And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.
—1 John 2:27
When we were born again we received what the Bible calls “the anointing.” The word “anointing” is a gerund, a verbal noun. It is something active. Ever since we were born again, something within us is active. The life of God that we received actually moves within us all the time. The moving of God’s life within us is the anointing.
What does the anointing do? According to this verse in First John, the anointing teaches us to abide in Him. To follow the Lord after we are born again is not to live by doctrinal teachings, but to experience the Lord within through the anointing. This anointing teaches us how to abide in Him. Not only does it teach us, but it anoints the essence of God Himself into us. When we were born again we received the very life of God. The anointing works the essence of that life with all the riches of God into our being. The more we experience the anointing, the more God Himself is being worked into us.
Adapted from Born Again, page 23.
Tomorrow: “The Life-Giving Spirit In Our Spirit”