The Economy of Your Anointing

 The Economy of Your Anointing

Scripture: "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Part One: The Currency of the Kingdom

Let me tell you about a Thursday morning last month in Akasia. I was sitting at the taxi rank near the Wonderpark Shopping Centre—you know the one, where the smell of burning tyres sometimes mingles with the aroma of vetkoek and coffee. A young man approached me, phone in hand, data bundle already burning. "Pastor, can you pray for my breakthrough?" he asked. I laid hands on him, we prayed fervently. Then he sat down right next to me and spent the next forty-five minutes scrolling through Instagram reels—videos of American teenagers dancing, South African politicians insulting each other, and a cat playing piano.

I touched his shoulder. "My son, you asked God for fire, but you are pouring water on your own head."

He looked confused. "How so, Papa?"

"Your attention," I said, "is the currency of your anointing. And you just spent forty-five minutes of God's investment on garbage."

Let us define our terms clearly. When I speak of anointing, I do not mean some mystical oil you buy from a prophet on television. The anointing is God's enablement upon your life for kingdom purpose. It is the Holy Spirit's power resting on you to do what you cannot do in your own flesh. And when I speak of economy, I mean the stewardship, the management, the deliberate investment of limited resources for maximum return.

Here is the argument, formulated with logical precision:

Premise One: Your anointing operates through your attention.

Premise Two: Your attention is a finite resource.

Premise Three: Whatever captures your attention captures your power.

Conclusion: Therefore, to guard your anointing, you must guard your gaze.

Part Two: The Devil's Debit Order

The enemy is not primarily after your morality—he is after your focus. Why? Because a distracted Christian is a defeated Christian. Samson lost his strength not when Delilah cut his hair, but when he gave her his attention. David fell not when he slept with Bathsheba, but when he lingered on the rooftop. Peter sank not when he stepped out of the boat, but when he looked at the waves.

Attack is the proof that your enemy anticipates your success. The devil does not distract the dead. He disturbs the dangerous. The more God intends to use you, the more noise the enemy will generate around you. Every ping, every notification, every family drama, every worry about Eskom's load-shedding schedule—these are not merely inconveniences. They are strategic assaults on your attention economy.

Picture a world where you wake up each morning with a bank account containing exactly 86,400 rand. You cannot carry over the balance. You cannot borrow against tomorrow. Every evening at midnight, the account resets to zero. What would you spend that money on? Would you throw it at passing cars? Would you burn it for warmth? Of course not. You would invest it deliberately.

God gives you 86,400 seconds each day. That is your attention budget. And the Scripture declares unequivocally: "Redeem the time, because the days are evil." The Greek word is exagorazō—a commercial term meaning to buy back, to purchase from the marketplace. Your time has been held hostage by the world's systems. You must go into the enemy's economy and buy it back with holy violence.

Part Three: The Taxi Rank of the Min

I want to sound the alarm against a silent killer in the South African church: the glorification of distraction. We have confused busyness with blessing. We have called anxiety "concern" and called gossip "prayer request sharing." We scroll through Twitter (sorry, X) during worship and call it "multi-tasking." We watch the news until our spirits are heavy with fear, then wonder why we cannot pray.

A common objection arises: "But Harold, I need to stay informed. I need to know about the budget speech, about the rand's weakness, about the taxi violence in Mamelodi. Am I supposed to live under a rock?"

No, my brother. But consider this: information without transformation is inflation. It devalues your spiritual currency. You can know everything about South Africa's problems and nothing about God's solutions. You can name every corrupt politician in Tshwane and be nameless in the courts of heaven.

I am not calling you to ignorance. I am calling you to intentionality. Watch the news for twenty minutes, not two hours. Pray for South Africa for twenty minutes, and you have done more for this nation than twenty hours of anxious scrolling.

Let me tell you what happened last week. I was driving down the R80 freeway toward Pretoria. Load-shedding had just hit stage 4, and the traffic lights were dead. At the intersection of the Mabopane Highway, chaos reigned—taxis cutting across, cars honking, hawkers weaving between bumpers selling everything from cellphone chargers to oranges. Everyone was in a hurry. Everyone was going nowhere fast.

The Holy Spirit whispered to me: "This is the prayer life of my people. Everyone rushing. Everyone important. No one yielding to My direction."

Part Four: The Law of Attention Investment

What you gaze at, you give power to. What you give power to, you become like.

Is it not true that we all feel this? You spend an hour watching crime statistics on eNCA, and suddenly you are afraid to walk to your own gate. You spend an hour in the Psalms, and suddenly you are fearless before Goliath. The object of your attention is the architect of your affection.

Here is the wise farmer's principle: You do not water the weeds and wonder why the harvest is thin. Yet that is exactly what we do. We water worry with obsessive thought. We water offense with repeated rehearsal. We water lust with lingering looks. Then we cry out, "God, why is my anointing dry?"

The answer is not more anointing. The answer is less leakage.

The argument can be formulated as a syllogism of stewardship:

If your anointing flows through your attention,

And your attention flows toward what you value,

Then your anointing flows toward what you value.

Therefore, what you value most will receive the most power.

What receives the most power will grow.

What grows will eventually control you.

"But Harold, I value God most!"

Then why does your phone screen time tell a different story? Why does your conversation tell a different story? Why does your emotional response to bad news tell a different story?

Part Five: The Prophetic Confrontation with Modern South Africa

Let me speak directly to the South African believer in 2026.

We are living through days that test the attention economy of every Christian. The rand is unpredictable. The cost of living is crushing. The political landscape is unstable. Last month's budget speech gave us more questions than answers. The taxi associations are at war again. Our youth are drowning in the debt of "easy" loans from questionable lenders. Our churches are filled with people who can quote Pastor's sermon from Sunday but cannot hear the Spirit on Wednesday.

The enemy has tailored his distractions specifically for us:

· The distraction of survival: "You cannot pray, you need to work." But work without prayer is sweat without substance.

· The distraction of comparison: "Look at what your neighbour in Fourways has." But comparison is the thief of anointing.

· The distraction of outrage: "Be angry about this politician, this policy, this problem." But outrage without intercession is just noise.

· The distraction of entertainment: "You deserve a break." But entertainment without edification is spiritual anaesthesia.

I am not against hard work. I am not against nice things. I am not against civic engagement. I am not against rest. I am against anything that steals your gaze from the face of Jesus Christ.

Part Six: The Banker's Strategy

Be the ruthless banker of your own soul. Levy a tax on your time. For every moment given to the trivial, invest two in the eternal.

Here is my practical framework—I call it The Three-Ledger System:

Ledger One: The Debit Column (What Drains Your Anointing)

· Gossip about church members (especially that sister who sings off-key)

· Endless news cycles about crime and corruption

· Social media scrolling without purpose

· Worry about tomorrow (which is unbelief dressed in respectable clothing)

· Offense and unforgiveness (the interest on a debt no one owes you)

Ledger Two: The Credit Column (What Compounds Your Anointing)

· Scripture meditation (not just reading—chewing)

· Prayer in the Spirit (tongues and understanding)

· Worship that costs you something (not background music)

· Serving someone who cannot repay you

· Silence before the Lord (the lost art of holy listening)

Ledger Three: The Audit Column (Weekly Review)

Every Sunday evening, sit down with a notebook. Ask three questions:

1. Where did my attention leak this week?

2. Where did my attention bear fruit?

3. What one distraction will I eliminate starting tomorrow?

What you do daily determines what you become permanently. You will never possess what you are unwilling to pursue. And you will never pursue what you do not prioritize.

Part Seven: The Jesus Factor

Let me bring this to the only source that matters. Jesus Christ, the Anointed One and the Anointer, operated on this economy perfectly.

Consider the Gospels: Jesus was the most interrupted person in history. Crowds pressed Him. Demons screamed at Him. Disciples questioned Him. Religious leaders plotted against Him. Yet He never lost focus. Why? Because He knew His attention belonged to the Father first.

"I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge." (John 5:30)

Jesus listened before He spoke. He attended before He acted. His anointing flowed from His attention to the Father's voice. And when He needed to reset His economy, what did He do? He withdrew to lonely places. He turned off the notifications. He silenced the crowd. He prioritized the eternal over the urgent.

The evidence strongly supports this: In every Gospel account, Jesus's most powerful moments followed His most focused prayer. Before feeding the five thousand, He looked up to heaven. Before raising Lazarus, He thanked the Father. Before the cross, He agonized in Gethsemane. His attention purchased our redemption.

Therefore, reason itself, illuminated by Scripture and confirmed in our deepest longings, compels us to acknowledge that your attention is not a small thing. It is the doorway through which heaven's power enters earth's problems. It is the pipeline of the miraculous. It is the currency of your anointing.

Part Eight: The Call to Holy War

I am not writing to comfort you. I am writing to confront you.

There is a war for your focus, and you are losing. Not because the enemy is strong, but because you are careless. You have left the gates of your attention unguarded, and the enemy has walked in like a taxi through a red robot.

Here is your action plan for this week—Operation Holy Focus:

Day One: Delete three apps from your phone. Not forever. Just for seven days. See if heaven notices.

Day Two: When you wake up, before you touch your phone, pray for fifteen minutes. Let God set your attention budget before the world makes its withdrawal.

Day Three: Fast from news for 24 hours. Use that time to pray for South Africa instead. I promise you, God knows more about the budget than Godongwana does.

Day Four: Write down the top three distractions that steal your focus. Then write down one practical action to kill each one. (Example: "WhatsApp groups that gossip" → "Mute them until Sunday.")

Day Five: Spend one hour in silence before the Lord. No music. No podcast. No prayer list. Just you and the Father. It will feel awkward. That is how you know you need it.

Day Six: Find one person who is also serious about this war. Meet with them. Confess your distraction struggles. Pray for each other's attention economy.

Day Seven: Audit your week. What changed? What leaked? What grew? Then start again.

Part Nine: The Prayer of the Focused Warrior

Lord Jesus Christ, You who walked through chaos with Your eyes fixed on the Father, forge my focus. Forgive me for treating Your anointing like a credit card—spending on trivial things, ignoring the interest of eternity.

I declare that my attention belongs to You. Every scroll, every conversation, every thought, every worry—I lay them at Your feet. Teach me to hate distraction as I hate sin. Teach me to guard my gaze as I guard my marriage, my children, my salvation.

For the days are evil, Lord. Load-shedding may steal my lights, but it will not steal my light. The rand may lose its value, but my anointing does not fluctuate with the market. Politicians may fail, but You are still on the throne in Akasia, in Pretoria, in South Africa, and over all the earth.

I levy a tax on my time today. For every moment the enemy tries to steal, I will invest two in Your presence. I will be the ruthless banker of my own soul, and I will fund only the ventures of Your kingdom.

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Focused One, the Faithful One, the Finisher of our faith. Amen.

Part Ten: The Final Word

Your attention is the currency of your anointing. Spend it wisely. Invest it eternally. Guard it jealously. Because the days are evil—but your God is greater than all of them.

And remember the words of an old man from Akasia: "You cannot stop birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair." Distractions will come. But you decide whether they settle.

Now go. Redeem the time. And watch what God does with a fully funded anointing.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light." (Matthew 6:22)

—Harold Mawela

Akasia, Pretoria

April 2026

https://open.spotify.com/episode/125ureku8NorMALXm5VsYw?si=7zeVWl4qTtWUBMeNTegT6A&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A00aDj3KbY5k63c31qBSpGj

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-economy-of-your-anointing/id1506692775?i=1000761951711