"If my life is fruitless, it doesn't matter who praises me, and if my life is fruitful, it doesn't matter who criticizes me."
~John Bunyan
The enemy is not after your anointing. He wants your anointing completely in tact. What he wants is your character and your reputation. He is on a mission to spoil your fruit.
So many Christians have become satisfied with having "The Anointing" fall or come upon them at specific times. And because the results they produce in those moments can be so moving and quite frankly amazing, often complacency sets in and somewhere along the way, they lose the desire to go any higher, further, or deeper in God. They may preach a word, or write an article (or Facebook status), or minister a song or dance and the power of God moves so mightily through them at that time, and they get great results in that moment. But after the moment has passed, they go home and curse and lie or fornicate (or whatever their thing is) and live in disobedience...and yes, God used them, but people are still watching to see if their character lines up with the anointing that is obviously on their life.
Remember this simple truth:
People are moved and pleased with your anointing; God is pleased with your fruit!
We must bring to God the offering that He wants, not what impresses other people. And He is glorified in the fruit that we bear. The Anointing is God's own power at work in us through the spiritual gifts that He's given us. So naturally, He is unimpressed with His own power. But how He longs for intimate relationship with each of us! This relationship is the means by which we become like Him, manifesting His nature or the fruit of His Spirit.
The Word of God says that your gift will make room for you. It will bring you before great men. The question we must ask ourselves is this:
When I get to the room that my gift has made for me, will I move forward in that place, growing and thriving, or will I get kicked out because of my character?
They go hand in hand: Anointing and Character, The Anointing from God and the Spirit (nature, character, heart) of God.
The Anointing comes when you offer the spiritual gifts that He's given you back to Him for His use. It is external, something that is received, put or placed on from the outside. The fruit of His Spirit is evidence of an intimate relationship with God, working from the inside out. The Anointing gets results at a specific time, for a specific purpose. Your character is with you always; it is the manifestation of what you have invited inside of you. For the most effective and abundant life, these two must work together.
The Anointing is proof that you're wiling to be used, so the enemy wants to keep that in perfect working order. He just wants to use you for his glory instead of God's glory. So he goes after your reputation to kill the effectiveness of your witness. He distracts you from having intimate relationship with God so that you won't bear His fruit. That way, you keep the influence that comes with the anointing, but outside of that anointing, you're more often behaving in your sinful nature, thereby being misleading to those who may be looking up to you. And we all have a sphere of influence...
John 15:8 (KJV)
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Galatians 5:19-23
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
