Expectancy is the key to receiving. Have you ever felt the whole of hell is coming at you? You may be tempted to ask “Why me?” I would ask, “Why not you?” Jesus told us we would have tribulation. Satan thinks he still rules so don’t be shocked when it happens. The good news is that you don’t have to put up with it. Be of good cheer! Trouble is coming, but get excited. You’re about to see another testimony develop! Jesus has made sure you are positioned for victory.
In Matthew 16:13-20, Peter has a revelation. Jesus asked “Who do you say that I am?” Understand, when Jesus asks a question, He’s not really looking for an answer. He’s asking in order to position us to receive something. Who do you say Jesus is? Who is Jesus to you?
We’ll never receive anything beyond the word we know and believe. This is what creates expectancy. It’s easier to believe for others and to declare their healing and wholeness. The breaking point is, what do you believe for yourself? What we know is what we’ll experience because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The devil doesn’t care what’s preached but how you receive it. He wants to destroy expectancy before it is birthed.
In Matthew 16, Peter receives great revelation, that Jesus is the Christ. But Jesus exhorts them not to tell. He is saying, “Don’t tell them I’m the Christ.” Christ is the translation of the Greek, “cristos”. It means “the anointed”. This is a translation from the Hebrew, “mashiach.” When Andrew first discovered Jesus, he ran to his brother Peter (John 1:41) and proclaimed they had found the Messiah. “Mashiah”, the root word of mashiach, means to anoint, to pour all over, smear all over and rub all over, based on how priests were anointed according to Hebrew tradition. “I can do all things through Christ” the Anointed One. How does He strengthen me? He strengthens me by His anointing.
In Luke 4, the Holy Spirit descended as Jesus was baptized. Jesus then went into the wilderness and came back in great power. Verse 16 is the first time He ministers in that power as He reads from Isaiah (chapter 61 for our reference). “He has anointed me to…”. The anointing is for a purpose. It activates something. It is for a reason…to preach the gospel, good news to the poor, healing to the broken-hearted. proclaiming liberty to the captive and recovery of sight to the blind. He preaches a total reset, total freedom.
He came to take the burden away and break the yoke (Isaiah 10:27). He is able to do this because of the anointing. “Break” implies it can’t be repaired. The yoke is completely destroyed, turned into powder, never to be a yoke again. Satan has worked your whole life to mess you up. Jesus shatters Satan's conditioning of your life. Today, you are free. And that’s when the fire comes out. When Jesus proclaims freedom over your life, religion rears its ugly head and tries to destroy life. Life sets you free but the enemy doesn’t want that to happen. But, be of good cheer…
Acts 10:34 says God is no respecter of persons. You’re included. He doesn’t pick favorites.
The Word that God sent, beginning in Galilee, was Jesus. Religion will always want to silence the living word. Verse 38 explains that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power. God was with Him. Jesus was anointed with the Spirit and with power, not because He was God, but because God was with Him. He did no miracles until after He was baptized and anointed. He was not anointed with oil as priests were in the Old Testament. Jesus was anointed with the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the anointing, a person. With Him comes the power.
When we are saved, we are given the Holy Spirit. This is the same Holy Spirit as Jesus received. The oil is no longer applied on you. It is in you. Say, “I am christos”. We are the body of Christ. The anointing in you makes you anointed. As members of the body of Christ, we are christ-ians. Even the smallest part of the body is an “anointed-ian”. Without anointing, you get into religious teaching. In Luke 24:49, Jesus told the disciples to wait in the city until after the power has come. Then, go for it! Without the anointing you can’t preach the good news effectively, with power. This is why Jesus told Peter not to tell anyone when he first received the revelation. Without the anointing, without the power, it would not have been effective and may have resulted in trials beyond what the disciples could handle.
Colossians 1:26-28 says, “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. to them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” The mystery is the anointing, the Anointed One in you. Hope causes expectation and glory speaks to the manifestation of potential. The Anointed One gives you that expectation for potential. Surrender yourself to Him and know you are anointed to…
