Our Need of Anointing

Theme: Anointing: Necessary or nice to have?

I became a disciple of the Lord Jesus at the age of 30. My first church experience was in a Pentecostal assembly whose leaders soon instructed my wife and I on the necessity of being ‘baptised in the Holy Spirit’. As a fresh and excited new believer I took every opportunity of speaking about the new spirit-filled life in Christ. I remember a long conversation I had with my mother. She was an old school Methodist who was suspicious of ‘born again’ believers, a little condescending of ‘happy clapies’, and traditional in her ideas of worship and church life. “But mom”, I remember protesting “you need to be baptised in the Holy Spirit!” She arched one eyebrow and explained patiently how long she had been a Christian, what she had done in the church, and how she felt no need to be a ‘Pentecostal’. I could see I was getting nowhere so changed tack by asking her when she had been ‘born again’ – another ill-chosen expression. “Oh” she said, “I came to know Jesus as my saviour at a very early age.” Then she paused and reflected for a moment before adding, “But it was much later that I realised my need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.”
That was a good lesson for me. It doesn’t so much matter what terms we use, but rather that we experience the reality we are seeking to describe. ‘Baptism in, by, or with the Holy Spirit’ are just words we use to express our acknowledgement that we need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit for life and ministry. The word ‘baptism’ is best applied to immersion in water, and so ‘filled’ by and with the Holy Spirit is probably a better word to describe the ‘Pentecostal’ reality.

When Jesus was baptised in the Jordan River the Holy Spirit came upon Him and ‘anointed’ Him. The Holy Spirit filled Jesus with spiritual power. The word ‘anointing’ well describes this empowering. In Old Testament times Priests and Prophets were anointed with oil to symbolise their Spirit-empowered ministry. However, Jesus’ injunction to His first disciples was to wait in Jerusalem until they had been ‘clothed with power from on high’ (Luke 24:49). And we, no less than those first disciples, need to be clothed with power from on high. We need the in-filling of the Holy Spirit. We need the anointing.

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Christopher Peppler

Christopher Peppler

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2 thoughts on “Our Need of Anointing”

  1. I agree that we often get caught up in the Christian jargon of our particular denomination. It also seems to me that Christians also try and put “Filled with the spirit” into a nice little formula – Speaking in tongues = filled with the Spirit = Holy person. I have found this to be more complicated that this were a person actively trying to lead a Holy life might not speak in tongues while someone who speaks in tongues might be leading a self centred life.

  2. I agree, Lance. We cannot judge another person’s holiness by their outward manifestations of the Holy Spirit (ie speaking in tongues). Having spent 3 years in a very conservative church I was humbled by the fact that the most spiritual people in the building didn’t even raise their hands during worship.

    I am fascinated by how God “fills us with power”. Is it a done in a flash of intimacy with him, or does it come about after minutes or hours of waiting on him? I guess there’s no formula, but I do know that the days I do not wait on him are frenetic, unproductive and stressful and for a Obsessive Compulsive such as myself, I don’t have the time to waste on stuff that God has not ordained and equipped me to do. I just wish I could get this right everyday! 🙂

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About Me

My name is Christopher Peppler and I was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1947. While working in the financial sector I achieved a number of business qualifications from the Institute of Bankers, Damelin Management School, and The University of the Witwatersrand Business School. After over 20 years as a banker, I followed God’s calling and joined the ministry full time. After becoming a pastor of what is now a quite considerable church, I  earned an undergraduate theological qualification from the Baptist Theological College of Southern Africa and post-graduate degrees from two United States institutions. I was also awarded the Doctor of Theology in Systematic Theology from the University of Zululand in 2000.

Four years before that I established the South African Theological Seminary (SATS), which today is represented in over 70 countries and has more than 2 500 active students enrolled with it. I presently play an role supervising Masters and Doctoral students.

I am a passionate champion of the Christocentric or Christ-centred Principle, an approach to biblical interpretation and theological construction that emphasises the centrality of Jesus

I have been happily married to Patricia since the age of 20, have two children, Lance and Karen, a daughter-in-law Tracey, and granddaughters Jessica and Kirsten. I have now retired from both church and seminary leadership and devote my time to writing, discipling, and the classical guitar.

If you would like to read my testimony to Jesus then click HERE.