2 Corinthians 1:20-22 & Acts 10:37-38
I chose the word “Anointed” because it is one of those words that was not used much at all in my conservative evangelical upbringing and I want to understand its meaning more. Another reason the word intrigues me is I want to learn the connection with anointing and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.Here are the definitions of anointed I found at http://biblehub.com/greek/5548.htm From the Strong’s Concordance H4886 the Hebrew word anointed is:מָשַׁח mâshach, maw-shakh'. It’s an action, a verb; a primitive root means to rub with oil, i.e. to anoint; by implication, to consecrate; also to paintIn the Greek, the Strong’s definition (5548) is: xríō – to anoint by rubbing or pouring olive oil on someone to represent the flow (empowering) of the Holy Spirit. Anointing (literally) involved rubbing olive oil on the head, etc., especially to present someone as divinely-authorized (appointed by God) to serve as prophet, priest or king, etc
My process: I first recorded my word study in a Word/Pages document on my computer. It provided the information to put in the margin of my journaling Bible. Because I already had some ghosting (see through) from the following page and didn't want my margin text and art to show through, I did my study on a piece of deli (or tracing) paper.I had a lot of information I wanted to include, so doing the writing first in pencil allowed me to adjust the text to fit better. After the pencil, I used a Pitt XS black pen for the lettering and writing. When the pen was dry I erased the pencil.Then I cut it out and glued it on the Bible page with a glue stick.
In Acts 10:37-38 NLT Peter is explaining that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.When I read passages like the one in Acts 10, I used to think, “Well, Jesus is God so that’s why He had the Holy Spirit and could always do good and heal the sick and cast out demons.” But that’s not really what the Scripture says. God anointed Jesus, presented him, divinely-authorized, appointed to serve as our Priest and King. Jesus, Yeshua, being completely God, but also completely man. Paul challenges us to literally become like Christ in every way since (2 Corinthians 1:20) all of God’s promises to us are fulfilled, complete in Christ. According to Paul, it is possible to become like Christ, to grow up, becoming more like Christ all the time by being filled up with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Creator God is the one who gives us actual physical life, making humans in his image. God longs to give us a renewed, abundant spiritual life through our relationship with Jesus Christ, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within us.
Around the edges of the page and some of the background, I used my new (soon to be released as of the date of this post) 6" Spirit Wind stencil by StencilGirl Products® to represent the Ruach, Spirit of God. It was applied with a stiff flat bristle brush
Here is what the apostle Paul says about us in 2 Corinthians 21-22 NLT:“It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.”Jesus, Yeshua is the Anointed One of God, our King, and God himself has anointed us, constantly strengthening us to be in unity with Christ. Jesus himself said, “The person who follows me in faith, believing in me, will do the same might miracles that I do – even greater miracles than these because I go to be with my Father!” (John 14:12 TPT)
In my personal study of the Names of God, I got so excited to discover that the Hebrew letters of the alphabet have layers of meaning: the symbol of the letter, AND the shape of the letters, AND each letter is represented by a number. When combined, letters become words with the meaning coming from the order of the letters making a text symbol like our alphabet, but so much more! Combined meanings of the individual shapes of the letters in word, and then the combined number significance are also important in the Hebrew words. What a rich, layered language!I looked up the Hebrew meaning of the letters for the word Anoint: Reading right to left are the letters mem, shin, and chet. The reference book I used is: Beyond the Hebrew Lexicon by Chaim Bentorah
The Mem (first Hebrew letter at the right side) represents a broken heart which is precious to God. God fills the heart with purity. It is a vessel to be poured out, pain and suffering but also love and God's presence.The middle letter (Shin) symbolizes a process of wholeness and harmony with God by receiving God's wisdom and peace.The Chet is constructed with two vertical lines connected by a horizontal line that represents the binding together of natural man with God. It's number is 8 which is the number of new beginnings. The letter is covered representing being covered by God which leads to transformation.For the added color and highlighting of the text I used colored pencils.
All this makes me yearn for more, a deeper love relationship with God, Jesus, Holy Spirit.In John 15:7-8 TPT Jesus says, “if you live in life-union with me and if my words live powerfully within you – then you can ask whatever you desire and it will be done. When your lives bear abundant fruit, you demonstrate that you are my mature disciples who glorify my Father!”