Four workshops had been arranged on 23 March 2019 at the Women Prayer Convention on different anointing. Esther and Lydia were bestowed with the anointing of influence, Anna with the anointing of perseverance, and Ruth the anointing of obedience. Participants could choose any two.
Rev Ho Ming Ya cited her message from Luke 2:36-38 about the aged prophetess Anna, who had the quality of perseverance. Although widowed, she embarked on a new journey which served to encourage women of this age to respond to the calling from God.
Luke mentioned that Anna came from the tribe of Asher. she was of a great age, and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage. And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, who departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day.
What can we learn from her? Her name, Anna, originally means “grace” and “Prayer” and she lived her name indeed!
In the Hebrew culture, the age of a virgin is fourteen years old. The Bible mentioned that she lived with her husband for seven years and was widowed. She was only twenty one then. Becoming a widow at such a young age was undoubtedly hard and tough during her time.
Rev Ho’s ex-husband died of cancer when she was twenty nine years old, leaving behind three small children. It was like a Tsunami coming her way. During that difficult time, she met God and that changed her life. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she could praise the Lord ceaselessly.
She called a pastor in Kuala Lumpur after that and the pastor led her to experience the anointing of the Holy Spirit and also gave her a new name, Anna.
The Bible continued to mention that Anna had lived as a widow for eighty four years. She was not beaten by hardship, neither doubted God nor gave up on Him. Instead, she departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day. And finally at the age of 105 (21+84 years), she witnessed the birth of the Messiah. She became the prophetess who had lived the transitional period between the Old and New Testament. She then spoke about the Child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. She was the first person to preach the gospel after the birth of the Lord.
Anna was very sure of her own identity and calling, and she lived faithfully to her call with perseverance in prayer and fasting, awaiting God’s revelation. She waited till the revelation of the Messiah came true. She held on to her calling, living a holy disciplined life with persistence.
During our hardships Anna taught us to:
1/ Regain and rebuild yourself –
Learn to precipitate yourself and see the trails you have walked and understand yourself in a new perspective.
2/ Reposition your life – from the
words in the Bible, find our precious identity and status in the Lord. We are the apples of God’s eyes (Zechariah 2: 8); We belong to God (john17: 9); We are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and so are to glorify Him with our body. (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20)
3/ Move into a new season of life –
Through perseverance in fasting and prayer, we transform our life experiences into anointing blessings, allowing ourselves to be used by God to fulfil His kingdom on earth.
4/ Believe strongly that whatever happens to us is a building block for our eternal purpose, as this life is a school for eternity. We are being trained to rule and reign with Christ.
Reported by Lee Sing
Translated by Christina