DRIPPING WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT'S ANOINTING - God wants His church to be dripping with the Holy Spirit's supernatural power - God wants you to be filled to overflowing with His anointing. To receive the Spirit's infilling, you must display childlike faith - you must be willing to break free from denominational tradition. If you want to be filled with the Spirit, you must be willing to open the closets of your heart and invite God's holiness into every dark corner of your life - God is looking to fill hearts that have been emptied and surrendered. Only the fully yielded can experience the fullness of His power. Empty your heart and prepare for your own personal Pentecost - God wants to pour the anointing oil on you until you are overflowing - If you could go back in time and visit the tabernacle of Moses, one thing would immediately catch your attention. You would smell the strong fragrance of anointing oil. Everything inside the tent would have been dripping with this sweet-smelling compound, which was made of crushed cinnamon, myrrh and other spices mixed with olive oil. God told Moses to pour the anointing oil on everything in that holy place. The Lord said the tent itself should be anointed with oil, as well as the ark of the covenant, the table of showbread, the lampstand, the incense altar, the laver and its stand, the altar of burnt offering and every utensil used during worship. God also commanded Moses to anoint the priests. Anyone who was permitted to enter that sanctuary had to be anointed.

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Are You Dripping With the Spirit's Anointing?

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God wants His church to be dripping with the Holy Spirit's supernatural power - God wants you to be filled to overflowing with His anointing. To receive the Spirit's infilling, you must display childlike faith - you must be willing to break free from denominational tradition. If you want to be filled with the Spirit, you must be willing to open the closets of your heart and invite God's holiness into every dark corner of your life - God is looking to fill hearts that have been emptied and surrendered. Only the fully yielded can experience the fullness of His power. Empty your heart and prepare for your own personal Pentecost - God wants to pour the anointing oil on you until you are overflowing

Author J. Lee Grady

Fire in My Bones

If you could go back in time and visit the tabernacle of Moses, one thing would immediately catch your attention.

You would smell the strong fragrance of anointing oil.

Everything inside the tent would have been dripping with this sweet-smelling compound, which was made of crushed cinnamon, myrrh and other spices mixed with olive oil.

God told Moses to pour the anointing oil on everything in that holy place.

The Lord said the tent itself should be anointed with oil, as well as the ark of the covenant, the table of showbread, the lampstand, the incense altar, the laver and its stand, the altar of burnt offering and every utensil used during worship (see Ex. 30:26-28).

God also commanded Moses to anoint the priests (Exodus 30:30).

It wasn't enough for the structure and all the furniture inside to be covered with the holy anointing.

Anyone who was permitted to enter that sanctuary had to be anointed.

The church today should be the contemporary counterpart of the ancient tabernacle.

In this age of the New Covenant, God wants His church to be dripping — not with physical oil but with the Holy Spirit's supernatural power!

That isn't what we see in most churches today. God told Moses to prepare the anointing oil in hefty, 1 1/2-gallon containers.

Today, the tiny vials of oil we keep on our church altars are an accurate reflection of our low level of anointing.

We have become satisfied with little or no oil. We are dry and powerless.

Ephesians 5:18 (NASB) has been a life verse for me since I was filled with the Holy Spirit as a young man.

It says: "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit."

God wants you to be filled to overflowing with His anointing.

Why be dry when you can be saturated?

Here are six things that often cause us to limit the Holy Spirit in our lives:

1.  Doubt or intellectual pride. Because I travel so much internationally, I've noticed that people in less-educated cultures are more eager to embrace the Holy Spirit's power.

They also receive the gift of speaking in tongues more easily. Intellectual people rely on their reason.

But spiritual experiences cannot be figured out with the mind!

To receive the Spirit's infilling, you must display childlike faith (see Matthew 18:2-4).

2.  Religious tradition. I knew an Episcopal priest who was filled with the Holy Spirit in the 1970s in New York City.

He was excited about the new vitality he felt in his faith — and thrilled that his wife had experienced a physical healing.

But when he shared his testimony with his bishop, he was told he was crazy!

Religious people who are locked into "the way we've always done it" find it hard to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

You must be willing to break free from denominational tradition.

3.  Fear of the supernatural. Some Christians grew up in denominations that taught against the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

They were told that Pentecostals are all fanatics who go into trances, speak mindless gibberish and swing from chandeliers.

Actually, the first disciples in the New Testament spoke in tongues and experienced miracles — yet their faith was not strange.

They were modeling biblical faith for all of us! People who are afraid of God's supernatural power will struggle to receive it.

4.  Unconfessed sin. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit can be "quenched" as well as "grieved" (1 Thessalonians 5:19, Ephesians 4:30).

This is why it's so important for us to walk in constant communion with God and to be willing to repent quickly when we know we have sinned.

If you want to be filled with the Spirit, you must be willing to open the closets of your heart and invite God's holiness into every dark corner of your life.

5.  Emotional wounds. Some people are just too burdened with emotional baggage to be filled with the Spirit.

Some have been abused, others are weighed down by anxiety, others are grieved or depressed. They need healing first.

Like Lazarus on the day he was raised from the dead, they are bound by the grave clothes of the past, and they need to be unwrapped before they can experience God's full anointing (see John 11:44).

Healing is often needed before a person can receive the blessing of Holy Spirit baptism.

6.  An unyielded spirit. You cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit if you are full of yourself.

Some people are too willful. They have not surrendered their plans, finances, relationships or time to God.

They have their lives planned out and they don't want God interrupting their agendas.

Yet God is looking to fill hearts that have been emptied and surrendered. Only the fully yielded can experience the fullness of His power.

If you have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or if the flow of the Spirit has been blocked in your life, empty your heart and prepare for your own personal Pentecost.

God wants to pour the anointing oil on you until you are overflowing.

J. Lee Grady is an ordained minister, and conference speaker, and editor of Charisma magazine. Lee directs The Mordecai Project, an international ministry that confronts the abuse of women and challenges the church to release women in ministry.

https://www.charismamag.com/blogs/fire-in-my-bones/40906-are-you-dripping-with-the-spirit-s-anointing

LIVING IN GOD’S SUPERNATURAL FAVOR - Being “blessed” means having supernatural power working for you. By contrast, being “cursed” means having supernatural power working against you. The days of the blessed person are filled with divine “coincidences” and heavenly meaning. Blessed people may or may not be wealthy by the world’s standards, but they enjoy a quality of life that most billionaires would envy. That’s God’s favor! Everything you touch does well. Blessing permeates every aspect of your life — health, relationships, work, family, emotions, and thoughts.

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Living in God’s Supernatural Favor

by Robert Morris

A pivotal moment on my journey to the blessed life occurred when a man I hardly knew gave me an unexpected word from the Lord: “God wants to teach you about giving so that you can teach the Body of Christ.”

At the time I was a traveling evangelist, and all of my income came from love offerings I received from the churches where I preached.

My income from offerings might be $800 one week and $200 the next. My wife Debbie and I just never knew.

But early in our marriage, we had learned to trust God where our finances were concerned — and our income skyrocketed as a result.

The more Debbie and I gave, the more God gave to us. It was as if we were truly living out the old saying: You can’t out-give God.

We were able to increase our giving to 70% of our gross income, and we found ourselves living more comfortably on 30% than we previously had on 90%.

Are You Blessed?

Since God brought us into that remarkable season of giving, I’ve done a lot of studying on God’s favor and what it looks like to have a “blessed life.”

Being “blessed” means having supernatural power working for you.

By contrast, being “cursed” means having supernatural power working against you.

The days of the blessed person are filled with divine “coincidences” and heavenly meaning.

Blessed people may or may not be wealthy by the world’s standards, but they enjoy a quality of life that most billionaires would envy.

At several separate points in the book of Deuteronomy, God tells those who will obey Him that He will bless everything to which they put their hands (Deuteronomy 14:29, 15:10, 23:20, 28:8, 28:12).

That’s God’s favor!

Everything you touch does well. Blessing permeates every aspect of your life — health, relationships, work, family, emotions, and thoughts.

A Heart Transformation

Yes, as God’s people prosper, more money will come into the Kingdom. But much more important, our hearts will be changed!

No one is a natural-born giver. We are all born takers.

We enter this world with a fallen sin nature, and at the heart of that nature is a tendency toward selfishness.

In contrast, God is a giver.

The most widely known verse in the Bible tells us: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

Our Heavenly Father is generous beyond our ability to imagine. In contrast, it was selfishness and pride that caused Satan to be cast out of Heaven.

Yet many people in our culture have that picture exactly backwards. They see God as stingy and the devil as the one who likes to pass out favors.

I can tell you from personal experience, there’s no greater adventure on Earth than living the life of generosity and abundance that’s available to all of God’s people — but that so few ever dare to live.

It is a journey of reward, blessings, and favor. So, let your adventure begin!

This article in an excerpt from the book, The Blessed Life by Robert Morris.

Robert Morris is the founding lead senior pastor of Gateway Church, a multicampus church in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Since it began in 2000, the church has grown to more than 39,000 active members. Learn more at pastorrobert.com

https://inspiration.org/christian-articles/living-in-gods-supernatural-favor/

THE ANGELIC LEGIONS - Jesus didn’t need Peter’s undersized, insignificant sword to deal with His situation. Jesus had all the power that was required to conquer those troops. As you face your own challenges in life, always keep in mind that Jesus has the power to fix any problem you’ll ever come across. Before you jump in and make things worse by taking matters into your own hands, pray and ask the Lord what you are supposed to do. Then after you receive your answer and follow His instructions, just watch His supernatural power swing into action to solve the dilemma you are facing!

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The Angelic Legions

Twelve Legions of Angels

Rick Renner

“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” —  Matthew 26:53

How much strength do you think one angel possesses?

Today I’d like for us to consider the full impact of Jesus’ words in Matthew 26:53, where He said, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?”

Let’s look at three questions:

·       What is a “legion”?

·       How many angels would there be in twelve legions?

·       What would be the combined strength of this number of angels?

It is important to know the answers to these questions, because the answers reveal the full might that was available to Jesus had He requested supernatural help in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Actually, when we take into account the power that was already demonstrated in the Garden and then add the potential assistance and impact of twelve legions of angels, it becomes obvious that there was no human force on earth strong enough to take Jesus against His will.

The only way He was going to be taken was if He allowed Himself to be taken!

This is why He later told Pilate, “…Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above…” (John 19:11).

Let’s begin with our first question: What is a “legion”? 

The word “legion” is a military term that was taken from the Roman army.

A legion denoted a group of at least 6,000 Roman soldiers, although the total number could be higher.

This means that anytime we read about a legion of anything, we can know it always refers to at least 6,000 of something.

An amazing example of this is found in Mark 5:9, where the Bible tells us that the demon-possessed man of the Gadarenes had a legion of demons.

That means this man had an infestation of at least 6,000 demons residing inside him!

Let’s now contemplate the second question: How many angels would there be in twelve legions? 

Since the word “legion” refers to at least 6,000, it means a legion of angels would be at least 6,000 angels.

However, Jesus said the Father would give Him “more than” twelve legions of angels if He requested it.

Because it would be pure speculation to try to figure out how many “more than” twelve legions would be, let’s just stick with the figure of twelve legions to see how many angels that entails.

One legion is 6,000 angels, so if you simply multiply that number by twelve, you’ll discover that twelve legions of angels would include a minimum of 72,000 angels.

But Jesus said the Father would give Him “more than” twelve legions of angels; therefore, you can conclude that there were potentially many additional thousands of angels available to Jesus the night He was arrested!

Finally, let’s look at our third question: What would be the combined strength in this number of angels? 

Angels are powerful! In fact, Isaiah 37:36 records that a single angel obliterated 185,000 men in one night.

So if a single angel had that kind of power, how much combined strength would there be in twelve legions of angels?

Since a single angel was able to obliterate 185,000 men in one night, it would mean the combined strength in a legion of 6,000 angels would be enough to destroy 1,110,000,000 men (that is, one billion, one hundred ten million men) — and that’s just the combined power in one legion of angels!

Now let’s multiply this same number 185,000 by twelve legions, or at least 72,000 angels, which was the number of angels Jesus said was available to Him on the night of His arrest.

When we do, we find that there was enough combined strength at Jesus’ disposal to have annihilated at least 13,320,000,000 men (that is, thirteen billion, three hundred twenty million men) — which is more than twice the number of people living on the earth right now!

Jesus didn’t need Peter’s little sword that night. 

Had He chosen to do so, Jesus could have summoned 72,000 magnificent, mighty, dazzling, glorious, overwhelmingly powerful angels to the Garden to obliterate the Roman soldiers and the temple police who had come to arrest Him.

In fact, the combined strength in twelve legions of angels could have wiped out the entire human race!

But Jesus didn’t call on the supernatural help that was available to Him. Why? Because He knew it was time for Him to voluntarily lay down His life for the sin of the human race.

Learn a lesson from Jesus and from the apostle Peter.

Jesus didn’t need Peter’s undersized, insignificant sword to deal with His situation.

What good would a single sword have been against all the troops assembled in the Garden that night anyway?

Peter’s actions were a perfect example of how the flesh tries in vain to solve its own problems but cannot. Jesus had all the power that was required to conquer those troops.

As you face your own challenges in life, always keep in mind that Jesus has the power to fix any problem you’ll ever come across.

Before you jump in and make things worse by taking matters into your own hands, remember the story of Peter! 

The next time you’re tempted to “grab a sword and start swinging,” take a few minutes to remind yourself that Jesus can handle the problem without your intervention.

Before you do anything else, pray and ask the Lord what you are supposed to do.

Then after you receive your answer and follow His instructions, just watch His supernatural power swing into action to solve the dilemma you are facing!

My Prayer for Today

“Lord, I am so glad You have the power to put an end to my problems! So many times I’ve acted just like Peter, swinging furiously in the strength of my own flesh as I’ve tried to solve my problems without Your help. Forgive me for wasting so much time and energy! Today I ask You to speak to my heart and tell me what I am supposed to do; then help me follow Your instructions to the letter. Give me the patience to wait while You supernaturally work behind the scenes to resolve my questions.

   I pray this in Jesus’ name!”

My Confession for Today

“I boldly and joyfully affirm that Jesus Christ has all the power needed to fix my problems! I am not smart enough by myself to figure out how to get out of my messes, so I turn to Him to give me wisdom, insight, power, and the answers I need to get from where I am to where I need to be. His power works mightily through me, and that divine power is being released right now to tackle the challenges I face in life and bring me to a peaceful place of resolution in every situation.

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!”

Questions to Answer

1. Has there ever been a moment in your life when you got in a hurry and acted too fast — and then later regretted your actions?

2. When you candidly examine your life, do you find that the same problems keep resurfacing again and again? Does this indicate that you are trying to solve those problems in the strength of your flesh instead of relying on the power of Jesus to help you?

3. How does today’s Sparkling Gem cause you to look differently at your challenges? What are you going to do differently as a result of what you have read and learned today?

Over the years, Rick and Denise Renner pioneered three churches, a Bible school, and a ministerial association that serves thousands of Russian-speaking pastors throughout the former USSR as well as parts of the Middle East. As Rick began training and mentoring leaders in the early days, Denise also developed a women’s ministry that is actively involved in changing the lives of women and their families today. Specifically, they minister to the needs of orphans, women prisoners, the homeless, and drug-and-alcohol addicts.

https://renner.org/twelve-legions-of-angels/