What Happened To The Annointing In My Life?

This week I wanted to share with you something the Lord has been speaking to me. Often in our personal lives or in ministry we can find ourselves going through a “routine”, especially when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. At times we have become to busy to take the necessary time we really need to strengthen our relationship with God. It's important that we exercise our spiritual body.

If you're like me, we all have things in our lives that demand our time like... our kids, our spouse, our career, our friendships, and even our ministries. Although all of these things are important to us, they can easily wear us down to the point we begin to function in our own natural strength. We've become spiritually tired or exhausted. It's important that we take the time to RENEW our strength! This can only be done by taking the time each day to REST or WAIT in the Lord. (Isaiah 27:14)

I can certainly tell you from first hand experience, that during the 20 years in full-time ministry, I've found myself so tired and exhausted that I've stood up before the congregation and ministered before the Lord using my own natural strength. You might have seen this begin done when a minister uses certain phrases in order to get a specific response from the people. My intent is not to be critical, but to bring us to a place of awareness and of our need to seek Him more. We cannot allow spiritual laziness to steal the best the Lord has for us! When we replace intimacy with God for our own human strength and intellect we are operating in our flesh.

I'm not personally a worship leader, but I've been in services where you can tell that the “Worship Leader” has not spent the necessary time preparing for the service. Many times stretched too thin and just plain exhausted. At other times misguided priorities! Hours and hours can be spent rehearsing the musical arrangement or vocal parts rather than “Practicing His Presence”. When they stand up to minister they are spiritually empty. They've become WORSHIP CHEERLEADERS rather than WORSHIP LEADERS. Sometime more time is spent during the service trying to get the church all pumped up and excited so we feel good about what we've done, rather than bring them into true intimacy with the Father. We cannot let our tank get empty. We must work at maintaining our tank full by His presence daily.

Let's take a look at the familiar story of a great hero in the bible... “Samson”. (Judges 16) Basically, after several encounters with Delilah and the Philistines, Samson finally reveals the secret of his strength. Let's take a look at this story from here...

15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

The key verse is found in vs. 20 “But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” Wow, Samson found himself going through the routine of shaking himself free from his enemies. He thought that everything was going to be the same as before, but he had made a unexpected calculation. This time the Lord had departed from Him and now he was operating in his own strength.

Today, are you operating in your own strength? Let's not be caught unaware that the Lord has departed from us.

Dear friend, I want to encourage you to take time this week and seek the Lord. May He pour new life into you as your wells are re-opened and new wells are beginning to flow.

Sincerely,
Christopher Goins
San Rafael, Mendoza