Understanding the AnointingEZEKIEL 40:1,2
1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning
of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year
after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day THE HAND
OF THE LORD was upon me, and brought me thither.
2 In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel....
Ezekiel sounds a lot like me, doesn't he, giving all those
dates and times (or I sound a lot like him). People ask me how I
remember all the dates and times I refer to in my preaching and
teaching.
I'll tell you exactly how it happens. When I mention
something that happened in the past, the date or time rises up out
of my spirit—out of the inside of me—to my mind, and I know
immediately. I'm just following Ezekiel the prophet in giving
dates and times! That ability goes along with the prophet's
ministry.
In the 33rd chapter of Ezekiel we find something else very
interesting:
EZEKIEL 33:22
22 Now THE HAND OF THE LORD was upon me in the
evening, afore [before] he that was escaped came: and had opened
my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth
was opened, and I was no more dumb.
That means that the hand of the Lord wasn't upon the
prophet in the morning or at midday. The hand of the Lord was
upon him the evening before someone escaped and came to see
him. The prophet went around all night with his mouth open,
never saying a word. He was mute (speechless) until that fellow
came. Only then could he speak.
Signs and Wonders
Sister Maria Woodworth-Etter was an early-day Pentecostal
preacher whose books I have read. I have some of her earlier
ones. (Only Signs and Wonders is now in print.)
Years ago, Sister Etter was preaching in a tent meeting in St.
Louis, Missouri, and the hand of the Lord came upon her. She