Releasing the Cullam Pt 2: Cultivating the Anointing Within to Release the Power of God

The anointing within you must be cultivated before the anointing upon you can be fully released.

There are two distinct dimensions of anointing operating in every believer's life — one that serves you from the inside, and one that serves others from the outside. Until you understand the difference and learn to cultivate what is within, you will hit limitations that no external impartation can overcome. Worship, intercessory prayer, and fasting are the three tools God has given to break you open and release what He has placed inside.

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Teaching Overview

1. Number 2. Prayer. But what kind of prayer?
2. Number 3. If you do not fast, you will never cultivate anointing within.

Key Distinctions

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Authority, Power, and the Office of Anointing

• Authority is position; power is the ability to enforce the level you have been placed in.
• The anointing places you in the office, but power enforces where you are.
• You cannot release the power of an office you are not in.

"Power is simply the ability to enforce your office, but you cannot release power of an office that you are not in."

Two Dimensions of Anointing: Within and Upon

• The anointing within (1 John 2:27) abides inside you and serves you — your spiritual development, wisdom, and well-being.
• The anointing upon (Luke 4:18) rests on you for others — it was never designed to work for its carrier.
• As long as the anointing within remains unactivated and trapped inside, it cannot change external circumstances — financially, physically, or relationally.

"Unless I know how to release what is trapped inside of me, I cannot change those who are outside."

Why Some Cannot Pray for Themselves

• It is easy to pray for others and hear God for others because the anointing upon is what operates for other people.
• It is difficult to pray for yourself and hear God for your own situation because the anointing within — which serves you — must be cultivated by you.
• The anointing upon is controlled by the Holy Spirit; the anointing within is cultivated by the believer.

"The anointing within serves you. The anointing upon serves others."

The Anointing Upon Operates by Grace

• The anointing upon works out of grace regardless of the carrier's spiritual condition — it does not depend on any work the person has put in.
• Samson went to a prostitute's house, and when he came out, the knowledge of God came upon him and he could destroy the Philistines — purely by grace.
• When the anointing within is weak, the anointing upon operates only sporadically — there is no consistency, only grace moments.

"The anointing within develops you as a person. The anointing upon works out of grace."

Stirring Up the Gift Within

• When someone receives impartation through the laying of hands, what is received goes inside — it is the anointing within, not the anointing upon.
• Paul instructed Timothy to stir up the gift within him, meaning it required deliberate cultivation to activate what had been deposited.
• Unless the anointing within is cultivated and stirred, it cannot spill out and produce fruit in a person's own life.

"Unless you cultivate what is inside you, stir up what is inside you, you cannot spill what is inside of you."

The Anointing Within Teaches All Things

• The anointing within has the ability to teach you, to give you wisdom and understanding, and to lead you into truth (1 John 2:27).
• When the anointing within is not cultivated, deception finds an entry point — the inside has not been shaped to look like Jesus.
• The anointing within is what produces revelation; it is not the anointing upon that gives a person insight into divine things.

"The anointing within will teach you things... and is truth and is no lie."

Crushing as Cultivation: The Olive Press

• Just as olives must be crushed to produce oil, there are things within a person that God must crush in order for the anointing to flow.
• Trials and tribulations are not punishments — they are tools the Father uses to cultivate the anointing within.
• The believer can determine the measure of cultivation by how much they allow God and spiritual authority to press what is inside them.

"There are things in you that God has to crush in order for you to excel to the next level."

Worship as the First Cultivation Tool

• Praise is based on what God has done; worship is about who He is to you on the inside — it excludes miracles and money entirely.
• When a believer enters genuine worship, the spirit man begins to cultivate the anointing within and it begins to move.
• King Saul prophesied when he joined a company of prophets because their worship triggered and stimulated the anointing within him.

"The easiest way to hear God is not to pray. Worship."

Intercessory Prayer as the Second Cultivation Tool

• The form of prayer that cultivates the anointing within is intercessory prayer — where the desire is to see the desires of God fulfilled in people, not personal benefit.
• God will not release the anointing within to someone whose prayer life is entirely self-focused, because the anointing within is designed to benefit the person for the sake of others.
• True intercession requires genuine burdens — not a formal or mechanical prayer, but a heart broken over people's suffering.

"God will not release somebody the anointing within if it's all about you."

The Anointing Within Is Born of Pain

• Genuine burdens that produce intercession are not simply awareness of a need — they are a compassion that moves a person to their knees in grief over people's conditions.
• The anointing within is born of pain — it is developed in the place of deep feeling, not casual acknowledgment.
• Intercessory prayer requires prophetic discernment: listening not merely to what a person says is the problem, but to what God says the real problem is.

"The anointing within is born of pain."

Fasting as the Third Cultivation Tool

• Fasting breaks, crashes, and dismantles the self — it puts the soul through fire so that intentions become pure and genuine.
• The Bible declares "I humbled my soul by fasting" (Psalm 35:13) — true humility before God is not possible without fasting.
• When you fast, you are peeling off self and putting on Jesus; behaviors that were previously a struggle are broken by genuine fasting.

"When you fast, you are peeling off self and putting on Jesus."

The Overflow: When Within Fuels Upon

• When the anointing within is cultivated, it begins to spill over and directly influences the anointing upon — pushing it to a new dimension and a new level.
• Peter did not pray to be released into healing power at the temple gate — he said "what I have I give to you," declaring something he had developed within himself.
• Consistency in the operation of the anointing upon is no longer dependent on grace alone when the anointing within has been cultivated — it operates whenever you want.

"Somebody who has cultivated their anointing within has control of their anointing upon."

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Key Definitions

Anointing Within — The dimension of anointing that abides inside the believer (1 John 2:27), serving the carrier personally by teaching, developing, and cultivating the spirit man; it must be deliberately stirred up and grown.

Anointing Upon — The dimension of anointing that rests on the outside of the believer (Luke 4:18) for the benefit of others; it is controlled by the Holy Spirit and operates by grace, not personal effort.

Authority — Position; the office or level that a person has been appointed and anointed to occupy.

Power — The ability to enforce the level one has been placed in; power is what makes the authority functional and operational.

Worship — Not an expression of what God has done (that is praise), but an inward engagement with who God is to you personally — it is the spirit's response to the person of Jesus, independent of circumstances, miracles, or blessings.

Intercession — A form of prayer in which the believer's desire is to see God's will fulfilled in people's lives; it is fuelled by genuine burdens — a pain and compassion for people's suffering that drives a person to pray prophetically for the root of a problem, not merely its symptoms.

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Key Takeaways

• The anointing within serves you; the anointing upon serves others — failing to understand this distinction means a believer will never know how to release what God has placed inside them for their own situations.
• Cultivating the anointing within is your responsibility — unlike the anointing upon which operates by grace, the anointing within requires deliberate effort through worship, intercessory prayer, and fasting.
• Worship is the most direct path to activating the anointing within — it is the language of the spirit and immediately stimulates what God has deposited on the inside of a person.
• Intercessory prayer and genuine burdens for people are conditions for receiving greater inner anointing — God will not develop the anointing within in someone whose prayer life is self-centred.
• Fasting is non-negotiable for inner cultivation — it is the tool that dismantles self, purifies intention, and creates the internal conditions for the anointing to be truly released.

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Reflection Questions

1. You may be operating in the anointing upon and seeing results for others — but what is the current state of your anointing within? Are you cultivating it, or has it been neglected?
2. Do you find it easier to pray for others and hear God for others than for yourself? What does this sermon reveal about why that may be happening — and what are you going to do about it?
3. How honest can you be about your prayer life? Is it genuinely intercessory — burdened for people and for the will of God — or is it primarily a list of personal requests?
4. When did you last fast in a way that genuinely broke you, dismantled self-will, and produced real internal change? What is holding you back from making fasting a consistent practice?
5. What specific situation in your life — a limitation you keep hitting — might be resolved if your anointing within were cultivated? What is the one cultivation tool you will commit to beginning this week?

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Scripture References

• 1 John 4:4 — "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." (KJV)
• 1 John 2:27 — "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." (KJV)
• Luke 4:18 — "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." (KJV)
• 1 Corinthians 11:15 — "But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering." (KJV)
• 2 Timothy 1:6 — "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." (KJV)
• Matthew 25:1–13
• Psalm 35:13 — "But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom." (KJV)
• Acts 3:6 — "Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." (KJV)
• 1 Kings 19:11–12
• Deuteronomy 8:18

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Golden Nuggets

"Power is simply the ability to enforce your office, but you cannot release power of an office that you are not in."

"The anointing within serves you. The anointing upon serves others."

"Unless you cultivate what is inside you, stir up what is inside you, you cannot spill what is inside of you."

"The easiest way to hear God is not to pray. Worship."

"The anointing within is born of pain."

"When you fast, you are peeling off self and putting on Jesus."

"Somebody who has cultivated their anointing within has control of their anointing upon."

"Unless you know how to cultivate the anointing within, you will always find yourself hitting a wall."

"You will never be a blessing to somebody until your decision is to change people's lives."

"There are things in you that God has to crush in order for you to excel to the next level."

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Resources and Further Reading

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• Study with a Recommended Bible →