It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. (Verse2)
The anointing you have received abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie--just as it has taught you, abide in Him. 1 John 2:27 Italics, mine
"Take the finest of spices," the Lord told Moses, "liquid myrrh, sweet smelling cinnamon, aromatic cane and cassia and mix them with olive oil. This will be the holy anointing oil. With it anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony and all the altars and utensils in the temple. They will be consecrated to Me and most holy. Also anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they will serve me as priests. It shall not be poured onto the body of an ordinary person, and you are not to make another oil like it. It is holy and shall be holy to you."
An ordinary person made holy by the anointing. That got a WOW out of me this morning as I read it. The difference between a child of God and the rest of the world is the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. And I shed my mundane life for the extraordinary because, like Aaron, the Holy Spirit enters my life and flows into my bloodstream, lodges in its marrow, cuts into my thought patterns and pierces my heart, exposing its thoughts and intentions. The Great Counselor sets up His office in my tabernacle and speaks. I am no longer my own, but belong to the Father Who adopted me into His Presence. Who has a dream for me that I could never imagine on my own. Ordinary goals, hopes and dreams are now replaced by the extraordinary will of God for my life.
For example. I was teaching high school. But in California, the state mandated that I go back to school to get classes in Reading then go on for a degree in either counseling or school administration. Neither subject interested me. Besides, I had three school aged children, I was establishing a speech and debate team for the high school and had very little time to devote to extra schooling. So, when the five years mandatory time for getting the classes ended, I left teaching, though the administration graciously offered to extend the opportunity for me for another two years. Left jobless, I was hired by a local learning center to be the director. Within the first six months on the job, the learning center was sold to the prominent market leader. Bill and I began to pray about what was next. I still needed a job, my daughters were about to enter their expensive college years and we needed a plan. The new company offered me the opportunity to purchase the local centers...for lots of money. "No, thank you." Then they offered them for less money. "Maybe." Then, one Saturday afternoon, the CEO of the company called. "What would it take?"
"I'll buy the territory for $20,000," I heard myself saying. I didn't have that kind of money. "But you have to enlarge my territory to include the abutting community."
"Sold!" she nearly shouted. She loved me is why. Favor I couldn't have engendered for myself.
The problem was, $20,000 was the same as $500 for us. We didn't have it. The offer I blurted out, once settled in the room when I hung up the phone, was ridiculous. But I took the steps to the downstairs room, where Bill was playing with our son, one at a time, thinking, thinking, thinking. We can do this. Only God could give me such a thought. Such a confidence. "I just bought the center for $20,000," I told my husband, still in wonder.
"What!"
I repeated it, a little less confident.
"Uh, Kay...we don't have $20,000." Just a fact.
"God does."
And He did. It was miraculous how the provision was made. An anointing for what He wanted me to do. Owning a business that ultimately put the kids through college and blessed the lives of countless kids who needed help. I'd never imagined such a thing. I was an ordinary teacher living an ordinary life when God decided to make it extraordinary to accomplish His will.
Holiness is what makes us out of the ordinary. A precious setting aside of our lives by God for His purposes. His sweetness for our debauchery, His love for our strife, His joy for our depression, His peace for our discord. A holiness that has nothing to do with our own particular goodness. It is proffered, freely, by the precious blood of Christ which flowed from His hands and feet and sides. A new anointing oil that doesn't simply cover our exterior, but which changes our entire lives by flowing in us. It is the only thing like it, made of particular components that can never be duplicated, precious beyond all telling. That anointing makes me God's possession. A holy instrument of His will. Precious to Him. It should call to me to come closer. It should lead me in the right paths. It should make me yearn for my God. It should make me love my brother. Ordinary me. Washed in the oil of God's favor. Priceless like the oil that anointed Aaron as priest. Set him aside to do a thing for God. Bathe me in it today, Father, that even in my most mundane tasks, I can do the extraordinary for Your glory.
The anointing you have received abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie--just as it has taught you, abide in Him. 1 John 2:27 Italics, mine
"Take the finest of spices," the Lord told Moses, "liquid myrrh, sweet smelling cinnamon, aromatic cane and cassia and mix them with olive oil. This will be the holy anointing oil. With it anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony and all the altars and utensils in the temple. They will be consecrated to Me and most holy. Also anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they will serve me as priests. It shall not be poured onto the body of an ordinary person, and you are not to make another oil like it. It is holy and shall be holy to you."
An ordinary person made holy by the anointing. That got a WOW out of me this morning as I read it. The difference between a child of God and the rest of the world is the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. And I shed my mundane life for the extraordinary because, like Aaron, the Holy Spirit enters my life and flows into my bloodstream, lodges in its marrow, cuts into my thought patterns and pierces my heart, exposing its thoughts and intentions. The Great Counselor sets up His office in my tabernacle and speaks. I am no longer my own, but belong to the Father Who adopted me into His Presence. Who has a dream for me that I could never imagine on my own. Ordinary goals, hopes and dreams are now replaced by the extraordinary will of God for my life.
For example. I was teaching high school. But in California, the state mandated that I go back to school to get classes in Reading then go on for a degree in either counseling or school administration. Neither subject interested me. Besides, I had three school aged children, I was establishing a speech and debate team for the high school and had very little time to devote to extra schooling. So, when the five years mandatory time for getting the classes ended, I left teaching, though the administration graciously offered to extend the opportunity for me for another two years. Left jobless, I was hired by a local learning center to be the director. Within the first six months on the job, the learning center was sold to the prominent market leader. Bill and I began to pray about what was next. I still needed a job, my daughters were about to enter their expensive college years and we needed a plan. The new company offered me the opportunity to purchase the local centers...for lots of money. "No, thank you." Then they offered them for less money. "Maybe." Then, one Saturday afternoon, the CEO of the company called. "What would it take?"
"I'll buy the territory for $20,000," I heard myself saying. I didn't have that kind of money. "But you have to enlarge my territory to include the abutting community."
"Sold!" she nearly shouted. She loved me is why. Favor I couldn't have engendered for myself.
The problem was, $20,000 was the same as $500 for us. We didn't have it. The offer I blurted out, once settled in the room when I hung up the phone, was ridiculous. But I took the steps to the downstairs room, where Bill was playing with our son, one at a time, thinking, thinking, thinking. We can do this. Only God could give me such a thought. Such a confidence. "I just bought the center for $20,000," I told my husband, still in wonder.
"What!"
I repeated it, a little less confident.
"Uh, Kay...we don't have $20,000." Just a fact.
"God does."
And He did. It was miraculous how the provision was made. An anointing for what He wanted me to do. Owning a business that ultimately put the kids through college and blessed the lives of countless kids who needed help. I'd never imagined such a thing. I was an ordinary teacher living an ordinary life when God decided to make it extraordinary to accomplish His will.
Holiness is what makes us out of the ordinary. A precious setting aside of our lives by God for His purposes. His sweetness for our debauchery, His love for our strife, His joy for our depression, His peace for our discord. A holiness that has nothing to do with our own particular goodness. It is proffered, freely, by the precious blood of Christ which flowed from His hands and feet and sides. A new anointing oil that doesn't simply cover our exterior, but which changes our entire lives by flowing in us. It is the only thing like it, made of particular components that can never be duplicated, precious beyond all telling. That anointing makes me God's possession. A holy instrument of His will. Precious to Him. It should call to me to come closer. It should lead me in the right paths. It should make me yearn for my God. It should make me love my brother. Ordinary me. Washed in the oil of God's favor. Priceless like the oil that anointed Aaron as priest. Set him aside to do a thing for God. Bathe me in it today, Father, that even in my most mundane tasks, I can do the extraordinary for Your glory.
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