Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
As leaders, we are appointed with authority to lead to appoint others to be who they are in life. Authority gives life, it never takes it. To have authority means you have been given a substance or an ability that can give life to others. True authority brings release, and it does not seek to control the lives of others. Uncovenanted authority (Gentile authority) seeks to use power to control the lives of others. In the kingdom of God’s grace, authority facilitates the power of life to bring life to others. Anointing is not authority; anointing is the power of life that serves authority to give life to others. Many people confuse anointing and authority. Most men have an anointing to produce children, but men need to reserve their anointing to produce children to the authority to produce children. That authority is the covenant of marriage. When anointing or power is exercised outside of the boundaries of legitimate authority, it always produces dysfunction in some way. It will always exhibit an attribute of death and it will fall short of bringing life to the world. This is the way of the world.
Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 3 to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
In these verses, the prophet Isaiah reveals the prophetic testimony of Jesus Christ and Christ, His body. Jesus Christ and the Body of Christ have an anointing that serves their God-appointed authority to bring life to the world. The anointing on our lives is an anointing to bring life. We are anointed to bring good news to the destitute, but we are not anointed to bring bad news. We are anointed to heal broken hearts, but we are not anointed to break them. We are anointed to proclaim liberty to captives, but we are not anointed to make captives of others. We are anointed to open prison doors, but we are not anointed to empower or enable prisoners. Captives are those who have been taken by others. We are anointed to free them from their captivity. Prisoners are those who have been incarcerated as a consequence of their own crimes. We are anointed to open their prison doors, but we are not anointed to empower them, condone them, or enable them to be confined to prison again. We can open the prison door that they can find grace for a life change that will empower them to never be imprisoned again. We are anointed to proclaim the acceptance of the Lord to those who have been disinherited in their identity. We proclaim jubilee – a return of lands, names, and inheritances to men. We are anointed for victory over the enemy. We proclaim the day of vengeance of God to the things that seek to devour and destroy the lives of men. We are not anointed to defeat people nor to become their enemy. We are anointed to comfort those who mourn, but we are not anointed to cause sorrow. We are anointed to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, that they would be given beauty instead of ashes. We are not anointed to give anyone ashes. We are anointed to bring joy, we are not anointed for to cause them to mourn. We are anointed to put the clothing of praise upon others, we are not anointed to clothe them in heaviness.
We have this anointing so that those we are sent to can be planted in a relationship with God that extends to their children and their children’s children in the earth.
Isaiah 61:3b …“that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
In the Scripture, trees represent humanity in a multi-generational way. To live to the age of a tree, is to live on in the testimony of our children and our children’s children. The freedom that God brings into our lives is meant to expand and to grow in the lives of our family name. God’s love, and the testimonies of His love, are part of our family inheritance in Christ. The ultimate purpose of our authority and the anointing of Christ that serves that authority is to bring God’s restoration of identity, testimony, and purpose to the lives of those God sends us to.
Isaiah 61:4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.
I believe that the rebuilding of old ruins is the restoration of our true identity in Christ. This is our part in His calling. To raise up the desolations is to restore our true testimony in Christ. This is our part in His inheritance. To repair ruined cities is to restore community purpose in Christ. We are anointed to bring freedom to others so that free people can be planted in a personal relationship with God in Christ. They will know the restored life in Christ of identity, testimony, and purpose for the glory of God in their generations.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
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