FACEDOWN 40 Day 5

Stigma of the Anointing

Written by Mike Bickle
Sunday, 05 March 2006

Meditation:

Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's children; because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach. I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate speak against me… (Ps. 69:7-12)

Reflection:

This 40-day fast carries with it a very real sort of reproach. Those participating wholeheartedly will undoubtedly encounter resistance at some level. Other believers who do not feel compelled to join in may look at it with disdain, calling it too radical or out of the norm for their tastes. Likewise, in our culture of relativism and tolerance, taking a stand against the spread of Islam carries with it a very different sort of reproach. To not expect to feel that reproach is to go into battle unprepared.

For years I have referred to the “stigma of the anointing” – the resistance that one encounters when they are on the cutting edge of something that is God-ordained. Spiritual violence is not something that comes without paying a price.

Let me encourage you - do not wait until it becomes popular to seek God with spiritual violence. It will never be popular. It’s better and ultimately easier to learn to be among the first to take a stand for righteousness. Likewise, don’t expect it to suddenly get easier when a breakthrough comes. Those are the times that the enemy turns up the heat and we often face more scorn than we did before.

We must take a stand and bear the reproach before and after the breakthrough of God. Know that you are not standing alone.

Prayer:

Jesus, it is the longing of my heart to bear the reproach of Christ and to not only share Your joys but also Your sufferings in this life. To embrace Your sufferings I ask that You strengthen my heart with grace in my inner man, for You alone within me can enable me to live Your life.