Now that you are completely dressed for battle, you understand the requirements of how you are to be dressed so that you can be guaranteed of consistent victories in your times of prayer. You now understand that the Lord not only desires for you to know who He is, but He also wants you to understand every level and every position that you are in when you are entering into His presence.
God desires that you not be confused about your posture in prayer, your place in prayer, and your garments of prayer. Knowing this, we will move on to one of the most vital elements in the tabernacle – the holy anointing oil. Since God is a God of detail, He specifically had Moses institute men into the office of becoming Apothecaries who were required by the Lord to become the oil makers for the tabernacle. He also required that olive oil was used to anoint the tabernacle elements and priests (Exodus 30:24)
The olive oil used to keep the menorah lit continually was made by crushing the olive branch in order to squeeze out the oil. Other components and ingredients were added to this oil to create a holy anointing oil to anoint the tabernacle and its elements, as well as, to anoint Aaron and his sons. Each ingredient of this fragrant oil represents a different characteristic of the release of God’s power.
This oil represents the illumination of the Lord from His tabernacle in you – His intercessor. This oil is necessary wherever the Lord requires you to call on His divine presence – whether He sends you to a hospital to pray for a sick person, to pray for someone who has been incarcerated, to go to a mental institution to pray for someone in need, or if He leads you to have a one-on-one counseling session with an individual who is disturbed. Whenever you feel the unction to pray and bring someone into the holy place, you will need the holy anointing oil.
As you read you will understand why the Lord requires that we use the anointing oil. You will learn why these ingredients are important if you are going to be an effectual intercessor and experience quality times of prayer in the divine presence. As we look back to Moses’ inauguration of Aaron and his sons, it is important to understand that after Aaron and his sons were washed and received their new priestly garments, Moses anointed them with the holy anointing oil. Then after their seventh day of consecration, fire came down from heaven as they participated in their first priestly service.
As you submit yourself daily to being a living tabernacle of the Holy Spirit, every element in your tabernacle is anointed. You have passed through the Beautiful Gate by accepting Christ as your personal Savior. You consistently come to receive the Word by washing at the brazen laver. You now have the brazen altar within you where you have submitted your will to the Lord. Now…you are ready to move into the next step of the pattern.
As you prepare to enter into the holy place, you can take that fragrant oil and anoint yourself. Now you can go in and complete the pattern of the Lord in prayer on behalf of somebody else – and that’s when according to scripture the fire will come down from heaven upon your sacrifice.
In Exodus 28:41, God tells Moses to clothe them, anoint them, ordain them and sanctify them and afterwards, “they would be able to serve Me as priests”. Leviticus 8:1-30 tells us that after washing and dressing Aaron for service, Moses anointed the tabernacle and then poured oil over Aaron’s head. After this, he clothed Aaron’s sons in their garments, sacrificed a bull and a ram, and sprinkled the blood and anointing oil upon them.
The oil used for anointing Aaron and his sons is very important. There is a significance in every ingredient that went into the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:22-30). God instructed that the best spices were necessary because an impure mixture would hinder the anointing.
The first ingredient listed in the anointing oil was 500 shekels of liquid myrrh. For women in Bible days, myrrh was a purifier and an embalming fluid. God was saying, “Not only do I have to purify your anointing, but I also have to embalm what I put to death so that when you see it again in the realm of the Spirit it wont affect you”. Myrrh represents our need to be purified for service to God.
The second ingredient was 250 shekels of sweet cinnamon. This speaks of our attitude and how we treat others. Have you ever known people who were filled with the Holy Spirit yet were as mean as snakes? They are missing an essential ingredient of the anointing. Let me ask, “How do you handle yourself when people do not treat you right? Would the ingredient of sweet cinnamon still be apparent in your life? Ministry is for mature believers, those who have been blood washed, purified, sanctified, and broken under the anointing! Otherwise, your ministry would never survive. Be honest with yourself, there are people in your surroundings right now whom you do not care to speak to. You have to realize that the only way you can be anointed with the sacred oil is to be lied about, talked about, and mistreated. The very person to whom you are not speaking is your anointing! Sweet cinnamon is an essential part of the anointing…because it represents your attitude and response to others.
The third ingredient was 250 shekels of sweet calamus. Calamus is also known as “reed grass”. It thrives on the banks of rivers, growing consistently regardless of age. It represents the maturity you must develop to be prepared to be an intercessor. This is another ingredient that sweetens the anointing oil because when we come through the outer court and are about to enter the purpose of God in the holy place, the enemy tries to target us like never before. So to help us guard our garments, God gives us a double portion anointing of sweetness and maturity – far beyond the normal measure that we see and experience in the natural realm. Unless you have been anointed with the sweet calamus of spiritual maturity, God will be unable to plant you in the midst of a mess that needs your intercession. If the sweet calamus of maturity is not a piece of your anointing, you will be unable to grow as you encounter each piece of furniture inside the holy place. In fact, you won’t be able to get into the door! If you don’t have sweet calamus as part of your intercessory anointing, you will become stagnant in prayer and won’t be able to go to deeper realms in the spirit.
The final ingredient in the holy anointing oil was 500 shekels of cassia which they added to the mixture in equal proportions to the amount of myrrh. Cassia is likely to have come from a plant that’s related to cinnamon. Cassia had to be ground into a powder before being blended into the liquid myrrh along with the other ingredients. This spice symbolized the completion of your anointing. It shows that everything you have received from the river of the Holy Spirit in prayer has formed the foundation for you anointing. Cassia represents the fact that people don’t see you anymore, your form, your style of ministry, your personality, and your emotions have all been crushed to be blended into the sweet smelling savor of the divine presence within you. When you are anointed with cassia, you have learned to walk in the Spirit – to live, move and have your being in God.
When God anoints you with the holy anointing oil, it confirms that He has brought you through the necessary channels so the enemy cannot hinder the assignment God has ordained for you to fulfill in the holy place. Finally you are preparing to enter the holy place and approach the altar of incense where true intercession is made. Soon you will enter into the divine presence of God. You are being anointed to approach the altar of incense – representing power, authority, and kingship – with the right spirit and the right ingredients. You’ve walked through salvation, strength, and power into a deeper level of the anointing. You are no longer in the place where you need salvation. You are now in the place where you are getting ready to fight on someone else’s behalf. You are taking the power and authority in the Spirit realm where you will be in a position to rule and govern what happens in another person’s life – and all of this happen at the golden altar.
Remember, if you fail to guard your garments, you can give place to the devil. When you have holes in your armor, you become vulnerable to the enemy’s devices. So stay properly dressed and the oil of the anointing will equip you to serve faithfully in the holy place of prayer. (www.oilofthespirit.com)
(Teachings from Juanita Bynum)
Oilofthespirit's Weblog 