A Kingdom Lifestyle

Tonight at school, Leigh Ann rocked us with a word about living a Kingdom lifestyle. Basically it was a challenge to begin to think about what life will be like after 2nd year is over. Her premise was this. Are we just chasing after a Kingdom culture made by others, or have we developed a Kingdom lifestyle. Unless we have developed a lifestyle, when we leave school we will find ourselves floundering. It was a very good teaching time and really challenged me to look at my life and make sure I am not using school as a crutch.

In order to live a kingdom lifestyle we have to live from an eternal perspective instead of a worldly perspective. A worldly perspective is linear. You start at one point and end at another. Life becomes a race, you always need more, and your results are the fruit. An eternal perspectives is circular. The main idea is to be. I know who I was, where I came from. I know where I am going (what is to come) and I know where I am. There is no beginning and end, no race.

An eternal mindset operates out of grace. You see everything through the Father’s eyes, and He always has enough. So you operate out of a mindset of abundance. You have hope and you know the glory of the Lord. You live in forgiveness and signs follow you as you minister. You live in honor, and even when you have loss, you see gain.

On the other hand, an earthly mindset lives in law. There is a poverty spirit which emphasizes lack. Your only hope is the rapture. You pursue signs and your self worth is built on performance. You live in competition with others, and there is no gain in loss, only loss.

There was much, much more, but you get the picture. As I reflected on my life I could see times where I operated in both realms. The key is to purposefully try to stay with an eternal mindset. Paul told us to renew our mind. I believe that part of that renewing is to choose to operate out of an eternal mindset in everything that we do. I know that looking back on my life I would have been much better off if I had been able to do this more.

So, as second year draws to a close, I want to make sure that I am living a kingdom lifestyle. I need to continue to go after all the things that I have been going after in school. I’m not too worried. I think that over these past two years I have been developing this type of life. I have seen signs begin to follow me in ministry where I used to follow after signs. It is exciting to think about all that Papa has in store for me over the next number of years. It’s time to really begin to go after divine health. I want to live long and well. 120 would be nice, as long as I am still running marathons. It’s time to start training again. I am getting motivation back and it feels good. I believe that a Kingdom lifestyle means that I have to use Kingdom principals in exercise and eating, so I need to get back in shape. The best way to do that is to start training for another marathon. I’m looking for one in late October or early November. It’s time once again to begin to focus. Well, it’s out in print now. I’m committed. We will see, no, we will do!