RECEIVING THE YOKE-BREAKING ANOINTING || Slaves who love their chains, shall remain in their bondage Dr. D.K. Olukoya

RECEIVING THE YOKE-BREAKING ANOINTING

I must not fall to tell you that the knowledge gained from this book will not benefit you maximally unless you are able to move from the realm of receiving the information to the realm of the anointing. It is not enough to be aware of the presence of a yoke or bondage in your life, you must know how to receive the anointing that breaks every yoke. A good doctor will not only diagnose the problems of his patient he will also ensure that the cure is administered.

Isaiah 10:27 provides us with our marching orders. It says,

And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and the yoke be destroyed because of the anointing.

One thing made abundantly clear in this passage is the fact that it is the anointing that breaks the yoke.

The greatest factor in the life of a Christian is the anointing. The anointing makes the difference. The moment the anointing comes, you will not be the same again. The anointing will usher you into a new realm, from trials to testimonies, from poverty to prosperity, from bondage to freedom and from defeat to victory. Receive the anointing of God today and the rest of your life will become days of heaven on earth. You will become an embodiment of the full expression of what the power and the grace of God can do.

WHAT IS THE ANOINTING?

It is the literal expression of the life-changing and the yoke-breaking power of the Holy Spirit, to set one free, and uplift one unto the realm of the divine will, plan and purpose for his life.

The anointing is God’s weapon for combating the powers of darkness and ushering us into a point where every divine promise becomes a reality. It takes one from the realm of human limitation to the realm of God where all things are possible.

Nothing can be compared with the anointing.

“The taste of the pudding,” they say, “is in the eating.” You cannot know the power of the anointing until you get into it experientially.

The anointing is a fact, not fiction. It is not just a concept. It is real. It is crystal clear that the lives of those who have received and benefitted from the anointing are highly unpredictable in every sense of the word. When God gives you His anointing, He makes available to you the totality of His power. His presence and divine ability are brought into your life. Everything He is capable of doing becomes your daily experience.

Perhaps you have wondered why a fellow believer is riding on the crest of breakthroughs, signs and wonders while you are struggling with life? You might have also wondered why other believers are giving multiple testimonies, recounting countless instances of divine intervention and swimming in the ocean of God’s abundance, while, for a very long time, you have not been able to lay hold on anything you can call a miracle.

Is that your experience? Then, you can be very sure that the anointing is the missing ingredient in your life. Without the anointing, yours will remain a fearful, deadly and wasted life. The simplest thing will become a burden. What you are supposed to achieve instantly will take you days, months and possibly years. You will become tired and confused. You will endure what you are supposed to enjoy. You will crawl when you are supposed to scale heights and you will continue to mark time on the same spot when you are expected to break new grounds.

With the foregoing it is clear that anointing is highly indispensable. It is the greatest factor in the christian life. To receive the anointing is to succeed, while to lack the anointing is to fail. You must therefore make up your mind to receive the anointing if you want to move your life from the level of the natural to the supernatural. The moment you know what the Bible calls the anointing, you will not remain the same again. You will not be willing to live any moment of your life without the anointing. Those who have never experienced anointing do not know what they have been missing.

The anointing envelopes and transforms lives. It permeates the total of being a of person. It electrifies and empowers. Once the anointing comes upon you, the first thing that will surely happen is that all the yokes in your life will break.

Look at the case of Samson. He was arrested and bound by his enemies, but the Bible tells us that immediately the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, his yoke was broken. You will do yourself a lot of good when you begin to move in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It appears that many people are looking for short cuts. They are not ready to go all the way with God. A lot of people are not happy with our style of teaching. They quarrel with us for revealing to every believer the secrets of victory in spiritual warfare.

The anointing cannot be received through learning or familiarity. You can receive it only by prayer and consecration. Some people have established schools of anointing. That cannot guarantee their students receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Anointing is not received through an apprenticeship scheme. The amount of anointing that comes upon your life is directly proportional to your personal desire and practical commitment to fulfilling the conditions for receiving the anointing. If you want little anointing you will receive it. If your desire is for a great anointing you will also receive it. If you want the anointing to operate maximally in your family, profession and finances, your desire will be granted.

The amount of room you give to the anointing of the Holy Spirit is the amount of anointing you will receive.

The anointing is God’s instrument for touching the lives of His people.

The anointing is real, tangible and palpable. It is not limited to the demonstration of power in church gatherings. Some people think that the moment a preacher blows some air into the microphone to produce some reverberating sounds the anointing must be present. No. Also, although falling under the anointing is real and scriptural, it does not convey the full import of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. If you fall under the anointing and you get up without any tangible experience then you don’t know the anointing.

God gives the anointing to those who earnestly seek it. What makes the difference between one believer and another is the anointing. In the same vein what makes the difference between one minister and another is the anointing. You must ensure that your own yokes have been broken by the anointing before you can step out to help those who are under bondage. A prisoner cannot help a fellow prisoner. But when you are free you will be able to rescue those who are suffering under cruel, satanic yokes.

There is so much noise today about the anointing but very little to show for it. If a lady who places three layers of wigs upon her head begins to pray about the anointing, if the anointing should fall on her, anything can happen. Christians who are still pursued by elementary powers are in that condition because they lack anointing. When the anointing falls upon you, they will no longer be able to oppress you. Those who are pursued are generally on the losing end. No one can pursue a powerful man. If you are being pursued then you are weak spiritually.

STEPS TO RECEIVING THE ANOINTING

There are certain conditions that you must fulfil if you want to experience and retain the anointing. Let us look at four of them.

• DESIRE IT

You must desire the anointing if you want to receive it into your life. You will only get what you desire in life. If you think that something is not necessary, you will not make any effort to acquire it. Your desire will lead you to a serious action towards receiving the anointing.

• DECIDE TO GET IT

To desire the anointing without deciding to go for it is to achieve nothing. Your desire must activate you into practical actions which would lead you into the practical possession of the anointing. You must not be relaxed about it. You must take a solid decision that you must get the anointing by all means.

• BE DETERMINED

When you come across men and women who possess the anointing, their example must jolt you into the strong determination to receive yours also. Be determined to go all the way until you receive the anointing.

• BE DISCIPLINED

The anointing is not for every Tom, Dick and Harry. It is reserved for those who are disciplined. If you fail to exercise control over your desire for pleasure, passions and ease, then you are not ready for the anointing. Take a look at all those who received the anointing in the Scriptures, you will discover that all of them are disciplined men and women.

PRACTICAL STEPS

How then can you work out these steps practically? For example, if a man wants to be a member of the prayer warrior’s team, his desire cannot materialise unless he is ready to take certain steps.

• PERSONAL DISCIPLINE

He must be ready to take a decision, for instance, to wake up every

5 a.m. If he continues that way for a few days only to be distracted,

he cannot be a prayer warrior. He must be determined to consistently spend hours in prayer.

Inconsistency will disqualify you from being a prayer warrior. If you encounter difficulties along the line, you must resort to the use of personal discipline to keep your decision to function in the office of a prayer warrior minister. You have to make use of the alarm clock. You must be disciplined enough to wake up immediately the alarm rings at 5.00 a.m.

I remember what happened during my university days. I was sixteen and a half when I entered the university. In fact, I was the smallest in the class. Majority of the students in my class were between the ages of 30 and 39. I was so small that at times when we queued in the cafeteria, some people ordered me out thinking that I was not one of them.

I can still recall what fellow students did to pass their exams. I remember going into the classroom to study one night, a few days before the examination. I was surprised to see a young man who had removed his dresses and had only his underwear, a pant. He did that to avoid sleep. As I looked back, I saw another middle- aged man who in his own case, was placing his two legs inside a bucket of water to avoid sleep.

To my left was also an elderly woman who was sitting on hot water bottles in an attempt to remain awake to read. That was how far these students went in their efforts to pass their examinations. I learnt a lot of lessons from the manner they disciplined themselves. These were practical examples.

If those students could go that length in their effort to pass examinations, then you must be ready to take practical steps, even if they hurt, to receive the anointing.

The anointing is so important and beneficial that you must go any length to receive it. The moment the anointing comes upon you, you won’t need to pray about prosperity. It will just come automatically. The anointing comes with breakthroughs and prosperity. The reason

many people are not able to receive the anointing is that they lack the discipline that is necessary for receiving it. Many people pray for the anointing has but they fall as a result of lack of discipline.

The divine prerequisites for receiving the anointing are nonnegotiable. God cannot compromise His standards. The old fashioned method of securing and maintaining the anointing has not changed. Personal discipline is therefore of great importance. Without it, the anointing will remain elusive.

It is very easy to sing ‘Anointing, fall on me, let the power of the Holy Ghost, fall on me, Anointing . . . .’ You must be disciplined. That is why we have always recommended personal deliverance as the most effective method of deliverance.

Personal deliverance takes a lot of discipline. You won’t have to depend on a man who comes to cast out an evil spirit by saying ‘Come out, in Jesus’ name.’ You must exercise personal discipline if you want to experience lasting deliverance. In the same vein you must be ready to discipline yourself if you must receive lasting anointing.

Anointing also basically means to pour oil upon a thing or a person or to rub oil on somebody or something. However, the anointing goes beyond that in the spiritual realm. The Greek word ‘Christ’ means the anointed. Therefore Jesus Christ means Jesus the anointed one. Whenever the Jews say, Jesus the Messiah, it means Jesus the anointed one. This shows that we can only draw anointing through the Lord Jesus. He is the anointed one.

The Quakers were fond of making statements like ‘I am Christed with Christ”, meaning I am anointed with Christ the anointed one. Therefore, the anointing is the supernatural equipment that enables an ordinary human being to achieve supernatural results. The anointing is a divine electric force. When that force comes upon you, it shocks your entire system.

I remember how a friend of mine got born again. He came to watch a prayer meeting in order to mock Christians. He decided to stay outside the window just to see what the congregation was really

doing. While he was watching with a nonchallant attitude, all of a sudden the Holy Ghost hit him like an electric current and he was bundled through the window into the prayer hall. He laid down unconscious for hours. By the time he woke up, there was no single soul in the hall. Then he knelt down and gave his life to Christ.

Another incident took place in the city of Abuja during a prayer meeting. There was a young man who had no inkling whatsoever of what was happening in the church. The gospel was strange to him. He even dressed in a strange manner. However, he came forward when the altar call was given. Immediately we laid hands on him he fell flat on the floor. This was around 9.00 p.m. Later, the service closed and majority of the worshipers went home. However, I stayed behind to counsel and pray for about 20 members.

After midnight I discovered that the young man was still lying on the floor. When we woke him up, he said, “Where is everybody? Why was I lying down?” We explained to him that he had been knocked down by the Holy Ghost. The power of God became real to him for the first time in his life. That was what the anointing of the Holy Ghost could do. Now, we need more of such anointing today.

The anointing is never hidden. When the anointing fills your house or environment, witches and wizards would know about it. An anointed church location or home is undoubtedly a no-go area to demons and satanic agents.

The anointing is the demonstration and the expression of the power of God that brings about results without sweat. The anointing bestows upon the recipient tangible divine power to produce results. The power of the anointing is the demonstration of the raw power of God. The anointing can also be described as power from above which enables you to function to an increase in the level of living water which is already in your life. The anointing gives you the power to press forward when others are tired. The anointing gives you the power to continue when the road becomes narrow.

The anointing is the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon your life in an unusual manner. The anointing makes you to do what flesh and

blood cannot do.

I remember the story of a man of God who was so anointed that living germs died immediately they had contact with any part of his body. What really happened was that there was an epidemic and many people were dying day by day. One medical doctor thought that the man was endangering himself by moving too close to the corpses of those who died as a result of the epidemic. So he was warned to steer clear. He was so sure of the anointing that he told the doctors to place living germs on his palm and examine them later under a microscope. They did. The doctors were flabbergasted. They had never seen such a thing in their entire medical career. They had no option but to admit that the anointing made the difference.

Why don’t you close your eyes now and take this prayer point.

Any negative thing touching my body, you must not penetrate; you must surely die, in the name of Jesus.

The anointing is the burden-removing and the yoke-destroying power of the Almighty God. Certain mysterious problems will not budge unless they are brought face to face with the power of God. Certain problems in people’s lives will not shift their ground unless they are subjected to the anointing of God.

It was the anointing that fell upon a woman in labour. At the end she delivered a snail. That was how her long standing problems disappeared. Some people have strange things hidden in their bodies. These strange things would not move out of their bodies until they are challenged by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. They may not hinder the people from going to heaven but the people may die like Lazarus. No doubt Lazarus got to heaven, but with his sores, shame and poverty. On the other hand, Abraham did not go to heaven with any sore on his body.

I remember another strange thing which took place during an aggressive prayer session in one of our prayer meetings. The anointing of God was so strong that something like a tape-rule began to come out of somebody’s head. The man pulled the tape until the

entire thing, which was six feet long, came out. He opened his eyes to behold the strange thing which he had harboured in his body.

A lot of people have eaten many strange things. The food some people ate refused to digest because there is an evil command against its digestion. The food will never come out through the anus or mouth. Such people now find it difficult to eat. Such evil food can only be destroyed through the anointing.

The anointing is God’s presence in the life of a man through the power of the Holy Spirit. The anointing is also God’s spirit and power for service on earth. Therefore, through the anointing you would receive power to cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead, break curses, recover stolen blessings and destroy the works of the devil. The anointing is able to help you succeed in your business and to make you prosper spirit, soul and body.

The greatest thing that can happen to you on earth is for you to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is indeed a pleasant and sweet experience. No wonder the Bible says, “Thou anointest my head with oil and my cup runneth over.” It is the anointing that makes your cup to be filled and running over.

In Old Testament days, kings, priests and prophets were generally anointed. It was very easy in those days to know when a priest was around. The fragrance of the anointing oil upon him was so strong that it spread and permeate his immediate environment. There was a shift from the physical to the spiritual in the New Testament times. 1 Peter 2:9 tells us that the believer is a peculiar person, a royal priesthood and a Holy nation. God has chosen human beings to reign in life as kings. By virtue of the anointing, God has transformed the believer into a prophet who must not be touched anyhow. God has declared, “Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.”

However, that you are a child of God does not automatically qualify you for the anointing. To receive the anointing, you must have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit baptism will determine the type and level of the anointing. Do not be deceived by any counterfeit experience.

What kind of tongue are you speaking? Are you copying the style of a popular preacher? Is your tongue counterfeit or is it real? You must not be satisfied with anything less that the fullness of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

• REMAIN CONNECTED TO JESUS

Another condition necessary for receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit is to remain connected to Jesus, the giver of the anointing. Don’t allow any friend to disconnect you from your source of power and anointing.

• ENSURE WHOLESOME DEVOTION TO GOD

Ensure that your devotion to God is wholesome and lively. Keep your fellowship with God in top shape. Do not joke with your devotion no matter how busy you are. Dig deeper as the Bible puts it. Let deep call unto deep in your relation with God. The closer you are to God the more anointed you become.

• AVOID UNPROFITABLE CLOSENESS TO OPPOSITE SEX

Avoid questionable closeness to the opposite sex. If you become careless in your relationship with the opposite sex you may lose your anointing.

• BE PATIENT

Cultivate prompt, complete and unquestionable obedience unto God. If you refuse to obey God, or if you ignore the suggestion of the Holy Spirit, you cannot receive the anointing of God. The moment there is a controversy between what you have decided to do and what God wants you to do, the anointing may be removed from you.

Remember the words of the song writer: Just as God who reigned on earth spoke to men in days gone by, so the Lord is calling men today; and my brother this is true; whatever he says unto you just do it.

• FLEE FROM SIN

Avoid sin in any form. Do not get involved with ordinary appearances of evil.

• PRAY MORE

Pray without ceasing and fast regularly.

• LIVE A HOLY LIFE

Finally, live a life of holiness and godliness.

I am sure that you are willing to drop your chains at this point. You cannot afford after going through this message choose to remain in slavery. If you receive the anointing of God into your life, all shackles of slavery will break. Chains will break when the power of God falls upon a slave. You may be in one form of bondage or the other at this point in time. What you need to do is to seek the face of God until the fire of anointing falls upon you. God is set to pour His oil of anointing upon your life.

Are you ready to receive and work in the anointing? Are you ready to let go your chains and receive the transforming power of the anointing? If you are ready, God is ready too. Rise up today and receive the anointing. You must leave no stone unturned until the anointing of God falls upon you.