In the previous chapters we saw the dealing with certain negative things. In this chapter we will consider the inner anointing, which is even more practical on the positive side. First John 2:27 says, “And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.” The Christian life is a life under the anointing, the Christian walk is a walk guided by this anointing, and Christian service must be a service guided by this anointing. Moreover, in order to preach the gospel, we must preach not only in power but also by the anointing. Verse 27 is all-inclusive, saying that the anointing teaches us all things, so that there is no need for any man to teach us. This anointing takes care of all the matters of the Christian life, walk, work, and service.
This verse uses the word anointing as a gerund, a verbal noun. In some versions this word is translated as unction, which also implies a motion or action. It is not merely a substance but a substance in motion. That we have received this anointing and it abides in us means that a certain kind of motion or action abides within us. We cannot say that this is the Holy Spirit alone, because the Holy Spirit is not an action. Rather, the anointing is the working of the Holy Spirit. If we have the action, the motion, of the Holy Spirit, then to be sure we have the Holy Spirit Himself. Likewise, if we do not have the Holy Spirit, we cannot have the motion or action of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who dwells in our spirit is moving and acting all the time. This working, moving, acting, or motion of the Holy Spirit is the anointing.
If we rub an ointment on our hand or face, we sense the moving, the motion, of the ointment on our skin. Similarly, in our spirit there is such an anointing, a constant moving and action. This is why verse 27 says that this anointing not only is in us but abides in us. To abide in us means not only that it remains in us but also that it works, moves, and takes action in us. The Holy Spirit constantly works in us by moving, acting, and living within us, that is, by anointing us. We have received such an anointing, and such an anointing now abides in us, anointing, working, living, moving, and acting all the time.
Even if we learn all the foregoing lessons in these messages, we must still realize that the most practical lesson for us as Christians is to be taught and guided by the inner anointing. We may even say that the unique lesson to learn as Christians is the lesson of the inner anointing.
We can learn and realize the anointing only through our fellowship with the Lord. As we know, the book of 1 John is a book of fellowship. In the first chapter of this Epistle there is the fellowship of life. The apostles proclaim the divine life, that is, the eternal life, to us, and when we receive the life, we have the fellowship of life. The fellowship is the current of the divine life.
We fellowship with the Lord not only when we close ourselves in a room to spend time with Him. This is a good time to fellowship with the Lord, but we must always keep ourselves in fellowship with Him. Even when we are working at our job, cooking in the kitchen, walking on the street, or driving in our car, we need to keep ourselves in fellowship with the Lord and contact Him. To keep ourselves in fellowship with the Lord is simply to exercise our spirit, because it is in our spirit that the Holy Spirit dwells and communicates with us. Therefore, we must contact the Lord by exercising our spirit.
We should not care too much for our emotions or our mind. We need to take care of our spirit. If we are happy emotionally, we should forget about that. If we are disturbed in our mind due to many different thoughts, we should forget about that also. We should learn always to forget the things of the emotions and the mind. To not live by our self, our emotions, or our mind is a big lesson.
The Lord is the Spirit who is dwelling in our spirit today, so we seek to live by the Lord in our spirit. However, some bad news may come to us. As a rule, when people receive bad news, they are troubled, sometimes in the emotions and sometimes in the mind. Sometimes they are troubled to such an extent that they cannot sleep at night. As Christians we need to learn how to forget about the troubling matters; we must learn always to give them up and forget about them. Otherwise, the entire world will be utilized by the enemy to bring many things our way. Because the enemy Satan sends us many troubling matters day by day, we need to learn how to give them up.
Giving these things up may be compared to washing our hands, which we do a number of times every day. We have to wash our hands time after time because many dirty things come our way. To be a Christian we must learn always to give up our emotions, our mind, our thoughts, and all the bad news. When bad news comes to us, we do not care about it. When certain thoughts come to us, we do not care about them. When things make us sorrowful or happy in our emotions, we also forget about them. We only care for the inner anointing. We must always try to keep ourselves in contact with the Lord by giving up all the things of our emotions and mind.
This is very practical, but it is not easy. Let us consider today, for example. How much have we been disturbed in our mind or perplexed in our emotions today? Perhaps for the entire day we have spent only a little time in the spirit. Most of our time has been wasted in the mind with its thoughts and in the emotions. If this is so, we have not been victorious today. We have been defeated simply because we forgot the lesson to not care for the things in the mind and the emotions and to only care for the inner anointing.
If a brother comes to say something to us, it is easy to deal with him in our mind and in our emotions. If the brother comes to tell us something nice, we may be very happy, but this is wrong. When a brother comes to tell us something, there is no doubt that we should listen to him, but after we listen, we need to give up our mind and emotions and come back to the inner anointing. Even when teaching and doctrine come to our thoughts, we may need to listen to them, but eventually we must take care of the inner anointing.
We need to check whether or not we have the inner anointing. We do not care about what we hear, about what people tell us, or about our thoughts, opinions, and emotions. We only care for the inner anointing, and we simply go along with the inner anointing. This is a simple and brief word, yet it is very difficult to practice.
To be in the spirit and not in the soul is simply to go along with the inner anointing. To be sure, if we go along with the inner anointing, we are in the spirit, while to not go along with the inner anointing means that we are out of the spirit and in the soul. This is simple and practical.
When we speak, we should check whether or not we are speaking in the anointing. Many times when I minister, I thoroughly check with myself in this way. To taste, or sense, the inner anointing is the only way for me to decide what to minister. We need to sense all things by the inner anointing. With the inner anointing there is a certain inner sense, inner feeling, and inner consciousness, which we must follow. There is something within us as a living consciousness, registration, or feeling. We need to take care of that feeling and go along with it.
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