Next year, I will step into a new role as a leader at Firehouse Supernatural School of Ministry. As I prepare my heart and mind for that journey, I have begun to dig back into the book Kingdom Culture: Living the Values That Disciple Nations, by Dan Farrelly. Today, in my reading, there were two quotes that stood out immensely for the season of life that I am in:
In the foreword, Kris Vallotton writes, “Culture is the result of lived-out behaviors that are driven through core values.” Later, in the introduction, Dan Farrelly writes, “A value is really at our core when it is the light by which we naturally see and interpret the world and it motivates our behavior.” Powerful.
In this season, these statements are hugely important to me. In the past, many of my values were only aspirational. Although I desired to live a certain way and to be a certain way, many of my values were tainted by a broken and distorted image of who I was, who God was and how I needed to relate to the people around me to earn their love and acceptance. If I can be honest, although I might have said my values were to live out of my identity as God’s daughter and to make His Kingdom known within my relationships, family and community, in reality, I was being driven by a desire to perform, to people please and to mask deeply felt wounds and insecurities. This led to compromise, fear, anxiety, and shame and left me feeling alone, empty and isolated.
My deepest desire is to see the kingdom reality of heaven be so evident in my life that it literally impacts every facet of me and in turn, impacts every person and place that my life touches. But in order to see the Kingdom of Heaven become a reality around me, I must first see it in me, within my own heart. In this season, I am challenged to expose every area of my life where my actions are being driven by lies, rather than the values that have been implanted in my heart by the Father. I want the values of Heaven to be the lens through which I see the world and the driving force behind my behavior. I want my Father’s values to be what shapes my relationships, my ministry, my work and my every thought. I want to see “on earth as it is in heaven” be more than words written on a page, but rather the anthem of my very existence.
Today, I challenge you to consider, what is driving your lifestyle and choices? What values do you desire to live by? What areas of your life do you need to surrender to actually live out those values, instead of merely just talking about them? What would it take to see the realities of Heaven become your new normal?
