Impartation has the power to accelerate your spiritual growth and to help lay a foundation for the future of your ministry. Impartation is the spiritual transfer that takes place through relationship. When I open myself to the teachings of or relationship with an anointed individual, I become a recipient of impartation. A portion of what’s on their life begins to rub off on mine.
So, here are the three kinds of Biblical impartation and how to experience them in fullness:
#1 Given Impartation
#2 Shared Impartation
#3 Received Impartation
Given impartation is when I reach down. Shared impartation is when I reach across. Received impartation is when I reach up. Given impartation takes place when I act as a mentor. Shared impartation takes place when I act as a fellow laborer. Received impartation takes place when I act as a student.
#1 Given Impartation
You may think yourself too spiritually undeveloped to teach anybody anything about the Lord or spiritual truths. But this is simply not the case. For example, let’s take the new convert. The new convert typically knows little to nothing about what the Bible says about various truths and life applications. However, even the new convert can share their testimony. In sharing their testimony with a non-believer, the new convert is sharing the gospel. And in sharing the gospel, the new convert is evangelizing.
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, NLT)
Evangelism, fundamentally, is a form of impartation. So no matter where you are in your spiritual growth, there’s something you can impart to someone who is coming along the path after you.
#2 Shared Impartation
The Scripture tells us that iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17); it also tells us that bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33). Impartation doesn’t just take place between a mentor and a disciple. It can occur between two spiritual peers. The anointing of your peers rubs off on you, and the anointing on your life rubs off on them too.
#3 Received Impartation
Now, it’s important to note that all power comes from the Holy Spirit within you, and that power works in proportion to your time spent in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. The more time you spend in the presence of the Holy Spirit, the greater the manifestation of power on your life.
But God has given to us gifts in the form of anointed individuals. For example, this is what the Word says in Ephesians chapter four:
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12, NLT)
While receiving from anointed men and women of God, it’s important to keep this in mind: There is a big difference between impartation and imitation. You’re not the next anyone; you’re the first you.
In fact, impartation makes you a unique expression of God’s power. As you glean from various servants of the Lord, you become a unique and uncommon blend of the anointing.
Impartation doesn’t just help to make you unique. It also accelerates your spiritual growth, as you learn by the Spirit from those with decades of experience. Growth from impartation should be a reality experienced by every single believer.