[Chapter 14] The Anointing By Benny Hinn- The Example Of Jesus

Chapter 14
The Example of Jesus
In my church, I nudge the people over and over and tell them, “If you want the anointing, tell someone about Jesus.” After all, everyone knows we’re in a
battle for souls with Satan. And battles with the devil require the anointing.
I am convinced that if anyone or any church stops serving—stops essentially telling someone about Jesus —the anointing will leave. After all, it is given for spiritual warfare and God wants us to use it for His glory.
The Lord moved upon me at a recent Wednesday night service with a strong word. The church must go all-out in its witness to the local community and to the world. I promised the people that we would immediately begin a series of teachings for those who needed it, so the whole church could actively make a
strong witness to everyone. That night I noted the wonderful words of Isaiah
that open the sixty-first chapter: “The Spirit of the is LORD GOD upon Me.” What powerful words. Jesus used them at the opening of His ministry when He was on earth. Luke’s Gospel says the Lord was “full of the Spirit,” which surprises many people who don’t know that Jesus Christ, who was fully man as well as fully God, had to be filled with the Holy Spirit to battle Satan, just as we do. In this passage, Jesus had already been anointed by the Spirit while being baptized by John the Baptist and had been tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Then He went to the synagogue in Nazareth, “as His custom was,” and stood up to read. He was handed the book of Isaiah, Luke says, and turned to the place where it was written:

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,To preach deliverance to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed,To preach the acceptable year of the LORD

(Luke 4:18-19)
Luke tells us that as Jesus sat down, “The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.” I love that word fixed. They had felt the presence and the power of God in their midst. They were left staring. Then
Jesus told them why they had felt the power in a way they hadn’t before: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in
your hearing.” “I am that One,” Jesus was saying. “I am the One Isaiah was describing.” You will recall that throughout His ministry—and even after His resurrection—Jesus spoke of the Scripture’s witness to Him. The Old Testament tells in a variety of ways of the coming of the kingdom and the coming of the King. And He spoke often of this witness, as did His apostles later. It’s odd, isn’t it, that apparently those same people who had “fixed” their eyes upon Him and “marveled”at Him would soon rise up and try to throw Him over a cliff. The passage shows us not only that the anointing had come upon the Lord, but also that it had come for more than one reason. It was for (1) preaching the gospel, (2) healing broken hearts, (3) proclaiming deliverance to the captives, (4) working miracles, (5)liberating the oppressed, and (6) preaching the acceptable year of the Lord. And so it is with us. First and foremost, if we want the anointing, we are to “preach the gospel to the poor.” After all, that’s just what the Holy Spirit came upon you for—to be a witness.Why does it say “the poor”? It’s true that Jesus frequently identified with those who lacked adequate money and shelter. But there’s more than that: All of us are spiritually poor without the Lord. So we are to preach the gospel, the good news, the glad tidings. According to Isaiah and Luke, the anointing came also to “heal the brokenhearted.” What great, great news for our brokenhearted world! Oh, what the Holy Spirit could do if we were available! All He needs is a yielded vessel. Would you be that vessel today? As you read these pages, ask Him to make you that vessel—now.Preaching and witnessing without the anointing will do little good for the broken in heart. Think of the men, women, and children you know who are crushed by circumstances that could be healed. Think of the families, the divorcees, the lonely, the fearful, the outcasts, the suicidal, the poverty-stricken, the victims of bigotry. The list goes on and on. Only the anointing will heal all hearts of men and women—that’s what the Bible says!

Preaching Deliverance
The Lord Jesus was also anointed “to preach deliverance to the captives.” The people were bound,tortured, ravaged by devils. Modern man laughs, but the need for deliverance is even greater today. Think of the bondage filling our
newspapers and television daily, the awful, awful captivity. Alcohol and drugs. Illicit sex and homosexuality. False religions and witchcraft. Ill- gained wealth and materialism.
The Lord Jesus said in Mark 16:17, “In My name they will cast out demons.” The Holy Spirit is the only power on earth that can destroy the power of Satan.
And He has given you, the believer, that power. We must get going, saints! Jesus also said He was anointed to preach
“recovery of sight to the blind.” Blindness is not limited to the physical, but is found in the spiritual realm as well. Jesus is the answer for both. His list of works, for Himself and for us, also included “to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” As
with captivity, the awful prevalence of oppression eats at every nation of the world. It will fall only by the power of God. The ruler of this present darkness is the master of oppression and will be defeated only by the power of God. That, beloved, is why the “witnesses unto Me”must have the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the power of Almighty God. The last of the works Jesus cited as His, but certainly not the least, was “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

This, He proclaimed, is the time—the time of grace. The Savior of the world has come, bringing salvation to humankind before the coming of the end. The Times That Lie Ahead
The Bible speaks much about the coming of the end. For our purposes, I want to share with you some of the things that the Holy Spirit showed me will be
fulfilled for believers as that time approaches. The Bible tells us, in Acts 3:19-21, that we should repent,
that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must
receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. The Holy Spirit, through Peter, said everything that had been promised—everything that the prophets had declared—would come to pass and be fulfilled before the return of Jesus Christ to earth. The Spirit of the Lord led me to Isaiah 35 to show the things that are promised to believers, the things that
are coming upon us very soon. I want to share this with you now, and please remember that everything written in the Old Covenant is a shadow of what you and I receive in this dispensation of grace. We are walking in the substance of what the Old Testament prophets declared. Isaiah 35 begins: The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the ,
LORD the excellency of our God. (v. 1-2)
As someone who grew up in Israel, I understand something of what the Bible means when it speaks of wilderness. There you find snakes, scorpions, death,
drought. It is symbolic of the believer who is dry, living in that spiritual drought with snakes and so forth. But God promises that the day will come when that dry and empty life will be blessed with God’s abundant power. How will life and blessing be given to
that dry and empty place? Isaiah goes on to say that “the glory of Lebanon
shall be given to it.” I remember that, when I was a child, the winds from Lebanon, the north, would blow
every now and then and I could smell the wonderful cedars of Lebanon. These same cedars are what the Bible is talking about when it speaks of the Glory of
Lebanon. When Isaiah speaks of their wonderful fragrance, he is foretelling a new atmosphere of God’s
presence that will change your desert—your spiritual life—into a place of beauty and abundance. Going on, the prophet then speaks of “the excellence of Carmel and Sharon.” The Sharon Valley in Israel today is the most fertile valley in the Middle East, the place of excellent produce and the most beautiful flowers in the region. The same is true of Carmel. In Isaiah this speaks of a fresh revelation of God’s Word, telling of the seed that will be planted to bear beautiful fruit. “They shall see the glory of the LORD ,” Isaiah then says, “the excellency of our God.” He speaks of a new vision of God’s glory. And what did we find earlier in chapter seven to be the glory of the Lord? You will recall that Moses asked to see God’s glory in Exodus 33:18. Then, in Exodus 34:5-6, what did He see but God’s attributes, His personality. In other words, Isaiah speaks of our seeing a new vision of God Himself. So, putting these together, we see God’s intention to provide a new atmosphere around our lives, a new word from heaven, a new revelation from His Word, and a new vision of Himself. When that happens, our wilderness experience of death and drought will be changed into the Promised Land. There is more, for Isaiah continues in verses 3-4: Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” There will be worldwide evangelism. Those who were transformed by the new atmosphere, the new revelation, and the new vision of God are now strengthening the weak hands and the feeble knees, and are saying to the world, “Fear not, behold, God is coming to save you! Of course, this prophecy was spoken about Israel in the Millenium, but, as a shadow of the substance of New Testament times, it has spiritual application to you and to me. Certainly we look all around us and see wilderness, but God will transform that for us, and we will see unprecedented, worldwide evangelism as we go out to minister to the world. And what other results did Isaiah say would come from this transformed wilderness? Look at verses 5-6 again: the blind shall see, the deaf shall hear, the lame shall leap, the dumb shall sing! This is miraculous. The supernatural power of God will be released for physical healing. This recalls the day years ago when I heard Kathryn Kuhlman prophesy in her own inimitable way that the day would arrive, before the coming of the Lord, when the power of God would be so great that everyone would be healed. “There will not be one sick saint in the body of Christ,” she declared.

With her customary drama, pointing of finger, and hand on hip, she asked, “Could it be today?” Of course, she never saw it come, but it will come. The Holy Spirit has convinced me of that.
We should not be skeptical about God’s willingness to move upon His people in that way. We find evidence in the Scripture to support supernatural provision, including healing. In Psalm 105:37, for example, we find these words about the children of Israel when He brought them out of Egypt: “And there was none feeble among His tribes.” That is a magnificent state of abiding health. Divine health, not merely divine healing. Permanent healing. I am confident that the day is coming when every believer will be healthy. Here is a key point: If God would heal all under the Mosaic Law, how much more will He heal under grace? Furthermore, when Jesus healed during His time on earth, He was under the Dispensation of the Law; that being the case, how much more could we be healed under the Dispensation of Grace?

Thus, it is not strange for Isaiah to prophesy that, as our wilderness is changed to beauty, God will minister miraculous healing during a time of worldwide evangelism. He doesn’t stop there, however, as chapter 35 continues with a third result: For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water. (v. 6-7) A mighty, new anointing will come upon our wilderness, and rivers of living water will burst—gush —forth from us. This will not be a small thing. It could be like a double portion that will produce streams and pools and springs. It will be a mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. The move of the Spirit in those days will come through us. God did not say in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17 that He would “pour down” but “pour out” His Spirit. He will use us. A fourth result of this transformation is foretold by Isaiah in this manner:

In the habitation of jackals [“dragons,”
where each lay, KJV ], There shall be grass with reeds and rushes. (35:7) God will deliver His people from every demonic influence. The dragons or jackals—the demons—have been lying in the grass, destroying it, but it will be restored as they are driven out.
Fifth, holiness will come to the body of Christ, as portrayed in these words:
A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray. (35:8) . The holiness will be so great that it will stabilize even the double-minded. They will quit jumping from one thing to another. The sixth result will be this: No lion shall be there, Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there, But the redeemed shall walk there. (35:9) Quite simply, Satan and his demons will be totally absent from the body of Christ.
Finally, And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,And come to Zion with singing,With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness.And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

(35:10) I believe this points to the Rapture. For only then— when we are out of this world—can sorrow and sighing flee away. Greater Works for You The Bible declares that these things are coming from the Lord, and as we look around us nothing seems more incredible. Yet Jesus said in another portion of the Scripture, “And greater works than these shall [you] do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12). It is startling. The Bible is saying that there is one thing Jesus could not do that we can. For years and years this statement baffled me. I thought, What could be greater than what the Lord did—greater than raising the dead, casting out demons, calming the sea, commanding the wind to stop, and healing the lame, the blind, the deaf? What is greater? One day the Holy Spirit revealed something to me that transformed my life. He who could call Lazarus from the dead and still the waters could not stand and say, “Look at me, a sinner saved by the grace of God. I once was lost, but now am found, blind but now I see, bound but now I’m free.” Sin never touched the spotless Son of the living God. He is the only One who lived a perfect life. So today you and I can stand before this dark world and say, “Look at me and see what Jesus has done.”The new anointing that is coming upon us in the transformation of our wilderness, as Isaiah revealed, will allow us to be witnesses for Him, and the greater work will be done in an unprecedented way. Think about it. The day is coming when the anointing of the Holy Spirit will be so great upon us that we are going to see worldwide evangelism, a worldwide release of the supernatural, a fresh anointing of power, deliverance from every demonic influence in the body of Christ, holiness throughout the church, total absence of Satan among believers, the coming of the Lord and the Rapture. What an exciting hour that will be! Are you ready to pay the price to have your wilderness transformed?

The Voice of the Lord
One of the things the Bible says clearly about this transformation is that we will know the Lord and His glory and we will hear His voice. Before I close this chapter, I want to tell you something very important on how to discern the voice of God, because it is through knowing His voice that we will know His power. Acts 1:4 says that the resurrected Jesus commanded the apostles not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father which, He said, “You have heard from Me.” They knew His voice before He told them they would receive the power in verse 8. Once you know His voice, you will be led as Philip was led one day in Acts 8:26ff to go south on the desert road to Gaza where he encountered an Ethiopian eunuch in a chariot. The Spirit tells Philip to run to overtake the eunuch, which he does, and he begins talking to the man, climbs into the chariot, and listens to a passage of Scripture he is reading. When the eunuch asks what the passage means, “Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him” (v. 35). The man was converted and baptized, quite simply because Philip obeyed the Spirit, and the anointing clearly came as he “opened his mouth” and “preached Jesus.” Hearing and obeying the voice is central to receiving the anointing. The anointing will come on you also as you become a witness for Jesus. As the anointing comes you must respond because, if you are not there to capture His touch, He may never pass you that way again. Guard the anointing; cherish it. When you know the Holy Spirit and how He moves, you will be ready in season and out of season. Sometimes He moves so very fast that it will almost make your head spin. I believe that is why Philip ran. He knew he had an opportunity to win a soul for God. At other times, the Spirit moves slowly, and you should just flow with Him, waiting for Him to take the lead. Remember: He does not follow you; you follow Him. You must learn how to hear His voice. Without knowing His voice, you will not know His power. As I said, the apostles, in Acts 1:4, 8, did not receive the power until they had heard the voice of their Master. Inevitably He will lead you to win souls for His kingdom. My dear friends, in John 10:3-4, Jesus says so clearly that He will call us and lead us by name. Do you hear His voice? Jesus says His own sheep will follow Him because they know His voice. In John 10:27, Jesus repeats this important message to all believers: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” If you claim to know Jesus, you should hear His voice and follow His lead in your life. But there’s more. We are to follow Him daily. Hear His voice daily. Psalm 95:7 challenges us that each day, today, we must listen to God’s voice. The question isn’t whether God is speaking to you today; it is, are you listening to Him speak to you today? Why is it that people don’t hear or listen to a God who knows them, loves them, and desires to lead them in His peace? One reason we don’t hear is because we refuse to listen. Psalm 95:8 warns us about hardening our hearts, turning against God. You must desire to be with God to hear His voice. Fellowship with Him in prayer and worship. If you are living in sin and have not repented, you must return to Him through His grace and mercy. We must not refuse Him, as Hebrews 12:25 warns. So, what must you do to return to His presence, to hear His voice in your life today? First, you must withdraw from distractions. Isaiah 30:15 and 21 speak of returning in quietness and confidence, and listening to God as He directs our steps. We must pay attention to God first. Second, as you give Him your voice in prayer, you will hear His voice in response. Remember, you will never know the voice of God without the presence of the Holy Spirit. When you withdraw from distractions and let the Spirit come upon you, God will speak. Next, Jesus heard the voice of God because he was constantly seeking the will of God. He heard because He obeyed (John 5:30). Finally, God calls us to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt. 5:6) and to pray and seek His face (2 Chron. 7:14). Today, God is calling you to return to Him. Take a moment now to listen; I know you will hear His voice. Are you ready to know His power in your life? Be still now and let Him speak to you. Listen to Him say today, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isa. 30:21). Then you will experience His presence and power.