TOUCH NOT

How poetically David expressed his praise and adoration for God! In this passage, he  celebrated how God kept his covenant promises to Abraham, and mightily delivered his seed from Egyptian bondage!  Knowing perfectly well that God has no problem rebuking even kings for touching His kids, David reflected on one of God’s perfect soundbites:  “TOUCH NOT MINE ANOINTED!”

Many years ago, someone made a statement that has impacted me ever since.  “The scripture says touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm,” she said, then blew my mind with, “yet today God’s anointed is touching God’s anointed and prophets are doing prophets harm.” How sad, but how true.

Who Is God’s Anointed?

Being a five-fold minister is not the prerequisite to being anointed.  Most people assume that anointing equates to publicly displayed ministry.  However, God anoints us simply to carry out the mandate He has placed on us to exact a change in the kingdom of God.

Some of the most anointed people of God are those we rarely see or hear from.  It is often the those found cleaning the kitchens, or sitting quietly in the back pews that are making some of the greatest impacts in the spirit realm. Some of God’s anointed are hidden under the shadows of the usher uniform.  And so many others are tucked away from the local assembly altogether bombarding heaven for others while feeling displaced in the body of Christ themselves as they cry to God for a place they can call home. And these are so often the ones that we, who are appointed to lead God’s flock, are touching.  Just as King Saul kept touching David[1], we keep touching them.

When Are We Touching God’s Anointed?

As leaders, we sometimes mistakenly see those God that has entrusted into our care as “ours” and not God’s anointed.  We see them as people sent to perform our commands and forget that their lot is to perform God’s commands.

It is easy to cross that blurred line of our will vs. God’s will when we have allowed our ears to drift away from His mouth.  This often happens when we shift our focus on pursuing our dreams birthed out of God’s commands by attempting to fulfill God’s mandates on our own effort. We become so consumed with fulfilling His commands that we forget to trust Him to provide us with clarity on how to carry out His assignments. Once this happens, we find ourselves working hard toward what we THINK His commands are instead of what they really are.  We begin to call wrong right, and right wrong by doing that which is right IN OUR OWN EYES[2]. And what’s scary is that we do all this in His name!

Will vs. Will

Once we have crossed that blurred line where we can no longer clearly distinguish our will from His, we then can easily fall into the trap of trapping others in our own delusion.  Others who have seen the God in us, who have seen miracles, signs and wonders worked through us, and who have been delivered and set free through the anointing we carry, can inadvertently find themselves back in bondage. Not to sin, or past weights, but rather the weight of our will.  It is then that we begin to lord over God’s heritage[3], and it is then when we touch His anointed.

We Touch

We place undue burdens and bondages on those God has trusted us to make free.  We tie the yoke of our own will around their necks and convince them that this is the will of God. We manipulate them by perverting scripture just so that our will can be carried out. And again, we touch…

Valuing their gifts more than we value them, we often use intimidation tactics to get them to surrender to our desires, just because we want our own way. We don’t bother to even consider the cost they have to pay simply to agree.   Once again, we touch…

Scripturally, giving is a “free-will” option, yet we often cause God’s anointed to feel guilty for not giving as we deem necessary.  Some have become so carnal that they pressure people to partake in faulty business schemes to raise funds for the ministry.  With spiritually clogged ears, we’ve embraced world systems, and inadvertently wounded many of God’s children right in His own kingdom, because we’ve touched…

And when we touch, we position ourselves for our own downfall.

Over the past several years I’ve seen many thriving ministries suffer drastic decline. Could this be because God’s leaders are touching God’s anointed?  I feel God is saying, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!”

At what point did we stop thinking of people that God sends us as souls that need deliverance and development, and start thinking of them as subjects sent to fulfill our needs?  God created relationships to be reciprocal.  We have a directive to sow spiritually into their lives. They reciprocate by sowing naturally and yes, even spiritually sometimes into us.  They are not required to reciprocate at our command, but rather at their own will through the leading of the Holy Ghost.

The Great Provider

When God gives vision, He provides.  Our job is to wait for Him to provide us with witty inventions, divine direction and divine instruction for the vision He’s given to be fulfilled.  We are to trust Him for substance, not those He’s sent.  We aren’t called to bully God’s precious gifts into giving UP their substance.  In lovingkindness God draws them to willingly give OF their substance.

When I think of the testimony of how Dr. Zakia McKinney was blessed with a transitional home for women, how it took 15 years from the time God gave the vision until He provided, there was nothing she could do to bring this vision to pass.  The funds and house didn’t come from any ministerial hustle, or undue pressure placed upon ministry participants.  It came from the least expected place:  God’s will.

Don’t confuse your will for God’s.  As we draw souls to Him, He will provide us with all we need to do His good pleasure.  Please, can we stop kicking against the prick by touching His anointed?  Let us loose them and let them go.

The Prayer Of  The True Leader:

Father Forgive us for abusing Your children, God.  You never taught us how to abuse, only how to love.  Forgive us for placing undue burdens on Your precious gifts to us.  Forgive us for abusing who You’ve sent to us to be a blessing to us. Teach us how to love just as You love.  Place us back in Your will.  Teach us how to re-surrender our wills to You just as we did when You first called us into Your service.

Now Father, nevertheless, no longer our will, but Thy will be done, in Jesus’ Name.

AMEN!!!

[1] 1 Samuel 18:10, 17, 21; 19:1, 10, 11, 15, 20-22; 23:15; 26:2

[2] Deuteronomy 12:8; 13:18; Judges 17:6; 21:25

[3] 1 Peter 5:3