During the last twenty years, the subject of “the anointing” has been brought up many times. I’ve seen books, tape packs, articles and entire conferences devoted to this particular supernatural subject. I can remember studying what it was, how I could get it, how I could lose it, how to walk in it, function in it, speak from it, write with it and even sleep with it. It always seemed to me as though it was this “spiritual carrot” that dangled in front of my face to get me to press forward in my Christianity. It was always just too far away for me to grasp. For years, I lived in a state of wondering what it really was. I was never quite sure if I had it or what it would feel like when I did have it. The anointing was like a life long game of “Where’s Waldo”; it showed up in the most unlikely of places.

Today, it seems that “the anointing” is reserved for preachers and ministry workers only. Today we anoint windows, doors and even seats in the auditorium. I’ve even heard people say that “the anointing” was on a particular instrument, like a piano or a guitar. I remember mumbling to myself, “Lucky piano.” It seemed that over time, the anointing mutated into something that could attach itself to just about anything – to a person, an inanimate object, an idea or concept, a song and even a location. The term is used in so many ways that a modern day definition is next to impossible to find. I sometimes wonder if the term “the anointing” or “anointed” has become the official F-word of Christianity.

I’ve heard about a hundred different contradictory teachings on “the anointing” that has made the subject even more difficult to understand. I heard one man say that because the Anointed One lives in my heart, I have the anointing at all times. I heard another man say that the anointing is something I should fast and pray for, and when I’ve done enough spiritual hoop jumping, God would finally endow me with a five star anointing. I once attended a conference where at one time, they had us all come up to the stage and run in-between two rows of pastors who were drenched in olive oil. They called it a “Holy Ghost car wash.” I didn’t feel any different when I reached the other end of the stage; just oily.

Eventually, I came to the point where I just didn’t care whether I “got” the anointing or not; I gave up trying. I even quit looking for it in others. The very subject irritated me to death. After Bible college and years of public ministry, I still had only a vague idea of what “the anointing” was. There were many times, after I preached or talked to someone, another person would inform me that “I had the anointing.” This would freak me out because I really didn’t know what it meant to “have” it. I didn’t feel any different or any more spiritual at the time I spoke. When people said this to me, it confused me more than anything. The more I heard people tell me that I “had” it, the angrier I became. There’s nothing more upsetting than when you try to get something all your life, only to find that you have it and don’t know it.

Most of the time when someone says to me, “Dude, you are so anointed,” they’re simply saying to me, “I really enjoyed your sermon.” The definition of “the anointing” in that case, would be, “You rock.” Truthfully, I like that more than the super-spiritual, just-out-of-reach definition I was raised with! I’m becoming more and more convinced that this is exactly what people mean when they use that term. It’s a modern day Christian’s way of giving their approval.

Recently, I was speaking to a group of pastors, when one of them stood up and gave a testimony. He explained to the group how God had changed his life the previous year when he came to hear me speak. He ended by saying that he had never seen a person function in such a powerful anointing then when he first heard me preach. The crowd applauded and praised God. I immediately noticed the looks on many of their faces. They had that look that I had for many years. It was a look of feeling left out, or a step behind. I could tell that most of the men in that room felt the same way I did about the subject. They wondered if they had it or what it really meant in the first place. What broke my heart the most was that I saw that look of spiritual insecurity that I used to get when I would hear someone say that about another preacher.

I believe that the deepest secret of most pastors is that they are no more certain of what the anointing is than the people they preach too. They’re as clueless as everyone else. For the most part, they don’t feel that they have it because they know the truth about themselves, and they know that they aren’t super spiritual. The anointing, in their minds, is something that other people have, not them. I could see this in the eyes of most of the pastors in the room that day.

I immediately tossed my notes aside and began to address what I felt was a more important issue. I wanted to explain “the anointing” in a way that every one of them could grasp and understand. I hated seeing that look of spiritual uncertainty I had lived with for years when that subject came up. This is precisely why I am writing this today; I want the world of Christians to understand exactly what it means to have the anointing. I want to put it in the simplest of terms so that everyone can clearly understand how to walk in it.

The anointing is NOT super spiritual. You don’t have to pray for hours on end to get it. You don’t get it from holy living, and you don’t possess it because someone more spiritual than you prayed for you and splashed you with a bucket of oil. It doesn’t come with hours of Bible reading or sincere worship. YOU are the one who determines how powerful of an anointing you walk and speak in. Anyone can have it.

The power of the anointing is directly paralleled to how much you care. If you care a lot about what you are saying and doing; you are anointed. It’s as simple as that. In other words, the anointing is caring. The problem with most preachers is that they care more about preaching than they do about the people they are preaching to. The moment you care about the people, and you want them to get what you are delivering, you will begin to walk in the anointing.

Most preachers I know are just delivering a teaching that was taught to them years ago by someone who didn’t care. It’s memorized. They’re just going through the motions. They’re not delivering a message that they truly believe in, in an effort to help the people. They’re reciting the points of doctrine that they learned in Bible college. For the most part, I have found that preachers today don’t even have a message that was uniquely given to them to deliver. Their message is a reheated version of everyone else’s message. It’s hard to care about something that wasn’t formulated specifically for you and your personality. Most preachers in my opinion are men without a message. They can’t care because none of it comes from them. What makes the message of the Gospel so powerful is that the deliverer of that message is also delivering their own message along with God’s. In other words, it’s a message that is both from God and from the person carrying it. It’s a duel effort. Today however, people only deliver God’s side of the message because their side is either nonexistent or unimportant to them.

It’s impossible to care about something without having a degree of ownership in it. I always chuckle to myself when I hear someone correct another person when they refer to what I preach as “Darin’s message.” The correction always comes in the same predictable religious reminder that it’s “God’s message” and not “Darin’s message.” While it would seem that they are correct in that statement, they actually could not be more wrong. This point alone is what separates me from most modern day teachers. I see it as MY MESSAGE. I own it. It’s mine. Others see the Gospel as God’s message, and as a result, they deliver that message without an anointing. I think that the primary problem lies in this one little Christian cliché. Until people are ready to take ownership of what they preach, they will never care. Until they care, they will never be anointed.

It’s as simple as this. If you want “The anointing”, CARE.