When you allow God’s purification process in your life, you must remain vigilant about six key things that can weaken the empowering anointing on you.
The Bible says we are to resist the devil, but it says resist not the Holy Spirit, grieve the Holy Spirit, quench not the Holy Spirit.
Why? The Holy Spirit is as gentle as a dove, and He will not stay if there is a challenge.
These are six things about the anointing that few understand and even fewer teach or preach about, but we need to grasp them if we want God to use us in ministry.
- Entertaining the Demonic
The empowering anointing loses its center, its power, its effectiveness when people entertain the demonic.
How do they entertain the demonic? They allow demonic things into their lives, like Achan in Joshua 7, who took some kind of a demonic image and hid it in his tent in direct violation of what God had instructed.
Sadly, many Christians cannot be used by God because they have demonic books and materials in their homes or watch things on TV that are demonic in nature. In addition, some pastors allow things in their ministry that are demonic in nature—either knowingly or unknowingly.
- Allowing the Flesh to Pollute It
The flesh weakens the anointing.
God says in Exodus 30:32, “Upon man’s flesh shall [the oil of the anointing] be poured.” He is saying, “Do not let the flesh interfere. Do not let your carnal nature and the world get in there.”
The presence of God and the power of God in our ministries can weaken if we allow pollution in our lives. We cannot allow that pollution, no matter what it is.
God will not permit uncleanness. If we allow it into our lives, He will not use us. Just get it out.
- Allowing the Anointing to be Imitated, Borrowed or Stolen
The anointing on you for your ministry or office is the only anointing you can release. You cannot release the anointing inside you, the abiding anointing. You can only release the one on you, the empowering anointing. Releasing it to the right people is the key because this anointing weakens when you release it to undeserving individuals.
If God has instructed it, as He instructed Moses to lay hands on Joshua, then He has a plan to raise up that other person without detracting from your calling. But do not do it just because you like the individual, no matter who they are. If God has not told you to do it, it will weaken your ministry.
- Allowing the Wrong People to Get Close to You
The people you allow to be close can fight God’s plan for you and weaken the empowering anointing on your ministry. If you have people on staff in wrong positions or promote them to positions God has not called them to, it can cause division and hinder the anointing God put on your ministry or office.
If you are going to be in ministry, you must be aware of everyone around you and whether their spirit is flowing with your anointing. Sometimes you can tell outwardly right away if they are not with you; other times, you must ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern whether they are flowing in the same stream. If they are not, they will weaken the anointing on you.
- Controlling Spirits
In 3 John 1:9, John warned the church about a controlling man named Diotrephes, who wanted preeminence. He was trying to control people’s lives with his religious spirit. If you let someone around you with a religious spirit, they will weaken or kill what God has given you.
Legalistic, controlling men and women are deadly to the empowering anointing of God on you.
- Other People’s Sin
If the wrong people touch you, they will weaken the anointing on you. It says in 1 Timothy 5:22, “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.” So do not lay hands on them—and do not even let them touch you lest you partake of their sin and impurities. Protect yourself from the danger, the witchcraft and the demonic they bring with them.
Timothy was not living in sin. He was not weak in the Spirit, yet Paul warned him about this. Even though you are strong, please do not touch them. It will weaken your empowering anointing, and beyond that, think about the damage it can do to your life. Ministers have been destroyed and ministries vanish because they did not heed Paul’s warning.
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