It is a terrible state for Christians to lose the anointing of GOD upon their lives! The anointing is God’s empowering presence upon a believer. It is what fuels your spiritual gifts, strengthens your faith, and energizes your work. But when you grieve the Holy Spirit through disobedience or neglect, then you lose the anointing slowly without realizing that it is gone!

This happened in the book of Judges chapter 16 verse 20 when Samson said: “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. In today’s message, I will reveal eight things that happen when Christians lose the anointing.

7 Signs that Show You Lose the Anointing

1. You lose spiritual power and effectiveness

The anointing of God gives you the supernatural ability to accomplish God’s work. When you lose the anointing, you lose that ability to operate effectively. The anointing is like fuel that empowers your gifts and calling.

It makes difficult tasks easy and gives supernatural effectiveness. But when that anointing slips away, what used to come with little effort becomes a struggle.

Imagine a battery-powered flashlight. If it remains charged, then the light shines brightly cutting through the darkness. But the moment the power runs out, the light also goes out with it. This is what happens to us when we lose the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Saul was once mighty in battle and led Israel to victory. But after losing the anointing, he became like a mere man. Meanwhile, the opposite happened to David. When David became anointed, he became very powerful.

2. You lose relevance

One of the things that the anointing brings to your life is influence. When you are filled with God’s anointing, your words and conduct commands influence.

When people hear you, they literally abandon whatever they are doing to make sure they are there to listen. You could speak for hours, and people will sit there listening to what you have to offer, because the anointing makes them drawn to you. But when you lose the anointing, you immediately become like a mere man.

Think of it like spiritual airtime. If you have it, others listen closely to what you say. But the moment it runs out, people can no longer hear you.

3. You walk in deception and error

Not every fake prophet or pastor started off being fake. Some of them started off genuinely but either due to carelessness, greed, or sin, they lost the anointing.
And in their attempt to remain relevant, they start to do dubious things like fake miracles or go into error.

For example, Saul’s disobedience led him to rely on mediums and false guidance from the Witch of Endor. This happened when he lost the anointing and God stopped speaking to him.

First Samuel chapter 28 verse 6 says: “And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.”

To get solutions, he began to consult the very things he himself had once forbidden. So, when you find someone trying to play gimmicks or fake miracles, it is not always that they started off that way.

4. What used to be easy becomes difficult

The anointing makes your spiritual tasks flow with supernatural ease. But without it, even the easiest things you used to do become difficult.

For example, if you used to be someone who could preach very easily, your messages would become extremely difficult to flow. People will feel very sleepy and bored during your sermons. Worship may feel lifeless, prayers barren, and insights dry up.

Intercession fails to break through like before. Things that once took minimal effort now drain and frustrate you.

The signal that Christian musicians lose the anointing is obvious when they make use of dancing steps or tunes from the worldly musicians – no powerful spiritual messages in their music.

5. You lose divine authority

The Bible says when Jesus had made an end to His speaking, the people marveled because He spoke to them as one having authority and not as the scribes and Pharisees. This means one of the things the anointing does is to give you divine authority.

With this anointing comes authority. But when you lose that anointing, authority also vanishes with it. Demons will no longer be obedient to you. For example, demons obeyed Jesus Christ not just because of who He was but also because He was loaded with anointing.

Mathew chapter 8 verses 31 and 32: “So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine. And He said to them, “Go.” So, when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine…”  

But if that anointing leaves you, even seemingly small powers will overcome you. Without God’s authority through intimacy, your own voice holds little weight.

6. Old sinful habits return

Before Jesus Christ you lived under sin’s domination. But at salvation, the Holy Spirit broke sin’s control and granted you freedom. Yet over time, if anointed Christians grieve the Holy Spirit through willful disobedience and lose the anointing, those old habits will regain their grip.

Such a heart grows hardened, spiritually insensitive and filled with secret sins like dogs to vomit or washed pigs to mud, returning to former sins. 

7. You become susceptible to spiritual attacks

The Spirit of GOD is the source of your strength to run the race and persevere to the end. Without the empowering Holy Spirit, you have no real defense against the schemes of Satan.

Christians who lose the anointing become vulnerable to any wind of false doctrine that blows through everywhere. And spiritual blindness and hardness of heart inevitably result from this separation, as they cut themselves off from the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Christians who lose the anointing should repent of any sin God reveals. Humble themselves and draw near Him through prayer and fasting. God will restore what has been lost.

At the first sign of losing the anointing, heed God’s discipline and realign your walk with Him. Your intimacy with Christ and obedience to the Holy Spirit is the key to sustaining spiritual passion and power. Keep the flames of revival burning bright in your life.