1 Samuel 16: 13-14, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him”.
There are some very important truths that need to be learned from the story of David and Saul. You see, Saul was once anointed mightily by God to be the ruler over Israel, but because of disobedience, the anointing was taken from him and God then searched out another to take his place. When He did, He found David, a man after His own heart. This is where the scripture text above comes in. David is being anointed as the new king of Israel and God’s people.
When David was anointed as king, instantly Saul went into a rage and turned against him and became his most bitter enemy. He did everything he possibly could to kill David and ruin him. Why? Why would he do such a thing to a man he wants respected and loved? Because of pure jealousy! He was the one who used to have the anointing, but he lost it. And because he lost it and now David had it, it drove him insane with jealousy. He could not stand the thoughts of this young lad who once killed Goliath to now be his leader.
My friend, sad to say, but that is the exact same scenario in a lot of our churches today. There are people who still go to our churches who years ago used to have the anointing on their lives, but somewhere along the way they lost it. And since they don’t have it, they don’t want anyone else to have it either! They try to squelch the joy in people. They try to silence the praise of the saints. They try to tune down the level of God’s power within their local church lest they be exposed for the cold-hearted people they really are! But do not fear! For there is a radical breed of saints arising within our churches today who are not afraid of man. They are not ashamed of their God and they will not be silenced! For, they are anointed with a radical anointing!
David had this kind of anointing on him. He could not be silenced. He could not be put down. If you tried to calm him down, he would just get that much louder. If he got excited about his God, he would let the whole nation know. When he saw God doing supernatural things within the kingdom, he would dance until he caused a spectacle of himself. He was a radical believer, with a radical praise to offer unto God and a radical lifestyle to live before Him.
I don’t believe that I have ever been more convinced of anything in my life as this lately, that we need a radical anointing to sweep through the church of our day! We need a radical anointing like David knew that would make us hunger for God like a deer panting for the water brook. That would make us dance and leap and shout for joy and not care who saw us or what they said! We need a radical anointing that will make us dare believe God at His word. That would make us step off the boat of tradition and get out on the water where Jesus is. A radical anointing that will change us into men and women of daring faith and daring beliefs. A people that will not succumb to the pressures of this sin sick society. A people that would preach once again an uncompromising Gospel that speaks against sin and tells the truth no matter what the consequences are! Yes, we need a radical anointing!
David faced many obstacles because of his radical anointing, and so shall we. Some people didn’t understand him and they won’t understand us. But this level of radical anointing is what it is going to take to see this sin sick world changed by the power of the Gospel. May our prayer be in the days to come, “Oh Lord, anoint us with an anointing so radical that we could turn this world upside down for You!”
In closing, remember this: Radical faith means radical anointing. Radical anointing means radical prayers. Radical prayers mean radical answers. Radical answers mean radical signs. And radical signs mean radical demonstrations and power from God! Then this world will see that there are a people who are radical for their God still left on this earth!