As the empowering anointing grows and multiplies, the gift of faith begins to operate. I wrote earlier about the different kinds of faith: the measure of faith is given with salvation, the fruit of faith is the result of salvation and the gift of faith is the gift of ministry. That’s when God is using you in ministry.
We see this progression in the book of Acts. In Acts 2:47, Scripture shows us that the Lord added, in Acts 6:1 He multiplied, and in Acts 6:7 He multiplied greatly. So there is growth in the empowering anointing. We go from addition to multiplication to great multiplication. After that we don’t even read about head counts or numbers. The Scripture just says multitudes, multitudes, multitudes. Why? Because now it was a massive ocean of believers. That’s how the empowering anointing grows—it goes from addition to multiplication to great multiplication.
Here are some things that can cause the empowering anointing to increase and intensify.
The Word of God
The Word of God is the first thing that will increase the anointing. Job 29:6 says, “. . .when I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil.” I’ve taught on this, but it can be hard for people to grasp. Washing your steps with butter refers to the depth of the Word of God. The depth of God’s Word is not known by surface-reading three chapters a day. You do not find the depth of God’s Word by speed reading through the entire Bible. You do not grasp it simply by completing a “Read the Bible in a Year” plan.
Please understand, it is good to read through the entire Bible, and I highly recommend it, but that isn’t the point here. Sailboats skim the surface of the water quickly, but the surface is the only place for them. Submarines get beneath the surface, even as far as the bottom in some instances. But depending on the materials and construction, there are limits to how deep a submarine may go. Only a deep-submergence vehicle, or DSV, can reach into the true depths of the ocean, plunging into the trenches and exploring places that were previously inaccessible to be examined by man.
So it is with the Word of God. What I want to impress upon you is that just casually reading the Scriptures is insufficient if you are seeking to attain the deep places of God’s Word. Mere reading can be shallow and is only able to produce a weak, ankle-deep understanding of God’s Word. To experience its depth, you have to study it, search it, go deep, deep, deep in the Scripture, examine its trenches.
The Blood of Jesus
The blood of Jesus is the second truth the Bible says will keep the anointing growing in intensity. If one does not remain under the cleansing flow of the blood of Jesus, one day the empowering anointing can destroy that individual because he or she is not clean. Those who operate in ministry must maintain an upright life. Ruth 3:3 says, “Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee.” These are the words of Naomi, who was telling Ruth to first wash and then anoint herself. This means that first, the blood washes you, and then you can be anointed for God’s service. The blood of Jesus keeps you intense in the empowering anointing of God. It keeps the intensity upon your ministry.
Fellowship With God
The third thing that will cause an increase, or expansion, of the empowering anointing in your life is fellowship with God, which is continual prayer. Smith Wigglesworth said, “I don’t often spend more than half an hour in prayer, but I never go more than half an hour without praying.”
You will not receive the empowering anointing just by praying a few minutes a day. It takes more effort, more determination, more staying power. In Acts 1:4 the Lord Jesus told His followers to wait in Jerusalem, and the Word says in verse 14, “These all continued…in prayer.” They continued, and then, in Acts 2, the power fell. It takes an ongoing, concerted prayer to reach this level. You cannot receive the power promised in Acts 2:4 without first practicing the continuing prayer of Acts 1:14.
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