May Our Action Flow from Unction

Most of us in the church don’t have an energy problem. We have a source problem.

The calendar is full. The volunteer slots get filled, or nearly. The sermon gets written, the meeting gets held, the doors open on Sunday. Things happen. But it is entirely possible to do a great deal for God and very little with Him.

That’s why I keep coming back to a short prayer: May our action flow from unction. Not “may we do less,” and not “may we feel more.” May what we do come out of what the Spirit has first done in us.

What we mean by unction

Unction is an old word, and most of us only meet it in the King James Version. John writes to ordinary believers, “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). My friend Gary loves the King James. And so this whole article will use it in his honor. A few verses later he calls it “the anointing which ye have received of him” that “abideth in you” (2:27). Unction is anointing: the presence and empowering of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life.

In Scripture, anointing is always for something. Oil on Aaron set him apart for priestly service. Oil on David marked him for the throne, and “the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13). When Jesus opened His ministry in Nazareth, He read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:18).

Peter later summed up the whole of Jesus’ ministry in one sentence: God anointed Him “with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). Notice the order. Anointing, then going about. Unction, then action. If the Son of God did not minister apart from the Spirit, we have no business trying to.

Action without unction

After the resurrection, the disciples had everything a strategic plan could want: eyewitness testimony, a clear mission, and real urgency. Jesus told them to wait. “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The mission wasn’t on hold because it mattered less. It was on hold because it mattered too much to attempt without power.

Martha gives us the household version. She opened her home to Jesus and got to work, which was a good thing. But Luke says she was “cumbered about much serving” (Luke 10:40), and by the end of the evening she was resentful of her sister and accusing the Lord of not caring. Her serving wasn’t the problem; its source was. Mary chose “that good part” at His feet.

Action without unction has recognizable symptoms:

• A weariness that a day off doesn’t fix.
• Ministry measured mostly by attendance, output and checked boxes.
• Quiet irritation at the people who aren’t pulling their weight.
• Prayer as the opening formality before the “real” part of the meeting.

That kind of work can still produce results. Programs run, buildings fill, budgets balance. But Jesus spoke of fruit that remains (John 15:16), and that kind of fruit isn’t manufactured.

Unction always sends

There’s a ditch on the other side of the road, too. Some hear “wait for the Spirit” and settle into waiting as a lifestyle. But the disciples waited about ten days, not ten years. When the Spirit fell at Pentecost, Peter stood up and preached that same morning, and three thousand were added to the church.

Jesus tied the two together in one breath: “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8). Power and witness arrive together. Anointing is oil for a lamp, not oil for a shelf.

So the prayer isn’t that unction would replace action. It’s that action would flow from it. A river needs a spring. But a spring that never becomes a river is just a swamp.

How action flows from unction

We can’t manufacture anointing, but we can put ourselves where it flows. Four habits help.

1. Abide before you produce. “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Branches don’t strain to make grapes. Practically, that means meeting God in the Word and prayer before the inbox, the sermon outline or the to-do list.
2. Worship before you plan. In Antioch, “as they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 13:2). The first great missionary strategy came out of a worship service, not a planning retreat. Our leadership meetings can open with real waiting on God, not a quick prayer to get things started.
3. Ask to be filled again. In Acts 4:31, believers who were already Spirit-filled prayed together, “and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” Unction isn’t a one-time deposit. It’s daily bread.
4. Taste the fruit. Work done in the Spirit tends to carry the Spirit’s flavor: love, joy, peace, patience (Galatians 5:22). When our work starts tasting like anxiety, contempt or grasping, that’s not a signal to push harder. It’s a signal to return to the source.

A prayer for the week ahead

Whatever your work is this week, whether it’s a pulpit, a spreadsheet, a classroom or a garage bay, it can be done on borrowed strength or on your own. Here is the prayer I’m praying over mine:

Holy Spirit, You are the unction from the Holy One. Before I lift a hand this week, rest on me. Forgive me for the work I’ve done in my own strength and called it service. Fill me again, as You filled Your church in Jerusalem. Let my planning come out of worship and my serving come out of rest at Your feet. And when You fill me, send me. May my action flow from Your unction, for the glory of Jesus, the Anointed One. Amen.

I hope you enjoyed this journey through the King James, now back to the ESV!