which means that all the apostles
stood in one accord. They were united because

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they were anointed by the Holy Spirit of God.
Before Pentecost, Peter and the other disci-
ples did everything in their power to be spiri-
tual, but they were not. Certainly, they walked
and talked with the Lord Jesus Christ on earth
and witnessed many miracles. They saw how
He fed the four thousand and the five thousand
(not counting women and children) with just a
few loaves and fishes. They were there when
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:40-
44) and saw Him beautifully raise the dead son
of the widow from Nain (Luke 7:14). They also
watched Him raise a twelve-year-old girl from
the dead (Luke 8:49-56). They saw Him heal the
sick of leprosy, fever, and all manner of diseases,
sending many home in amazement at His
power.
Seeing all of this, the apostles so wanted to
please Him. But they could not because they did
not have an anointing. Peter really meant it
when he told Jesus that he wanted to follow
Him anywhere. But Jesus said, “One day you
will follow Me, but you can’t do it now Peter—
in fact, before the night is over you will deny me
three times” (see John 13:36-38). In other words,
He said, “You can’t follow Me now. You haven’t
had your Cross experience. You haven’t had a

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resurrection experience in the Holy Spirit yet.
Oh, you want to follow Me, but you cannot.”
However, after Calvary and Pentecost, Peter
would follow Christ.
The disciples wanted to follow Jesus, but they
just could not do it. They didn’t want to forsake
Him when He was being crucified, but they did.
Only John came back to the foot of the cross.
Peter did not want to curse, or swear, or deny
Christ—but he did.
In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit descended, and
everything changed. The Jews were seeking a
sign, so God gave them a gift of tongues—a
supernatural expression of national languages.
(Christ also had given many other signs.) Prior
to this, the disciples had a form of godliness, but
they denied the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5).
They had a form of godliness, but they had very
little faith.
Discern and Manifest the Anointing
God said of David, “with my holy oil have I
anointed him” (Psalm 89:20). David understood
something that is a great mystery to many be-
lievers, about the position and call of other ser-
vants in God’s Kingdom. King Saul had murder
in his heart. Filled with jealousy, pride, and ar-

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rogance, he wanted to kill David and tried to kill
him.
Having had his life in danger by Saul, David
had many opportunities to kill the king, yet he
would not do it. David understood that Saul’s
anointing came from God too, and he said, “I
will not stretch forth my hand to touch God’s
anointed” (see 1 Samuel 24:10-12; 1 Samuel 26:9-
25).
How could Saul have been anointed to be
king over Israel and yet desire to murder some-
one? Because, the prophet Samuel (as a repre-
sentative of God) anointed him with oil to be a
godly king over Israel. Saul, however, did not
manifest his anointing.
Thank God for those believers who manifest
their anointing—it is one of the greatest things
the world can see. Every Christian is anointed
for as long as he lives, but the anointing needs
to be manifested.
Be Sensitive to the Anointing
Many people are gifted speakers, but to
communicate the heart of God requires some-
thing more. Knowledge and academia will not
set people free, but a godly speaker will mani-
fest the anointing through God.

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 Also, the members of the congregation need
to have an anointing to hear properly (Exodus
29:20). They need to recognize the vital role they
play in the anointing of a church service. An
anointing is very sensitive to distractions. There-
fore, when people get up and move around dur-
ing an anointed message, faith fields and
degrees of faith that could bring miracles break
down.
Every Christian must learn how to execute
the anointing in his personal and private life as a
believer-priest before God. Many would be
healed if they learned how to operate in their
anointing, and many would experience total vic-
tory by learning to manifest their anointing.
In John 20:22, Jesus breathed upon the disci-
ples in recognition of their office, but they still
did not have the power to fulfill their apostle-
ship. The change came in Acts 2, when the Spirit
of God filled the disciples. Right away they
manifested an anointing they never had before.
Souls were being saved, disciples were being
made, and men everywhere were hearing the
Gospel of grace.

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 Chapter Two
THE IMPORTANCE OF
MANIFESTING THE ANOINTING

“For this purpose the Son of Man was mani-

fested, that he might destroy the works of the
devil” (1 John 3:8).
“For we which live are alway delivered unto
death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2
Corinthians 4:11).
One of the saddest things is when people we
know and love are not able to manifest God’s
anointing. They are good people who have fol-
lowed God for years. Perhaps they have been
backsliding, but no matter what their sins are,
like Saul, they have an anointing. They are just
not able to manifest it. Others may be serving
God, yet their anointing is not manifested. But
what a difference to go out and serve God in the
manifestation of God’s Spirit!
The life of Christ has to be manifested

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through the Holy Spirit. When it is not, there are
so many problems in marriages, and many
Christians fall into lust patterns. We need to rec-
ognize that the manifestation of the anointing
through the Holy Spirit brings freedom.
“It shall come to pass in that day, that his
burden shall be taken away from off thy shoul-
der, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the
yoke shall be destroyed because of the anoint-
ing” (Isaiah 10:27). The anointing removes the
yoke of jealousy, the yoke of envy, the yoke of
insecurity, the yoke of lust, and the yoke of
pride.
A New Identity
When the anointing of God is being mani-
fested in a believer’s life, his fallen personality
dies, though he still has individuality. Jesus
Christ did everything that the Father told him to
do. He could do nothing of Himself (John 5:19,
30). He spoke when the Father told Him to
speak, and He did the Father’s works through
abiding in the Father (John 14:10-11). Referring
to believers, Jesus also told the disciples,
“greater works than these shall he do” (John
14:12). Jesus Christ was anointed of the Holy
Spirit (Acts 10:38), and every Christian can live

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in the manifestation of His anointing.
A believer will manifest an anointing when
he has gone through the Cross and on to identi-
fication with Christ’s resurrection and the fel-
lowship of His suffering. By this, he is made
conformable to Christ’s death (Philippians 3:10).
Through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, by
meekness and humility, the Christian identifies
with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection—
not just on certain days but all the time, using re-
bound after moments of failure.
As a pastor, when I prepare a message I
must enter into an anointing for that message. If
I’m going to preach on hell, I think of the people
who are suffering there today. I will consider
them and, thus, by the time I reach the pulpit, I
can hardly say a word without weeping.
Paul wept day and night for three years
(Acts 20:31). Jeremiah was called the weeping
prophet. Many words in the Greek text convey
the idea that Jesus wept often, more times than
we read in the Scriptures. Jesus wept as He
looked down from a mountain onto Jerusalem.
Why? In the Spirit, He could see that Jerusalem
once again would be taken into captivity, this
time by the Romans (which did occur in A.D.
70). He wanted to save the people from that, but

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they would not be saved. For this reason, He
wept.
Why did He weep and groan in the Spirit
after Lazarus had died (John 11)? He wept be-
cause so many people did not trust Him, and
they did not believe Him. Mary and Martha—
His dear friends—didn’t trust Him. They trusted
that He would resurrect Lazarus in the future,
but they didn’t believe Him for that to happen
there and then. All those around were crying.
And Jesus wept. With His tears He was saying,
“Why can’t they believe Me?”
The Varieties of Anointings
When a person is under an anointing, there
is diversity in his communication. If he is a pas-
tor, his preaching should not sound the same
every time. If he is a soul winner, his approach
should not be the same every time. In Isaiah
58:1, the Lord said, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up
thy voice like a trumpet….” But in Isaiah 42:1-2,
He was very quiet—sometimes even silent. His
voice could hardly be heard on the street.
During His life on earth, Jesus manifested
many different anointings. In Matthew 23, He
had an anointing of righteous indignation
against the sins of the Pharisees. Then, in John

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8:7-11, He expressed a tender anointing toward
the woman taken in adultery. Identifying with
her against her accusers, He was very tender. He
had an anointing for teaching and an anointing
to preach. Each one was different.
Just as our moods differ (in a good way), so
do God’s moods differ. God knows the heart
(1 Samuel 16:7), and His moods differ in relation
to the capacities of people He is dealing with.
Every yoke that is not of God can be destroyed
by the anointing. Therefore, we ought to sin-
cerely pray for one another for an anointing that
breaks the yoke.
The Meek Shall He Teach
Psalm 40:6 says, “Sacrifice and burnt offer-
ings thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou
opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast
thou not required.” Faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). In
Leviticus 14, to cleanse the leper, the first thing
the priest anointed with oil was the right ear.
This is because before a man could be anointed
for service or for his walk (represented by
anointing the thumb and the toe), he needed to
be anointed to listen, so he could hear from God.
Likewise, the believer starts to experience

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his anointing by being anointed when he listens.
That happens by the fruit of the Spirit called
meekness (Galatians 5:22-23; Psalm 25:9). Meek-
ness guarantees a Christian’s anointing. It means
to be God-conscious, Christ-conscious, Cross-
conscious, and Resurrection-conscious.
What a difference meekness makes! Meek-
ness takes away Adam’s personality and brings
Christ’s personality (which was the Father’s per-
sonality) into the believer’s individuality. Every
person is different and has individuality, but no
one has to live in his fallen personality. It is so
important for every believer to understand this.
When the Holy Spirit takes over, we definitely
retain individuality, but now we are Spirit-con-
trolled, Spirit-led, Word-of-God-anointed indi-
viduals.

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 Chapter Three
ANOINTING AND THE
GIFT OF REPENTANCE

When Peter spoke at Pentecost, he had an

anointing of boldness and preaching. “You
killed the Lord,” he told the crowd there in Jeru-
salem. He explained how Jesus was promised to
them through David and came to them through
the house of David. After their hearts were con-
victed, Peter skillfully brought people to a point
of decision:
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in
their hearts, and said unto Peter and to the rest
of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we
do? Then Peter saith unto them, Repent [every
one of you], and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy

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[Spirit]” (Acts 2:36-38).
Gripped by his anointed speech, the Jewish
people asked what they could do to be saved.
Peter’s answer, “Repent, every one of you,” is a
very significant phrase in the original Greek text.
It is a second-person plural in the aorist tense
and imperative mood, marked by a radical
break, or pause, before “be baptized.” (Repent is
in the active mood—the subject produces the ac-
tion. Be baptized is passive—the subject receives
the action without doing or producing the action
himself.)
In other words, Peter said, “I command you
to repent, and you will be saved.” After that, he
instructed them to “be baptized every one of
you.” This time, he spoke in the third person
singular aorist imperative. The radical break in-
dicates separate actions. Proper exegesis of this
verse reveals that repentance brings salvation; it
did not have to be connected with baptism.
Rather, baptism is something we do after salva-
tion. Do you see how important it is to rightly
divide the Word of Truth?
Change of Mind, Change of Heart
Imagine what might happen if all Christians
understood the real meaning of repentance.

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Metanoeo, translated “repent” in Acts 2:38 means
to have a change of mind and change of heart
that comes by being available to God and to re-
ceive His gift.
“[Jesus Christ] hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to
give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins”
(Acts 5:31). This verse makes it clear that repen-
tance is a gift. Also, Romans 11:29 says that “the
gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
What does that mean? Only God can change me!
Only God can change any of us. That is why
John 1:13 says salvation is “not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God.”
We need to understand what Jeremiah un-
derstood: “Turn thou me, and I shall be turned;
for thou art the LORD my God” (Jeremiah 31:18).
This weeping prophet understood repentance,
for he went on to write “Surely after that I was
turned, I repented; and after that I was in-
structed” (Jeremiah 31:19). The anointing of re-
pentance turns a man. The anointing removes
the yoke of drugs, and it removes the yoke of
lust.
I got a letter from a young man who had
been delivered from homosexuality. “If people

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only knew the change that comes to a man’s life
when he is delivered from that sin,” he wrote.
“It was a sick, horrible, ugly lifestyle, but only
God could turn me from it.” God turned this
man as he kept drawing near.
He drew near. He came to every service, took
every opportunity to hear the Word, and read
everything he could get his hands on that would
draw him to Christ. He drew near and God
turned him. After he was turned, his mind was
changed toward God’s viewpoint. Then, he
began to receive instruction on how to live. That
is how repentance works.
God Does the Turning
“Turn us, O God of our salvation,” David
wrote in Psalm 85:4.
There’s a big difference between what this
message is telling you and what some others
would tell you. Some preach that a worldwide
revival will come when people repent, and then
they tell you that repentance means that you
change your mind. The Bible says that you can-
not repent! The Bible says that God will give you
a gift to draw near. And if you keep drawing
near, God will give a gift of the Holy Spirit’s
anointing that will break any yoke and take

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away any burden from your shoulder: “...And
the yoke shall be destroyed because of the
anointing” (Isaiah 10:27).
Please understand, there is hope for everyone.
Some people come to church, get deliverance
from drugs, and then fall back. I happen to be-
lieve that they will be totally delivered one day.
Many of them are already able to stay clean
longer than ever, and some have been totally de-
livered.
I know of a couple with a great testimony.
Both of them were drug addicts, and he spent
time in jail. Ministered to by people on an out-
reach in our city, one of them prayed for salva-
tion but resisted conviction from the Word of
God. So, both of them ended up in a very low
place. But at last, they looked to God and He
turned them.
They drew near, and they received the gift of
repentance. It was a gift, and that gift destroyed
the yoke. Do you understand what happened?
They received the gift of repentance from the
Holy Spirit. Now, they come to every church ser-
vice. They continue to draw near.

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 Chapter Four
RECEIVE GOD’S GIFTS

Salvation is a gift. The Holy Spirit is a gift.

Repentance is a gift. All we have to do is receive
the gift and use it. When we have faith toward
our Lord Jesus, we bring forth fruit because we
believed. We believed in the gift of repentance,
and we brought forth fruit (Acts 20:21; 26:20).
What’s more, the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance.
Luke 13:3-5 says, “Except ye repent, ye shall
all likewise perish,” but in reading this we must
keep in mind the principle of first precept. If some-
thing in Scripture seems to be a contradiction, go
back and always accept the first precept.
Genesis 3:21 offers the first precept on re-
pentance. Adam and Eve did no works to be
saved. God killed an animal; there was a shed-
ding of blood. God removed their fig leaves,
took the skins of the animal, and clothed them. It
was God’s gift. Lamentations 3:21-26 tells us that

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repentance is a gift. Psalms 25 and 51 speak of
repentance as a gift, and Jeremiah tells us repen-
tance is a gift. Therefore, if repentance is a gift,
God can do it. I simply let God change my mind.
In Matthew 27:3, after Judas betrayed the
Lord, “…when he saw that he was condemned,
repented himself….” The word for “repented”
here is metamellomai in the Greek, and it implies
regret. Judas wept, he cried, but he did not let
God change his mind. He had a worldly sorrow
for what he had done, but he did not receive the
gift of repentance from God to be changed.
Esau, according to Hebrews 12, sought a
place for metanoeo, which is God’s gift of true re-
pentance from the heart and mind (and the emo-
tions follow). But Esau could not find it, because
he had metamellomai: He was very sorry—but it
was a worldly sorrow. He was sorry, but he
never received the gift that would change him.
As we mentioned before, Acts 2:38 (where
Peter commanded the people to repent) must
also line up with the first precept for repentance,
which is that repentance is a gift from God.
Anointed for Power
I don’t care what your yoke is or how long
you have been under it. The Word of God says

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the anointing will destroy the yoke. Believe it!
And be careful to be filled with the Spirit every
morning, noon, and night. Young people, high
schoolers, college students—any believer can be
anointed with a manifestation from God. Let
your heart and your soul be filled with the fresh
oil of God.
“But my horn shalt thou exalt...I shall be
anointed with fresh oil” (Psalm 92:10); that is,
my power has been raised up, and God will
anoint me with fresh oil. “Horn” speaks of
power. David was anointed three times with oil,
representing the fact that he had to be empow-
ered for everything he would do.
We need an anointing for the work of the
Lord. We need an anointing to pray and to win
souls. We need an anointing to be faithful to
God’s house. We need an anointing, and it is a
gift. We don’t earn it. We don’t have to merit it.
God loves us, and He has paid for all of our sins.
Salvation, just like everything from God, is a
gift. Come and receive the gift!
If you are still carrying that burden, believe
God for His deliverance. You will be delivered!
Just draw near, and God will give you the gift of
deliverance. Ask God for the manifestation of
His anointing every morning. When you are

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tempted, get on your knees, fall before God and
say, “God, give me the gift of your anointing. I
don’t want to go back to that sin.”
Receive Precise Thoughts
When you start hearing categories of doc-
trine, you are receiving precise thoughts that are
transferred by the Holy Spirit into the memory
center of your mind, now, because you are
thinking precisely with the Word of God. These
categories enter into your frame of reference to
be used by the Holy Spirit (John 14:26) as they
are needed. This is a gift from God.
Thank God that in our flesh dwells no good
thing (Romans 7:18)! The flesh profits nothing
(John 6:63). It is the anointing that breaks the
yoke and brings the filling of the Holy Spirit.
After this comes love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness,
and temperance—the fruit of a Spirit-filled life.
Then we live in divine guidance with the Spirit
(Romans 8:14-16), and doctrinal guidance by the
Word (Psalm 119:133; 37:23). It is divine because
God takes over, and we cooperate. It is no longer
us, but Christ who lives in us.
For those who were saved on the day of Pen-
tecost, they were baptized by water after they re-

27
pented. Baptism never saved anyone, but it is a
command. It is an expression of retroactive posi-
tional truth—of our death, burial, and resurrec-
tion in Christ, which is a testimony before God.
Three thousand were baptized the day they
were saved, a testimony before the angels.
No one should wait for something else to
happen before they become baptized. If you
have received the gift of repentance, you are glo-
riously saved: God has forgiven you, and you
have the gift of the Spirit. So now, get baptized
after you understand thoroughly what it means
in positional truth. Don’t put it off.
Anointed to Give and to Share
In Acts 2:41, after the people were saved
they gladly received the Word. They repented
through being turned by God. Then they were
baptized, and they gathered every day to hear
the Word. Verse 45 says they “sold their posses-
sions and goods and parted them to all men, as
every man had need.”
So often this verse is misunderstood, but a
careful study shows what it means. Those who
had more than they needed were anointed to
help those in need. They brought their gifts to
the church, where everything was distributed.

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The motivation was love, not religion. They took
what they had extra and didn’t need and gave it
to those who didn’t have anything. They were
anointed to give. They had an anointing to share
because of love. And that anointing broke the
yoke of greed.
When we are anointed, our gifts from God
knit us together in the Body of Christ, and the
world knows who we are by our love.

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 CONCLUSION

God gives anointings for all kinds of things.

Some are anointed to sing and to play instru-
ments. There are anointings to pray, to love, to
forgive, and to be patient. God gives an anoint-
ing to be pure, to be made clean one moment at
a time (Isaiah 27:3), and to glorify Christ one day
at a time.
After you have read this, please just close
your eyes and think of God’s great gifts. This is
how anointings truly work. There is not a single
thing that can happen in our lives except by hav-
ing a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Keep in mind that we need to have more
than knowledge of these things. There must be
a trust from the heart. Once you have confessed
every known sin, accept the fact that those sins
were paid for once and for all. Isolate them from
yourself forever. Even if you have done some-
thing again and again, simply isolate it, forget it,
and move on.

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 Pray, “Dear Lord, I receive the filling of the Holy
Spirit as a gift of grace.” When you were saved,
you received the Spirit. Now receive the Spirit’s
filling to motivate, energize, and teach you. Re-
ceive your anointing, which breaks your yoke,
and manifest the life of Christ that is in you
through the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

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