Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Discussing God’s power is not for the small minded. As you follow the trail of God’s glory and power in the Bible, you will find that there are ‘storage places’ where the anointing and glory can be stored. Let’s look at some of these containers.

A Synonymous Term for Power

• Let’s add one more term to these synonymous terms; Holy Spirit coming upon, anointing, and power.

1 Peter 4:14 (KJV)
14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

• Note the terminology here.
• The Spirit of Glory rests upon you.
• The Spirit of Glory is the Spirit of God according to this verse.
• Let’s frame this by looking at the trail of the glory in scripture.

The Trail of the Glory

• The purpose of following this trail is for us to understand how much the glory is a part of the Christian experience and lifestyle.
• Man, as a created being in the garden, was crowned with glory and honor.

Psalm 8:4–5 (ESV)
4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

• Man sinned and fell short of the glory. In effect, he became naked

Romans 3:23 (ESV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

• God had a plan to recover man.
• His plan was a mystery hidden in Himself.
• The plan was designed to bring us back to glory.

1 Corinthians 2:7–8 (KJV)
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

• Jesus executes the plan in His death, burial and resurrection

Hebrews 2:10 (KJV)
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

• Once we receive Jesus as our Savior, we grow and walk in the realm of glory.
• We go from glory to glory

2 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV)
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

• Notice, the Spirit of the Lord in this verse in connection with the glory.
• We are transformed from one level of glory to another by the Spirit of the Lord which is why we should all be interested and studious of this subject of the Spirit of God resting and or coming upon people.
• The end result of our walking with Him, in this realm, is that we become the glorious church without spot or wrinkle.

Ephesians 5:25–27 (KJV)
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

• So man had the glory, lost the glory, God came up with a glorious ‘mystery’ plan, Jesus executed that plan to bring us back to glory, so now we go from glory to glory and grow into our destiny as the glorious church.
• But there is more to this thread!
• Follow this scriptural thread now.

Philippians 2:5–7 (KJV)
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

• The phrase ‘made himself of no reputation’ is one word in the Greek.

DEFINITION: ‘made himself of no reputation’/κενόω/keno – to empty.

• Jesus emptied Himself when He took upon Himself the form of a servant as the babe in the manager.
• We have already seen the Spirit of God’s involvement in this in the life of Mary; that Spirit of Glory, that Holy Spirit, that power, that anointing came upon her.
• Now in John 17:5, Jesus is praying.

John 17:5 (ESV)
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

• Note the words, ‘glory that I had’ is past tense.
• This implies that He had it at one time but now, He doesn’t have it.
• Why doesn’t He have it, at this point?
• Because He emptied Himself.
• So, now approximately two weeks before the crucifixion, Jesus is praying that the glory that He emptied Himself of that the Father would give it back to Him.
• Now, the Father did give it back to Him and you can see the level of intensity of the glory that He had before He emptied Himself and the glory that was restored to Him in the book of Revelation.
• Look at these two points as bookends, He emptied Himself and He prays for it to be restored to Him.
• And the Lord did restore it and this is what it looks like.

Revelation 1:10, 12-17 (KJV)
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

• Notice the phrase, ‘as the sun shines in its strength’.
• That means that the sight of the glory was as bright as the sun could ever get.
• Jesus did not manifest this level of glory in His earth walk because if
• He did, every place He would have walked, they would have hit the deck!
• So, now can you see how important the glory should be to you?
• Can you see how important that Holy Spirit coming upon you, the anointing and the power of God should be to you and to your life?
• It was important enough for Jesus to pray to His Father to give it back to Him in its full intensity.
• Now, read this next verse which shows what transpired in between Jesus emptying Himself and the crucifixion.
• Do you remember in John’s gospel chapter two, the incident where Jesus turned the water into wine?

John 2:11 (ESV)
11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

• So you can see that there is a degree of glory that is different than this that He was praying about in John 17.
• If Jesus emptied Himself of glory and was praying for it back, what glory then is this?
• This has to be the glory connected to Matt. 3:16; the Spirit of God coming upon Jesus.
• Since He laid His glory as God, He is now manifesting that He received from the third member of the Godhead.
• It’s almost like he piggybacked off the Holy Spirit.
• Can we say it that way?
• To further cement the Holy Spirit’s connection to glory in your thinking, look at these next two verses together in Romans.

Romans 6:4 (KJV)
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

• The glory, which we see now is synonymous with power, was involved in Jesus being raised from the dead.

Romans 8:11 (KJV)
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

• Romans 6:4 says it was the glory that raised Jesus from the dead and Romans 8:11 says it was the Spirit.
• Again this proves that glory, power, anointing and Holy Spirit coming upon are synonymous terms.
• So, concerning these book-ends, Jesus had this tremendous glory that He had in the Presence of God being equal with God, he empties himself of that and trades that in for the glory that is manifest by the Holy Spirit coming upon you… which we have already shown is available to you in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.
• What are you saying?
• You are a manifest-or of glory.
• You are a dispenser of power.
• You are an anointed one in the plan of God.
• The Holy Spirit coming upon you is part of the fabric of your life as a filled child of God.

2 Corinthians 4:6–7 (ESV)
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

• The word ‘power’ in this verse is again dunamis qualified by the adjective ‘surpassing’ which means ‘extraordinary overabundant’ power.
• We have this treasure in clay pots.
• What are some characteristics of clay pots?
• They are fragile, brittle and easily broken, at times rough and cracked and very temporary.
• Another translation has it as …“This is something of great value, but we have it in pots made of earth” (Good News for the World)
• You are supposed to get the contrast here.
• Glory of God vs. jars of clay.
• What a great gulf exists between these two!
• How eternal is the glory and how temporary is our bodies in their current state.
• Can we just lift our hands and worship God and say ‘Thank you Lord for entrusted with something of such tremendous value?
• Now you understand something else.
• Have you ever noticed the testimonies of people who say that have seen the glory cloud in midst of the Spirit of God moving?
• Now, you know why.
• So, now that we have added the term ‘glory’ to our list of synonymous terms, let us add another term to our list of ‘containers’.

Containers of Power: Words

• We talked about words being containers of power.
• Words are containers for the anointing.
• Words can be broken down into God’s written Word, the Bible.
• And, God’s spoken word coming through the utterance gifts.
• Under the category of God’s spoken Word, we can further sub-divide into God’s spoken Word through sermons, messages, and teachings as well as God’s spoken word put to music by anointed psalmists.
• But there are other containers for God’s anointing and power.

Containers of Power: People

• People are containers or carriers of the anointing.
• Here is an extremely interesting and unusual example of this.

2 Kings 2:9–10 (KJV)
9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. 10 And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.

• So, here we have another verse from that list of verses that we gave last week concerning ‘the Spirit upon’.
• Take note of the phrase ‘double portion of your Spirit upon…’
• In this case, we have Elisha asking that a double portion of Elijah’s anointing would come upon him.
• We know that’s exactly what happened.
• People have taken some pains to show from the scripture that Elisha did twice as many miracles as Elijah which would put the phrase ‘double-portion’ into the realm of the number of occurrences.
• Double-portion though does not mean twice the occurrences only.
• It means twice the level of anointing, first.
• Its levels of anointing as opposed to occurrences of anointing.
• Levels of anointing collate into number of occurrences.

2 Kings 2:15 (KJV)
15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

• Here is a little side note that I just from a godly minister.
• If you don’t sense the anointing upon yourself, nobody else will either.
• Elisha had many miraculous manifestations because of the anointing that was upon his life and everybody else could sense it.
• The Bible says “When they saw him, they said The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.”
• Here is one of the most miraculous events in Elisha’s life and it illustrates that people are containers of the anointing.

2 Kings 13:20–21 (KJV)
20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. 21 And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

• Apparently, the double-anointing had come upon him throughout his life to such a degree that a measure of it seeped into his bones and became residual in his body.
• The anointing coming upon you will become part of the fabric of your life.
• You should be asking big questions here.
• Your hands should be going up to God and you should be shouting
• “Hey God, I have a question! Why did you put this story in the Bible?”
• We know that the man that had initially died benefited from this story.
• You can be sure that he was really glad to be able to resume his life once again.
• I am sure he was real glad to be able to go home to his wife and children and his lifestyle.
• But is the obvious benefit to this man the reason for this being recorded in the Bible?
• What else is the Lord trying to tell us here?
• Number one:
  It wasn’t the greatness of Elisha’s faith necessarily that produced these miracles. Elisha was not even around.
• Number two:
• The anointing can be stored.
• It was stored in Elisha’s bones.
• Number Three:
• The anointing can be transferred by touch.
• And, now you understand why ‘laying on of hands’ is an important New Testament doctrine.

Laying on of hands is a conduit for the glory.

• It is a pipeline for the anointing.
• What are you saying?
• “Reach out and touch someone!”
• And these next three verses should now make sense.

Matthew 8:3 (ESV)
3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Matthew 8:15 (ESV)
15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him.

Mark 7:33 (ESV)
33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.

• Now, this gets us over to the next container, cloth.

Containers of Power: Cloth

Acts 19:11–12 (KJV)
11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: 12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

• Can you see how this works?
• The Holy Spirit came upon Paul while he had cloth in his possession, here described as handkerchiefs and aprons.
• That anointed flowed from Paul’s body into the cloths.
• The cloths were then taken to the sick.
• The result of this was that people were healed and demons were driven out.
• So cloth, is a container for the anointing.
• It can house it.
• It can store it.
• Why does it work like that?
• Who can explain this, just know that it does.
• So now these other verses should make sense.

Mark 3:10 (ESV)
10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.

Mark 6:56 (ESV)
56 And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

Mark 5:27–28, 30 (ESV)
27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”
30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”

• Guess what the word ‘power’ is here?
• You guessed it, dunamis.
• Sufficient power to meet the need.
• Now, how about looking at some verses in the Old Testament?
• Do you remember the account of Elijah running from Jezebel after he destroyed the false prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel by calling fire down from heaven?

1 Kings 19:11–12 (KJV)
11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

1 Kings 19:13 (KJV)
13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

• A mantle is a robe or a cloak.
• It’s made out of cloth.

1 Kings 19:15–16 (KJV)
15 And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.

1 Kings 19:19 (KJV)
19 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.

• How was Elisha anointed?
• Was it just a ceremonial thing?
• Did he pour oil on him?
• No, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Elijah and the anointing was stored in his mantle.
• Elijah then casts that mantle upon Elisha and the anointing transfers from the cloth unto his life.

Containers Hold the Enemies Major Problem.

• Now, with all of this, the enemy has a major problem.
• There are all of these containers of anointing in the earth and they are everywhere.
• What does he do?
• Well, he tries to get rid of them.
• But he really can’t.
• Once an anointing is in the earth, he really can’t get rid of it.
• In order to get rid of it, you have to get rid of the container.
• And so during the dark ages which lasted approximately from the 5th century to the 15th century, he tries to get rid of the Bible.
• He tries to burn the container.
• He tries to suppress the container.
• Well that didn’t work.
• The enemy has tried other avenues.
• The enemy has tried persecution trying to kill the container.
• Trying to kill off the anointing.
• Well, that didn’t work either because the more believers were killed the more they multiplied.
• How discouraging to the enemy do you think Elisha’s bones were?
• What was the Lord saying to the enemy?
• That even in the midst of death, the enemy of God, the anointing can bring the victory.
• Why is enemy so intent on trying to destroy that anointing?
• Because ‘dunamis power’ can undo anything he has in his arsenal.
• Dunamis is sufficient power to destroy all of the works of the enemy.

Call to Action:

Have you ever laid hands on a cloth with a group of believers and prayed for God’s healing power to go into that cloth? If you haven’t now is the time to put God’s Word into practice. When you are gathered together and the anointing of God is manifest or sensed pray over the cloth and send it out to a sick person and watch what the Lord does.

Question: The ‘Call to Action’ above encourages you to step out on God’s Word in this area of  ministering healing. Have you ever stepped out in this area? If so, please leave a testimony, in the comments section below, of what the Lord did.