THE HOLY SPIRIT IN EXODUS/THE PRECIOUS ANOINTING
Precious brethren,
I’m sure you’ve heard of the term anointing. It is one of those overused and even misunderstood Bible words. We continue to encounter the Holy Spirit in the book of Exodus.
Many people who talk about and want the anointing don’t quite realize that it involves surrender or serious consecration and dying to the flesh. Many people want to be used of God and to be heavily anointed but they don’t realize that there is a price to pay. The price of the anointing is simply surrender. Miss Kathryn Kuhlman (whom God used mightily with a healing anointing and was a predecessor to pastor Benny Hinn) used to say, “It costs everything. If you want to know to the price, I’ll tell you. It’ll cost you everything. Kathryn Kuhlman died a long time ago. I know the day. I know the hour. I can go to the spot where Kathryn Kuhlman died.” It took a lot of dying to the flesh for her to flow with such an anointing!
The anointing is the power of God at work through you. Oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit and His power working in an individual. In Exodus, God told Moses to collect very specific ingredients to make a special anointing oil. What went into the making of that anointing oil?Look at Exodus 30:22-25. The Ingredients of the anointing oil were: Myrrh, Cinnamon, Calamus, Cassia, and Olive oil. God gave very specific amounts of each item. Each ingredient actually speaks to how the Holy Spirit’s power is produced or released in our lives. The power of God working through you is costly. Let’s look briefly at each of the ingredients:
Myrrh was a gum like substance used for medicinal purposes and purification. Myrrh represents purity. The greater the purity in your life the more the Holy Spirit finds venue in your life. He is a ‘holy’ pure Spirit so your lifestyle matters. Purity clears the flesh out of the way and allows the Holy Spirit to flow through you.
Cinnamon represents sweetness. It is the opposite of bitterness. Bitterness can be manifested in many ways including un-forgiveness and competitive jealousy. Jealousy is counter kingdom. Each of us must have the sweetness of godly motives if we’re to allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us.
Calamus is an Eastern plant, which when ground into powder was used to make some of the most expensive perfumes. Calamus represents the fragrance of worship. Our lives are to be a continuous fragrance of worship to the Lord. The Holy Spirit came to glorify Jesus. Worshippers live in the awareness of God’s presence. There’s a beautiful fragrance in people who worship the Lord continually. They create a habitation for the manifest presence of God. The Bible says God inhabits the praises of His people. Do you take time to praise the Lord alone or just in church services on Sunday morning?
The Cassia plant had branches, which held moisture and had to be rooted deep in wet areas usually near a river. Cassia represents roots or “process.” Roots take time to grow. You cannot rush God’s process. Roots go deep into dark private places. The deeper your private fellowship with God, the greater the anointing in your life. Each of us must seek the Lord through prayer, fasting and meditation on the Word. Water represents both the Word of God and the drinking in (communion) of the Holy Spirit. (See John 7:37-39, Eph. 5:26.)
What about Olive oil? To extract olive oil from the olive, one must crush the olive. The olive must be shaken off the tree; the place of security and sustenance then pressure is applied causing it to be crushed to yield its oil. This of course represents surrender and dying to the flesh in so many areas, particularly in our attitudes. The crushing of the olive to produce oil also represents getting out of your comfort zone to obey what the Lord tells you to do whether its easy or not.
That’s what the ingredients in the anointing oil represented. Brethren, you have a part to play in the release of God’s anointing in you.
