For years, many people have wondered how to obtain power
with God. Reading books about those whom the Lord used mightily, we have stood
in awe at the anointing of God that flowed though them bringing deliverance,
healing and blessing to so many people.
And of course, we have been inspired to seek God, desiring
to be used in the same manner. However, most people who ask God for His power
do not experience great depths of the anointing, and some give up because of
frustration and despair. They wonder why it seems as if God would not answer
their request. However, believe me when I say that the problem (if we want to
call it that) is not with God. Many of us are missing the mark because while we
desire to be used of the Lord, we must be willing to examine our motives as to
why.
I firmly believe that God wants to flow in and through our
lives much more than we desire for Him to use us. But in His grace and love for
us, He withholds certain things until we develop the proper attitude of heart
and mind in regard to His power. I remember one time when I was seeking God for
a deeper level and dimension of the anointing of God in my life. I was asking
Him to let more of the marvelous manifestations of the Spirit flow through me.
While I was praying in this manner, It seemed as if I could sense the Holy
Spirit speaking to my heart. I asked Him to let His gifts flow more in and
through my life and He seemed to ask me, “WHY?” And while He was asking me why
I wanted more of the move of the Spirit in my life and ministry, He seemed to
shine a light on my motives and intents. Let me say that I did not like what I
saw. As a matter of fact, I did not even answer. But He knew why.
And I believe that this is the reason why many people do not
experience the greatness of the power of God that He longs to flow through us
to meet the needs of others. The greatest hinderance to the Lord using us in
the strength that He desires to is pride.
Pride is something God abhors and utterly detests. He walks
with the humble and despises the proud. What is pride? It is allowing yourself
to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Pride caused the
enemy to fall. When satan began to think that he was all that and that he
deserved to sit on God’s Throne, it caused his downfall.
Likewise, when we allow ourselves to think that God has
anointed us because we are better than others, or that because God has anointed
us we are above others and can treat people in any manner we choose, we are
headed to a fall. The truth of the matter is that we need God and we need one
another. And we need to realize that when God uses us to be a blessing to
others, it is not to cause us to think of ourselves as better than others, but
to meet the needs of others in Jesus Name and for His honor and for His glory.
The Bible teaches that God gives more grace to the humble.
(James 4:6) When it comes to this powerful key to the power and anointing of
God, many of us must admit, we have not even done a study on Bible humility to
find out what it is and how to live humbly before the Lord. We prefer to study
how God used others and attempt to take on their form. We try to imitate them,
but we do not get the kind of results they got because while we may have their
actions, we lack their heart, the humble heart.
Yet, when a person humbles himself or herself before the
Lord, WATCH OUT, God is about to flow through that person in marvelous ways to
minister to the needs of others. Humility is not a side issue with God. It is
the issue. Scripture admonishes us to be clothed with humility. (1Peter 5: 6-7)
Seeing that this is the case, we had better take a closer
look at this vital and timely Bible principle. What is humility? Well, permit
me to say that it is not the degrading of self, but the acknowledgement of the
greatness of God and our deep need for Him. It is living in the awareness that
we can never be all we are to be, accomplish all we are to do, or obtain all we
are to have without God. We need Him.
May we in an honest and true heart learn the power of
humility and seek God for His anointing not so that we can be seen, but so that
the needs of others can be met and Jesus Christ the Son of God can receive all
of the glory and credit for all He does through us. This is the path to a powerful
anointing from God. May we seek Him diligently.
