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Having said "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you," we are told
John 20:21-22 "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'".
Knowing that later He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4 ), and that He said they would receive power when the Holy Spirit had come upon them (Acts 1:8 ), we know that breathing on them was a prophetic breathing, emphasising that they were to be sent as He was sent. It is essential to have His anointing, the fullness of the Spirit. They received their personal Pentecost (Acts 2:4 ), and we cannot fulfill the great commission without ours.
"As" the Spirit came on Him, "so" the Spirit comes on us. Jesus testified to those gathered in the Nazareth synagogue, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (Luke 4:18 ). The Spirit came on Him in bodily shape as a dove when He came up out of the Jordan's waters having been baptised by John (Luke 3:22 ). The Spirit comes upon obedient and praying believers today as He did upon the disciples in the upper room (Acts 2 ).
When Peter was speaking in the house of Cornelius about how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, and how He went around doing good and bringing healing and deliverance (Acts 10:37-38 ), we are told, that while Peter was still speaking "the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word" (Acts 10:44 ). What is more, the Holy Spirit came upon them in the same way that Peter and the others had received Him on the day of Pentecost:
If Jesus could not accomplish His great work without a great anointing of the Holy Spirit, neither can we. It takes the same anointing to do the same work. As a sent one, can you testify to having your Lord's anointing?
The good news of the kingdom is so great, the Son of God was anointed with the Holy Spirit by the Father to proclaim it. The message to the lowly ones is greatly needed - release must be brought to them. It can only be brought about in the dynamic of the Holy Spirit. Sinners are imprisoned in the rock of their fallen, sinful nature and held in the granite grip of Satan. The dynamite of Holy Spirit preaching and prayer strategically placed (like placing explosive charges in the granite rock), can bring about explosive release and explosive birth. Only an anointing like His can do it.
The world, the flesh and the devil have had a heyday - many people are disheartened and broken-hearted as a result of materialism, selfishness and demonic power. The kingdom of unrighteousness is bringing mortal hurt to mankind. King Jesus brings only good in bringing the kingdom of God. His sent ones are equipped by the Spirit to heal the broken-hearted and to bind up wounds. Through His anointed people He still "heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 147:3 ). What a ministry to be anointed menders of lives and hearts!
The kingdom message liberates captives - those bound by tradition; those bound by the wrong influences of others and held captive by lying demons. He sets free those fettered by sin and Satan. We are anointed to proclaim liberty by His death, His resurrection, and by the fact that He lives in the power of an endless life. Sent ones are anointed to speak the victory of the name of Jesus over captives, to set them free.
This is what Jesus did - He opened blind eyes, the physical and spiritual. The great thing to do today is to share kingdom vision. "Where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint" ( Proverbs 29:18 ), or "Without a vision the people perish" (NIV).
Anointed, sent ones bring His vision of hope and joy to a benighted world. There is no hope for our world apart from the kingdom message proclaimed and demonstrated. When the Spirit-filled people of God move in the vision of God, people become willing in the day of His power, and rise to claim territory for the King.
That is, the year of the Lord's favour, the now kingdom message, of freedom and restoration for an afflicted world. Proclaim far and wide that this is the day of the Lord's favour, that the Lord is moving through His Spirit-filled people to turn the nighttime of our world into the daytime of His appearing. This is still the day of favour to all to whom we are sent. The day of God's vengeance is still future, but it will surely come upon those who refuse His Son and His kingdom. What a privilege and responsibility to be among His commissioned, even His gift-wrapped and sent ones.