From Measure to Fullness!

“For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” (John 3:34)

Looking back on my own Christian experience, I know precisely the time when the tangible anointing of the Holy Spirit first came upon me. It was at Pinecrest Bible Training Center almost 30 years ago. As hands were laid on me, I was suddenly enveloped in the fire of God’s presence. I had never experienced anything like this before. It was as if I went up like a flaming torch. I was left in the chapel service for several hours, paralyzed under that fiery anointing! I will never forget it! It felt like someone had poured gasoline on me and lit a match.

Being a young Christian at the time, I left that encounter thinking I had received the fullness of the Holy Spirit’s anointing, but I didn’t. It was true that I took a quantum leap into the depths of the Spirit that day, but I hadn’t nearly arrived. The truth was that when the hands of that notable presbytery were laid on me, I moved just one step closer toward the full measure of God’s anointing. I learned that there is a vast distinction between the fullness of the Spirit and a measure of the Spirit. I failed to comprehend the progressive nature of the anointing in a believer’s life. I didn’t know then that we are to move progressively from one level of anointing to the next until we arrive at a place in the Spirit called fullness.

David is the classic scriptural example of the progressive nature of the anointing. He experienced three anointings before he entered the fullness of God’s empowerment for his life. We will focus solely on David’s first anointing, which he received from the prophet Samuel with a horn of oil in his father Jesse’s house (I Sam 16:13).

I see this horn of oil as a type and foreshadowing of the anointing of the Spirit which fell on the early believers in the Upper Room. The horn contained a destiny of kingship. It was a prophetic anointing that promised dominion authority. The oil in the horn, once poured out upon David, God’s chosen vessel, set in motion a chain of supernatural events. This would culminate in two further anointings, by both the tribe of Judah and then finally the entire nation at David’s coronation as king of Israel.

Jesus shed His blood and died to release that anointing upon mankind and start a chain reaction of supernatural events that leads to the obtaining of our full inheritance. The horn of Samuel foreshadowed a greater day. It pointed forward to Pentecost where God promised to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.

What happened to David in Jesse's house happened to the Church of the Book of Acts. David's experience was a foreshadowing of the Upper Room experience. Just as David looked forward and moved on to progressive anointings, the end-time Church is looking forward to greater realms of the anointing. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a baptism of destiny, and not of fulfillment.

This is why Paul bowed his knees and prayed in Ephesians that, “…we might be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:19) Paul wouldn’t have prayed this if the baptism of the Holy Ghost was the full measure of the anointing promised to the Church. The Church in his day had already received the baptism long before Paul recorded this prayer. Furthermore, if we can’t receive fullness in this present dispensation, why did the apostle pray for it? We can conclude that “all the fullness of God” is for the hungry in heart that will press for it at any cost.

There are multitudes in the Earth today dripping with the Pentecostal oil of destiny. Jesus, as the heavenly Samuel, carried the horn of fresh oil from the throne and poured it out “upon all flesh” chosen from among the nations. The problem is, we have been under the misconception that once we have received the baptism of Pentecost, there is nothing more. This we have arrived mentality has obscured the true purpose of what occurred thousands of years ago in the foundation of the Church. With fervor we think, “We've got it all now.” No, the Pentecostal outpouring is only the starting point on our journey toward the Christ anointing of greater works. The baptism of the Holy Ghost contains a promise yet to be fulfilled, and acknowledged by few: As Paul admonished us in Hebrews, “Let us go on.” (Heb 6:1)

In the book of Ephesians, the Church was informed that God had sealed them with the Holy Spirit of promise, being the earnest of their inheritance. (Eph 1:13–14). Here Paul establishes that the baptism was only the first fruit or first installment. Implicit in his statement is the idea that the baptism is only a first step, and not an end in and of itself.

Jesus was not yet manifested to Israel in signs, wonders and miracles until after He emerged out of the Jordan dripping with more than Jordan's water. He stepped out of the muddy waters of Jordan empowered and overflowing with the fullness of the anointing of God. John reveals this measure of the anointing Jesus received: "For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him." (John 3:34)

Jesus received the Spirit without measure and ministered for three and a half years from Jordan to the cross out of that fullness of anointing. The double portion anointing that Elisha and David foreshadowed was now operating in and through Messiah. This was not the shadow of things to come. This was the substance of the promise and it destroyed the works of the devil on every side and in every situation.

Out of the Lord’s own mouth He promised His body would do the works that He did, and greater works than these (John 14:12). We can only expect to fulfill this verse as we receive the same level of anointing that Jesus operated in during His Earth walk. The Greater Works Ministry that is now on the horizon for the body of Christ requires “the Spirit without measure.” Praise the Lord! This is precisely the anointing God is about to pour out on the Body of Christ. Are you ready for it?

Now we were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26). And I ask, what does it mean or imply to be called a Christian? If I were called a baker, you would rightly assume I baked cakes. If I bore the title of an architect, you would be correct to assume I drew up blueprints. If I were an artist, you would think I painted portraits. If I were called a musician, you would expect me to have composed music.

Then if I am called a Christian, you would expect to see the works of Christ from me. We are called to manifest His nature and authority in the Earth. If we label ourselves Christian, the secular world has every right to demand, “show me the works of Jesus Christ, the anointed One.” They want more than an eloquent dissertation of our faith. They want to see a demonstration - and the emerging church will not disappoint them!

I recently heard a Republican say during an interview, “The Party of Lincoln no longer wears the mantle of Lincoln. We must take up the mantle and put it on again.” It is also true that the Body of Christ no longer wears the Mantle of Christ. We, too, must take up His mantle and put it on again. But to take it up demands a process and a journey into the double portion. The invitation has been extended by God to this present day generation to embark on a journey to the restored mantle of Christ. In order to do that, we must redefine our passions, our purposes, and our pursuits. Now, like never before, our purpose is His Glory, our passion is His Presence and our pursuit is His Mantle.

(From "The Double Portion Anointing")

Searching for a Successor

Reference: I Kings 19:1-21

This is a well known passage of Scripture to many of us who are familiar with and are students of the Word of God. It records the transfer of the mantle from Elijah to Elisha. At this moment in Biblical history, the ministry of Elijah was coming to a close. The aged prophet would be taken off the scene by ascension. He would be supernaturally transported by a fiery chariot into heaven yet, clearly, his work was not nearly at an end.

In obedience to the command of Jehovah, Elijah was looking for a successor who would inherit a double portion of his anointing where the actual ascension took place. Hiding in the shadows was the one who God had chosen, a man by the name of Elisha. The knowledge of his master's coming ascension was not kept secret from him. He would be chosen and fitted to carry on his master’s ministry. He would pick up Elijah’s mantle where it was laid down.

It was while meditating on this passage that the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to me and said, “the man was to be taken, but his mantle was to remain.” Though it was time for Elijah to be taken off the scene, his mantle and anointing would remain for the new generation to take up. Elisha was to receive the double portion mantle of the Spirit, but only in the wake and aftermath of Elijah’s ascension to heaven. I understand clearly: men come and go, but their mantles remain in the Earth. Why? They are reserved for a seeking generation to pick up and wear as a garment of favor and authority.

This transaction between Elijah and his servant Elisha has great relevance for the believer today. When I consider the transfer of Elijah’s tangible anointing, I see it as a spiritual type and shadow of Jesus Christ passing on His anointing, power, and enablement to an end time generation of prophetic warriors called the Church. Just as Elijah was searching out a successor for his anointing, a heavenly Elijah is with us today looking for successors of His ministry and anointing. He is looking for a people that will follow Him over the Jordan of death and possess their double portion anointing.

There is the same Kingdom principle working in Christ that worked in the life of Elijah: The God Man was to be taken, but His mantle was to remain. As Jesus ascended into the Heavens and took His place at the right hand side of God, His double portion mantle descended upon a corporate people who would carry it to the nations and wreak havoc upon their enemies, bringing great victory to the Kingdom of God! To this end time remnant He said, “As the Father hath sent Me so I send you.”

As I’ve studied the Bible, I’ve come to realize by revelation that ascension almost always marks and signals a great transfer of anointing. The bodily rising of a chosen man of God into heaven often ushers in a new season of heightened supernatural activity in the earth. It is a Kingdom principle, and it will continue to operate until Christ returns to planet Earth.

Let me explain further: There were three ascension men in the Bible. All three were taken up into heaven while alive and in physical form. The first ascension man was Enoch, who walked with God and was not (Heb 11:5). The second ascension man was Elijah, who had a mantle to impart (2 Kings 12:13 – 15). The third ascension man was Jesus, the anointed One, who also had an anointing to impart. In the case of the latter two, there was a transference of ministry and Spirit: the man was removed, but the mantle remained.

In light of this truth, it is important that we know where we are positioned in time. Just as Elisha lived in wake of the ascension of Elijah, the Church lives in the wake of the ascension of the resurrected High Priest of a new creation, Jesus Christ. It is staggering! We live in the wake of the greatest ascension event in human history! This unique positioning is our empowering. We who are living in the aftermath of Christ’s ascension are the recipients and benefactors of Christ’s double portion anointing.

Elijah’s desire to transfer his mantle of anointing to a successor cannot be compared with Christ’s overwhelming passion to impart his mantle to the Church of the new millennium⎯the rightful heirs and successors of His anointing. We don’t have to wrestle for Christ’s double portion anointing. There is no reluctance or hesitation in Him to impart it. He wants to encompass your heart with the full force of His Holy Anointing. He is so willing to make the transfer to us right now. He wants us to Step out of mediocrity, press into the Fire of His Presence and take in and absorb as much as we’re hungry for!

Jesus operated for three and one half years in an anointing that knew no bounds and had no limitations. This Yoke Destroying, Burden Removing, Debt Canceling Anointing rested upon Jesus to destroy the works of the devil. The entire nation witnessed the power of His anointing effect in miracles, healings, and deliverances as His fame spread throughout the land.

Our spiritual shoulders, too, will be mantled with this promised anointing as were Jesus’ shoulders and those of the apostolic era of the Church. It will look upon us as it did upon Jesus and His band of intimates. The Gospel of Mathew sums up the works of the Anointed One;

• Mat 4:23 = And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

• Mat 4:24 = And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

We are waiting for a move of God, but in fact God is waiting for a move of the Church. The double portion is for those that DARE TO BELIEVE THE TIME IS NOW. The Christ anointing of greater works is our birthright. We that realize we live in the days of the finished work of Calvary reach for what is ours now. Now is the accepted time. We won’t put it off any further. Our faith isn't futuristic. We refuse to settle for anything less then what we know is ours and His best.

We are the people that live in the final hour of Christ’s ascension, right before His return to planet Earth. Until then, His emphatic declaration is still in effect. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go (in ascension glory) unto my Father.” (John 14:12) It is time for us to run and grab the mantle.

(From "The Double Portion Anointing")

First Letter From the Bishop

Dear Visitor,

I want to take this time to welcome you to my blog, "The Bishop's Desk." Here you will find excerpts straight from my messages, personal notes, thoughts, quotes, etc. You will be able to view my blog at anytime on our church website, and even subscribe with your email address and newly posted material will be emailed to you automatically.

Over the next couple of months, each month will include a theme from one of my books that I am presently working on. The first will be the Double Portion Anointing. These moments will be from my heart as if you were sitting in front of me and we had time to share face to face. I am taking this time to invite you to commune with me; let us celebrate Jesus and adore Him together!

These clips will offer a brief glimpse of revelation that will whet your appetite to further pursue all that God has for you. There will be several pages of practical application of the principles of God's Word for everyday life. In addition, we will soon be offering the online purchase and download of those segments of my books that this blog will feature. Please look for our advertisements as they become available.

We are excited about these new features being added to our website. I hope they are a continuous blessing to your lives. And during this holiday season, from all of us here at Upper Room Christian World Center, we pray that God would bless you and your family, and keep you safe and surrounded in His love.

Sincerely,
Bishop Anthony D'Onofrio