Day 11: The Holy Spirit Will Anoint You

In all His ministry Jesus never said or did one thing that would be out of line with the Holy Spirit. His relationship with the Holy Spirit is the key to the entire ministry of Jesus. When He spoke in His own city, Nazareth, in the synagogue, this is what He said: (Luke 4:17–21)

“The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he said to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’” (NIV)

The entire ministry of Jesus, both His preaching and His ministry to the oppressed, the sick, the demon possessed, was based on one thing only, the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon Him. It’s a very significant fact that the New Testament does not record a single sermon Jesus preached or a single miracle He performed until the Holy Spirit came upon Him. He was totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit.

He is our pattern. He had emptied Himself from His divine majesty and power, He’s made himself like us, He’s taken on Himself the form of a servant, the likeness of a man. But when the Holy Spirit came upon Him, the power and the purposes of God were released through Him by the Holy Spirit and it should be the same with us.

There is another passage on this same line, when Peter went to the house of Cornelius and preached the gospel message to that Gentile household for the first time, he introduced them to Jesus of Nazareth and this is what he said in Acts 10:38:

“You know Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil: for God was with Him.” (NAS)

You see, Peter again states the same thing: the whole ministry of Jesus came out of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Until the Holy Spirit came upon Him He neither preached nor performed miracles. Once the Holy Spirit came upon Him He was released to minister to the needs of humanity.

Reflect: Jesus was totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit and so are you, if you want to be effective in God’s Kingdom. How does it feel to be so dependent?