By Kenneth E. Hagin Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations in this volume are from the King James Version of the Bible. Third Printing 1985 ISBN 0-89276-507-0 In the U.S. Write: In Canada write: Kenneth Hagin Ministries Kenneth Hagin Ministries P.O. Box 50126 P.O. Box 335 Tulsa, OK 74150-0126 Islington (Toronto), Ontario Canada, M9A 4X3 Copyright © 1983 RHEMA Bible Church AKA Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printed in USA The Faith Shield is a trademark of RHEMA Bible Church, AKA Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc., registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and therefore may not be duplicated. Contents Foreword...........................................................................................................7 Section I—The Individual Anointing 1 The Anointing on Jesus.................................................................................11 2 The Anointing Within...................................................................................19 3 How the Anointing Led Me..........................................................................29 4 Ministering Healing Without an Anointing...................................................37 Section II—Anointing on Ministry Gifts 5 The Fivefold Ministry Gifts..........................................................................43 6 The Anointing To Preach..............................................................................49 7 The Anointing To Teach...............................................................................57 8 The Anointing To Pastor...............................................................................61 9 The Anointing of the Prophet.......................................................................69 10 The Anointing of the Apostle......................................................................89 11 How To Increase the Anointing..................................................................95 12 Yielding to the Anointing.........................................................................105 13 Peculiar Anointings..................................................................................109 14 The Healing Anointing.............................................................................119 Section III—The Corporate Anointing 15 The Corporate Anointing..........................................................................145 Foreword When I started out in the ministry 49 years ago, I wish we'd had the material that's available today. Our ministries and lives would have been different. That's the reason I want to share with other ministers— especially young ministers—what it took some of us 40 or 50 years to learn. In this book I want to discuss what I have learned about the anointing during my half century of ministry. There is much about it in my spirit to share with you. In Section 1, we will discuss the individual anointing that all believers have in the New Birth. We will point out that all believers can experience a deeper anointing by being baptized with the Holy Spirit. This experience, open to all believers, is for service. In Section 2 we will see that there also is an anointing of the Holy Spirit upon ministry gifts—an anointing that goes with the offices. Thank God for the ministry gifts He has placed in the Body of Christ so we may grow. Thank God for the anointing of God upon men and women He's called to these offices. There is an even stronger anointing, the corporate anointing, that rests upon the Church. We will study this anointing in Section 3. Bear in mind as you read this material that these are different anointings, but they are all from the same Holy Spirit— the only member of the Godhead who is at work in the earth today. You will find that there's nothing like the glory of God in manifestation. Once you get a taste of it, nothing else will satisfy. 7 Tulsa, Oklahoma July 1983 8 SECTION I Section I—The Individual Anointing Chapter 1 1 The Anointing on Jesus In Old Testament times, the common layman (we'd call him a "believer" today) had no anointing in him or on him. The presence of God was kept shut up in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. But God would anoint the king to stand in that office; He would anoint the priest to stand in that office; and He would anoint the prophet to stand in that office. The Spirit of God would come upon these three types of individuals to enable them to stand in their respective offices. David had all of these anointings. David was king, and he also was priest and prophet. In the 92nd Psalm, David said, "...I shall be anointed with fresh oil" (v. 10). Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit. (Often we need a fresh anointing.) Anointings Today God is still anointing prophets today. Prophets are spokesmen for Him. The prophetic office includes anything that speaks for God—which would be all of the teaching and preaching offices—but especially that of the prophet, because that is the anointing involved. God is still anointing people to preach, to testify, and to sing. And He's still anointing priests. What was the function of the priest? He represented other people. Other people couldn't go into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, but the priest— the High Priest—could go into the Holy of Holies, so he was the intercessor for the people. God is still anointing intercessors. He's anointing people to pray. There's an anointing there. And He's anointing kings. We're all kings, glory to God. Romans 5:17 says that we shall "reign in life." It's because of the 11 Understanding the Anointing anointing that we're able to reign. Other Old Testament references to the anointing include these texts from Zechariah and Isaiah. ZECHARIAH 4:6 6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might [or army], nor by power, but BY MY SPIRIT, saith the Lord of hosts. We always think of might and power in connection with the Spirit of God. When God speaks of might and power in this Scripture, He's talking about human might. He's telling Zerubbabel, "It's not by the power of an army, but it's by my Spirit that the battle is going to be won." It's by the Spirit of God that victories come, not by the hand of man. ISAIAH 10:27 27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed BECAUSE OF THE ANOINTING. Sometimes we turn that phrase around and say, "It's the anointing that destroys (or breaks) the yoke." That's saying absolutely the same thing: The yoke shall be destroyed because o f the anointing. This is true in our lives and ministries as well: The yoke of sickness or anything else that the devil tries to put on us will be destroyed because o f the anointing. In the New Testament, we see how the anointing was on the ministry of Jesus, and we can learn about ministering under the anointing. LUKE 4:14-19 14 And Jesus returned in the POWER of the SPIRIT into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. Notice in the fourteenth verse, the word "power" is used in connection with the Holy Spirit. Combining these two verses, 12 The Anointing on Jesus we could say, "He returned in the power of the Spirit and He taught," or, "He taught in the power of the Spirit" (for there is an anointing to teach). 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath ANOINTED me TO PREACH the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me TO HEAL the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Notice in connection with the Holy Spirit there first was the word "power" (v. 14) and then the word "anointed" (v. 18). Peter, preaching to Cornelius and his household, said, ''How God ANOINTED Jesus o f Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed o f the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Jesus said, "The Spirit o f the Lord is UPON me, because HE HATH ANOINTED ME...." (Luke 4:18). God anointed Jesus primarily to do two things according to this entire verse: to preach and to heal. (In connection with preaching, Jesus also was anointed to teach.) The Ministry o f Jesus Christ When you discuss the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, most people immediately respond, "Well, yes, but He was the Son of God." And, of course, He was. But what they fail to realize is that He as the Son o f God was one thing and He as a person ministering was another thing. He did not minister as the Son o f God—He ministered as a mere man anointed by the Holy Spirit. 13 Understanding the Anointing If people would just stop and think for a moment, they would see this in the passage of Scripture we have just been studying in Luke 4. He was in His hometown of Nazareth on the sabbath day, went to the synagogue, and was given the scroll of Isaiah to read from. He read the passage we just studied: "The Spirit o f the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me.... " After He had finished reading, Jesus handed the scroll back to the minister, sat down, and began to teach the people. He said, "THIS DAY is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (v. 21). If Jesus had been ministering as the Son o f God, He wouldn't have needed to be anointed.