On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:16-17)

Several summers ago, on a family vacation, we were at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., watching a Major League Soccer game between the L.A. Galaxy and D.C. United.

The main reason we were there was so our two soccer player sons could see star player David Beckham “live” in action.

It was a typical soccer game. Lots of ball movement. Passes to the right, left and centre. Many throw-ins from the sidelines. A few shots on goal. A couple of corner kicks. One goal per team.

Most of the fans were simply sitting as we were, giving their neck muscles a good workout as their heads moved from play to play in slow and short rhythmic bursts.

But, there was one unexpected element to the whole game that completely caught me off guard.

The first time I heard it, I didn’t even pay much attention to it. It sounded like a group was singing.

Much to my surprise, though, the singing did not stop after a few bars or lines or stanzas. It kept on going in the background all the way through the 90 plus minutes of the game.

It was not as loud as it would be at a baseball or football game when most of the fans would add their voices and belt out “Take me out to the ball game” or “Green is the colour” as loudly as they possibly could.

But you could not ignore it. Neither could you tune it out. Mind you, it was not obtrusive in any way. It was, well, just obviously there!

Soccer fans tell me that the tradition comes from the U.K. where fans simply made up songs that are meant to support their team as well as mock the opposition.

Made me wonder about the impact the singing would have on players on the field. Normally, they would hear cheers when someone made a good play or scored a goal. Or they would be bombarded with boos when someone goofed up and made a bad play.

What a great way to be reminded that your team is rooting for you and railing against the opposition all the way through the game!

It reminded me of the verses from Zephaniah quoted at the beginning of this post. Our Father in heaven is singing over us all the time.

When the people of Jerusalem were tempted to live in fear because of their enemies and be discouraged (symptomatic of the limp hands), the prophet assures them that God is on their side.

He believes in them so much and cares so much for them that He sings over them. All they had to do was hear His singing over and above the din of the battle and the clash of swords (or soccer cleats!).

Wow! What great reassurance it would have been for the people of Jerusalem to be aware of His singing!

How about you, dear DWOD friend? Perhaps you are in a similar predicament—facing fear or discouragement.

Take heart. Like soccer fans singing all through the game, your Father in heaven is singing over you all the time.

Do you hear Him?

No trip to the Maritime region of Canada would be complete without a few feasts of fresh seafood. So it should not surprise you that meals on our recent swing included healthy portions of fresh haddock, Atlantic salmon, scallops, mussels and shrimp.

But the crowning jewel of all Maritime meals is lobster, steamed and eaten straight out of the shell.

So, there we were at The Waterfront Warehouse on Lower Water Street, Halifax, eagerly awaiting our first stab at a “lobsterotomy”.

The nurse, I mean, waitress, first brought us our surgical apparel, a.k.a. a disposable bib and finely crafted, sophisticated equipment made of non-surgical steel—a glorified nutcracker and a curious looking instrument known as a lobster fork.

This was followed by detailed instructions on how to perform the delicate surgery accompanied by diagrams—condensed on one side of a paper placemat.

Clearly, we were being led to believe that this was going to be a messy process, no matter how closely we followed the prescribed procedure.

As the waitress, I mean, nurse, brought us the order, Sulojana asked her if we were going to get a demonstration on how to perform the operation.

Her expressive smirk spoke volumes: “Why would we do it and deprive ourselves the fun of watching you all make a fool of yourselves?” She simply walked away.

So, there we were, left to our own devices with a steaming hot lobster, two implements, a set of written instructions and a bib.

Let me spare you all the sorry details by simply saying that it was not a pretty picture. I can’t explain how this happened, but my glasses did sport specks of lobster. I guess I did not wear my bib high enough (around my head, that is!).

It took a lot longer than we’d anticipated, but suffice it to say that we got every penny’s worth of the 2495 coppers it took per lobster.

As we took off our soiled bibs, I couldn’t help but wonder how wonderful it would’ve been to have at least one person in our party who knew how to do it right. We would simply follow suit. It would’ve saved us all some time, effort and energy.

Ever wonder why Jesus did not simply leave a set of instructions for us to follow, along with a couple of tools we could use?

He knew that once He showed his disciples how to do everything—from teaching and preaching, healing and driving out demons, raising the dead and handling challenges from the religious leaders—they were in a much better position to not only learn how to be disciples, but go on to be disciplers who would show others how to be disciples.

That process He began has continued nonstop down through the ages and brought us to the place where today we too can be counted as his followers.

This is one of the greatest blessings of being part of His body, the Church. We are never without a mentor, a spiritual father/mother or an elder sister/brother who can show us how to follow Jesus.

(Pause for a moment to give thanks to God for those who in your life who fit the bill)

Yes, a declaration of faith is all it takes to know Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

But, demonstration is absolutely essential for us to grow as His disciples and advance towards our destiny.

A friend posted this on facebook following a recent time of prophetic ministry: “I had my heart opened, all my treasures taken out and lined up on the shelf for all to see.”

What a contrast to another friend’s description of how he would prepare himself ahead of a meeting where an acknowledged prophet was set to minister: “I would confess all my sins and repent, plead the blood of Christ over me, and even fast at times.”

Why all this fuss?

“I did not want to be the one singled out by the prophet and have all my sins exposed in front of the whole congregation.” He then added with a twinkle in his eye: “I wanted to have fun watching him do it to others in the church instead!”

Go ahead, laugh!

Needless to say it was not a laughing matter to the person whose heart was opened, all their trespasses taken out and lined up on the podium for all to see.

Yes, it is true that Old Testament prophets had a reputation for pointing out the sins of the people of Israel as a whole and its leaders individually.

Yes, it is true that they were ruthless in revealing the wickedness of their hearts. (Just ask King David after Nathan was done with him…as described in II Samuel 12).

Certainly you cannot deny that Jesus himself did this in one notable encounter with a Samaritan woman by the well at Sychar. When he told her details about her unenviable marital track record to which only she was privy, she immediately responded: “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” (John 4:19)

However, when Andrew brought his brother to Jesus, his first words to him were: “You are Simon, the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas (which means a stone).” (John 1:42) In Matthew 16:17, Jesus declares that Simon’s identity is Peter (a Rock).

As time goes on, we see that Peter is anything but a rock except for the time he sank like one when he walked on water with his eyes off Jesus 🙂

From the Day of Pentecost, however, Peter does indeed turn out to be the Rock that Jesus said he was way back when He first called him.

Jesus saw in Simon the Rock, preaching boldly to a Jewish audience, not the timid scaredycat who would deny that he ever knew someone named Jesus.

He discerned and declared the gold among the dirt and made a prophetic declaration over him.

This is why when the apostle Paul began to explain the function of prophecy in I Corinthians 14:3, he used these three words:
•    To edify
•    To exhort
•    To comfort

Jesus’ heart for prophetic ministry is that we find the gold that will build up, encourage and comfort and not focus on the dirt that will tear down, discourage and condemn.

When we do, then those who receive ministry will be able to say as did our friend: “I had my heart opened, all my treasures taken out and lined up on the shelf for all to see.”

As you advance into your destiny, I pray that the Lord will bring into your life those who will perceive and prophesy the gold among the dirt.

Would you kindly share with the rest of your DWOD family about how you were edified, exhorted and comforted by a prophetic word? Thanks in advance.

When Destiny Word Of the Day (DWOD) was launched back on October 10, 2012, we did not anticipate the difficulty we would run into on occasion in getting the DWOD published on time every day.

When the posts are uploaded from our home or a hotel room where there is an internet connection, it is a piece of cake. But when we do not have online access, it’s a slab of marble 🙁

In the DWOD for April 07, 2013, we shared how we were able to go online despite this obstacle, thanks to our friends’s IPhone being used as a personal “hotspot.”

During our family’s recent swing through the Maritime provinces of Canada, we found ourselves once again without an internet connection for two nights. (This should explain the inordinately late arrival of the DWOD on May 27 & 28).

This time though, we were confident about accessing the internet, as our daughter’s IPhone plan had enough data on it for us to tether the laptop to her hotspot.

Unfortunately, we could not make it happen. The reason? Her phone could not maintain a strong enough 3G connection to access the internet.

No internet access on an IPhone? No Personal Hotspot. No tethering.

Holy Spirit spoke to me through this experience. He pointed out how the IPhone could not give us access to the internet when it did not have access itself. It needed to be connected before it could help other devices to get connected.

“You cannot give what you do not have.”
This is an important principle to keep in mind as we advance toward our destiny.

A number of years ago, John Maxwell published two books on leadership: “Developing the Leader Within You” and “Developing Leaders Around You.” Guess which came first?
Of course! You needed to develop the leader within you before you could develop the leaders around you.

In Acts 8:9-24, we read about a magician named Simon who wanted to buy the ability to lay hands on people and release the Holy Spirit as Peter and John were doing in Samaria.

He could clearly see that even though he had many tricks up his sleeve, he did not have what the apostles had. Misguided as he was in believing that the Holy Spirit could be purchased, he could clearly see that he could not give what he did not have.

In Acts 10:38, Peter says that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”

Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit at all times. That is why He could give away what he had to those who did not have it—be it healing, forgiveness, freedom from demonic oppression, life.

Ditto for you and me too, amen?