Bubbles of Glory
Anointing: a special empowerment of the Holy Spirit for the bringing in the kingdom of God (Acts 10:38).
An Old Vision
Years ago, I had a picture of the present state of the church in the form of many separated bubbles with rainbows on the surface of each sphere. They then melded together into a single sphere and one undivided rainbow of glory. I believe the Lord has recently revealed something significant for the coming together of the bubbles of glory.
Background
The Spirit of God speaks to me most clearly through embarrassing situations of weakness. During my preaching last Sunday night, I felt very unanointed/uninspired, and inwardly praying seemed to make no difference. The subject matter was biblical and clear, but the presence of God in my heart was tangibly missing. Through prayer a few days ago I became convinced that I had grieved the Spirit in a falling out with my wife Donna immediately before the service. Whereas Paul could testify that his “spirit” could be in Corinth in the power of Jesus even when he was distant from that city (1 Cor 5:4), on Sunday my spirit was not united with my wife’s. this is a serious disorder which is a malady for the whole Body of Christ. Today we are failing to deeply depend on one another. The lesson, “The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” (1 Cor 12:21) needs to be relearned. A reorientation to our need for one another must go far deeper than anything we have seen before. The expression of the fullness of Christ which belongs to our essential nature as Church (Eph 1:23) awaits a moving towards total mutual interdependence far more profound than at present. This is an intensely spiritual matter.
One Anointing
Christians tend to speak of an “anointing” as a highly personal empowerment, rather than a shared or corporate reality. I sense however the Spirit is saying that there is essentially only one anointing. All our diverse anointings are contained in the reality of Jesus as “the Christ/Messiah” who is “Lord of all” (Matt 16:16; Acts 10:3-38). Jesus is “the apostle…prophet…shepherd, teacher etc” (Matt 23:10; Luke 13:33; Heb 3:1; 13:20) in whom every Christian receives her/his distinctive anointing gift of grace in all the promises of God (2 Cor 1:20-21). Revival will break out in Perth when we corporately realise that Jesus’ prayer that we share the one glory of the Father (John 17:22) means your anointing is my anointing and my anointing is your anointing. The overflowing fulness of Christ in the Church depends on a shared witness that no spiritual gift/presence is competitive with any other. In New Testament thinking there is only one Church per city. E.g. though there were multiple house churches in Jerusalem (Acts 5:42), they are described as “the church in Jerusalem” (Acts 8:1; 11:22). The one Church in a city has essentially one anointing in Christ, an anointing diverse in rich variety (Eph 3:10). The tendency for congregations/denominations/ministries to see one another as competitors rather than co-labourers (2 Cor 6:1) reveals a deep identity crisis, intensified by our love of individualism and autonomy. We are mostly quite Babylonian.
Babylonian
The Hebrew “Babel”, from which Babylon is derived, means “confusion” (Gen 11:1-9). Babylonian forces always work to infiltrate the Church to conform the beautiful Bride to their own hideous image. The urgent plea of the Spirit to “come out of Babylon” (Isa 48:20; 2 Cor 5:17; Rev 18:4) must be reheard in every generation because a Babylonian way of doing things is widespread and tenacious. As an example, a recent prayer tower constructed in Perth has been jokingly called the “tower of Babel”. This joke is unhelpful, but it reflects the reality that the tower was built without the cooperation of the rest of the Church in Perth. If an invitation had been issued to all God’s people of God in our city to come and help build “a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa 56:7), how different would the perception and practice of this structure have been! Seeing so many independent and autocratic decisions in the Church challenges us to move in a love that “covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:8). Presently there is probably no city-Church which does not need to repent of the “party spirit” which generates a multitude of glorious bubbles to the detriment of One much more glorious sphere. Hallelujah though, the Spirit of God is working to realise this more radiant glory through a very specific anointing.
Anointed for Death-and-Resurrection
Jesus was fully and specifically anointed for death-and-resurrection as the two indispensable poles of his one unified life. “She has done a beautiful thing to me…she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.” (Mark 14:6,8). “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” (Heb 1:9; cf. Luke 24:41) The fulness of the Church’s anointing in Christ is to suffer with him and to experience his resurrection power (2 Cor 4:7-12; Phil 3:10). Today in our city, and across the world, the Lord is moving to annihilate “envy and selfish ambition” (James 3:14-16) by putting to death ministries birthed by the Spirit but not yet complete/mature in his sight (Rev 3:2). As a sort of first fruits of impending resurrection life for the Church in Perth (1 Cor 15:20) a well-known prayer ministry (https://www.facebook.com/HouseofPrayerforEveryoneWA/) recently announced its ending. I believe this is a sign we have entered a time of grace for maturity when the Church in Perth can embrace the truth that in Christ a dying to old, but good, things, will release the emergence of better things in the resurrection life of the new creation. Speaking by prophetic symbols, the palliative care ward and the maternity ward are one in the anointing of Christ.
Conclusion
We live in exciting times when in the power of the gospel of death-and-resurrection the Church can recognise “all things are ours” in Jesus (1 Cor 3:21-23). This includes seeing that all other ministries and congregations belong to us all! In such a mindset we can powerfully participate together in the “restoration of all things” under the single Anointing of Jesus (Acts 3:20-21). A breaking down of barriers is coming where perceived barriers between local church/parachurch/marketplace ministries etc. will come down in the one Anointing Love of Christ as “Lord of all” (Acts 10:38). We can pray and worship together in the one Voice of the Lord (Rom 15:6) and in the one undivided cloud of glory given us by him through prayer (John 17:22-23), The one essential Anointing is on every Christian individual/marriage for every suburb, city, state and nation, and the whole world and “all things”, forever. When all “the bubbles” recognise these beautiful realities in the Spirit they will come together as one and enjoy the triumphant rest of the Lord (Heb 1:3). (Was I really unanointed in my preaching last Sunday night, or does the anointing merely depart from our experience to later reappear in greater power? Like in this writing I am delivering to you from the Lord?)