Psalm 23 v 5 - 6: "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."
When we commit our ways to the Saviour of our souls and submit to His Lordship over us, He stands by us and rewards us with many blessings.
Jesus goes before us to fight our battles and we become more than conquerors! Romans 8 v 35 - 39: "35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ."
This gives us great confidence to be guided by Him for to be more than a conqueror is when He fights against our enemies, defeats them and prepares a victory feast for all to see. His table is spread with every delight while the enemy goes hungry.
Following this He anoints our heads with oil. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and this anointing is very precious. It brings us into intimate unity and unique fellowship with the Holy Trinity. As Jesus prayed His last prayer before dying in John 17 v 20 - 23: " 20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
When we experience this life of being one with God everything else pales into insignificance. Everything else. Our lives come under divine guidance, divine provenance, divine wisdom, divine love. The word sublime comes to mind. When we have tasted honey we will never be satisfied with sugar.
If we understand the anointing oil and how it separates us to the will of God, as we submit to Him in all things, our lives become ordered as the plan of God unfolds in and around us. Everything falls into place and goodness and mercy follow us.
Our cup overflows with goodness every day. There will always be challenges and difficulties to negotiate but with our Advocate Jesus they are swiftly resolved in our favour. We need to learn how things work in His Kingdom as its vastly different to how the world does things.
We must renew our minds according to the Word of God. We must read and understand and realign ourselves to its wisdom. We must become a living sacrifice so that our bodies become a temple for the Holy Spirit. We don't die but we do not pander to the flesh and its carnal desires. We become like Adam and Eve before the snake spat his venom on them.
Adam and Eve had a beautiful home where every animal was tame. Lions and lambs played together. There was an abundance of food and life was excellent. Constant fellowship with Father who walked in the garden with them and spoke of many things. There was no pressure, work, sickness or death, just the pure joy of life without pollution or sin.
We need to find our way back to that pathway and have that pure fellowship with God and each other. Then there would be no divisions, doctrine battles, sects, denominations. We would all be in one Spirit beyond argument tradition or religion, washed in the Blood of the Lamb, full of faith, peace, joy and love.
Prayer: Heavenly Father it is possible to be in this world yet not of it, to be in fellowship with You and be more than a conqueror. It is possible to live a divine life without being a religious bigot as Your love cancels all negativity. Teach us to find this sinless, hidden path to follow in the footsteps of Jesus to reach the Promised Land of Heaven. In Jesus' name. Amen.
