CHAPTER 1

Olive Oil

This testimony involves Dirk, a good friend of mine. Several years ago, someone brought him a message from God that, within five years, he would be released into ministry. Afterward, while jogging one day, he made a private request of God. He asked the Lord to confirm his ministry by sending someone to anoint him with oil. He told no one about this request, not even his wife.

One evening, while baking pancakes for my family, I was pleasantly interrupted by the presence of God. Right there in the kitchen God told me to go anoint Dirk with oil. While He spoke, I saw a vision where I poured a whole bottle of oil over my friend’s head. Never before had I received such an instruction from God. I was thrilled, recalling Old Testament stories of kings anointed by God, also through sending a messenger with oil. That God would send me on such a mission was a tremendous privilege.

I emailed Dirk with God’s message. The first time I sent the email was Friday, 16 March 2007 at 22:40. After hearing that he hadn’t received it (yet another case where the Lord had a message and the email failed to go through) I sent it again the following day at 13:33 and prayed for its delivery.

God had told me to fill my glass flask with olive oil as full as I wanted Him to anoint my friend. I filled it all the way to the top so that it overflowed when pressing the cork in. After arrival, we entered his house, and he asked if we should go into his lounge. I told him that we should rather go outside and to bring a towel along.

Outside on their lawn, I had the privilege of anointing my friend’s head with oil. Only afterwards did he reveal to us the secret request he had made of God. Although he’s still an industrial designer, he ministers to people as God leads him.

Here follows my friend’s account from his journal:

“17 March 2007: Today was a very special day. The Lord was exceedingly gracious. Soon after receiving the prophecy (that I would be full-time within 5 years) some 4 years and 2 months ago, I asked the Lord for 2 things; (1) that He would give me His Spirit to work through me in power and (2) that He would send someone to anoint me (my head) with oil—as a sign of this calling. Only I and the Lord knew about this, as I never wanted to verbalize the request, knowing that God is the only one who knows our thoughts. I did not even share it with [my wife], only to tell her that I had asked for a sign, without telling her details. “Many times in the last 3.5 years I reminded Him of this. About one month ago, I actually told the Lord that it was not necessary any more, that the anointing in my spirit was enough evidence. I was preparing for tomorrow’s teaching which I was invited to. Out of the blue, someone I scarcely know invited me to teach in a church I’ve never been to, to a people I do not know.

“Paul had been trying to get some mail through to me from yesterday and finally succeeded. It read:

The Lord’s peace goes with you! He will lift you up among strangers. He will anoint your brow with His oil. He will put His fire upon your lips. He will calm your soul and embolden you with His courage. His Word will go out from your mouth and fall like rain and seed upon the soil of the people’s hearts so that the seed is watered even in the season of sowing! He will cause the people’s hearts to cry out for the Living waters—the truth from the Anointed One, Jesus Christ our Lord. He will make them earnestly require more so that they may pursue Him with their hearts. Amen. Selah. You are blessed of the Lord in doing His work. The Lord has spoken to me this evening with an instruction to come and anoint you with oil. He has filled me with a prophecy which I will not venture to utter until you are anointed. This is what I come to do tomorrow. I asked Him when and He replied: On the morrow. Which I see means the next day. So I’ll see you then, for it is the Lord’s will.

Friday, 16 March 2007, 22:43

“I was overcome by the last paragraph. This is what I had been asking for, and the timing was perfect—the night before going out for the first time to teach! I could not have gotten a more appropriate empowerment from the Lord. How could anything stand in my way when He is for me like this?

“I laughed with joy while tears rolled down my face. This pouring in of faith was like when He poured in faith in the car on our way to [my sister-in-law’s] deliverance! How awesome is our God! I was constantly thinking with joy about the anointing that was to happen. It occurred to me that I should not wash it off but go and teach tomorrow with it still on my head. I also wanted [my wife] and the kids to witness it, as this was probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

“Paul arrived at 8 p.m. The Lord had told him to fill the bottle to the measure He had faith for to bless me with, so it was full to the brim and could not hold a drop more. We went to the lawn, I knelt down forward and he poured out the oil over my head, praying and speaking out the blessing which the Lord had put inside of him.”

What a privilege it was, being sent to anoint God’s chosen with oil. I am both awed and humbled by God’s faithfulness to Dirk and the role I got to play in affirming his ministry. The excitement I felt while baking pancakes—as divine instructions energized my soul—remains a treasured memory. Recalling Dirk’s excitement at God fulfilling his secret request is thoroughly heartwarming for me.