THE ANOINTING

TO WW

Biblical Reference

"One day Elisha went to Shunem,

And a well-to-do woman was there,

who urged him to stay for a meal, So

whenever he came by, he stopped

there to eat"(2 Kings 4 : 😎,

LESS

Objectives

1. To fully understand the challenge involved in winning a souI.

2. To understand that compassion is one of the driving forcesbehind a soul winner.

3. To recognize the need for and the power of prayer inevangelism,

4. To recognize the fundamental principles of a soul winnen.

INTRODUCTION

Elisha received a double portion of Elijah's anointing ; whenhe spoke, his words carried power and
authority. Althoughthe Shunammite woman was a very important person, sherecognized the anointing
on the prophet and opened her hometo him by preparing a room for him to rest. While she
expectednothing in return, the prophet wanted to repay her kindness,He knew that she did not have
children, so he gave her God's

within one year. That

age of twelve, the boy

promise that she would have a child

is exactly what happened but, at the

became ill and died.

1. SOUL WWNERS MUST KNOW WHAT THEY ARE FACING I

This woman was distraught at the death of her son, but shedetermined to seek the prophet's help so
that her situation couldchange. She was able to discern that Elisha's servant did not havethe same
measure of faith as the prophet himself. Although Gehazidid what Elisha had commanded him, the boy
did not awaken. Thisis why the woman addressed the servant of God directly and clungto him until he
agreed to go with her.

"When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on

his couch"(2 Kings 4 : 32). Elisha realized the severity of the situation

-the boy was not sleeping, he was in fact dead. Consequently, his

way of praying required decisive faith.

I believe that all soul winners must be confronted with the truth that

people are not sleeping, they are dead in their trespasses and sins.

The only power that can raise them from the dead is the resurrecting

power of God. This divine power can only be activated by decisivefaith,

I was shot five times during the assassination attempt on my family.

Although that was enough to kill me, my wife faith was decisive inme coming back to life. Claudia took
me in her arms and said withauthority,'Gesac don't dre!"I could hear her voice in the distanceand then I
heard another voice asking me,"Do you think you are

goirJg to /fve or dre?"Everything depended on my answer. Thank

God I chose to live and God extended His mercy, granting me life.

I have no doubt that if my wife had not stood in the gap and won the

battle for my life, I would have died.

similarly, we must not lose heart when we see the situation of those

who have chosen to live far from God, nor complain when we see

how sinners increase and hold on to their hardness of heart. We

should instead strive to diligently take the news of salvation to all

those that God places in our path. GOd will use the words wepreach to penetrate and leave a footprint
in their hearts.

God does not want us to go out to save people with the same

lack of faith as Gehazi who allowed the coldness of the corpse toconfuse him so that he no longer knew
what to do with the staff

We should not allow the size of people's sin to scare us or leave us

perplexed about how to use our staff of authority. Let us march on,

as good soldiers of Christ, with the same faith as Elisha, who knew

exactly what he had to do because he was able to hear God's voice,

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] 2. THE POWER OF COMPASSION I § · q m

Elisha was discipled by Elijah who told him how he had brought a

widow's son back to life. He had carried him to his room, taken

him in his arms and prayed to God for a miracle. In the case cfthe Shunammite woman, her son already
lay dead in his room, but

Elisha was able to understand that God acts in a different way in

each situation. What had worked for Elijah may not necessarily

work for him. Elisha knew, however, that the principle was the same

and that if Elijah had been able to resurrect the widow's son, theri

he too could bring the Shunammite's son back to life, although he

decided to develop his own method.

He sent Gehazi to place his staff over the boyb face. This staffrepresents the teaching a pastor
sometimes gives to his disciple,

void of anointing. He later sends this disciple to share the messagebut nothing happens. The staff can
become something impersonaland external, causing it to lack powen In the same way, words thatsimply
reach our minds without touching our hearts will lack poweras well ; they will be like a staff on a
person's face. When a messagereaches our heart and becomes part of who we are, we receive

great compassion to save the lost and dedicate ourselves to cryingout with all that we are for their
redemption. This is why people whohave heard wonderful sermons in beautiful buildings are not always

motivated to come back the following weeks. The message is like a

staff placed on their faces, lacking the power to give them life.

God longs for deep compassion for the lost

to overflow from our hearfs. This allows the

Holy Spirit to breathe His Word of life into us so

that when we proclaim it, people will hear the

voice of the Lord saying to them,"Wake up, O

sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine

on you"(Ephesians 5 : 14b).

3. WE SHOULD USE COMMON SENSE I

Elisha was not frustrated when his first method did not work, he

simply tried something else. In general, human beings conform tohabits and find it hard to risk any kind
of change. Years ago, weiltvited a couple to lead a miracle service in Bogota, They trained

a group of pastors, laid hands on them and told them that on theday of the miracle service, God would
use them because they

now had the anointing. It was as if Gehazi was placing staffs on

people's faces in that meeting ; I saw the defeat and hopelessness

on people's faces as they left. Before the next service, I had to

speak with the couple that had been invited to minister. I told

them,"It is not necessary for the team you trained to pray for

people. The faith people need can only be activated by your faith

because the expectation of this meeting is based on how God

wants to use you. We need you, as a couple, to start the meeting

by praying for the sick. We have already prepared the atmosphere

for a whole year with prayer and fasting and we know God will

move lhfough your / fves. " Even though it was difficult for them to

have to change their method of ministering, they accepted and the

next service reached another level. When they began praying for

people, they were able to release their faith and miracles began tohappen in extraordinary ways.

14. WE SHOULD CONQUER EVERYTHING IN THE SECRET PLACE

"He went in, shut the door on the two of them and

prayed to the Lord"(2 Kings 4 : 33).

The prophet personally took up the affliction of this family and madeit his responsibility to pray,

Elisha was determined that God would show him the most effectiveway to intercede for the situation.
He was willing to do whatever ittook, confident that the child would come back to life. The kindness

the woman had shown him in the past was a powerful argument in

hef favor in the spiritual realm. It was so great that the prophet had

offered to ntercede before the king on her behalf and help her. On

this occasion, Elisha knew what the woman needed. she asked him

to intercede, not before the king, but before God Himself, so that He
would extend His mercy and bring her son back to life, The prophet

knew that when we pray in our secret place, we will be rewarded inpublic (Matthew 6 : 6). He was
determined to believe that God would

answer quickly the corpse was right in front of him on his bed andhe knew that indifference in this
situation was not an option. Theprophet could not have lay down to sleep knowing there was a dead

body next to him ; he knew he needed to persevere in prayer untilthe miracle happened.

5. WE SHOULD TRANSMIT LIFE THROUGH PRAYER

"Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy"(v. 34a).

Elisha put all his faith into action and decided to cover the boybcorpse with his body. He placed his eyes,
his mouth, and his handson the boys so that the body would be warmed and brought backto life. years
later in a vision, the lord brought the prophet ezekielto a valley of dry bones and asked him,".. Son of
Man, can thesebones lfve?"I said, "Sovereign Lord, you a/one know."Then he said【o me,"Prophesy to
these bones and say to them,'Dry bones, hearthe wor j of the hold"(Ezekiel 37 : 3b-4).

Ezekiel had to create a prophetic atmosphere for the dry bones,

r e Presenting the house of Israel, to live. Similarly, we find ourselves

faced with the spiritual death of people in our city and nation, without

knowing how to transmit life to them.

God wants us to take responsibility for the spiritual need of our city

and raise an atmosphere of prayer on its behalf. We must extend

ourselves over its inhabitants and unite our vision to theirs, our

mouths to theirs, and our hands to theirs, trusting that God will use

our measure of faith to give them life. Elisha was determined in

his spirit that the dead boy would cease to be a corpse and would

come back to life. We must do what the prophet did to bring life to

those who are far from God.

6. BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR A SOUL WINER

personal Contact : This may begin with the first visit. This visit

gives us the opportunity to break down arguments people may

have. As a result, they become comfortable around us andbegin to feel the presence of God working in
their lives.

Elisha decided to come into contact with the boy's lifeless body,.

pau \ said,"But he who unites himself with the Lord is one

with him lr? spint"(1 Corinthians 6 : 17). The prophet's contact

with the boy's body allowed the spirit of life in Elisha to be theinstrument God used to resurrect the
child.

Visualization : People who do not know God generally have

no vision-1 am referring to spiritual vision. They may have

prospects to make money or expand their businesses, but they

are dead spiritually and know nothing about spiritual vision. We

will be able to help them feel that our Vision also belongs to

them, that it is simple and that it is the tool God is giving us tofulfill His great commission :"Therefore go
and make discjolesof all nations"(Matthew 28 : 19a).

pure Lips Elisha lips were sanctified by the presence of God.When his lips touched the boy's, he was not
only cancelling allincorrect words that the boy had spoken, he was placing a newlanguage in the mouth
of the Shunammite's son. When we arein contact with those to whom we desire to bring life, we
mustteach them to speak the language of faith.

Anointing : The anointing we received through the laying onof hands is like a small flame that we must
never allow to goout. It is incredibly important to feed it daily so that it will growmuch stronger. Joshua,
Moses'successor, was full of the

spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him

(Deuteronomy 34 : 9).

Persevering \n Prayer "Elisha turned away and walked back

and forth in the rDom..."(v. 35a). Even though the boy's body

was warm, there were no signs of life.

Times like these are when the battle in the spiritual realm
becomes more intense because the enemy attempts to sow the

seed of doubt. After Jesus cursed the fig tree and it withered,

He told His disciples, "Have laith in God... / telf you the tmth, ifanyone says to this mountain,'Go, throw
yourself into the sea,'and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says

will happen, it will be done for him"(Mark 1122-231. The Lord

used what had happened to the fig tree to teach His disciplesthat faith can fulfill its purpose if we
manage to persevere inPrayer without allowing doubt in our hearts. Let us not be likePeter, who for a
moment felt as if he had all the faith in the worldto walk on water but whose faith, when he looked at
the waves

and the strong winds, became blurry. He began to sink 8o

quickly that he had to cry out for mercy, and the Lord rebukedhim for his lack of faith (Matthew 1 4 : 28-
31).

7. A NEW APPROACH, A SECOND VISIT

"And then got on the bed and stretched out

upon him once more"(v. 35

We often do not achieve everything during the first visit in the livesof those we want to win, although
the meeting goes well and those

present are very open. The first visit may simply help them feel athome with you, and ignite their
interest in knowing God's blessingspersonally in their lives. During the days that follow, we should
keeppraying for them and prepare ourselves for a second visit where wewill repeat the process :
Personal contact, visualization, purity of lipsand anointing,

WITN ESS A MIRACLE :"The boy sneezed seven times andopened his eyes"(v. 35c).

The first sign of life in the boy was sneezing-seven times. We

Ve n times was Gods sign that the spirit of death had left

the boy completely., He then opened his eyes and was able

to see. God restored his life and his vision. God's work is
always perfect, and if He gives back life, He also restores vision

because without vision the people perish.

God is not only interested in people's salvation ; He also wants

them to have vision. This is what will keep them active and

fighting to expand the Kingdom of God.

CONCLUSION

Each of us must decide whether we will carry

the message with the authority and anointing of

Elisha or with the cold indifference of Gehazi. We

must also purpose in our hearts to reproduce life

and intercede for those who do not know the

truth, believing that our intercession will extend

God's mercy,

OUESTIONS5

; + A THE ANOINTING TO WW J

-1. Apply the u e Ii n e s presented in this lesson and then write dowand share your testimony with your
pastor and co-servants.

2. Fill in the gaps

The ryophet that when we prajt in our

place, we will be rewarded in public(Matthew 6 : 6).

God wants us to

of the spiritual need

of our city and to raise a over our city. Hewants us to

this cloud over the inhabitantsand link our

to theirs.

3, Why is it important to have pure lips for winning many souls?

4, What brings about fear? When might we allow it on a ministerial

level?

5. To what can we compare the anointing given through the layingon of hands? What must we do with
it?