Sunday we will be looking at a difficult topic in the bible. The topic is “anointing” and the key passage is found in 1 John 2:18-27.  We will attempt to trace the biblical concept of “anointing” in the bible and ascertain how it relates to the ministry of the Holy Spirit (if it even does). 

The following is an encouraging devotional written by Charles Stanley on our passage from 1 John. 

 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.(1 John 2:26)

The story is told of a young boy who believed that he would one day inherit a beautiful piece of land. His father told him about it continually and promised one day to take him to his future land. When that day came, he realized he had been the victim of a cruel family joke—the promised land was a boggy swamp in the middle of nowhere.

That little boy was none other than P. T. Barnum, the famous circus man of the late 1800s. In bitterness of heart, he coined the statement about suckers, saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Some people are out to deceive, and they seek the gullible, weak, and uninformed and prey on them for their own selfish purposes. John the apostle warned the believers in the early church to look out. The church is not immune to infiltration by opportunists and liars.

How can you discern these false voices? John explained, “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth … As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning” (1 John 2:20–21, 24 nasb).

You have the direction of the Holy Spirit and God’s unchanging Word. Nothing God says will ever contradict His Word. When you rely on this truth as the test of accuracy, you will not be swept away by error.

Almighty God, thank You for the anointing of the Holy Spirit that enables me to know the truth. Deafen my ears to the deceptions of the world around me. Let me abide continually in Your Word of truth.

 

See You Sunday,

 

Pastor Byron