And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:. (Mark 3:13-15)

Franchising is one of the most successful models of business in the marketplace today. Yet, in its infancy, it was looked upon with suspicion by many. Ray Kroc, who launched one of the most successful of them all, McDonald’s, had trouble finding franchisees, if you can believe it.

The idea was revolutionary at the time. Ray has discovered a successful fast food restaurant model developed by the McDonald brothers. Rather than take the responsibility and the risk of building restaurants and hiring managers to run them for him, he takes a different approach. He looks for someone who would like to own a fast food restaurant. He will teach them all they need to make it successful. They pay him a franchise fee at the outset and keep on paying a small percentage of their receipts as a royalty.

Without the franchisee, Ray Kroc cannot expand his business and collect royalties. Without Ray Kroc, the franchisee cannot run a successful business and keep most of the profits.

The onus is squarely on the franchisor to help the franchisee establish a successful operation. Ray Kroc had to help others succeed first in order for him to be successful. He rises up by raising others up.

Jesus has barely launched his earthly ministry when he calls unto himself 12 disciples. They stay with him, they travel together, they watch him in action, they are privy to his public teachings as well as the private sessions where he lets them in on the mysteries of the kingdom.

Jesus is raising them up one step at a time to minister as he does. You could say that every one of the 12 were like a franchisee who had been trained by the franchisor to be successful in ministry.

To this very day, He is still collecting royalties on those He raised up—not in dollars, but in souls. He raised up the disciples so well that they were able to carry on His earthly ministry when He ascended to the right hand of the Father.

Not only that, but they also learned to raise others up. For example, Barnabas raises up Paul. Paul raises up Timothy. Timothy raises up his own leaders, who in turn raise up others. This pattern has been repeated successfully over the ages. Proof? You’re a follower of Jesus today J

Whenever you hear about the fivefold ministry, the five offices—apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher—what distinguishes these “office-holders” is the fact that they are committed to raising and releasing others to also be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Yes, you rise up by raising others up!

Dear DWOD friend, in the world you can rise up because you know people at the top. Or because you know how to bully your way to the top. Or you are well-versed in Machiavellian tactics or manipulative techniques. Or because you possess the skill-sets and education. Or because you are married to the boss’ child J

In the Kingdom though, you rise up because you have been raising others up. No matter what line of work you may be in, no matter what kind of business you may own, within the church or in your family, you rise up by raising others up.

Do you want to rise up the proper way? Ask Holy Spirit to show you who you need to invest in and raise up. Then do exactly that. Invest your time, effort, energy and other resources into them. Show them how it’s done. As you raise them up, you will discover that your stock goes up, your value increases, you are viewed as a greater asset, and indeed, you do rise up!

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (I Corinthians 13:4-8)

Chances are very good that you’ve heard these words read at a service of Christian marriage at one time or another. It was the Scripture of choice for most, if not all couples whose marriage services I was privileged to conduct over the past 31+ years of ordained ministry.

 

(It is also the Scripture of choice for Valentine’s Day apparently…see last year’s DWOD)

 

Coming on the heels of Paul’s extensive teaching on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is clearly meant to tell us that such lofty characteristics of love are not attainable on our strength alone. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit operating in us that we can even conceive of such love being expressed by us. As Paul reminds us elsewhere: God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.(Romans 5:5)

 

At the same time though, we have learned from experience that when push comes to shove, the way we express ourselves in love is also a choice.

 

Yes, “love is patient”,but when my patience is tested by one who keeps on ignoring me over and over again, I must exercise my will and choose to be patient.

 

Yes, “love is kind”, but when someone is cruel to me, and my first impulse is to retaliate with a verbal missile, I must choose to abort its launch.

 

Yes, “love does not envy”, but when I see someone getting more recognition than I do for less work than I do, it is my choice that determines whether the lens through which I view them is envy green or pure white.

 

Get the picture?

 

This is why in Colossians 3:14, Paul tells us to “put on love.”

 

When you read the verses that precede these words, you will realize that Paul is using the analogy of removing old clothing and putting on a new outfit. In verse 12 he says: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

 

It is similar to the way we choose which item in our wardrobe we will wear on a given day. Any number of choices can vie for our attention, but we cast the deciding vote.

 

On Valentine’s Day, you can easily get the impression that love is something that only oozes out of us in rising rivulets of emotion.

 

Yes, love is emotional, and it must express itself emotionally, but love is not primarily an emotion, it is first and foremost a decision.

 

Love is indeed a “choice” word!

 

I have been known to tell couples at their wedding that it is easy to say “I love you” when you’re in the mood for romance, the candle is burning and the wine is flowing.

 

But the real test of love comes…

When you wake up in the morning to the scary sight of your partner’s “bed head”,

When the excitement of expecting a baby is tempered by the onset of morning

sickness in your pregnant wife—every blessed day for three blessed months straight,

          When the stack of unpaid bills signals outflow exceeding income—for the sixth month in a row…

That’s when your spouse needs to see the love of God that was poured into your heart flowing out from you.

 

Ask Holy Spirit in you for help. Then make the right choice. Chances are very good that it will be the choice of Love.

But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him. So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. (Mark 3:7-10)

It is truly amazing to see how realistic and practical Jesus is. He anticipates the crowds closing in on him so they could receive their healing and takes the precautionary measure of having a boat ready to push out into the sea. He was concerned about his safety and that of the disciples.

Is Jesus selfish? Or is he modeling self-care?

One of the earliest descriptions of how Jesus matured is found in Luke 2:52: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

One of the ways in which wisdom manifests itself is in prudence. In showing good judgment. In anticipating possible outcomes and acting accordingly. This incident is a good illustration of such prudence in action, isn’t it?

Jesus made this intriguing statement in Luke 16:8: “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.”

This saying comes at the end of a parable in which a shrewd manager who is being shown his way out the corporate door makes a couple of questionable moves. He writes down the debts of two people who owe his boss oil and wheat respectively.

Even though he is defrauded by these actions, the boss actually commends the fired manager for gaining the goodwill of two debtors in anticipation of finding favour with them once he’s fired!

“I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.”

Now you know why this story is sometimes labelled as the parable of the “unjust steward or the “crooked manager.” He anticipates what is coming and takes swift albeit dishonest measures.

Dear DWOD friend, on the road to your destiny, you too need to anticipate what could happen and take pre-emptive action. It is only prudent to do so.

Let’s say for example that you anticipate a vacancy coming up in your company due to the projected retirement of your immediate supervisor. If you were to ask him what you could do to lighten his load and he responds positively, now you actually are doing part of his job, thus gaining ground on your competitors. This would qualify as acting in anticipation, wouldn’t it?

Or, you foresee a very busy season coming up in a couple of months. You take two weeks off and go away on a holiday. Clearly, that is an act of self-care, not selfishness, amen?

You receive a prophetic word about a flood of new believers becoming part of your church. To offer courses on evangelism and disciple-making when there is no reason to even suspect a trickle would be a case of acting in anticipation, right?

Jesus models this for us very well when he asks his disciples to have a boat on standby. May you be inspired by his practical prudence into making pre-emptive moves and taking audacious action in anticipation. He would surely approve!   

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. (James 5:14-16)

As I shared in yesterday’s DWOD, the contact between a blast of steam and my skin left behind a blister that needed medical attention.

The doctor at the walk-in clinic had instructed me to disinfect the wound every day, coat it with the antibiotic ointment Flamazine, then cover it up with sterile gauze and apply some tape to prevent it from sliding down.

This I did dutifully for a week. It was still hurting at times, though. Also I noticed a yellow layer developing on one part of the wound.

Concerned about the pain and what appeared to be pus, I went back to the same clinic to make sure that it was actually healing.

The doctor who examined me this time took care of those concerns in a jiffy. He assured me that the healing process was indeed well under way. Then he asked how I was taking care of the wound. When I shared the exact same information I divulged in the second paragraph of this post, he proposed some changes.

“Stop covering it up from now on,” he advised. “Let the wound get some air. Apply the ointment twice a day instead of once. In a while that yellow layer will be gone and only a scar will remain.”

I could hardly believe the change when I started following his advice. The pain was gone, the raw redness of the wound started changing to a more pleasing pink and the yellow layer did indeed begin to fall off.

You see, when the wound was still fresh, it needed to be covered for a while to prevent further infection. But, after a time, the healing process was actually being hindered when it remained hidden underneath the gauze. Exposing the wound actually accelerated the healing.

The first portion of the Scripture at the top of this post is often quoted when we pray for healing as a group for someone and anoint them with oil. The latter portion that says: “confess your sins to one another” does not get the same press, does it?

Yet, healing is only promised when we confess and “pray for each other”. Confession precedes intercession.

We see the necessity of such confession to bring about physical healing quite often in prayer ministry. I cannot count the number of times when someone confesses their need to forgive an offender and almost immediately notices pain leaving their body.

Sulojana and I and a host of others have experienced healing of the heart (emotional wounds, spirit/soul hurts) by taking the time to sit down with two or three prayer ministers trained in Sozo and/or Restoring The Foundations or a similar ministry. When we confess our sins, freedom and healing follow, sometimes instantaneously. It is truly incredible!

Dear DWOD friend, don’t kid yourself by saying you don’t need this kind of ministry, because you have already confessed your sins to God. If confessing our sins to one another was not significant for our healing, God would not have included that in the Bible, amen? Keeping such wounds covered will only hinder you from advancing into your destiny.

Just as it was with me, there is a time to keep the raw wound under wraps initially. But then there comes a time to remove the gauze and expose the wound–sooner than later, we hope. You too will realize how true it is that God brings about healing when you start revealing your woundedness to another.

If you have already experienced this, would you please share your story with the rest of your DWOD family in the comments section below this post? If you have not and would like to know how to go about doing this, please contact me at jeeva@destinywordoftheday.com and I will find someone who can help.

For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29)

Virtually every morning, there is a predictable ritual that happens in our kitchen. Sulojana, the early riser, fills our “cordless” electric kettle with filtered water up to the “Minimum” mark. Once she flips the switch to the “On” position and the red light comes on, she turns into my human alarm clock. “Jeeva, it’s time to get up.”

The advantage of your wife delivering the wake-up call is that it is not as alarming as the mechanical device. The disadvantage? There is no snooze button 🙁

By the time I get to the kitchen, the water has already boiled. The kettle has shut off, thanks to a built-in energy-saving feature. Now, it is my turn for me to get into my routine.

Warm up some milk in the microwave. Measure a teaspoon of special instant coffee from India into each of two coffee mugs. Add sugar to one (Hint: Not mine!). Pour the boiled water up to the half-way mark of the mug. Top it off with the hot milk. Stir with teaspoon. Then mix it well by transferring the stirred coffee back and forth between the empty milk mug and the coffee mug. Wait for a layer of froth to manifest. Let it sit still for a few minutes and cool off a tad. Announce that coffee is ready.

(Sorry to make you jealous, ladies, but she’s got me trained pretty well…old habits are hard to break after 30+ years of daily repetition, amen?)

Fairly safe and harmless ritual, wouldn’t you say? I would heartily concur, except that something happened a week ago Monday that shook me up.

When I got to the kitchen, the water was still boiling. The automatic shut-off mechanism had not kicked in yet. I needed a cup of water to cook the oatmeal porridge that was on the menu that morning. As I reached for the filtered water tap, I felt a stinging sensation on the underside of my right arm about two inches east of the elbow.

I knew instantly that it was from the steam bellowing out of the kettle coming into contact with my skin. I just ignored it and went ahead getting the coffee ready (see routine above), cooking the oatmeal and just carrying on with the chores of the day.

It was only in the evening that I noticed the ugly steam blister filled with liquid something. Frankly, I was shocked that the hardly noticeable sting had turned into this hideous thing. I was too chicken to puncture it, though. I waited until my arm hit the armrest of the car unexpectedly and broke the blister, pulled into a walk-in clinic, got a doctor to do the dirty work and started a new daily routine.

Disinfect wound. Apply antibiotic ointment. Place sterilized gauze on top. Tape it down.

Suffice it to say, 10 days later, it is healing quite well, thank you. But, the entire experience taught me something about the nature of God that we dare not ignore.

You see, the loving heavenly Father who speaks to us in stillness (I Kings 19:12) is also the Almighty God whose voice thunders and breaks the cedars of Lebanon (Psalm 29:5).

Jesus, our elder brother, is not only the little Lamb that Mary had who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), He is also the fierce and ferocious Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5).

Holy Spirit is our gentle breezy Comforter, but He is also the rushing whirlwind whose origin and destination are unpredictable (John 3:7)

As Mr. Beaver explains to the children when they ask whether Aslan the Lion King is safe: ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king I tell you.”

The verse quoted above reminds us that “Our God is a consuming fire.”

In a bizarre way, I sensed the steam burn on my forearm was a reminder to never underestimate the power of the God who burns.

Your thoughts?