Anointed Objects
Can the power of the Holy Spirit flow through non-human objects? The answer is yes, and there is ample biblical precedent. How does this happen, and what causes it to happen?
First, an example of such a miracle from the New Testament:
Acts 19:11-12 (NIV) “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.”
Important to note here is that the Bible specifies that God is doing the miracles, not Paul. In this case, Paul is not even the direct agent of the miracle - the handkerchiefs and aprons are. We tend to associate the miracles in this story with Paul himself, but there is a spiritual principal at work here if we dive deeper. Although we don’t have all the details of what exactly was happening when these miracles were taking place, we can “fill in the blanks” from related episodes in the Bible.
Jacob from the Old Testament sets the precedent for “gates” to heaven. Jacob, after stealing his brother Esau’s blessing from Isaac, flees home. During his journey away from home, he has a profound encounter with heaven.
Genesis 28:10-12, 16-18 (NIV) “Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it…When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’ Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.”
In this story, Jacob has an encounter with God that ignites his faith. This faith caused him to anoint an object with oil and consecrate the place where he was, naming it “God’s house.” In this place of faith, Jacob had experienced heaven opening and angels ascending and descending.
Angels “ascend and descend” in accordance with our faith. The power of heaven moves through our belief. Faith is the extent to which we have realized a personal living relationship with God. It is persuasion and trust in Jesus that grows through experiential relationship. When we, with childlike faith and wonder, trust and expect God to move through people and objects, we will see His power made manifest. It is our expectation and faith that allows God’s power to move through inanimate objects. If we have faith that God can work through a mere object, we will see it made manifest. This principal is revealed beautifully through some of the miracles of Jesus:
Matthew 9:20-22 (NIV) “Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’ Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.”
Luke 8:43-44 (NIV) “And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.”
Luke 6:17-19 (NIV) “He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.”
It is clear that Jesus acted as an open heaven in these instances, but it is the faith of the people that allowed God’s power to flow through His clothes in order to heal them. They had faith and expectation. This same faith and expectation is what prompted the following miracles:
Acts 5:12-16 (NASB) “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number, to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. All the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick and afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.”
To summarize, it is ultimately our faith in God’s ability to work through an object that enables His power to flow through that object. Our faith and expectation creates an “open heaven” of sorts, through which angels are able to ascend and descend, facilitating the flow of God’s power. The power never originates in us, but in the throne room of God. The more faith and expectation we afford an object, the more we we will see God’s power made manifest through that object. As our faith and expectation grows, we will continue to see His power made manifest in unusual and extraordinary ways.
