This week I attended the NEC Elevate Leadership Summit expecting inspiration. I left with examination. Somewhere between the sessions and the quiet car ride home, something shifted inside me. I realized I had been praying, “Lord, elevate me,” but what my heart truly needed was something deeper. Because elevation is visible, but anointing is foundational.
As I listened, one truth kept rising in my spirit: we cannot use old methodologies to do God’s work today. The world has shifted. The needs are different. The pace is different. The distractions are louder. And frankly, sometimes I have tried to approach new assignments with yesterday’s patterns.
But God is not static. He is dynamic. The same Spirit that moved in Acts is still moving now. The same Holy Spirit that fell at Pentecost is still being poured out now. I sensed clearly: if we are going to serve God with excellence in this season, we cannot rely on habit alone. We must rely on relationship. That realization humbled me. I found myself praying differently: “Lord, anoint me. Lord, give me a plan of excellence. Lord, order my steps.”
In 1 Samuel 16:13, David was anointed by Samuel, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Yet he did not walk straight into a throne. He went back to the field. Back to sheep. Back to obscurity.
The oil came before the platform. That speaks to me deeply. Because sometimes I want the throne moments, the visible impact, the expanded reach but God is asking me to value the oil first. Anointing is not hype. It is not talent. It is not personality. It is the Holy Spirit being poured upon surrendered flesh. It is intimacy with God that produces capacity for assignment.
Jesus Himself declared in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me…” If the Son of God operated through the anointing of the Spirit, how dare I think strategy alone is enough?
This summit exposed something else in me: excellence without the Spirit becomes performance. Tradition without the Spirit becomes routine. Method without relationship becomes mechanical. And I do not want to be mechanical in ministry. We cannot do today’s Kingdom work with yesterday’s oil. We cannot remain static and expect dynamic results. God is pouring fresh oil, but fresh oil requires open vessels.
So my prayer matured: Lord, don’t just elevate me, saturate me. Don’t just expand my platform, deepen my relationship. Don’t just give me assignments, give me Your presence. Excellence, I am learning, is not about striving harder. It is about aligning closer. It is about stewardship that flows from intimacy. It is about listening before moving. It is about being so rooted in God that innovation flows from communion, not comparison.
Proverbs 3:5–6 reminds me to, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” That word direct feels dynamic. It implies movement. Guidance. Ongoing relationship. And that is what I want, not a static faith, but a living one. Not recycled passion, but renewed fire. Not borrowed strategies, but Spirit-led direction.
This week I sensed the Lord whisper gently: If you want Me to elevate you, stay connected to Me. Because elevation without relationship is dangerous. Influence without intimacy is unstable. Expansion without oil is exhausting.
So now my prayer is layered and intentional: Lord, anoint me with fresh oil. Pour Your Holy Spirit upon my life. Make me dynamic, not stagnant. Give me new language for new seasons. Give me excellence that flows from worship. Order my steps so I move when You move. And if You lift me, let it be because I first knelt. If You expand me, let it be because I stayed connected. If You use me, let it be because Your Spirit rests on me. Because more than elevation, I desire relationship. More than strategy, I desire surrender. More than growth, I desire fresh oil. And if oil must come before the throne, then Lord .... pour.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
