“The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.” (Job 17:9)
It is an irrefutable fact, known by Job and every righteous man or woman who ever lived, that we become bolder and stronger, and more anointed with the power and wisdom of God, as we walk in obedience to Him. Stephen “used the office of a deacon well” and purchased for himself a “good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 3:13). He was “full of faith and power” and “did great wonders and miracles among the people” (Acts 6:8). In the same hour he was brought before the council, it was not him who spoke, but the Holy Spirit who gave him a mouth and wisdom they could not gainsay or resist.
There is no school of man that can impart such an anointing to a man, independent of that man’s own obedience to God. Jesus is the ultimate model of how to receive the promotion of God: “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Heb. 1:9).
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil for forty days. Was it not enough for God that He had been faithful for thirty years? Great anointing requires great testing. When the devil realized he was getting nowhere, he gave up and left Jesus alone. But then angels came and ministered to Him; but more importantly, the power of God was unleashed in Him in a way greater than He had ever experienced before. “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all” (Luke 4:14,15).
David knew the conditions for the blessings of God’s presence upon one’s life: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” (Psalm 24:3-5)
The New Covenant, that gives us access by faith into a favor won for us by the obedience of the perfect Son of God, does not nullify the truth that we can grow in grace, and increase in strength, by our own obedience. Through the Son, walk in the obedience of the Son, and discover the anointing that was upon the Son.