Today’s Bible Verse
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV)
The Anointing to Lead & the Anointing to Follow
I am so excited to see the commitment to discipleship growing in our church! I believe discipleship is the key to unlocking the best versions of ourselves. It’s doing our part in helping one another to get back to the original design of the purpose and plan that God had for our lives. Discipleship in its simplest form is leading and following while relying on God’s grace. Discipleship can be articulated with this formula:
DISCIPLESHIP = (Leading + Following) x Anointing
You can see in this equation DISCIPLESHIP equals Leading plus Following multiplied by the Anointing. We can raise the level of discipleship by raising either the level of leading or following. It also shows we can greatly multiply our efforts of following/leading by relying on God’s Anointing. But like we learned in grade school that if you multiply a number by zero, the outcome would be zero. It could be the highest number you can think of and if you multiply that number by zero, your outcome would be zero. In the same way the level of Leading and Following could be very high but if our reliance on the Anointing is zero, well the quality of that discipleship would be zero.
In discipleship there is an anointing to lead and an anointing to follow. When we lean in and rely on that anointing our efforts are greatly multiplied. But if we disregard the anointing and lead or follow in our own strength; however, much or little our efforts might be, it will all be utterly worthless. Let’s learn a little bit more of the anointing to multiply our discipleship. (Rick Abordo)
An Uncommon Life
When two people make a covenant commitment of discipleship there is a specific anointing that is available to both parties. The anointing to lead is available to the leader and the anointing to follow is available to the follower. We learn from the verse above that our ability to lead is directly correlated to our ability to follow. The better we follow the leadership we have committed ourselves to, the better we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, the better we will be able to lead those who choose to follow us. When a leader leans on the anointing to lead, which is basically submitting to their leaders and the leadership of the Holy Spirit, they can then give specific direction to a specific person in a specific time for a specific issue. The specific direction may not necessarily be “found in the Bible” but it will be the specific direction that they need to follow at this time. For example, it could be direction to delete their social media to avoid distraction. Or it could be to trade in their smartphone for a flip phone to cut out avenues of temptation. Or it could be to put a relationship on hold to ensure Jesus is first place in their lives. These types of direction may not be found word for word in the Bible, but when submitted to godly leadership and the leadership of the Holy Spirit this could be the very types of direction someone needs to unlock the potential of God’s purposes and plans for their lives.
The anointing to follow is simply that, the ability to follow their leaders direction when seemingly they could not do it on their own. Sometimes our leaders give us direction and in our mind we think there is no way we can do that in the natural. But when we rely on the Anointing to follow the Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom, the power, the ability to accomplish what has been asked of us. The way we lean into this anointing to follow is found in our willingness and obedience. It’s when we have the heart of the young armor-bearer found in 1 Samuel 14:7 (NIV), “’Do all that you have in mind,’” his armor-bearer said. “’Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.’” That’s where we unlock God’s supernatural ability for our lives. We read on in 1 Samuel 14:12-14 (BSB), that the armor-bearer’s reliance on the anointing to follow greatly multiplied their effort and brought about a great victory, “So the men of the outpost called out to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, ‘Come on up, and we will teach you a lesson!’ ‘FOLLOW ME,’ Jonathan told his armor-bearer, ‘for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel.’ So Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer behind him. And the Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and finished them off. In that first assault, Jonathan and his armor-bearer struck down about twenty men over half an acre of land.”
Our willingness and obedience to the leadership that God has placed in our lives gives us the ability to do and accomplish what we never thought we could do in our own strength. Let’s lean on the anointing to lead and the anointing to follow to unlock God’s BEST for our lives!
Today’s Declaration
Lord, I declare that I have the anointing to lead and the anointing to follow! I am willing and obedient to You and my leader that You placed in my life. I will follow and I will lead, not by the best of my ability, but by the best of Your ability that You have placed in me through the anointing!
Today’s Bible Reading
- Old Testament: 2 Samuel 13; Psalm 112
- New Testament: Mark 14:53-65; Galatians 3:1-14
