Chapter 4 (Part 3)
The “Anointing”

In March of 2012 Reform Rabbi Barry Weinstein asked me to try and describe what I meant by the “Anointing” I have experienced in church services and in ministry for the past 30 or so years, and insist that I will not abandon. I found it very difficult to come up with “English” words to describe a “spiritual experience”! 

I finally settled on the “tangible feeling” of God’s Presence, not only in my spirit man, but also in my soul man; and even in and on my physical man. A “tangible sensation” of knowing that God was drawing close to us as we were drawing close to Him. My friends in the “Outpouring Movement” in Louisiana called it the “Glory.” Jews call it the “Kabob.” There is as physical “heaviness” associated with it; an assurance that the Maker is Present in the midst of us. It is the process of God “loving” on us as He had Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. How is that possible? Let’s look…. 

I understand that we are “created” “in the image of God (Gen. 1) as a three part being; one unit impacted by three “parts” that can be dissected, to a degree, but are totally integrated in their actions. Kenneth Hagin described it as: “I am a spirit, I have a soul, I live in a body.” My understanding of that is that the spirit and soul are interrelated and dwell within a “tent” we call a “body.”  

When we depart this Earth the spirit and soul are temporarily, and reluctantly, separated from the physical body; but, as they were designed to be together for eternity, they will be reunited in the future; the body, spirit, and soul are designed and destined to live for eternity as a unit, operating in conjunction with God to complete, and enjoy, Man’s original assignment to fill the Earth and the Universe with the beauty and reality enjoyed in the Garden of Eden. Thus, in “Heaven” or however you see the “hereafter,” the spirit and soul will continue to function together; we will “know” folks already there we had contact with in the Earth, we will retain our “memories,” however only the good ones as “every tear will be wiped away,” and will function and operate and enjoy God and each other forever. We will be busy for eternity discovering God and the depths His Word and working with God to complete the original task assigned to Man. To accomplish that we will eventually be reunited with a “glorified,” or perfected, physical body free of the restraints imposed on it by Adam’s “sin” in the Garden. 

Because Man is “created in the image of God.” he is empowered to interact with God and has many of the abilities and attributes of God…because only “like beings” can fellowship with each other. We can interact with other people because we share those abilities in common; we can “connect,” interact, and serve God on the same basis.

Man, created in the image of God, is designed and enabled to live with and under the “Anointing.” That is the actual physical Presence of the Creator with His creation, Man. It was that way in the Garden of Eden; the Word tells us that God came and walked and talked with Adam and Eve “in the cool of the evening.” Jewish sages tell that God Himself would braid Eve’s hair; their relationship was that close and intimate! 

Obviously, at the choice of our Creator, inside Man is the ability to communicate and interact in actual fellowship with the Creator! That makes Man the only creation that has that awesome privilege! The living reality of that kind of relationship was and remains entirely the choice of Man because Man is gifted by the Creator with “Free Will;” nothing else God has created is enabled or allowed to make “choices;” everything else created is totally subject to God’s Will. “Free Will” enables “Man” to make choices in everything he does; no other creation can boast that! Or suffer the consequences of it! 

Let’s take a side trip and talk a little more about “free will…”

Free Will is the gift of God to the apex of His creation, “Man.” Free Will is required in “Man” because Man is an independent spirit being, created, ultimately, to return the Love of God placed in him back to God. Love that is not returned freely is not “love.” It is duty, or coercion, and God deliberately did not make us “robots,” programmed to say “I love God.” One of the qualities of Love is that it desires to have that love returned…and it can only be returned by an independent, “free,” being that shares common qualities and abilities. Our choice to “freely” love God causes us to be available for His “Anointing!” 

The Presence of God in our midst (the “Anointing”) causes reactions in our entire being…spirit, soul, and body. While we can move into that “presence” individually, its effect is more felt in the corporate setting. For some 30 years, whenever I had the honor of being with brothers and sisters in a corporate setting, a church service, a convention, or a meeting where God was invited and welcomed, the “Anointing” was there! I have become “greedy” to enjoy and live under that “Anointing!” After all, I was, and you are, “designed” to live there! 

As I move among my new Jewish friends, attend their services and fellowship with them, I have yet to experience the “Anointing.” I believe it exists somewhere in all the different “branches” of Judaism, but I desire to find it! It is a part of their heritage (See the dedication of Solomon’s Temple) that seems to have “leaked out” during the centuries. 

This commonness with our Creator is the basis for the “Anointing.” We were designed to, and did, interact in the Garden of Eden with God. Man’s “sin” curtailed that intimate relationship on the choice, not of God, but of Man!  

All this based in the Nature of God, the core component of which we call “Love,”

Next: The Love of God