Throughout my early years in the Church, the only thing I had seen, in regard to Anointing Oil, was how a Church leader would put a drop of oil on his finger and then applied it on someone’s forehead, in the form of a cross. That happened only when people were sick. The times that I visited other Churches, it wasn’t any different. Actually, in these days I still don’t see much different than that, although the awareness of the Anointing Oil is growing in the Churches. As we’ve seen in the previous chapter, everyone is allowed to use Anointing Oil for personal use. But how do we use it? One thing is for sure. Applying a drop of oil on your finger and anointing the forehead, in the sign of a cross, is not something I was able to find backing for or confirm from the Word of God. The following descriptions are telling you about the different ways of Anointing and the prophetic meaning. We know that the Anointing itself is an image of the empowerment by the Holy Spirit, but this is speaking about the ways on Anointing, the prophetic meanings of the application of the oil. 

Anointing by Mashah

This way of Anointing is to pour a little bit Anointing Oil on your hand and then to gently apply it to the whole face, in the same way that you wash your face. This first way of Anointing was the most common used and the way people used for personal Anointing and for the Anointing of the sick. Let us take a look at a few Bible verses again. 

And wine that makes glad the heart of man, Oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengthens man’s heart.
Psalm 104:15

Let your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil.
Ecclesiastes 9:8

But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face
Matthew 6:17

As you read the first chapters of this book, you can see that one of the meanings of the use of Anointing Oil, was to make the face shine. The prophetic meaning of this was and is the shining Light of God, Who has filled us with His oil (Holy Spirit) and Who has set us ablaze. It is an image of the glory of God in and on us. Examples of what happens when the glory of God is near, can be seen in Exodus 24:17, Exodus 34:29-30 and Matthew 17:2.

The meaning of the word ‘Mashah’ is ‘to daub’ or ‘to smear’, but also ‘to stroke’, ‘to draw the hand over’, ‘drawn out’ and ‘chosen’. All together, these meanings show the total picture of Anointing. While reading this, the Holy Spirit brought something back in my memory, being the part in the Bible where God covered Moses with His hand.

And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
Exodus 33:21-23

Why didn’t God show His face? Because the glory would be too great to handle for Moses. But even looking at His back, Moses returned from the mount, with his face shining so bright, that the people who saw it became afraid. Why did that happen? When the glory of God comes near, it immediately emphasizes our carnal human condition. Every part of us that is still in darkness, whether it is knowingly or unknowingly, is exposed by the bright Light of God. We know that God doesn’t want to condemn us, but the realization of our own shortcomings, failures and sins can be pretty devastating when we become fully aware of it. Examples of this can be seen at the places where real revivals broke out. The first visible sign always was that people became aware of their carnal condition and started to cry out and shout out to God for forgiveness. This is what happened in The Netherlands as well, 250 years ago. And it will happen again.

In the old times, people always Anointed their whole face. They Anointed every part of skin that was exposed to the light, just like God covered every part of Moses, that was exposed to His glory. When the hand of God, that is covering His glory, is lifted, or partially lifted, it has an immediate effect and causes His glory to be released. The image of ‘to draw the hand over’, while anointing, represents the hand of God. After the face is Anointed, the hand is removed from the face and the face becomes exposed to the light again. The prophetic image of this is the hand of God being lifted, exposing us to His glory and light.

The other ways of Anointing

The other types of Anointing are:

- Anointing by sprinkling
- Anointing by pouring

Read more about it in the book "The Anointed Bride".