For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. . . Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 27.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהים) says:
I anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed of the devil. He is a Priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek and I have designated Him as your great High Priest and the High Priest of your confession (homologia). With Him you can come with confidence into the very Holy of Holies to My throne of grace and receive mercy and find grace just when you need it.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession (homologia). For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16.
But you are not just coming with Him, you are coming in Him, anointed with the same anointing as the Head of the body.
You who have confessed My Son as Lord have agreed with Me and My Spirit and have been born again from on high and regenerated as a member of the body of Christ, My glorious church of the firstborn. No two people are exactly alike but you are all members of the glorious body of Christ, which is also being a member of His body the Church. He is the head of the body and all the members share the same anointing that He has.
Do you see the greatness of what I am telling you? If you are part of His Body, you share in His office of High Priest. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and now, since you have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens and entered behind the veil, you too can enter as a member of His body, I identify you in Him as in the same anointed office to come and make intersession before me.
I have called you to My own glory and excellence. You are standing in the shoes, so to speak, of, with, and in your High Priest.
Since you are precious in My sight, you are honored and I love you, I have given My Son in your place and in exchange for your life, Isaiah 43:4, and just as He is, so are you in the world. 1 John 4:17.
And, just as Melchizedek is the King of Righteousness, King of Peace, Priest of the Most High, and a prophet to the churches, so is Jesus anointed a King, Priest, and Prophet as well. And as part of His body, so are you.
And the Holy Spirit gives gifts, grace endowments, for the benefit of all. And I tell you I do not want you to be unaware of them. Which should alert you that you need to pursue these gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Actually there are many things that are yours in Christ that I want you to be always aware of. Do not forget any of your many benefits that I have freely given you to enjoy. But there are three things I particularly point out to you that I do not want you unaware of, which means I want you to be aware of them and utilizing them in your life and in your lives together as members of the Body of Christ, the church on earth.
These three things are of primary importance in whether you will live the victorious and abundant life that Jesus died to give you. They also are determinative in whether you will fulfill the work I gave you to do by living a fruitful life, doing the good deeds I prepared for you in advance in Christ Jesus that you walk in them. But it grieves Me and My Spirit that with all this I have made available to you, most people are indifferent to and unaware of these three things. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; but often it is because they have rejected knowledge.
The three are as follows: (1) To be aware that you who believe in My Son are anointed and indwelt by My Spirit so that you have constant access to and communication with Me by the Spirit. Your earthly body houses your spirit and soul and all three perfectly fit together. So do not despise and abuse your body, it is My temple and the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you. You are a house of God and a gate of Heaven and combined with other believers, the Body of Christ, the church, you are built into an edifice where My Spirit dwells and moves, bestowing gifts with signs, wonders, and miracles for the benefit of all.
(2) And that has to do with the second thing I tell you to be aware of. You should not stop at being aware of My indwelling Spirit but you must go on to knowing the gifts He bestows as He wills for the benefit of all at that moment. This is all part of your anointing. You will not desire the gifts earnestly, as I tell you to do, if you do not know you have them.
The gift He bestows depends on the need of the moment. And as to the gifts of the Spirit, I tell you to pursue love and desire earnestly (zéloó: to burn with zeal) the spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14:1. Do you who profess faith in My Son and that you love Me do this? If not, it is time you did so that your life and the whole corporate Body of Christ can function together at a whole new level.
(3) The third thing I want you aware of is the schemes and tactics of the devil. Otherwise he can catch you off guard and deceive you. And he comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. He will rob you of your prize and ruin your destiny, as he did Adam and as he did Judas Iscariot and many others. But if you are aware and moving in the first two things, the third follows. For My Spirit warns you of the things to come.
The devil is very fearful of the anointing and will work long and hard to keep you from operating in it, for the anointing lifts the burden and destroys his yoke.
My Spirit gives you the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge and discerning of spirits. These three revelation gifts bring about My plan and purpose and will overcome the devil easily, catch him in his tracks, every time. Kind of like the word of knowledge I would give to Elisha about the enemy’s battle plans against the king of Israel so that Elisha informed the king of Israel and he and his army escaped every ambush of the enemy.
If you want the victory over the devil and the unclean spirits with him, you must fight in the spirit arena, never the flesh. Faith is of the spirit, not the fleshly mind.
The gifts of the Spirit are for ministry and the effecting of My plans and purpose in the earth. 1 Corinthians 12:5-11. The fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, is for your own personal growth and enjoyment as the fruit blesses everyone who comes in contact and eats of the fruit of your lips and of your life. Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit is manifested in you all at the same time, but the grace endowments, that is, the charismatic gifts, are administered by My Spirit as needed, to one this and to another that. They are not your own, they belong to the Spirit. The fruit is your own, produced by your spirit by My Spirit flowing divine life into you. Like the sap of the vine flowing into the branch of the tree to give the characteristics and power of the vine to the branch so that the branch can produce the fruit of the vine, but the fruit belongs to the branch.
The ministry gifts flow from My Spirit into your spirit just as they are and return when the need is filled. These gifts are actually My power flowing out from you. You become a steward of information and power directly from My throne, the very Holy of Holies. These gifts cannot be trusted to unbelievers or those who will not cooperate with them. Like Samson, he had finally gone too far off his destiny and the Spirit that was on him left him. The power was withdrawn. It was not his own to flaunt in sin. He forgot that.
Let us look then at 1 Corinthians 12 as our key Scripture, though you will see the gifts operating all through the Bible from beginning to end. “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:5-11.
“There are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit.” These all flow from My Spirit into you as endowments of grace. The are supernatural enlightening and empowerment that profit all collectively. “And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.” My Son is Lord of all ministries, for His body is to be doing the works He did and greater and His ministry on earth was one empowered by the Spirit that filled Him without measure. All the gifts operated in Jesus at every moment without hindrance. He was completely yielded to My Spirit. The devil had absolutely no place in Him.
But look at the gifts again. You are anointed king, prophet, and priest. The king to govern and make the wise choices needs the word of wisdom for future events, the word of knowledge for present events, and the discernment of spirits to make the right choices each day with respect to his staff, investments, who to admit and who to exclude.
The prophet needs the gifts of prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues to receive and give communication from Me to those to whom I direct to edify, exhort, and encourage.
The priest needs the gifts of faith, healing, and the effecting of miracles. Remember when Jesus responded to the lepers requests to be healed, he told them to go to show themselves to the priests.
And Jesus and the Spirit work together. The Spirit testifies to Jesus and baptizes you into Jesus, Jesus baptizes you in the Holy Spirit and speaks to you of the Spirit.
“So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13.
The gifts of the Spirit flow into the offices of ministry that come from My Son but they are also given to every member when needed to minister even if you are not in a ministry office as such.
“But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.” 1 Corinthians 12:7. Jesus has released you from your sins and made you all a royal priesthood unto Me. Revelation 1:5-6. This all has to do with your anointed place as a member in the Body of Christ, which is also addressed in 1 Corinthians 12 after the gifts are discussed as flowing together.
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.” 1 Corinthians 12:27-28.
And this has to do with the effecting of the purpose and desired result, working it through to make the goal. “There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.” I am working all things together for good for those that love Me and are called according to My purpose. And every member has a place, a grace gift and an assignment to do. The body is not complete without all its parts and it is not functioning at its maximum potential if all the parts are not working together in their particular assignment.
But you are all one in Christ and one in the Spirit. When you join with Christ you become one spirit with Him. The bride of Christ is the Church. Spirit union is stronger than death. It survives the grace for all who are saved. The anointing never dies for My Spirit raised Jesus from the dead and He will give life to your mortal bodies as well. I have promised you eternal life since before the foundation of the world, and that life is in My Son—the Anointed One and in His anointing.
I love you. Think about what it means to be a member of the body of the great High Priest with respect to your prayer life and it will take you to a whole new level of intimacy with Me and intercession for others.