In this lesson, we are going to talk about something interesting and important. Throughout the Bible, there are stories of the Holy Spirit touching and using many people and giving them a special touch of the Holy Spirit. They were touched to do a special task for God, and they could only accomplish this task or work because of this special touch of the Spirit. Another name for this touch of the Holy Spirit is the anointing of the Spirit. It is the Spirit anointing someone to fulfill God’s purposes.

Let’s talk about some examples of this from the Bible. The first example is a man in the Bible named Samson. Let’s look at Judges 15:14-15. It says, “When he came near Lehi, the Philistines came out to meet him with battle cries. At that moment, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him with power, and the ropes that bound his arms became like burnt flax; moreover, the bonds on his hands came loose. ¹⁵ Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he took it and killed a thousand men with it.” (NIV) In verse 14 says that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. This is the special anointing of the Spirit giving Samson this power to defeat the Philistines. It gave him supernatural power. He killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. A thousand people armed, I imagine, with swords, spears, and perhaps bows and arrows. This is incredible, more than the avengers in today’s movies. But all because of this anointing of the Spirit. We know that Samson was not a perfect man, but at the same time God used him and anointed him. There are many other examples of God anointing people and that is why they were able to do the impossible. David, a young man killing the giant and hero Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 is another example. He killed him with a stone and his sling. This was impossible, but not for God.

I like the example of Elijah and Elisha. In 2 Kings 2, Elijah and Elisha were walking together, and Elijah was about to be taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. This is what they said in 2 Kings 2:9-10: “As they were crossing, Elijah asked Elisha, “What do you want me to do for you before I am taken from you? I ask that I may inherit a double portion of your spirit, Elisha replied. You have asked a difficult thing, Elijah said, but if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be granted to you; if not, it will not be granted.” (NIV) And Elisha saw when Elijah was taken away, and then he received this double portion of the anointing of the Holy Spirit that was upon Elijah. In 2 Kings we see that Elisha performed twice as many miracles as Elijah in his lifetime. And why? Because of this powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Look at what the Bible says about our Lord in the book of Isaiah 61:1: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (NIV) Because of this Spirit upon him, he performed so many miracles and wonders.

There are many examples in the New Testament. Especially after the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Look at Acts 5:15-16: “Such was the crowd of men and women that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. ¹⁶ Crowds also came from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.” (NIV) How amazing, and all because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Something beautiful for us today is that we are in the age of the New Testament and the moving of the Holy Spirit.

The big difference between the New and Old Testaments is that in the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon people with this anointing from time to time. But now, because our Lord died and rose again and sent the Holy Spirit, we who are Christians have the Holy Spirit within us always, and that is why we always have the anointing to help us and to be used by God.

What is needed is already within you through the Holy Spirit if you are a Christian. If God is calling you to do something, He will give you this special anointing so that you can fulfill this calling. Perhaps He is calling you to be a pastor or missionary or evangelist or to some other position. You don’t have to think about how you can do this, because He will help you and anoint you by the Holy Spirit, and that is why you can do it, not because of your talents and abilities, but because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Time and again in our ministry as missionaries, I have seen the Spirit using us to do things we could not do on our own, and it was because of this blessed anointing. He is there to help you and to minister to your needs through the power of the Holy Spirit.