2 Samuel 10, 1 Chron 19, Psalm 20

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%2010;%201%20Chron%2019;Psalm%2020&version=ESV

Psalm 20:7-8 "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright."

Psalm 20 is a royal Psalm. The psalmist writes a prayer that God will give the king success, particularly in battle.

In contrast to the non-Jewish nations, the people of Israel are praying that God would be their strength and shield and trust, and that he would provide for their king.

Verse 6 states,

"Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand."

In the context of this verse, the anointed is the king.

What does anointing mean in the context of the New Testament?

I hear many people on the Christian cable networks, which I watch very rarely and would not recommend as many of the programs are off doctrinally, saying he or she has a great anointing, or he or she is anointed.

My friends, we are all anointed. We are anointed with the Holy Spirit when we become Christians.

1 John 2:20 "But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge."

What is this knowledge we have?

1 John 2:27 " But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him."

The everything in the above verse, means as the ESV Study Bible says, "they have no need for any instruction that diverges from the gospel message."

This means that the Holy Spirit will give us wisdom to understand the basics of the Gospel message, once we have become saved and He, the Holy Spirit, indwells in us.

No doubt, there are some who have the spiritual gift of teaching. John is not refuting that, as he himself is teaching the readers of 1 John.

Neither am I saying that we should not consult what others have to say about Scripture. If you are studying Scripture and come up with a unique interpretation that no one in the 2,000 years of church history has come up with, you ought to check your interpretation.

I write this today because so many people are swayed by these teachers who are filled with a "heavy anointing". They are portrayed sometimes as almost being Apostolic and can do no wrong.

We must remember what Paul says,

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

"but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil."

The Holy Spirit is a great gift to us. Without the Holy Spirit we would not believe in Christ, as Paul again writes,

1 Corinthians 2:12-14,

"Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

So when you witness to someone and you share Scripture and all seems so logical and consistent, and they say, "I still don't believe." Know that it may be nothing that you have done, it probably shows that the Holy Spirit has not convicted them yet, or they are resisting His conviction.

The Holy Spirit enables us to trust in the Lord, and not in other things.

Each morning I have been praying Proverbs 3:5-6.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

I pray that my trust grows stronger in the Lord and that the Holy Spirit enables me to trust more and more in the Lord.

So, pray today and give thanks for the Holy Spirit. He enables us to walk in Christ, grow in Christ, die in Christ, and live forever in Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Today's Post was submitted by Russ Shellhamer.