New York. New Anointing.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to return to the state of my...hmmm...well to the state of my brother's birth. My first home in the United States, (I was born in Jamaica in case you didn't know that tid bit).
So of course when I'm returning to NY there are a couple necessary things to do on my visiting checklist:
Eat at KFC <- Kennedy's Fried Chicken
Eat a hotdog (I don't eat hotdogs any other time or at any other place)
Soft serve ice cream with rainbow sprinkles
Chinese food (only the best)
Pizza
Shopping of course
While I was able to accomplish all of this - even if only to a small degree...
None of it will compare to the Awesome, Amazing, Indescribable encounter that I had with God while attending this Youth Convention there in Far Rockaway.
Yes...Indescribable just about sums it up. It was one of those things...you had to be there to know what I'm talking about. It was not, however, a what-happens-in-Rockaway-stays-in-Rockaway type thing...oh no...I'm taking this with me everywhere I go for as long as I live.
So As indescribable as it all was - I will make a most humble attempt to share some of what happened.
Let me begin by saying that the theme of the convention was taken from 1 Samuel 16:13 "Moving Forward in the Anointing".
Friday night was Awesome. I literally was able to kiss the face of God with my praise. I entered into a covenant with the Creator of all things (Lord help me to be faithful). A young man brought the message and he compared moving forward in the anointing to moving to a new house in the natural.
Basically when you're moving to a new house you should be going from a one-bedroom house to a 3 or 4 bedroom house not from a one-bedroom to a half-a-bedroom. (Please feel free to laugh because I surely cracked up while listening to him).
So when you're moving you typically do three things
1. You leave/throw away some things (old things that you no longer need or have use for)
2. You keep some thing (things that you need)
3. You add some things (new things, new furniture, etc. to fill up your new house)
The preacher said that as we move forward in the anointing we need to 1.) Leave and throw away the things in our lives that are not of God 2.) Keep those things that are of God 3.) Add to those things that are of God
Good deal right? I thought so.
The second night it was a young woman brought the word. She reminded us that the word "moving" denotes continuous action. You don't just move one time and say you're movING.
Sunday morning God reiterated something that HE had dropped in my heart - that being gifted doesn't mean being anointed. The preacher came and said the same exact thing.
And Sunday night was just all kinds of great. The preacher said that as Christians we're all anointed, although that doesn't mean we're all walking or operating in that anointing. But once we have the Holy Spirit within us we have been anointed. Because the Spirit of the Lord is the anointing. He also said that even when we have issues, and difficulties and circumstance we're still anointed. David sinned (and repented and God knew all of this before anointing Him) and God still called David a man after His own heart and chose David and anointed him.
This reminds me of a verse I have recently committed to memory:
Romans 11:29 "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance (or irrevocable)."
As imperfect as I am, as imperfect as we are, we are still called by God and He has still anointed us for a particular task. That was something else the preacher said on Sunday evening. With every anointing comes an assignment. We are not anointed to simply say "I'm anointed and chosen by God." No, there's something we must do.
The word came forth with power and clarity each night but what was amazing was the way service would end but then the power and presence of God would just usher in another hour or two of worship...Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday morning...people were prostrating, praying, crying out to God, speaking in tongues, literally waiting to meet with God at the altar. Running to the altar to meet God with their hands up. There was no time for spectating if you needed a fresh touch from God, HE was there to give it to you. His presence was heavy, GOD literally just sat in the room with us. It's unlike anything else I've ever had a chance to witness or experience. It was awesome.
I am anointed!
And when I say that it's not to brag or to pretend to be holier-than-thou but I say it with a conviction knowing that I have an assignment to complete. I don't know the depth of my personal assignment but I know that the God who entrusted it to me doesn't expect me to do it without His help and that's why I have to keep moving forward.
At the very least I have been commissioned by God to pray and not to pray for myself but to pray for you. And if you're a Christian than you've been commissioned by God to do the same. Not only that but there are many men who are still in a perishing predicament and we are the ones that need to take the good news that Jesus Christ brings to them so that they might be set free.
This new level is not for me. Pursue God. Seek His face. Be led by His Spirit and walk in your anointing!
Grace and Peace Pilgrims.