From Jared Moore, 6 excellent questions to make you think twice before asking for a special anointing before preaching or teaching:
Many Evangelical pastors and teachers pray for an anointing before they teach or preach. What are the implications of this prayer? Here are six questions to help us discern. Click “read more” to see their answers:
I. Does 1 John 2:20 teach that pastors are to pursue an extra anointing for preaching? …Read More…
II. Do preachers need an extra anointing in order to faithfully preach the word of God? …Read More…
III. Does God the Holy Spirit have any involvement in the interpretation process?…Read More…
IV. Does God’s Word need an extra empowerment from the Holy Spirit to accomplish what He set it out to do? …Read More…
V. Does praying for an anointing exalt the Pastor to the position of Priest, eliminating the priesthood of the believer? …Read More…
VI. Does praying for an anointing contradict our claim to the inerrancy of God’s Word? …Read More…
What do you think?
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I admit that at times, I do pray in that sort of vein, but only because I recognise my own comparative insufficiency to preach as I ought, even if I believe that the Spirit truly enabled to prepare as I should have and I have utmost confidence in the Word. Our brother seems to forget that not all preachers are as confident as they ought to be all the time.
Doug, I’m not confident in myself either. However, I am confident in the Lord. We should have a healthy inadequacy every time we step into the pulpit; however, we must also understand that everything necessary for us to preach the Word faithfully was given to us at salvation. If we are not praying for an “anointing,” then we should use different words that truly communicate what we’re meaning.
If we want to be technical about the words used in the prayers for anointing then i think he has a point.
God knows what we mean when we pray even if we can’t convey it properly by our words. I don’t think God is such a technician when it comes to our prayers.
I think it boils down to the intent of the one praying. If they are discounting the work of the Holy Spirit in them…or if they are stirring up the grace that they’ve already received.
Larry, if this prayer is prayed publicly, then we must ask ourselves how the church views this prayer. Everything a pastor says teaches his hearers. Do they understand that the pastor is not in an elevated state in the pulpit? Do they understand what he means by the prayer? If he doesn’t mean “anointing,” then he should use different words.
I agree that how the church views the prayer is important as well as how the preacher views it if it is prayed publicly. I was unaware from this post that the context was a public prayer.
So in the matter of a public prayer i would simply expand my response to include the church as well as the preacher. The culture of a particular church will influence how they interpret such prayers. Therefore it would be best to judge from within that cultural context rather than from outside of it.
Jared, you said: “everything necessary for us to preach the Word faithfully was given to us at salvation”
I disagree with that statement as i believe:
1 – Not all Christians are called to preach
2 – Those called to preach ought to be trained for such an office
Part of the training that is important to me is knowledge of the original languages of Scripture. Certainly we are not given such knowledge when we are saved.
The apostle Paul himself asked for prayer to be able to speak the mystery of Christ in his preaching. Why would he ask for such if he already had all that he needed from salvation?…
Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. (Col 4:3-4)
Larry, I’m not convinced that Paul is asking for prayer in that he needed something extra in order to preach the Word. Paul is asking for an opportunity to preach the Word; and that he would be faithful to the task of preaching the Word. Concerning whether or not we’re given everything we need in order to preach the Word at salvation, I would say “yes.” What I mean is that we’re given everything we need at salvation in order to understand the Word of God. And, if you have the “gift of preaching,” this too is given at salvation. Can these gifts be matured? Absolutely! However, we cannot deny the priesthood of the believer.
My main concern is that if we need an anointing given by God beyond salvation in order to preach the Word, then what He has already given is insufficient. Also, those that “receive this anointing” are elevated to a priest-like mediator of the Word of God.