From the desk of Steve Shultz:
I like this word by John Wallace. Why? Because it's about Jesus teaching us how to pray here on earth: Your Kingdom come,
Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:10).
John shares some great keys here to help us bring the culture of Heaven down to earth. He's also written an E-Book below Kingdom Come! Tales of a Supernatural God which I recommend. It's full of amazing God encounters and stories that will inspire you to walk out a lifestyle of living in the supernatural.
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John Wallace:
I Heard the Lord Say, "Your Culture is Where You Live"
Kingdom Culture
"Your identity is who you are; your culture is where you live." Those are the words I heard the Lord say recently.
"Culture"...Webster defines it as "the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought typical of a population or community at a given time." Now, substitute the word "Kingdom" for the word "human." Our God desires a "Kingdom culture" (thanks to Bill Johnson for the vocabulary).
A culture in which Kingdom behavior patterns are formed – arts governed by Kingdom dynamics, beliefs born out of a Kingdom relationship with the King, institutions formed on Kingdom principles, work and thought governed by the Kingdom rule of a loving Father – is the heart's desire of our God in this hour.
Where Are You Living?
"Your culture is where you live." He means for us to live in the greater reality of the Kingdom. Are my spiritual senses so attuned every day that I see and hear and smell and taste and touch the expressions of the Kingdom of God crashing into my world?
The Kingdom of our Father is a supernatural Kingdom. That doesn't just mean supernatural "signs and wonders." I love signs and wonders. God has graced me to experience many of them. But a supernatural Kingdom also means supernatural experiences, supernatural love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Holy Spirit-produced fruit, see Galatians 5:22-23); supernatural righteousness, peace and joy (see Romans 14:17); supernatural boldness and courage (see the Acts 2 transformation of the "scaredy-cat" disciples into the bold apostles); and supernatural compassion, wisdom, as well as supernatural power.
Our Lord desires His supernatural-ness to flow as unimpeded as possible through me and you. The Spirit of God is rivers of living water: "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" Those rivers aren't just to flow "in" me but are also to flow "from" me. Ezekiel saw that river of living water flowing out from underneath the threshold of the temple (coming from the presence and glory of God), and in Ezekiel 47:9 it says, "...so everything will live where the river goes."
Everything will live. Everything! There will come a day when that is completely fulfilled, when the Kingdom of God will completely fill the earth. But now, as we pray the Kingdom down to earth (Matthew 6:10), as the river is released, things and people and projects and thoughts will come alive with Kingdom-life.
How Do We Create and Cultivate a Kingdom Culture?
"Your culture is where you live." Where am I living? In what do I immerse myself each day? Do I live among those who are pursuing a Kingdom culture in which to live? How do I "create" and "cultivate" a Kingdom culture?
Here are some suggestions:
1. Stay in the diligent process of maturing in Christ (2 Peter 1:3-11).
2. Immerse yourself in the written Word of God, "eating" and "digesting" it.
3. Inundate yourself with testimonies of God's supernatural work by listening to and reading about "God-stories."
4. Hang out with others who are on this Kingdom-of-God pursuit, encouraging each other.
Believe it or not, we can CHOOSE which culture we live in. Maybe we don't have a choice of where we live in the natural. We certainly have a choice where we live in the supernatural.
In which environment will we live today?
John Wallace
Blood n Fire - Dallas, Texas
Email: jwallace4u@me.com
John Wallace: Currently, John and Suzanne are Community Leaders of Blood n Fire Dallas, a community with a vision "to reach, raise up and release the younger generations to advance the Kingdom of God among the poor of the earth." John Wallace was born and raised in Shawnee, Oklahoma. After graduating from Shawnee High School, he attended and received a B.B.A. from the University of Oklahoma. While at OU, John and his future bride, Suzanne Martin, met. John then graduated from Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas, Texas. After graduation, John served as a dentist in the U.S. Army for two years. John and Suzanne moved back to Dallas for almost 10 years of private dental practice. From 1981 to 1986 John attended Dallas Theological Seminary, graduating with a Master of Theology degree. He has, subsequently, pastored local churches for the last 24 years. John and Suzanne have 6 children: Jason (wife Alison), Brennan (wife Lisa), and Lindsey (husband Chris), and two grandchildren, Austin Wyatt Wallace and Caleb Sage Wallace.
