Ingredients for an Anointed LifeSample

Ingredient 1. Myrrh - Submission

Exodus tells us that the first ingredient they were to use was Myrrh. Myrrh is a fragrance that comes from the sap of Commiphora trees. It’s a reddish-brown resin that is extracted from the tree and then hardens after it’s collected. Commiphora trees had first to be wounded to bleed the sap. Sometimes this would happen naturally, but more often than not the wounds were inflicted intentionally so that the sap could flow out and they could get the most out of the tree.

Coincidentally, these wounds are known as tear ducts because when the resin comes out it’s shaped like a tear.

This is why Myrrh represents submission; it gives us a picture of the process. Submission is seldom pleasant, and the process can be painful, but God doesn’t ask you to submit to hurt you. He wants you to submit so He can bring what’s in you out of you. It's worth noting that myrrh was primarily used as a burial spice, and in the same way, submission is putting to death your way and yielding to God’s way.

Myrrh is the first ointment mentioned in the Bible and it’s also the last one. You find it in Genesis and you find it in Revelation, and similarly, everything God does in your life begins and ends with your submission to Him.

So how do you know if you’re submitted? The question of submission doesn’t just ask if Jesus is your Savior, but if He is your Lord. It’s a question of obedience. It’s saying, "God I will do whatever you want me to do. It doesn’t have to be big for me to be obedient, and it doesn’t need to be small for me to submit."

If you want the anointing of God on your life, the first ingredient is submission.

Questions for reflection.

Have you ever considered the difference between submitting to Jesus as Lord and accepting Him as Savior? Where are the areas you struggle to submit to God's will in your life? Are you more prone to resist God in big areas of obedience, or overlook small areas of submission?