Message #12 (of 20) from the PrayerPower radio series
"Asking for the Spirit's Life"

by Kaye Johns

The joy of the Lord should be our strength, for the Holy Spirit Who indwells us is the Oil of Joy [Psalm 45:7, NKJV]. He is the anointing Who teaches us all things [1 John 2:27], and He is the Oil of Joy with which we are anointed [Heb. 1:9].

We’re told in the twenty-third Psalm that the Lord our Shepherd "anoints us with oil" [Psalm 23:5], and in 1 Samuel we read that when David was anointed, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power [1 Sam. 16:12-13]. It’s no wonder Nehemiah said the joy of the Lord is our strength [Neh. 8:10]. We have been anointed with the Spirit Who is the Oil of Joy.

Yet I wonder, when Paul asked the Galatians, "What has happened to all your joy?" [Gal. 4:15]--could he be talking to us as well? We’ve all heard sermons about the difference between happiness and joy, which has nothing to do with circumstance. It’s that joy that gave Paul and Silas the strength to sing and praise the Lord even in the prison [Acts 16:25].

That being so, if we’re indwelt by the Spirit of God, Who is the Oil of Joy--what has happened to our joy? Why is it not present every moment of every day? Could it be that fail to ask for it? Jesus said we’re to ask for the Spirit. Do we ask for His presence as the Oil of Joy?

Pray with me now -- Father, we ask it now; may we experience in greater measure than ever before, the life of the Oil of Joy. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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