spiritual gifts Archives - The Hermeneutical Quill

YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE ASKING FOR

The Voice, the Years, and What God Showed Me

By B.V. Thomas

The Hermeneutical Quill

The Garden

It was late evening. The outside had grown dark, and the house was quiet in the way that only evenings can be — that particular stillness where the noise of the day has finally run out of things to say.

I was strolling and praying, as I often did in those days. And as I prayed, there was one thing on my lips — the same thing that had been on my lips for years. Anoint me, Lord. Anoint me, Lord. Simple words. Earnest words. The kind of words that come not from the mind but from somewhere deeper — from a hunger you cannot fully explain and cannot silence, no matter how long it goes unanswered.

I had been asking for a long time.

Then it came.

The only way I can describe it is this: it was as though the entire atmosphere was about to crash upon me. Like a bolt driven straight into the spine. It was not a voice audible to anyone else in the room — it was not that kind of sound. It was the kind that bypasses the ears entirely and goes straight to the core of your being, to the deepest recesses of who you are, the place where no human voice has ever reached. And in that place, it spoke with unmistakable clarity:

“You don’t know what you are asking for.”

I froze. It took me some time to come off that experience. My flesh was shaken — there is no other word for it. Anything that proceeds from God lands on the flesh like terra-strike. The spirit-man receives it immediately and understands — but the flesh must process the impact, and that processing takes time.

I want to say something about that voice, because I believe it will help someone reading this. I have come to understand, through years of walking with God, that the Father speaks differently than the Son. When Jesus speaks, He speaks with a tenderness that is unlike anything else — gentle, piercing in its own way, but tender. The Father possesses a uniqueness that many are not accustomed to — a weight, a thunder, a depth that can feel terrifying to the flesh even when it is, at its core, the loving reproof of a Father. Hebrews 12:5 speaks of this — the Lord’s discipline, the reproof He gives to those He loves. My flesh, in those early days, would respond to correction with anger and offense. But now I know how to receive it. And I thank God for every correction, because without them I would not have come far enough to speak of any of this.

That evening, what I received was not a rebuke in the punishing sense. It was a redirection. A loving Father saying to His child — not yet. And not like that. You do not yet understand what you are reaching for.

What I Was Really Asking For

I must be honest about the environment that shaped my asking — because I do not think my hunger was unusual. I think it was the natural hunger of a sincere believer shaped by a church culture that had, perhaps unknowingly, narrowed the anointing into something it was never meant to be.

From the time of my regeneration, I had been surrounded by a world in which the anointing was something you could see — it was on the platform, it was in the title, it was in the atmosphere that gathered around certain ministers. And I wanted it. Not from a wrong motive — at least not entirely. There was a genuine call of God embedded within my spirit, a deep longing that I could not explain and could not satisfy with anything the established church offered me. My colleagues had settled — into pastorates, into prophetic ministries, into the familiar structures of institutional church life. And I could not settle. Something within me refused to be satisfied with what was on offer. I had to sever myself from those environments to pursue an inner hunger and thirst that they could not recognise, let alone feed. To them, I must have appeared as a disquieted, dissatisfied individual seeking something that did not exist — or that lay beyond the boundaries of what one was supposed to pursue.

But here is what I did not yet understand in those years of asking: I was asking for something I had already partly received — and asking for it in a form shaped more by what I had seen in church culture than by what the Scriptures actually teach.

There was, for instance, the matter of tongues. From the very early days of my regeneration, I had felt strange syllables surfacing to my lips. I could not explain it. I was part of a Pentecostal environment and had heard others speak in tongues — but I reasoned away what was happening within me, rather than yielding to it like a child. My logic and my pride kept me from receiving what the Spirit was already giving. It was only much later in life that I understood — I had possessed the gift of speaking in tongues for my personal edification all along. My own ignorance had kept me asking God for something He had already given me.

This is precisely what the Father was addressing in that single sentence spoken into my spine on that dark evening. You don’t know what you are asking for. Not because the asking was evil — but because the one doing the asking did not yet understand what he already possessed, nor the true nature of what he was reaching toward.

The Price of the Lonely Road

There is a price to pursuing the deep things of God that no one adequately prepares you for.

It is not merely the sacrifice of comfort or reputation, though those are real. It is the loneliness. The specific, singular loneliness of a person who has heard something others have not heard, seen something others have not seen, and cannot un-hear or un-see it. You find yourself on a road that is genuinely narrow — not narrow in the sense of moral respectability, which many travel, but narrow in the sense that very few are walking it with you, and some of the fiercest opposition comes from within the church itself.

What shocked me was the opposition. The amount of resistance that arose from within traditional church structures — for not remaining within their established boundaries of thought and doctrine — was astounding to me. I had not known that the pursuit of truth could make you enemies of people who claimed to love the same God. Walking through that season was, in ways I will not detail here, a walk through fire. I survived it only because the Lord preserved me.

But I want to say this plainly, for the sake of the person reading who is in their own version of that fire: the purging is not punishment. It is preparation. The Lord was doing in me, through those years of opposition, loss, and pruning, what He needed to do before He could entrust me with what I had been asking for. He was not withholding — He was building the vessel. New wine requires a new bottle — Mark 2:22. My flesh, with all its wounds and offenses and ungoverned reactions, was not yet a vessel fit to carry what He intended to pour.

Offense, I came to understand, is the single greatest opponent of the anointing. Not persecution from outside. Not the devil’s direct assault. Offense — that internal wound that hardens the heart, that turns the attention inward, that makes the vessel brittle and prone to fracture. The Lord, in His mercy, removed me from the environment that was feeding the offense and led me to a lonelier place to purge what needed to be purged — so that when He anointed me again, the vessel would hold.

That road cost me more than I can put into words here. I will only say that the losses according to the flesh were real and grievous. But as Paul said — all things I count as loss, as dung, compared to what I have gained: the knowledge of Christ my Lord, and the knowing of my Heavenly Father. I am only here, speaking of these things, by the sheer grace of God.

What the Lord Gave Instead

The shift, when it came, was not sudden. It was progressive and consistent — the slow, steady work of a Spirit who never wastes a yielded heart.

I cannot tell you exactly when it began. But I can tell you the conditions under which it came: total availability. A soul that had finally stopped bargaining and simply said — here I am. All of me. Whatever You want to do. I had been through enough fire by then to have no remaining ambition for anything other than God Himself. And it was in that place of full surrender that the Spirit began to move.

There were specific moments of breakthrough that I will carry for the rest of my life. Moments when I could literally feel the anointing flowing through me — not as an emotion, not as a worked-up religious feeling, but as a tangible, weighty reality. I remember when I first felt a spirit of the world leave me — the lightness that followed, the clarity, the sense that something that had been occupying space within me for years had finally vacated. You would have to experience it to understand the weight of what I am saying. The natural mind cannot process these things — 1 Corinthians 2:14. They belong to a different order of knowing.

And then came the fruit. People were drawn. Hands laid in the Spirit led to deliverances. Miracles followed. The reality of what I had been asking for all those years was beginning to manifest — not as I had imagined it, not on a platform with all eyes watching, but in the quiet, intimate, sovereign moments that God orchestrates when a vessel is finally ready.

But even then, the journey was not finished. There were setbacks. Moments where the flesh rose up and the grace was grieved. I share this not to discourage but to be honest — because the testimony that only presents the victories and omits the stumbles is not a testimony at all. It is a performance.

And performances do not set people free.

The Lord is patient. He does not discard a vessel because it cracked in the fire. He repairs it and puts it back in. And the second time around, having passed through more refining than the first, the vessel holds more.

What I Learned About Spiritual Hunger

One of the most important things this long journey taught me is this: spiritual hunger is not a natural appetite. It is cultivated. And it deepens precisely as you feed it.

The word of God is not a book you read — it is a seed you sow into your spirit. Every time you sit with the Scriptures in genuine seeking, you are not merely accumulating information; you are investing in a harvest. The returns do not always come immediately. But they come. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy — Psalm 126:5. The years of groaning, of asking without receiving, of wrestling without resolution — they were not years of emptiness. They were years of sowing. And the harvest of understanding that has come since those years is worth every tear that preceded it.

Do not despise the season of asking. Do not despise the silence. Do not mistake the Father’s redirection for His rejection. The voice that told me you don’t know what you are asking for was not a door closing. It was a map being redrawn. He was not saying — you cannot have this. He was saying — you do not yet understand what this is. And until you understand what it is, you cannot steward what it demands.

That is the grace beneath the rebuke. That is the love inside the thunder.

What This Means for You

I have shared these things not to draw attention to my own journey but because I know there is someone reading this who is in the middle of their own version of it. The long season of asking. The silence that feels like rejection. The road that grows lonelier the further you walk it. The opposition you never expected from the directions it came from.

You are not forgotten. You are not failing. You are being formed.

The anointing you are reaching for — if your hunger is genuine and your heart is surrendered — is not being withheld from you. It is being prepared for you. And more than that, it is being prepared in you. God does not pour His fullness into an unready vessel. Not because He is reluctant, but because He loves you too much to waste what He intends to give.

Keep eating the word. Keep yielding to the fire. Keep your heart soft toward correction — especially when correction comes in thunder. The Father’s reproof is among the most precious gifts He gives. Only a fool receives it lightly. And only a fool rejects it entirely.

The road is lonely. But it is not empty. He is on it with you. And what He has ahead for the yielded, purged, and sanctified heart is worth every step of the journey that preceded it.

You don’t know what you are asking for. No. Not yet. But you will.

A Note to the Reader

This article is the second in a trilogy. It follows “The Anointing Belongs to You: Unveiling the True Significance of Anointing and Baptism with the Holy Ghost” and is completed by “Two and Yet One: Understanding the Distinction Between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit.” Each article can be read independently, but together they form a complete exploration of the anointing, the Holy Ghost, and the full spiritual inheritance available to every believer in Christ.

“Unlocking Insights, One Quill Stroke at a Time.”

The Prophetic Office vs. the Gift of Prophecy: A Biblical Distinction for the Church Today

The church today is filled with voices claiming prophetic authority—ministers who brand themselves “Prophet,” issue decrees, demand honor, and shield themselves from correction. Yet Scripture draws a sharp, unrepeatable line: there was once a prophetic “office” of covenantal, foundational authority; today there remains a prophetic “gift” for humble edification. Confusing the two diminishes the biblical office, inflates human ministry, and risks leading God’s people astray.

This distinction is not minor. It protects Christ’s sole mediatorial role, preserves the sufficiency of Scripture, and frees the church to experience the Spirit’s gifts without hierarchy or manipulation.

1. The Foundational Prophets of Ephesians 2:20

Paul declares that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone” (Eph 2:20).

Greek insight:

– θεμέλιος (foundation) denotes something laid once, never relaid (cf. 1 Cor 3:10–11: “no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid”).

– The genitive “of the apostles and prophets” is possessive—the church rests upon their completed ministry.

– These are first-century New Testament prophets (e.g., Agabus in Acts 11:28; 21:10–11; Silas in Acts 15:32), who, alongside apostles, delivered the revealed mystery of Christ (Eph 3:5).

Their words carried canon-forming authority. Once that revelation was inscripturated, the foundation was complete. The church is not continually adding new layers of prophets; it stands secure on the one already laid.

2. Linguistic Distinction in the Greek

Scripture itself marks the categories:

– ὁ προφήτης (ho prophētēs) — “the prophet”: a person in a recognized role or office (used for OT prophets, Jesus, and foundational NT prophets).

– ἡ προφητεία (hē prophēteia) — “prophecy”: the act, manifestation, or gift (1 Cor 12:10; 14:1, 22).

Same root, different function: office for authority, gift for ministry.

3. Timeline of Prophetic Authority

The shift is clear: from covenant mediators to congregational encouragers.

4. Early Church Perspective

The post-apostolic fathers affirmed continuing gifts but rejected ongoing authoritative offices.

– Didache (c. 90–100 AD): Welcomes prophets but tests them rigorously; warns against self-enrichment (Did. 11).

– Justin Martyr (c. 150 AD): Notes prophetic gifts in worship for edification, never equating them with apostolic authority.

– Irenaeus (c. 180 AD): Defends the closed canon against Montanists claiming new revelation.

– Augustine (c. 400 AD): Observes occasional prophecy but declares apostolic-era signs largely ceased.

Consensus: gifts remain for the church’s upbuilding; the foundational office does not.

5. Paul’s Blueprint for Prophetic Gifts in the Church (1 Corinthians 14)

In the fullest New Testament treatment, Paul describes prophecy as a distributed, tested gift—never an office.

– Priority: Love above all, then gifts for edification (14:1–5). Prophecy is “greater” than uninterpreted tongues only because it builds the whole church (strengthening, encouragement, comfort—v.3).

– Clarity and conviction: Corporate prophecy can expose hearts and draw unbelievers to worship (v.24–25)—not through one dominant voice, but many.

– Orderly participation: “When you come together, each of you has…” (v.26). Two or three speak prophecy; others weigh it (v.29). All may prophesy one by one (v.31). Self-control is required (v.32).

– Apostolic safeguard: Even those who think themselves “prophets” must submit to Paul’s instructions (v.37–38).

This is post-foundational church life: participatory, humble, tested, Christ-centered—no titled office, no unchecked authority.

6. The Danger of Confusing the Categories Today

Claiming the prophetic office now creates serious problems:

1. It diminishes the unique, unrepeatable authority of biblical prophets and anointed representatives—those to whom “the word of God came” (John 10:35) and who were called “gods” (elohim) in a delegated, representative sense (Ps 82). Jesus strategically quotes this psalm to affirm that Scripture-given revelation “cannot be broken,” reserving the title for covenant mediators who bore infallible, judicial authority on God’s behalf. This is not a category for every gift-bearer or encourager; it ties directly to those receiving canon-level Word. Modern claims to this status confuse partial, tested impressions with the unbroken revelation reserved for the foundational era.

Lamentations 4:20 further illuminates this unique office, describing the covenant king as “the breath of our nostrils, the LORD’s Anointed” (מְשִׁ֣יחַ יְהוָ֑ה)—a living symbol of God’s protection and a messianic shadow foreshadowing the ultimate Anointed One. Such figures embodied covenantal authority in a way that no believer does today; their anointing signified direct divine representation, and opposing them was opposing God Himself. This category, like the prophetic office, finds its fulfillment in Christ and is not reopened. Claiming it now overlooks the intentional shift to the corporate body, empowered by the Spirit for mutual edification rather than mediated through singular, infallible authorities.

2. It elevates partial, fallible words to infallible status, ignoring commands to test prophecy (1 Cor 14:29; 1 Thess 5:20–21).

3. It fosters hierarchy, financial dependency, and immunity to correction—often misusing “touch not the Lord’s anointed” (originally for OT covenant figures, not modern ministers).

4. It aligns with Jesus’ warning: “Many false prophets will appear and deceive many” (Matt 24:11). True prophets suffered rejection; false ones thrived on popularity (Jer 23; Luke 6:26).

7. A Humble Alternative

Believers with prophetic impressions should offer them as servants: “I sense the Lord saying…,” “This may encourage you…,” always inviting testing and pointing to Christ. The gift is beautiful when it edifies without elevating the vessel.

Conclusion

The church stands on the once-laid foundation of apostles and prophets—Christ the cornerstone, Scripture the completed blueprint. The gift of prophecy remains a precious means of grace, flowing through many for encouragement and conviction, under order and testing.

To claim the closed office today is not merely inaccurate; it risks usurping Christ’s headship and turning ministry into monarchy.

May we eagerly desire the Spirit’s gifts (1 Cor 14:1), walk in love, submit to Scripture, and build one another up—humbly, corporately, and always for His glory.

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Be Reconciled to God: Paul’s Anguished Warning and the Path to Mature Sonship

The church in Corinth was the most spiritually gifted congregation in the New Testament. Paul reminds them:

“You have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge… you do not lack any spiritual gift” (1 Corinthians 1:5–7).

Tongues, prophecy, miracles, bold preaching, deep insight—they had it all. If any church looked alive, thriving, and Spirit-blessed, it was Corinth.

Yet the same apostle who planted this church looked at it with tears in his eyes and terror in his heart. He feared that many of them—perhaps most—were on a fast track to hell.

He begged them as an ambassador of Christ: “Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

He commanded them:

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves… unless, of course, you fail the test” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Reprobates. Counterfeits. Disqualified.

Paul was staring at a church overflowing with spiritual experiences and saying, in effect: “Some of you may not belong to Jesus at all.”

The Great Exchange—and the Great Danger

Everything hinges on the glorious truth of 2 Corinthians 5:21:

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Christ took our sin. We receive His righteousness—the greatest exchange in history.

But notice the little word “might.” That purpose was still hanging in the balance for many Corinthians because their lives were riddled with blatant sexual immorality, factions, pride, drunkenness at the Lord’s Table, and tolerance of false teaching. Gifts abounded. Grace? Paul wasn’t sure.

A Father in Travail

Paul writes as a spiritual father in agony:

“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy… I am afraid that your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2–3).

“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19).

He knew that spiritual gifts, powerful experiences, and even miraculous signs are no proof of salvation. Judas worked miracles. Saul prophesied.

Love, repentance, humility, holiness—these are the evidences that Christ is truly in you.

The Ongoing Call: Restricted Affections

Most often, “Be reconciled to God” is heard as a call to the lost. But Paul is addressing believers—those who have already received salvation. He is pleading with them to live fully in the reconciliation already won, not merely to possess it in theory.

Immediately after this plea, he diagnoses the problem: “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections… Widen your hearts also” (2 Corinthians 6:12–13).

The tragedy is not lack of teaching or gifting—it is narrowed hearts, misplaced desires, and divided loyalty. Believers can be anointed and orthodox yet closed to the full virtues of God because of unequal yoking with darkness, worldly alliances, and tolerated idols of the heart (2 Corinthians 6:14–16).

Justification is the doorway into new life, not the full inheritance. Reconciliation is believers continually aligning their hearts and affections with God. Without this ongoing participation, even the justified remain stagnant—spiritual babes rather than mature sons.

From Entry to Sonship: Milk to Meat

Like an heir who is still a child and differs nothing from a servant (Galatians 4:1), many Spirit-filled believers remain carnal and divisive (1 Corinthians 3:1–3). Sin’s legal power is broken, but voluntary submission to unrighteousness keeps them servants in practice.

Hebrews 5:12–14 warns that those who partake only of milk are unskilled in the word of righteousness and lack discernment. Solid food belongs to the mature, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

True sonship requires:

– Yielding bodily members to righteousness

– Submitting to Spirit-led holiness

– Partaking in the divine nature

– Walking as children of light (Ephesians 5:8)

– Giving no place to the devil

This is not sinless perfection—it is Spirit-empowered transformation into mature sons who carry authority and experience the fullness of their inheritance.

Paul uses history as a sobering warning: Israel was redeemed, baptized in the sea, fed with manna—yet most fell in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1–12). “These things happened as warnings for us… So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”

The Narrow Path and the Faithful Remnant

Yet amidst widespread compromise, Scripture always highlights a faithful remnant—grieved within, aware of their weakness apart from Christ, trusting the Spirit rather than the flesh. These hidden ones watch, pray, and persevere, living close to Jesus even when the broader church is distracted or lukewarm.

They embody the narrow path—unseen, patient, and prepared.

Jesus’ question still pierces: “When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).

A Trumpet Blast and Merciful Summons Today

We live in a church age intoxicated with gifts, experiences, and success—conferences overflow, worship is electric, testimonies dramatic. Yet many remain gifted but stagnant, forgiven yet indulgent, Spirit-filled yet lukewarm.

Paul’s question echoes across the centuries: “Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you are reprobates?”

Rich in gifts, poor in grace—this was Corinth’s peril. It may be ours.

But the Spirit’s grief is matched by mercy:

“Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

The Lord is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

The summons to reconciliation is still active, still urgent, still merciful. Examination, repentance, widened hearts, and renewed obedience are invitations to restoration and maturity—not condemnation.

Hear the apostle’s heart-wrenching cry.

Examine yourself.

Be reconciled to God.

Widen your heart.

Grow into mature sonship.

Cling to Christ with everything you have.

Because love warns—and mercy calls.

Now is the acceptable time.

Now is the day of salvation.

The Two Tongues: Why Millions of Believers Are Still Waiting for a Gift They Already Have

For centuries, the church has debated the gift of tongues—whether it continues today, what it looks like, and why it matters. Many sincere believers have been taught that tongues ceased with the apostles, or that modern expressions are counterfeit. Others wait endlessly for a dramatic “Pentecost experience” that never comes, missing years of spiritual strength and freedom.

But a careful, mature reading of 1 Corinthians 14—especially verses 20-22—reveals a profound distinction that silences much of the confusion. Paul isn’t limiting or ending the gift; he’s clarifying two different expressions of tongues, one historical and public, the other deeply personal and ongoing. When we see this clearly, the arguments against tongues today crumble. And real-life testimonies prove the gift is as alive and powerful as ever.

Be Mature in Thinking: The Key to Understanding (1 Corinthians 14:20)

Paul begins this section with a direct challenge:

“Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.” (v. 20)

The Corinthians were acting childishly—enthusiastic about spiritual gifts but immature in how they used them. They prized public displays of tongues without interpretation, causing chaos and confusion in gatherings. Paul calls them to mature discernment: think like adults about how these gifts actually function.

What follows isn’t a restriction on tongues—it’s a sharp distinction that protects the gift’s true value.

The Two Tongues Distinguished (1 Corinthians 14:21-22)

Throughout the chapter Paul has been describing one primary expression of tongues:

“For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to people but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.” (v. 2)

“The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself…” (v. 4)

“If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.” (vv. 14-15)

This is prayer, praise, and singing from the human spirit enabled by the Holy Spirit—directed solely to God, often unintelligible to others (hence needing interpretation in public).

The clearest evidence that these Corinthian tongues were not always known human languages?

Paul’s direct command:

“Therefore, the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say” (14:13).

If tongues were always real foreign languages that someone present could naturally understand—like at Pentecost—supernatural interpretation would never be needed. Someone who knew the language could simply translate it. Yet Paul treats interpretation as a separate gift (vv. 5, 13, 27–28), even requiring silence in church if no interpreter is present. This proves the personal prayer language is normally unintelligible to human ears—it speaks mysteries directly to God.

Paul uses the Isaiah quote to caution against misuse: if you speak this personal Spirit-language loudly in church without interpretation, it will confuse outsiders—they’ll think you’re mad (v. 23), just like Israel’s hardened response to foreign speech. But that doesn’t negate the gift’s private, Godward purpose.

Paul quotes Isaiah 28:11-12:
“In the Law it is written: ‘With other tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me,’ says the Lord.’” (v. 21)

Then he applies it:
“Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.” (v. 22)

Here Paul draws a clear line between two expressions of the gift:

Tongues as a Sign to Unbelievers (Xenolalia)
This is the miraculous ability to speak real, unlearned human foreign languages for proclamation and authentication.
- Classic example: Pentecost (Acts 2)—the disciples spoke known dialects from around the world, proclaiming God’s mighty works. The crowd heard in their native tongues, leading to amazement, conversions… and mockery from some.
- This fulfilled Isaiah’s warning: God speaking to unresponsive Israel through “strange tongues,” confirming judgment while offering a final witness as the gospel expanded to Gentiles.
- It was public, evangelistic, intelligible to hearers without interpretation, and tied to the apostolic transition era.
Tongues for Personal Edification (The Language of the Spirit)
This is not a sign to unbelievers at all. It is the language of your spirit enabled by the Holy Spirit—prayer and praise directed to God, edifying the speaker.

These are not the same. Conflating them leads to error. Maturity means recognizing the difference.

Paul’s Heart: He Wanted This Gift for Every Believer

Far from restricting tongues, Paul reveals his deep personal value for it—and his desire for all:

“I want every one of you to speak in tongues…” (v. 5)

“I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.” (v. 18)
Yet from verse 19, most of this was private: “In the church I would rather speak five intelligible words… than ten thousand words in a tongue.”

“Do not forbid speaking in tongues.” (v. 39)

Paul practiced this personal prayer language abundantly for his own edification. He wanted the same for every believer—direct spirit-to-Spirit communion that builds faith (linking to Jude 20: “building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit”).

There is no verse saying this personal expression ceases after the apostles or the canon. No expiration date. No “only for the sign era” clause.

The Analogy That Exposes the Truth

Every normal human is born with a mouth, tongue, and vocal cords—designed by God for speech. Yet not everyone speaks: some are mute by birth, illness, or choice. The capacity is universal; the manifestation is not.

Likewise, every born-again believer has a regenerated human spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9-16). We all have the God-given “organ” for spiritual utterance. Paul wishes all would speak in tongues (14:5), but rhetorically asks, “Do all speak in tongues?” (12:30)—expecting “No,” acknowledging not all do, for various reasons: wrong teaching, fear, unbelief, or unwillingness to yield.

The gift is available to all. The manifestation comes through cooperation.

A Personal Testimony: From Years of Waiting to Sudden Freedom

One believer shares: For years, I didn’t speak in tongues. I believed it would “fall on me” like Pentecost—an external overwhelming. I waited and waited, but nothing came. Looking back, I could have avoided so much trouble and loss if I’d known how to pray in the Spirit.

I was looking outside when the Spirit was already in me, capable of utterance—just like natural speech. The difference between “waiting to receive a language” and “learning to speak” is ludicrous. Babies don’t wait passively; they babble and yield to the inner impulse.

One day, desperation cornered me. In a dark situation, human words failed—I didn’t even know what to pray (Romans 8:26). That evening, I felt strange syllables forming on my tongue (I’d felt them years before but resisted, thinking it madness). This time, I had no choice. I let it out—blabbered—and a force flowed—and something shifted. As I prayed and sang in the Holy Ghost, speaking mysteries to God, I felt it again: the weight on my chest lifting, every single time I prayed.

In one month, spiritual shackles that had bound me for years shattered. I was set free.

Only after tasting this can you understand the grief when someone calls it “not genuine” or “ceased.” You’ve experienced the edification Paul promised—the direct line bypassing mental limits, strengthening the inner man.

Living Proof: The Gift Is Still Alive Today

Consider a humble minister from a non-English-speaking country, invited decades ago to preach at a prestigious UK university. No formal education. Couldn’t form an English sentence. He trembled in fear but prayed continually.

As he stepped to the pulpit, he later said he didn’t remember what happened—the Spirit took over. He preached fluently for over an hour in proficient English. Afterward, people asked if he’d studied at Oxford or Cambridge.

This wasn’t the personal prayer language—it was xenolalia, the sign-expression for proclamation. But it happened decades ago, not in the apostolic era. The same Spirit who empowered Pentecost still equips His servants supernaturally today.

Burying the Anti-Tongues Arguments

Cessationists claim tongues (as real languages) were only a temporary sign to Israel and ceased. But this forces both expressions into one box, then declares the box closed—pure eisegesis.

No verse says the personal, self-edifying prayer language ends.
Paul practiced it more than anyone and wanted it for all—primarily in private.
The “sign” function (v. 22) was one expression; the Godward mysteries were another.
Paul repeatedly commands interpretation (14:13, 27–28)—something completely unnecessary if tongues were always naturally understandable foreign languages.
Patterns of “silence” in later epistles prove nothing—Paul already said not to forbid it.
1 Corinthians 13:8-10 (“when the perfect comes”) is debated; many see it as Christ’s return, not the canon.

The overwhelming biblical evidence supports the gift’s continuation, especially the personal dimension for building faith.

Stop Waiting—Start Speaking

You don’t need another experience. The Holy Spirit already dwells in you. The capacity is there.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Rejoice in the Lord.

Give thanks always.

Be filled continually with the Spirit — speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:18-19; cf. Colossians 3:16).

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45).

And as Paul declares: “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart” — the word of faith (Romans 10:8).

When your heart is filled, the petals — the pearls — rise gently on the updraft of the Spirit.

They come to your mouth, ready to be spoken.

Jesus said, unless you become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.

So come as a child.

A child doesn’t invent words.

A child doesn’t wait for perfect coherence.

A child feels the sounds already on the tongue — placed there by God —

and simply spills them out.

Blabber.

Incoherent syllables.

Sounds that make no sense to the adult mind.

But the Father leans in…

smiles…

hears perfectly…

and celebrates every babble.

That’s how the Kingdom comes.

So worship.

Sing psalms and hymns.

Make melody in your heart to the Lord.

And when those spiritual syllables rise —

when the mysteries bubble up —

when the new songs form on your tongue —

don’t resist.

Don’t edit.

Don’t wait for it to sound logical.

Open your mouth like a child.

Blabber.

Spill it out.

Let your spirit pray.

Paul wanted this overflow for you.

The Holy Spirit still does.

Stop waiting.

Start rejoicing.

Start singing from a full heart.

Start blabbering like a child before your Father.

The pearls will come.

The Kingdom will open.

You will be filled — and overflow.

This is the Spirit-filled

When you feel those syllables rise—don’t resist. Open your mouth. Yield your tongue. Let your spirit pray. Cooperate with the utterance He gives (Acts 2:4).

Paul wanted this for you. The Spirit still does.

Taste it, and you’ll never settle for less. This glorious gift—praying mysteries, singing in the Spirit, building yourself up—is yours today.

Speak.

You Can’t Finish the House With Only the Blueprint: The Gifts of Tongues and Prophecy Today

When the English Bible says “edify one another,” most of us hear “say something encouraging” or “give a spiritual pep talk.”

That is far too thin.

The Greek verb is οἰκοδομέω (oikodomeō) — literally “to build a house.”

The noun is οἰκοδομή (oikodomē) — the act of building or the building itself.

Paul is not commanding compliments.

He is commanding us to act as skilled craftsmen on a lifelong construction site where God Himself is erecting “a holy temple in the Lord… a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph 2:21–22; cf. 1 Pet 2:5).

The question has never been whether God is still building His church.

The only question is: Which tools has the Master Architect left in the workshop?

Four Tools That All Perform the Same Kind of Building (οἰκοδομή)

1. The Word of His grace

Acts 20:32 – “…the word of His grace, which is able to build you up (οἰκοδομῆσαι) and to give you the inheritance…”

2. Your most holy faith

Jude 20 – “But you, beloved, building yourselves up (ἐποικοδομοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς) on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit…”

3. The love of God poured out in our hearts

Jude 21– “keep yourselves in the love of God…”

Ephesians 3:17–19 – “…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may… know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

The love of God is not paint on the walls of a finished house; it is load-bearing. It is the living atmosphere in which the entire structure keeps rising to completion.

4. Tongues and prophecy

1 Corinthians 14:4 – “The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up (οἰκοδομεῖ ἑαυτὸν), but the one who prophesies builds up the church (οἰκοδομὴν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν).”

Ephesians 4:12 – gifts given “for the building up (οἰκοδομὴν) of the body of Christ.”

Same word family. Same construction site. Same divine project.

You no more “graduate” from tongues and prophecy than you graduate from the love of God or the Word of God.

Tongues: The Most Misunderstood Tool in the Box

Scripture actually distinguishes three biblical functions of tongues — every one of them serving οἰκοδομή:

1. Personal prayer language

“For the one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit… he builds himself up” (1 Cor 14:2–4).

2. Corporate message in tongues + interpretation

When interpreted, it becomes equivalent to prophecy and “edifies the church” (1 Cor 14:5.

3. Sign to unbelievers

Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14:22.

Paul’s personal practice is decisive:

“I thank my God I speak in tongues more than you all” (1 Cor 14:18), yet in the same chapter he commands, “Do not forbid speaking in tongues” (14:39).

The Standard Cessationist Objections — and Why They Collapse

Objection 1 – “The foundation of apostles and prophets has been laid; miraculous gifts were only for that phase.”

Answer: The apostles and prophets are the foundation (Eph 2:20), but the same Paul commands the entire Corinthian church — decades after Pentecost — to earnestly desire prophecy and not forbid tongues. He saw no contradiction.

Objection 2 – “When the perfect comes, the partial gifts cease” (1 Cor 13:8–10).

Answer: The “perfect” is the return of Christ, when we will “know fully, even as I have been fully known” (13:12). Until then, we still see “in a mirror dimly.”

Objection 3 – “Modern tongues don’t match Acts 2 xenolalia.”

Answer: Acts 2 is only one expression among the “diversities of tongues” (1 Cor 12:10, 28). Paul explicitly describes a form that “no one understands” except God (14:2) — precisely what most charismatics practice in private prayer.

Real οἰκοδομή vs. Counterfeit

Biblical prophecy and tongues will always:

– exalt Jesus, not the speaker

– call God’s people to holiness, not just happiness

– gladly submit to Scripture

– produce long-term Christlikeness, not short-term hype

Anything that smells like fortune-telling, political speculation, or material prosperity is not New-Testament οἰκοδομή.

The House Is Not Finished

God is still “fitting living stones into a spiritual house” (1 Pet 2:5; Eph 2:21–22).

The Word has not ceased.

Faith has not ceased.

The love of God poured out in our hearts has not ceased.

Therefore tongues and prophecy — same word-group, same category — have not ceased.

Stop calling God’s appointed building materials “dangerous.”

Stop forbidding what the apostle Paul refused to forbid.

Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts — especially that you may prophesy.

And whatever you do, do not forbid speaking in tongues.

The construction site is still open.

The Master is still speaking.

Pick up every tool He hands you.

He is coming to live in the house we build.

The Anointing Belongs to You: Unveiling the True Significance of Anointing and Baptism with the Holy Ghost

By B.V. Thomas | The Hermeneutical Quill

The Problem in the Pew

There is something that has long troubled my spirit, and I suspect it has troubled yours too — though perhaps you never had the language to name it.

Walk into most traditional churches on any given Sunday and you will observe an unspoken hierarchy playing itself out in plain sight. At the front stands the minister — robed, elevated, reverenced. Around him, an atmosphere of careful deference. People lower their voices when he passes. They seek his blessing. They call him “the anointed of the Lord.” Some call him “father.” And the congregation — the body, the people, the ones Christ died for — sit quietly in their rows, positioned as receivers, as subjects, as those who must wait for the anointed one to dispense what God has reserved exclusively for him.

I remember attending a church and overhearing people address the priest as “father.” Curious, I asked him directly what the correct form of address was. He told me, without a moment’s hesitation, to call him father. I felt something rise in my stomach — not contempt for the man, but a deep theological discomfort I could not yet fully articulate. I highly esteem those who carry and teach the word of God. The Scripture itself commands double honour for those who labour in the word — 1 Timothy 5:17. But Jesus said plainly: “call no man your father on earth” — Matthew 23:9. And in the same breath He said: “the greatest among you shall be your servant” — Matthew 23:11. Which Bible, I wondered, were they reading?

The veneration of the minister as the uniquely anointed one — while the congregation sits in spiritual poverty, believing they have no anointing of their own — is not a New Testament pattern. It is an Old Testament shadow that was never meant to outlast its fulfilment. It is a tradition that has wounded and marginalised countless believers who are, in the eyes of God, equal members of a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession — 1 Peter 2:9.

This article is written for you. For the believer in the pew who has been made to feel like a spiritual spectator in your own inheritance. For the church leader willing to be challenged. For the theologian willing to re-examine what they assume they already know.

I must tell you honestly — the truth I am about to share cost me years. For a long time I pleaded with God to anoint me. My asking went on and on, year after year, earnest and unrelenting. Then one evening, while strolling in my garden and praying, I heard an audible, thundering sound that sent chills down my spine. The voice said clearly: “You don’t know what you are asking for.” I knew in that moment exactly what the Lord meant. I ceased asking from that day. And it was then that the Lord — through His Spirit and through the Scriptures — began to impart something far deeper than what I had been asking for. He began to show me what the anointing actually is, what it was always meant to be, and what it already is in every believer who has received Christ.

What He showed me blew me away. And I want it to blow you away too.

What Does Anointing Actually Mean?

Before we can correct a wrong understanding, we must first establish a right one. And to do that, we must go to the source — not to tradition, not to church culture, but to the original languages of Scripture itself.

A Jewish poet named Haim Nachman Bialik (1873–1934) captured it perfectly when he said that reading the Bible in translation is like kissing your bride through a veil. You are near her, but something essential is lost. To truly understand the anointing, we must lift the veil and look at the Hebrew and Greek words behind the English text — because, as we shall see, not all anointing is the same.

The English word “anointing” conceals a remarkable family of words in the original languages, each with its own shade of meaning, its own context, its own weight. Let us walk through the most important ones together.

The Greek word “Chrisma” (χρίσμα) — used in 1 John 2:20 and 2:27 — means an unguent, a smearing, a special endowment. This is the anointing that every believer receives. Its Hebrew counterpart is “shemen mishcha” — the anointing oil itself. It is the substance applied, the grace bestowed, the Spirit given to every member of the body of Christ at the moment of new birth.

The Greek word “Chrio” (χρίω) — used in Acts 4:27, Acts 10:38, and 2 Corinthians 1:21 — carries the deeper sense of contact, of being rubbed and consecrated, of being set apart for an office or divine service. This is the word used specifically of Jesus of Nazareth: “God anointed (chrio) Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power” — Acts 10:38. And it is also the word used of believers who are established in Christ: “He which hath anointed (chrio) us is God” — 2 Corinthians 1:21.

The Greek word “Aleipho” (ἀλείφω) — found in James 5:14, Mark 6:13, and Luke 7:46 — describes the physical act of rubbing or applying oil. This is anointing in its most practical, tangible expression: oil applied to the sick, to the feet of a guest, to the body in preparation.

There are two further Hebrew words worth pausing on. “Yitshar” (יִצְהָר) — used in Zechariah 4:14 — refers to the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth. These are individuals consecrated for a specific, appointed purpose by God Himself, symbolising a divine commissioning that goes beyond ordinary office — a co-labouring with God at a particular moment in His purposes. And then there is “Mimshach” (מִמְשַׁח) — found in Ezekiel 28:14 — translated as “the anointed cherub that covereth.” This is the word used of Lucifer before his fall. His anointing was “Mimshach” — consecrated to minister, to serve, to cover — an anointing tied entirely to function and service.

This last word carries a sobering truth we dare not overlook. Hêlêl or Lucifer – Latin(the Vulgate) was anointed. Genuinely, originally, gloriously anointed — for service before the throne of God. And yet his anointing did not protect him from pride, nor preserve him from ruin. This tells us that the anointing is not a guarantee of character. It is not a trophy. It is a trust. It is given for a purpose, and it demands the stewardship of a humble and surrendered heart. The one who carries it most faithfully is not the one who wears it most visibly — but the one who is most aware that it was never theirs to begin with.

In Hebrew, the most significant word is “Mashiyach” (מָשִׁיחַ) — Messiah. Anointed One. This is the word that carried the full weight of Israel’s hope. The priests were “mashiyach”. The kings were “mashiyach”. The prophets moved in the spirit of the “mashiyach”. They were not merely anointed for office — they were anointed as prophetic pictures, typological representations, pointing forward to the One who would be the ultimate Anointed of God.

Why does this matter? Because once you understand that there are multiple words — each describing a different dimension of anointing — you realise that the question is never simply “are you anointed?” The real questions are: “what kind of anointing? For what purpose? And to what measure?”

The Anointing in the Old Testament

To understand what we have received in Christ, we must first understand what the Old Testament was pointing toward.

The anointing of the Old Testament was, at its heart, Messianic. When Samuel poured oil over the head of Saul, and then David, he was not merely installing a king — he was performing a prophetic act, a shadow of the coming Anointed One. The Hebrew word “Mashiyach” literally means the same thing as the Greek “Christos” — the Christ, the Anointed. Every king was a messianic figure. Every priest who ministered at the altar was a messianic type. Every prophet who carried the word of the Lord was a vessel through whom the Spirit of Christ spoke — “the Spirit of Christ which was in them” — 1 Peter 1:11. These consecrated vessels were the prophetic image of the future Messiah. They carried the Messianic anointing as stewards of a promise they would not themselves see fulfilled.

The story of David illuminates this progression beautifully — because David was not anointed once but three times, and each anointing carried a greater weight than the one before. The first was private: Samuel anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David with power from that day forward — 1 Samuel 16:13. This was divine election — God’s choice made before any public confirmation. The second anointing came when the men of Judah anointed David king over the house of Judah — 2 Samuel 2:4 — a partial recognition, a regional commissioning. The third and fullest anointing came when all the elders of Israel gathered and anointed David king over all Israel — 2 Samuel 5:3 — the complete fulfilment of what had begun in obscurity.

This pattern is not coincidental. It is a portrait of how God often works in the lives of those He calls to a higher measure of anointing — first in the secret place, then in partial recognition, then in full commissioning. The anointing is progressive. It deepens as the vessel is proved.

David himself understood the depth of what he carried. Near the end of his life he declared: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue” — 2 Samuel 23:2. And the New Testament confirms what David experienced: “Being therefore a prophet… he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ” — Acts 2:30. David was not merely a king. He was a vessel of the Spirit of Christ — which is why touching the Lord’s anointed was treated as something close to sacrilege, and why Lamentations 4:20 uses language of such intimacy and necessity: “The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord.” The anointed king was as vital to Israel as the air they breathed — because he carried in type what the Messiah would one day carry in fullness.

This is also why Jesus Himself said of these men — “unto whom the word of God came” — that they were even called gods — John 10:35. Not because they were divine, but because the divine word and Spirit rested upon them with a weight that set them apart as instruments of the living God.

When Jesus came, the shadow gave way to the substance. The types retired before the One they had always pointed to.

Christ, the Anointed One

There is one Anointed of the Lord in the fullest, final, and ultimate sense — and His name is Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, the Son of God. He is the Christ. He is, by definition and by nature, “the” Anointed One.

At the Jordan River, the Father anointed (“chrio”) Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power — Acts 10:38. This was not a ritual. It was the Messianic installation of the Son of God into His earthly ministry. From that moment, He went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed of the devil — because God was with Him. Isaiah 61:1,2 — the passage Jesus read in the synagogue at Nazareth and declared fulfilled in their hearing — was not merely a prophecy. It was a job description: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.”

This is the “Chrio” anointing in its purest expression — consecration to an office, contact with the divine, empowered for a saving purpose. Jesus did not merely possess gifts. He was filled with all the fullness of God — Ephesians 3:19. He was not merely indwelt by the Spirit. The Holy Ghost was upon Him, descended upon Him, and remained upon Him. He was full of the Holy Ghost — Luke 4:1.

And here is where the glory of the New Testament begins to dawn. Because Jesus did not come to keep this anointing for Himself.

Every Believer Is Anointed

Now we arrive at the truth that the traditional church has so consistently obscured — and that the New Testament proclaims with breathtaking clarity.

“But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” — 1 John 2:20. “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you” — 1 John 2:27.

The word John uses here is “Chrisma”. And he writes it not to a select group of super-ministers. He writes it to the whole church. Every believer — every one — has received the anointing of the Holy One. This is not a metaphor. It is not an aspiration. It is a declaration of present spiritual reality.

When God anoints (“chrio”) a sinner into the body of Christ — 2 Corinthians 1:21 — He bestows the *Chrisma*, the smearing of the Spirit upon that soul. You received the Spirit of adoption, whereby you cry Abba, Father — Romans 8:15. You received the Spirit of sonship, the Spirit of Christ — Galatians 4:6. You were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise — Ephesians 1:13. You became a lively stone, built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood — 1 Peter 2:5. Christ has made you kings and priests unto God — Revelation 1:6.

This is not language reserved for the minister at the front of the church. It is the common inheritance of every person who has been born again.

How, then, can a believer be a member of Christ’s anointed body and yet not be anointed? It is a contradiction in terms. The New Testament does not support the restriction of anointing to a select group of ministers. To take that position is to deny the biblical principle of the priesthood of all believers — which is not a democratic sentiment, but a theological reality purchased by the blood of Christ.

The one sitting at the head table is not greater than the one who serves — Luke 22:27. The servant-hearted disciple who prays in obscurity, who loves their neighbour without fanfare, who carries the word of God in their heart and lives it faithfully in their ordinary life — that person is anointed. Fully. Genuinely. Indisputably. The “Chrisma” abides in them. They need no minister to mediate between them and their God. They need no special human permission to walk in what Christ has already given them.

Many believers do not reckon this. They do not reckon that they are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ — Romans 8:17. They do not reckon that they are lively stones being built together for the habitation of God through the Spirit — Ephesians 2:22. Despite being ushered into the new and living way — Hebrews 10:20 — they still live in Old Testament shadows, preferring to sing “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God” when they have been invited to sit at the table.

You are anointed. Settle that in your spirit before you read another word. Now let us go further.

The Higher Anointing

If every believer is anointed, then what distinguishes those whom God calls to a higher dimension of service? Is there a further measure of anointing beyond the “Chrisma” that every believer receives?

The answer the Scriptures give is — yes. And understanding this does not contradict the priesthood of all believers; it completes it.

Consider the distinction between “Chrisma” and “Chrio” once more. The “Chrisma” is the anointing oil applied — the smearing of the Spirit upon every member of the body. The “Chrio” is consecration to an office, a deeper immersion, a being rubbed into Christ Himself until the individual is not merely touched by the anointing but enveloped in it. It is the difference between a person who has been sprinkled with oil and a person who has been submerged in it.

God anoints His chosen ones with a Messianic quality of anointing even today. Not that they become the Messiah — Christ alone is the Anointed One in that ultimate sense — but that they are clothed with Christ, immersed in Him, until the life they live is no longer theirs but His — Galatians 2:20. They put on the Lord Jesus Christ — Romans 13:14. They are joined to the Lord and become one spirit with Him — 1 Corinthians 6:17. As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly — 1 Corinthians 15:48.

The “Chrisma” aims primarily at the believer’s personal growth and spiritual building. It is the foundation of sonship, the seal of salvation, the Spirit of adoption. But the higher “Chrio” anointing is for a saving purpose — a display and demonstration of divine authority (“exousia”) and power (“dunamis”). It is the Messiah Himself upon them. The breath that enters their nostrils transforms them from the natural to the divine — just as Lamentations 4:20 declared of the anointed king: “The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord.” Remarkable feats followed the reception of the Messiah’s breath — akin to when Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Ghost” — John 20:22.

Think of Gideon — a fearful man hiding in a winepress, the least of his family, from the weakest clan in Manasseh — Judges 6:11-16. The term “anointing” is not explicitly used in his story, yet the Spirit of the Lord came upon him — Judges 6:34 — and he was transformed into a mighty deliverer who routed an overwhelming enemy with a fraction of the army God allowed him to keep. This was not giftedness. This was divine envelopment. The anointing did not make Gideon feel great about himself — it made him capable of what only God could accomplish through him.

This is the true sign of an anointed person. Not spectacular gifts displayed on a platform. Not a title or a robe or an atmosphere of reverence. It is the undeniable, empowering presence of God that transforms an individual and enables them to accomplish what they could never do on their own — to open spiritual eyes, to turn souls from darkness to light, to heal all who are oppressed of the devil — Acts 10:38; 26:18. One cannot lightly provoke such a person — to challenge them is to challenge the Spirit of the Lord Himself — Acts 5:9-11.

One believer has a portion or measure of the Spirit. The other is brimming — full of the Holy Ghost — John 3:34; Luke 4:1; Acts 6:3; 7:55; 11:24. Both are genuinely anointed. Both are genuinely God’s. But the measure and the weight of the two anointings are vastly different — and the difference lies not in God’s favouritism, but in the depth of the vessel’s surrender.

God does not show favouritism — Acts 10:34. But Matthew 22:14 is equally true: many are called, yet few are chosen — not because God withholds, but because few are willing to fully surrender their earthly lives and devote themselves wholly to the things of the Spirit. They turn back at the cost — John 12:25. The higher anointing is not given to the self-promoting or the spiritually immature. It is earned through years of sanctification, testing, breaking, and filling. Those who do press through become like their Master — “every one that is perfect shall be as his master” — Luke 6:40. The spirits of just men made perfect — Hebrews 12:23.

This is not an excuse for clericalism. The minister with the higher anointing is not more valuable to God than the faithful believer in the pew. He or she is more accountable. More refined through suffering. More responsible for what they carry. The greater the anointing, the greater the servanthood required — because the Christ who was upon the holy Apostles was the same Christ who said: “I am among you as the one who serves” — Luke 22:27.

Baptism With vs. Baptized Into

We have spoken much about anointing. Now we must address its companion truth — the baptism with the Holy Ghost — and a distinction that has caused enormous confusion within the church.

Baptism “with” the Holy Ghost and baptism “into” the body of Christ are not the same thing.

The Hebrew word for immersion or baptism is “Tevilah” (טְבִילָה) — a ritual immersion for purification and consecration, practised in Judaism for conversion, cleansing, and spiritual preparation. It speaks of total immersion — not a sprinkling, but a going under. This background gives us the full weight of what it means to be baptized “into” Christ, and what it means to be baptized “with” the Holy Ghost.

When a sinner comes to Christ, they are baptized “into” the body of Christ by the Spirit — 1 Corinthians 12:13. This is the new birth. This is regeneration. This is where the “Chrisma” is bestowed and the Spirit of adoption cries within us, Abba, Father. It is the Spirit of Christ that unites and intertwines the members of this spiritual body. Every believer has been through this immersion. It is the foundation of Christian life.

The baptism “with” the Holy Ghost is a distinct and subsequent event — an immersion of the entire being under the flood and flow of the Spirit of God. It is the pouring of new wine into new bottles — Mark 2:22. It is the Spirit of the Lord falling upon a person — Acts 8:16; 1 Samuel 10:10; 11:6; 16:13. It is the endowment with power from on high — Luke 24:49. It is to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man — Ephesians 3:16 — and to be transformed into a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ — Ephesians 4:13.

The prepositions matter more than we typically allow. The word “with” indicates accompaniment, envelopment, being surrounded. The word “into” indicates placement within. You are baptized “into” the body of Christ the moment you believe — it is the work of salvation. You are baptized “with” the Holy Ghost when you are enveloped in the fullness of God for the work of service — and it is a unique, once-for-all bestowal of divine empowerment that marks a threshold of spiritual maturity and full consecration.

The former you receive by faith. The latter you receive by obedience — Acts 5:32. It demands the sanctification of the Spirit, and many tests that a person is put through, before God entrusts them with such authority and power. It is not available to the immature, the unbroken, or the self-seeking. But it is available to any believer willing to walk the full road of surrender — the road that few choose, yet that God extends to all.

The great figures of church history — those who fearlessly spread the Gospel to the darkest corners of the earth, who performed signs and wonders that shook nations — did not achieve these things through spiritual giftedness alone. Without the Messianic anointing, without the baptism with the Holy Ghost, none of what they accomplished would have been possible. The church at Corinth had all the gifts — and was still carnal — 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. Gifts without depth of anointing produce noise; they rarely produce transformation.

So both the concept of being baptized “with” the Holy Ghost and the anointing share the same core idea: receiving a special empowerment from God for ministry and service. Both signify a divine commissioning and equipping. Both are about the fullness of the Spirit being poured out upon a surrendered vessel for the accomplishment of God’s purposes in the world.

What This Means for You

Let me speak now directly to you — the one in the pew who has been told, in a hundred subtle ways, that the anointing belongs to someone else. That you are a spectator in the kingdom. That your role is to sit, receive, support, and defer.

The truth is this: you are anointed. The same God who anointed Jesus of Nazareth has anointed you — 2 Corinthians 1:21. The same Spirit who descended upon the apostles has been promised to you and to your children — Acts 2:38,39. You are a priest — not by ordination, but by blood. You are a king — not by election, but by grace. You are a lively stone in the house of God — not because a minister placed you there, but because the living Christ is building you in.

The “Chrisma” you carry is not a lesser version of what the minister has. It is the genuine commodity. It is the Spirit of the Holy One abiding within you, teaching you all things, guiding you into truth — 1 John 2:27. You need no man to tell you what to believe, for the same Spirit who illuminates the preacher illuminates you. This is the glory of the new covenant.

At the same time, do not despise those whom God has called to a higher measure of anointing and a deeper service. Honour them — not as lords over your faith, but as fellow servants who have paid a price. Give double honour to those who labour in the word and doctrine — 1 Timothy 5:17. But do not confuse honour with idolatry. Do not mistake servant-leadership for lordship. And do not allow any man or woman to place themselves between you and your God, or to make you feel that what Christ has freely given you is somehow contingent on their approval or their intercession.

There is also a higher road open to you — if you are willing. The “Chrio” anointing, the baptism with the Holy Ghost, the fullness of God — these are not reserved for a priestly caste. They are promised to every obedient, surrendered, sanctified heart. What God gave to the apostles of the Lamb, He can give to you. What He breathed upon them, He can breathe upon you. Not many choose this road — because it demands everything: your comfort, your ambitions, your reputation, your earthly life. But for those willing, it is the most extraordinary and most costly journey a human soul can take.

As we draw this study to a close, let the truth settle into your bones like the fragrance of anointing oil: the anointing is not a title held by an elite. It is a grace poured out upon all flesh. It began on the Day of Pentecost. It continues to this hour. It belongs, in full measure, to every member of Christ’s body. And for those who will press in — who will die to themselves and live fully to God — it is available in a measure that will transform not only their own lives but the lives of everyone they touch.

You are not a tail. You are a member of the body of Christ — equally valued, equally anointed, and equally called. Walk in it.

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A NOTE TO THE READER:

This article is the first in a trilogy. It is followed by “You Don’t Know What You Are Asking For: The Voice, the Years, and What God Showed Me” and completed by “Two and Yet One: Understanding the Distinction Between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit.” Each article can be read independently, but together they form a complete exploration of the anointing, the Holy Ghost, and the full spiritual inheritance available to every believer in Christ.

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