“It is like the precious oil upon the head…”

Psalm 133:2a

The Psalmist said something important when he wrote about the anointing. He said, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like the precious oil poured on the head,running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, running down upon the collar of his robes. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore” (Psalm 133:1-3 NIV: 1984). The anointing of God always flows from top to bottom. In the Psalm we see the anointing of the priest begins in this way, starting with the head and flows outwards. This is like a picture of Jesus who is our high priest. Everything that happened in his life also affects us. The Apostle Paul said that Jesus is the head of the church, and that those of us who believe in Him are the body. The anointing began in Jesus’ life, but it flows onto each one of His children. We must experience the same things He experienced.

When Moses was leading Israel, all the responsibility rested on his shoulders. When his father-in-law, Jethro, visited him, he realized that Moses needed direction and advice, because he was carrying the whole responsibility alone. He said, “Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens” (Exodus 18:19-21). This way, the work would be more effective because it would be done in a personalized manner.

Jesus developed his ministry in the opposite way to Moses. Moses had to go from many to just a few. But Jesus went from just a few to many. Jesus took twelve men, won them for the kingdom of God, consolidated them, formed them in the doctrine of the Word, and finally sent them to win the nations of the earth. When we are Jesus’ disciples, no matter what background we come from, the experiences we have gone through or the commitments we have, we all will be able to follow in the footsteps of Jesus’ Apostles. When we are won for Jesus through our leader or pastor, we must then be consolidated in our faith. After that, we must be discipled in the doctrine of the Word of God so we can be sent to win others for God’s kingdom. We must keep in mind the four requirements that characterize a leader: God-fearing men, men of virtue, men of truth, men who hate greed.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
When the great scientist, Isaac Newton, rested under a tree, he saw a piece of fruit fall next to him. This led him to ask himself, “Why does this fruit fall, and not float up, or to the side?” That question set him on a process of investigation that ended in the discovery of “the Law of Gravity.”

Something similar happened to me in 1991, when the Lord removed the veil from my mind, and allowed me to understand the depth of the meaning of the twelve. I began to ask myself, “Why did the Lord train a team of twelve men, and not eleven, or thirteen? Was it not better to invest Himself in a large group at the same time? Surely he would be able to depend on a larger group of people, and the work would get done faster. Why invest his strength in only twelve? What is the secret behind the twelve?” God used all these questions to bring clarity to my life and to my vision of the Government of Twelve, or G12. I was able to hear the voice of the Spirit in the depths of my heart. He told me, “If you train twelve people, you will successfully reproduce the character of Christ in them, which is already in you. Each one of them should do the same with another twelve. If they follow this pattern, and do the same with another twelve, transmitting the same heart-desire, you and your church will experience unprecedented growth.” Immediately I began to see in my mind that in a short time it would be possible to experience exponential growth in the ministry. Then, God showed me in a vision the multiplication He wanted to give to us, and how, in a year, we would grow at an exceptional rate. When I saw this vision, the only thing I dared to say was, “My God, this is extraordinary!”

I can’t imagine how we would have achieved this growth, or what is yet to come, without the existence of this model. This principle of exponential growth through working in groups of twelve is inspired by the way Jesus developed His ministry on this earth.

TODAY’S DECLARATION
“Through faith I receive the anointing, and I know I am part of the purpose of God.”

Today’s post is an excerpt from Pastor Cesar Castellanos’ book, Declarations of Power for 365 Days of the Year: Volume Three.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING

• Old Testament: 1 Chronicles 10-11; Psalms 128
• New Testament: Luke 8:16-25; Colossians 2:16-23