10,500 Global Prayer Connect

This Week’s Audio Message

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. – Matthew 6:31-33

In serving Tony Wear during the past quarter, the Lord worked through us to fulfill a very practical need for this company.  As Elder Donald Wu sought after Christ’s Kingdom priority in reviving the company brand equity, the Holy Spirit revealed to us the need to establish the company’s core values on His word.

A company’s core values will drive its brand identity, products, and culture.  For example, Apple carries a core value of “simplicity” that has its origins in Steve Job’s Buddhist beliefs.  Many aspects of Apple’s product design reflect this “minimalist” philosophy and have resulted in very sleek iPhones and iPads simple enough to mesmerize even three year olds.  Driven by this simple core value of “simplicity”, Apple has been rewarded by the “world” as its most valuable company.

What about those who seek after Christ’s Kingdom and righteousness?  According to Christ’s promise, the rewards of “pagans” will only be the beginning.  God has called us, as market place pastors, to help companies strive for success and significance through practical expressions of “seeking first His Kingdom and righteousness”.  The practical expression for Tony Wear in this endeavor lies in establishing its core values on the word of God.  Through a process of prayer and scripture study, the Lord provided Tony Wear the following statements:

Company Destiny:  to reflect God’s fervent redemptive heart.  In God’s very first act of giving after Adam & Eve sinned, He provided them clothing to cover their shame through the sacrifice of a life (Genesis 3:21), to give them a path to the restoration of life – of purpose and significance.

Core Values:  driven by the principles of “The River of Life” – to live for purpose and significance.

Through “The River of Life” core values “to live for purpose and significance”, Tony Wear has established its 2013 autumn/winter seasonal theme as “All Things are Possible”.  This theme, as a building block of Tony Wear’s brand identity, will drive all product and promotional design for that season.  We expect that this activation of Kingdom DNA will bring to the fashion world a tremendous testimony of creativity as we reflect the image of Christ.

For a glimpse of the conceptual basis for “All Things are Possible”, please see the theme narrative below.

Market Place Meditation and Prayer

1. What are the practical expressions of “seeking first Christ’s Kingdom and righteousness” for your company, department, or career?
2. What are your company’s destiny and core values?
3. What are your personal destiny and core values?

“All Things are Possible” – Tony Wear AW2013 “River of Water of Life” Seasonal Theme

Inspiration Unlocks Our Potential

The human DNA has been encoded with untapped potential that can be unlocked by the key of inspiration.

Inspiration comes from a confluence of “living water” and faith.

“Living water” opens our eyes to our destiny, our God-given potential that can achieve beyond what we believe is possible.  Faith fuels the courage that drives our determination – the perseverance to live out that vision of the “living water”, to overcome great odds in the belief that “all things are possible”.

Stories that flow the confluence of “living water” and faith can inspire.  And when such inspiration unlocks our DNA to taste the fruits of defeating the impossible, we, in turn, become vested with a story to inspire others, bringing to them the “living water” and faith.  The TW man strives to thrive in such virtuous cycle, seeking to taste the stories and to become, in himself, a story to inspire others.

The Bible’s Story of Inspiration

The ancient book of wisdom, the Bible, tells a story of inspiration where “living water” and faith converged.  The story spoke of a woman devoid of any respect from her community because she lived with a reputation of a licentious lifestyle.  She was relegated to a life of rejection and never dared to hope that she can influence others for any good.

One day, this woman came in contact with Jesus and learned about His “living water” – the water that flows from the River of Life.  When she drank that “living water”, it activated the true potential of her DNA by opening her eyes to her destiny.  Within a matter of hours, her “gift” as a promoter of her body to men was dramatically transformed into a promoter of “living water”.  In the determination fueled by her faith, she set out to influence her town by promoting to them the “living water” of Jesus.  Inspiration allowed her to achieve the impossible – a licentious woman bringing to her community the greatest moral transformation it has ever experienced.  Through the “living water”, this woman saw the sunshine behind the shadows of her life.  Through her faith, she lived out the story of that sunshine, an unwavering testimony proving that all things are possible.

We live in a harsh world.  But in a place where the odds are stacked against us, the sunshine still shines behind the shadows, hope can reign in the face of extreme adversity, and the power of inspiration will activate when “living water” and faith converge.

An American poet eloquently expressed this message as such:

We are crooked souls trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain where
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine

Two scared little runaways
Hold fast to the break of day-light where
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine

–          “The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”, Switchfoot

The TW Man’s Pursuit of Inspiration

Whether or not he is cognizant, the TW Man, like everyone, carries the baggage of a “crooked soul”.  But even in his struggle to reconcile the mixed motives of ambition and nobility, or his fight to stand in the pressing “shadows” of past failures, the TW Man instinctively seeks the “sunshine” that can set into motion the virtuous cycle of inspiration.  He vigorously pursues to activate his DNA, to taste those stories that can elevate him to become a story himself, to inspire others in the amazing confluence of “living water” and faith – where all things are possible.

Tony Wear and Tony Jean have a call to envisage the AW2013 TW Man, a man who longs to activate his DNA by tasting the recipe for inspiration – the confluence of “living water” and faith.  As a “crooked soul”, he is not without fear, uncertainty, or insecurity.  But in such shadows, he takes to the inspiration that can bring hope, confidence, imagination, determination, perseverance, and sacrifice – the inspiration that seeks the satisfaction of overcoming great odds, to prove once again that “everything is possible for him who believes”*.

This Week’s Audio Message

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. – Matthew 4:23

As we work with Tony Wear this week in China, we feel a serendipitous blessing by the divine timing to move into the 4^th of the 5 aspects of “Activating Kingdom DNA”, which is:  “exercising our market place competencies in the Spirit’s power – providing clear benefits to the company’s business operations”.

When Christ gave us the commission to disciple the nations in Matthew 28, to activate their Kingdom DNA, He laid out the “call”.  But in Acts 1:8, He gave us the “method” to accomplish that commission, which is to witness in the Spirit’s power.  Being a witness is to be a sensible, relevant, and measurable testimony.  Jesus demonstrated that testimony by imparting people hope through His messages and by meeting their needs through healing.  We, as pastors of the work place, must also strive for a testimony that is sensible, relevant, and measurable – a demonstration of the Spirit’s power that will bring hope and healing to companies and organizations.

We hope that our Tony Wear work this week will prominently reflect the Spirit’s witness through us.  We look forward to sharing with you next week the sensible, relevant, and measurable testimonies that will activate this Kingdom enterprise’s Kingdom DNA.

Market Place Meditation and Prayer

1. What are my God given abilities that can bring witness to my work place?
2. How can I demonstrate the good news of the Kingdom in my work place and beyond?

This week, we will take a brief pause to look back at the progress of our journey in “Activating Kingdom DNA”.  For your reference and reflection, we have consolidated below the sharing from the past few weeks:

Activating Kingdom DNA – Overview (MP3)

Activating Kingdom DNA – A Market Place Pastor’s Call (MP3)

Activating Kingdom DNA – the 5 Aspects:

1. Operating in the “faith of the mustard seed”
   • Operating in the Faith of the “Mustard Seed” (MP3)
   • Jesus Seeing the Tree in the Seed (MP3)
2. “Washing” the people, company, and their processes through God’s word
   • Washing Through God’s Word (MP3)
   • Preachers of Beautiful Feet (MP3)
3. Prophetic messages speaking into the destinies of individuals and organizations
   • A Psalmist View of Kingdom DNA (MP3)
   • Prophesy to Dry Bones (MP3)
4. Exercising our market place competencies in the Spirit’s power, thus providing clear benefits to the company’s business operations
5. Overcoming doubt and pride, key elements that separated God from Adam and Eve, and have inhibited our Kingdom DNA

Because both Pastor Li-En and I will be traveling in China, we will not hold a live intercession & sharing time this week.  We will resume with our global prayer fellowship again next week.  In the meantime, we hope that you will drink deep in these messages and let them become stepping stones of your market place authority.  Feel free to share our blog site with others:

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This Week’s Audio Message

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!  This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.  I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.  I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.  – Ezekiel 37:4-10

In sharing on “A Psalmist’s View of Kingdom DNA” last week, we concluded on the idea that a key to activating our Kingdom DNA is to speak forth the prophetic message of our destiny, just like the account recorded in Ezekiel 37.

The picture message of Ezekiel resurrecting the dry bones shows how prophetic authority activates our dormant Kingdom DNA.  Ezekiel’s first prophetic declaration to the dry bones rebuilt the physical identity and bodily functions defined by their physical DNA.  But their full Kingdom DNAs were not activated until the second declaration.  This prophecy, spoken to the breath of the four winds, breathed life – purpose and significance – into those bodies previously destroyed by the enemy.  With the impartation of life, the people saw their purpose and stood as a vast army ready to serve their king, to take on their mission, to fulfill their destiny.  We have the same call today to activate Kingdom DNA by speaking forth destiny.

In our engagement with Tony Wear, one of the most fulfilling experiences is our opportunity to speak prophetically into the lives of numerous individuals from the product team.  Our responsibility to train the organization on the concepts of “River of Water of Life” set the context for us to hold small group and individual trainings.  During these meetings, we experienced the Holy Spirit’s destiny messages flowing through us like living water, similar to how Ezekiel declared life into the dry bones.  In both subtle and visible ways, we sensed a shift in the atmosphere as the power of destiny began to permeate into the “dry bones” of the team, activating their Kingdom DNA.

As a provider of fashion apparel, Tony Wear has a destiny to reflect God’s fervent redemptive heart.  In God’s very first act of giving after Adam & Eve sinned, He provided them clothing to cover their shame through the sacrifice of a life (Genesis 3:21), to give them a path to the restoration of life – of purpose and significance.  We will be returning to Tony Wear next week to further exercise the example set by Ezekiel – to activate its Kingdom DNA by declaring over this enterprise its destiny.  We will continue to disciple this organization in the “River of Water of Life” and usher them to their 2013 autumn-winter seasonal theme – “All Things Are Possible”.

Please partner with us in prayer – that the Holy Spirit will restore life into the dry bones as we prophecy destiny over Tony Wear and its leader, Elder Donald Wu.

Market Place Meditation and Prayer

1. What is the destiny God encoded into my Kingdom DNA?  How is that DNA being expressed today?
2. What is the destiny of my family, my church, my community, my company, my sphere of influence…?

Lord, open our eyes, as you opened Ezekiel’s eyes, to equip us as agents of destiny, to proclaim the life of Kingdom DNA into places of death, to speak living water to the dried & parched land of our market places – ministry, home, and work place.