Spiritual Franchise
Suk May Yei / Pastor of Cross-Cultural Ministries
Recently, the term “Spiritual Franchise”1 came into my life!
When preparing my “Engaging Story” through prayer as usual, I encountered “light bulb” moments that repeatedly poured these two pictures into my mind:
i) “Spiritual Franchise", and
ii) The Lord’s general calling to each of us: Love Him and teach our kids, then our neighbors and all nations (Shema: Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Great Commandment: Matthew 22:36-38, Great Commission: Matthew 28:18-20 respectively).
It may sound strange, but my Dear Lord always has His special loving way to get His point across! Thank you, Lord!
My business instincts tell me “franchise” is duplicating a business name and system by paying a royalty fee, which creates a win-win situation for both the franchiser and franchisee through their business relationship. Now, come to our Dear Lord - He calls us to first have a relationship with Him, then be His disciples to go share the gospel and make disciples in His name (the system); starting from home, then neighbor, and ultimately all nations and all for His Glory. And then when He is most glorified we are most satisfied (John Piper, spiritual “Win-Win”)! “Spiritual Franchise” - What a similarity, Lord!
As I always remember, You came first Lord (Genesis 1:1, John 1:1-3) - therefore it is obviously not Your Kingdom that follows the business world but that the world discovers and follows Your relational duplicate/multiply mechanism that makes their businesses eye-catching! And even much more amazing is: You have already paid it all (1 Peter 2:24) so that in Your Kingdom we have “no fee due" but all privileges to multiply generation after generation perpetually under Your Lordship! How blessed we are Lord, thank You Lord!
I reflect further: With all these privileges, does it make “Spiritual Franchising” to fulfill Your call easier? Not really on the surface, Lord … because Your sets of Kingdom rules automatically cause me “to not make any sense” or to be “counter-cultural” to the social norms. For example, pray on all occasions, love the unlovable instead of retaliation, wait for the prodigal instead of giving up, view sufferings as different forms of “blessings”, it is more blessed to give than to receive, be obedient, slow down, be still, count everything all joy, in everything give thanks … on and on and on! But thank You Lord, over the years it has been so real that I totally believe You love me so much (1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:19, John 3:16) and I just want to love You back through obedience (John 14:15, 21a, 23a). Then practicing all these becomes more and more natural and becomes more and more the conduit to experience Your peace, Your freedom and the abundant life that You promise (John 10:10), that is designed to come in Your time and Your way (Isaiah 55:8-9)! And Praise the Lord, You make a lifestyle like this contagious too! So, the answer to the reflection question is: Not easier but so much better Lord!2 This is Hope, Lord! Thank you, Lord!
Thank You for Your abundance Lord! I have been dreaming that one day under Your call, we can put all our “abundant life” stories under Your Greatest Salvation Story (the Gospel) in the form of a Broadway show; and that show will be the most popular life-transforming Broadway show not just in Times Square New York, but everywhere, all over the world … because we can live-stream now!
Dear Lord, thank You for Your Redemption Plan and forgiving our sin! Thank You for the excitement of life that in You we can invest in other peoples’ lives! Thank You for Your love! Thank You for Your Hope!
Thank You for all! In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
1 The term “Spiritual Franchise” - Inspired by a disciple through time of prayer, thank You Lord!
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| Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash |
When preparing my “Engaging Story” through prayer as usual, I encountered “light bulb” moments that repeatedly poured these two pictures into my mind:
i) “Spiritual Franchise", and
ii) The Lord’s general calling to each of us: Love Him and teach our kids, then our neighbors and all nations (Shema: Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Great Commandment: Matthew 22:36-38, Great Commission: Matthew 28:18-20 respectively).
It may sound strange, but my Dear Lord always has His special loving way to get His point across! Thank you, Lord!
My business instincts tell me “franchise” is duplicating a business name and system by paying a royalty fee, which creates a win-win situation for both the franchiser and franchisee through their business relationship. Now, come to our Dear Lord - He calls us to first have a relationship with Him, then be His disciples to go share the gospel and make disciples in His name (the system); starting from home, then neighbor, and ultimately all nations and all for His Glory. And then when He is most glorified we are most satisfied (John Piper, spiritual “Win-Win”)! “Spiritual Franchise” - What a similarity, Lord!
As I always remember, You came first Lord (Genesis 1:1, John 1:1-3) - therefore it is obviously not Your Kingdom that follows the business world but that the world discovers and follows Your relational duplicate/multiply mechanism that makes their businesses eye-catching! And even much more amazing is: You have already paid it all (1 Peter 2:24) so that in Your Kingdom we have “no fee due" but all privileges to multiply generation after generation perpetually under Your Lordship! How blessed we are Lord, thank You Lord!
I reflect further: With all these privileges, does it make “Spiritual Franchising” to fulfill Your call easier? Not really on the surface, Lord … because Your sets of Kingdom rules automatically cause me “to not make any sense” or to be “counter-cultural” to the social norms. For example, pray on all occasions, love the unlovable instead of retaliation, wait for the prodigal instead of giving up, view sufferings as different forms of “blessings”, it is more blessed to give than to receive, be obedient, slow down, be still, count everything all joy, in everything give thanks … on and on and on! But thank You Lord, over the years it has been so real that I totally believe You love me so much (1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:19, John 3:16) and I just want to love You back through obedience (John 14:15, 21a, 23a). Then practicing all these becomes more and more natural and becomes more and more the conduit to experience Your peace, Your freedom and the abundant life that You promise (John 10:10), that is designed to come in Your time and Your way (Isaiah 55:8-9)! And Praise the Lord, You make a lifestyle like this contagious too! So, the answer to the reflection question is: Not easier but so much better Lord!2 This is Hope, Lord! Thank you, Lord!
Thank You for Your abundance Lord! I have been dreaming that one day under Your call, we can put all our “abundant life” stories under Your Greatest Salvation Story (the Gospel) in the form of a Broadway show; and that show will be the most popular life-transforming Broadway show not just in Times Square New York, but everywhere, all over the world … because we can live-stream now!
Dear Lord, thank You for Your Redemption Plan and forgiving our sin! Thank You for the excitement of life that in You we can invest in other peoples’ lives! Thank You for Your love! Thank You for Your Hope!
Thank You for all! In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
1 The term “Spiritual Franchise” - Inspired by a disciple through time of prayer, thank You Lord!
2 The statement “Is not easier but is so much better” - Inspired by another disciple during the discipleship session, thank You Lord!