Refining the Anointing

Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. —Hebrews 5:8

A man or woman with a secret anointing always needs further preparation. We do not get the necessary refinement by merely praying for more of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had all the Holy Spirit that there was—the Spirit without limit (John 3:34). Yet, “although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered” (Heb. 5:8).

I find this truly amazing. To think that Jesus, the God-man, needed suffering to be perfected. He was man as though He were not God—and was filled with the Spirit without any measure or limit set on that filling. He was completely filled with the Spirit. He was also God as though He were not man! And yet, “in bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb. 2:10). All I can say is, if our Lord Jesus Christ needed to suffer before He could be all that God the Father envisaged for Him, how much more do we need to suffer before God can trust us with the full extent of the anointing?

Suffering was David’s passport to a greater anointing. Though the Spirit came upon him in power (1 Sam. 16:13), little did David know that, rather than being crowned king in the next week or two, he would have years and years of fleeing Saul—for one reason: to guarantee that the secret anointing in him was refined.

The secret anointing in you, though you are kept from a high profile, will still be a threat to the enemy God chooses for your refinement. David could not hide his anointing. He wasn’t ambitious. He simply did what he was asked to do and did it too well. David thought the preparation would never end. You may feel the same way. But thank God for the secret anointing in you. Thank God for friends. And thank God for your enemies. They will probably mean more to you, at the end of the day, than your friends!

Excerpted from The Anointing: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (Charisma House, 2003).