It was a rough day. My second oldest son had been giving me a very hard time. It seemed like “No!” was the answer for almost everything. But, it was bedtime now, and I lay next to him with my hand on his back looking down at his face. His tiredness preserved the look of infant innocence, and my frustration melted away. As I reflected on the day’s events I thought to myself, “How is it possible that this sweet little boy could be so adamantly defiant?” And, somehow, by the grace of God, my mindset began to shift. Everything that had taxed my patience, now felt like a rare gift and an extraordinary strength. This defiance wasn’t a curse, it was an anointing—the “No” anointing.
I began to pray out loud over my son and bless him in the “No” anointing. I prayed that He would have a holy defiance. I prayed that he would be able to stand against the lies of the world, and that he would be able to speak out “No!” with justice and mercy. I prayed that he would be strengthened in God’s word. I prayed that he would be firm and unwavering, bold and full of Holy-Spirit confidence.
When I finished praying, the word “no” felt powerful. It wasn’t a negative word to me anymore. It was a wise word laced with justice and truth. Then the Holy Spirit showed me this call-and-response passage in Psalms 64:
“Who will rise up for Me against evildoers? Or who will stand up for Me against the workers of iniquity? Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.” (Psalms 94:16, 17 KJV)
The question in verse 16 comes from God, “Who will rise up for Me…?” And, the response in verse 17 is so poetically intertwined with the “no” anointing. The psalmist recognizes that without God’s help he would have remained silent in the face of evil. But, hold on here, because the “no” anointing loosens the jaw with a fiery passion that many waters cannot quench (Song of Solomon 8:9). “No!” to silence!
I envision myself standing up with a motherly fierceness, as I shout, “No!” to spiritual and physical kidnappers. These are the things that are sent towards me and my children in attack—to seek, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).
“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith…” (1 Peter 5:8,9a NLT)
In our homeschool lessons this past week, my oldest son and I have been studying America’s freedoms. We were learning about and discussing the freedom to worship when my son made a very important connection to something he had been learning in kid’s church. I listened as he told me (in his own words) about a king who wanted to make everyone worship an attractive statue. But, there were three men who wouldn’t do it. Sound familiar? He was referencing the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego—three men who carried the “No” anointing.
King Nebuchadnezzar had issued a decree for everyone in the kingdom to fall down and worship a golden image at the sound of instruments playing. Anyone who refused to do this would be cast into a fiery finance. But, even with knowing the consequences, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego refused the king’s command.
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18 NKJV)
They said “no.”
Then I realized that the entire book of Daniel carries the “no” anointing from when Daniel refused to take on the meals and eating habits of the king’s delicacies in chapter 1, to when he declined to discontinue his prayers to God in chapter 6. And, it takes so much courage to be a “no” say-er. It takes great faith to stand up with the “no” anointing when the majority of people around you so easily succumb to anything that’s sold with the slightest bit of finesse. But, "Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death." (Psalms 94:17 NIV)
And, it is a matter of life and death. Can you feel the desperation? Can you feel the necessity to rise up with the “no” anointing?
God’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), and I was made to search it out (Matthew 6:33). I wasn’t made to fall in love with the things of this world (1 John 2:15-17). I was called to have the “no” anointing—to boldly reject everything that the world says is “good” for me but is blatantly against my faith. Because, seriously, "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" (Mark 8:36 NIV)
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