The Internal Anointing is like a deep underground stream that you can drill down to and tap into. Then you can pump the water until it gushes out.

The second is known as the External Anointing. This is what we usually see as the power of God and the anointing. This is the one that brings the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural and the signs and wonders.

It produces the goose bump feelings that we get and is like a downpour of gushing rain. The Scriptures often speak of God pouring down His blessing, and we sometimes think of the anointing of God as coming down on us.

On the Day of Pentecost they heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and it came down upon them. Even in the Old Testament you will see that the Scriptures often use the term, 'the Spirit came upon them'.

So the Holy Spirit can rise up from deep inside you, and the Holy Spirit can come down upon you.

Each of these different relationships of the Holy Spirit in us gives rise to a different wing. We must have both of them together before we can be fully effective for the Lord.

What then are the nine things that come through? Under the external we have the nine Gifts of the Spirit which are:

1. Tongues

2. Interpretation of Tongues

3. Prophecy

4. Word of Wisdom

5. Word of Knowledge

6. Discerning of Spirits

7. Faith

8. Miracles

9. Healings

There are also nine Fruits of the Spirit under the internal, which are:

1. Love

2. Joy

3. Peace

4. Patience

5. Kindness

6. Goodness

7. Faith (Assurance)

8. Gentleness

9. Self-Control

As you look at these you will see that on both sides there are two that God has given mostly for us and that we use within ourselves. The others are used mostly to pour out to others, but we can use those two for ourselves.

Ours to Use

If you look at the Gifts of the Spirit, the gift of tongues is mostly for us to use for ourselves. It is used for prayer and to build ourselves up spiritually.

The gift of faith also enables us to come to a place of believing God for the impossible. It empowers us to do amazing things for God; to believe God and have things happen, both in our lives and in the lives of others. That then leaves seven which are used mainly for others.

When you come to the Fruit of the Spirit, you will see that love should always be poured out to others.

Joy should be contagious and should be spread around, but peace is something that affects your own heart. It takes place within you and is what the Bible calls the peace of God that passes understanding.

Patience certainly has to do with how we handle people, and kindness is always something we show to others. Goodness means giving out or being generous, and that also involves people.

What is faith? It is the ability to believe, not only in you, but also to believe in others.

Some people call it faithfulness, but essentially it is not exactly the same as the gift of faith which gives a supernatural ability. This is an active faith where you are able to have faith in others.

Then there is gentleness, which again concerns how we handle people. Self-control on the other hand is something that helps you to get a hold of yourself. So here again we see two that are used mainly for ourselves, but the other seven are used for others.

Here are the two wings – the nine feathers, with seven main ways or different manifestations of the anointing.

These come under two main headings: the Internal Anointing and the External Anointing. We need both of them in order to minister effectively, and we need at least all seven on both sides for us to affect other people.

You may think that you only need the supernatural power of God to do the work of the ministry. Pentecostals and Charismatics always like to sit on that side. They say,

"As long as we can be used by God in the Gifts of the Spirit and have the power and anointing, we can minister effectively and God will touch peoples' lives."

Getting Others to Receive From You

Yes this is true, but how do you get people to come to the place where they are ready to receive from you?

There is One person who walked this earth and who carried more anointing than anybody else in this world. He was God in human flesh, and according to the Bible He had the anointing without any limitation or restriction.

But when Jesus came to His hometown as a normal man, the Bible says that He couldn't do many miracles there. He could not perform any signs and wonders and He couldn't even really minister to the people.

They looked at Him and said,

"Who does he think he is? We know him; he's just the carpenter's son. He grew up amongst us here and we have no confidence in him."

If people do not have confidence in you and are not prepared to receive from you, then it does not matter how much power you have to give them. It will not affect them.

It is not enough to have all the power of God to do the work of the ministry. It is not even enough to have all the knowledge of the Scriptures and the experience of life.

You need to have some kind of power that will open the hearts of the people. They need to be ready to receive from you, and then from God in you.

That is what the Internal Anointing is about. That is what the Fruit of the Spirit is about.

Using Love

You need to approach people using the Holy Spirit's ability and the power of love. Love is like a light that shines in the darkness. It opens people's hearts wide, and they will not look at you and say,

"I don't think you are educated enough. I don't think you are talented enough. I don't trust you."

This world is so lacking in love, and you come with a love that people have never seen. You cannot love that way without the Lord. You need that supernatural love which comes from the Internal Anointing. And when you love people that way they open their hearts wide.

We need to come with joy. It is a miserable, negative world in which we live, so we need to lift people up and spread joy. We need a sense of humor and we should help people to laugh. It will open their hearts wide.

You need to also be patient with them and you need to be kind. You need to be generous, because if you give to someone they feel obligated to give back to you.

If you give someone a gift, they will be more ready to open their hearts to receive. You need to believe in people and you should be very gentle in how you handle them.

None of these things come naturally no matter how hard you try. There are many in the world in charitable organizations that seem to be doing these things. But they are not really doing it because they have selfish motives.

Only with God's anointing and His Spirit flowing out from deep inside you, can you do these things unselfishly as a blessing to others, to show them that God is in you.

When they see this pouring out from you they say,

"That is not natural. Nobody has treated me that way before. This person has something special. I should pay attention to it and open my heart to receive."

Releasing the Anointing

So you can see that we get the two sides together by following after love and earnestly desiring spiritual gifts. Then all we need to do is go out and release it.

How do you let it out? You do it in two simple ways: through the words that you speak and the actions that you carry out.

Is that not what ministry is? Ministry is speaking to people and putting it into action. You do it by not only telling them about God, but showing them what God's love is like.

We show them through our lives, using our experience and all that God has given us. We show them what God looks like and draw them to Him. And when we do this we meet all their needs.

These are the things that you will need before you can even begin to do ministry. But how do you go about getting these things? How do you obtain knowledge of the Scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit?

As I already said, you could study the Bible alone. But you need someone else to teach you beyond that, and for this God has given the Teaching Ministry to the Church.

You could pray alone and wait on God for the power of the Holy Spirit, but God also uses others to impart the power that they have received to you.

If you wish to rise up to the kind of levels of authority that are possible with the call of God, you need far more than getting alone in your closet, waiting on God and reading your Bible.

You will see by the end of this teaching how high you can really go. For now you must understand the basic things that you need before you can do the work of the ministry.

We will look shortly at how you can be trained to get ready and start doing the work of the ministry.

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