I was a part
of a Men’s Outreach recently. 700+
showed up and about 200+ came to faith in Jesus. It was no joke! As I approached this massive crowd of men at
the altar, eager to meet Jesus, I was stopped by an over zealous brother that
was trying to place something in my hand.
I didn’t realize what it was until it was too late. It was anointing oil. Normally, you dab a bit on your hand and pray
for people. Not this time. Being that I didn’t know what it was, I didn’t
manage the amount pouring out with my finger.
So, I now had this puddle in my palm of fragrant oil. I wasn’t sure what to do. Last thing I wanted to do is leave greasy
hand prints on everyone I prayed for. I
wanted to pray for people, but was trying to figure out what to do with the
excess oil. Only thing I could do was
rub this oil all over my arms. So I
proceeded to rub a quarter of a bottle of anointing oil on my arms, gelling
down all the hair on my arms. I was a greasy
mess! Too much anointing!
This
experience brought a couple of things to mind:
#1 The problem of managing the amount
of God’s goodness being poured in your life.
Some of us
have the tendency of putting limits on God’s Spirit. We’re content with just a dab of God. Enough to not feel guilty, enough to give you
a bit of hope, enough to make you feel like you’ve appeased God, meeting your
religious quota. But not too much that
would make you a fanatic. Not too much
that He starts rearranging your life and before you know it you’re a missionary
to a remote tribe of people where there’s no cell reception nor bathroom.
Paul shares God’s
intentions for us with these words: 16 that He
would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with
might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may
dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in
love, 18 may be able
to comprehend with all the saints what is the width
and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of
Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of
God.
20 Now to Him
who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us, Ephesians 3:16-20 (NKJV)
·
God
wants to strengthen you through His Spirit
·
God
wants Christ to make His home in you
·
God
wants you to understand the fullness of His love
·
God
wants you to be filled with His fullness
·
God
wants to exceed your expectations beyond anything you could ever imagine
Are you
lacking strength? The amount that could
only come from the “riches of His glory”?
Are you unable to comprehend a love so wide it’s unable to exclude even
you? A love so long it was with you all
the way back into your past and will follow you into your future? A love so deep it reached you in the pit of
sin? A love so high that it’s able to
get you to heaven? Have you been radically
shocked with God’s ability to do the impossible in your life? If not, my friend, this is what happens when
we limit the fullness of God in our lives. This is what happens when we fail to allow
Christ to dwell in us. The more of God
in my life, the more He heals, strengthens; the more I understand His love, the
more He amazes me.
#2 The problem of keeping the
anointing to yourself.
Friend, we’re
not supposed to hold in the overflow of what God’s blessed us with. No hoarding hope! There’s a problem when we’re unwilling to
leave handprints of what God’s doing in us on others. We’re called to be HOLE-Y people! That’s not a misprint. I mean people with holes. What God gives us we give away! Less bowl like more funnel like!
John put it
this way: 19 We love because he first loved us. 1 John 1:19 (NIV)
What
do we do with the love He first gave us?
We give it away.
Jesus tells us: 12 And
forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12 (NIV)
What
do we do with the forgiveness He gives us?
We use it to forgive others.
In John 15, Jesus
tells His disciples: 5 “I am the
vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear
much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
(NIV)
What
do we do with the much fruit we bear? I
tell you what we don’t do—we don’t eat it ourselves. Fruit isn’t for the branch. The fruit is for the nourishment and blessing
of others. A branch that eats its own
fruit is diseased. Give it away!
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