In order to explore ‘kingdom alignment’, I will build on my 3 Chairs illustration. If you’re unfamiliar with my 3 chairs message, you’ll want to read my previous blog here in which I discussed a worldview of humanity using this illustration!

When we discuss bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth in Chair 1, we are not learning how to take mountains and get dominion. That may be a byproduct, but we really should be known as people whose only agenda is to bless with the blessings of heaven. When we go in as sons and daughters, we are entrusted with inheritance. We learn the rhythm of love, power, and wisdom– the lamb, the lion, and the eagle. The kingdom alignment that comes with that sets us up for the kingdom assignment we have been given.

What does heaven on earth look like in the seven spheres of society? If you’re a schoolteacher, it means you can wake up in the morning thanking God for Mondays because you’re going into a classroom setting where you can represent the Father. You carry heaven’s environment into that place.

Instead of seeing an ADHD problem in a student, you may see a destiny of creativity. Instead of seeing students who are bored, you see students who are primed to discover the thing that captures their heart. Instead of focusing on a child’s restless or rebellious tendencies, you see an opportunity to bring shalom. You don’t treat them based on their history but on their destiny.

If you’re a nurse, you wake up realizing you have a unique opportunity to minister to people at difficult times in their lives. If you’re an accountant, you can see the opportunity to demonstrate heaven’s integrity as you handle earth’s resources. One of my spiritual sons in our family realized he was a Chair I police officer. He goes into the secret place as a son and gets insights from the Father, then helps make connections between where drugs are coming from and going, how the enemy is strategizing in certain cities, and prevents many bad things from happening. People are amazed. We have story after story of this kind of thing happening with businessmen, neuroscientists, teachers, government workers, and more. They are lambs, lions, and eagles in every area of society.

Sons and daughters in the Kingdom family become agents of the Father’s blessings from Chair 1, which always asks, “How can I be a blessing?” When we carry the Kingdom culture of heaven within us, it impacts the culture around us. With the fellowship of the Trinity as our prototype we can help bring heaven to earth in every circumstance. It’s all about living as a son or daughter of glory, always with a servant’s towel over your arm. From this place of influence with God you will change the atmosphere in your spheres of influence. A spirit of sonship and servanthood raises your stock and gives you a platform to represent God’s heart while raising the stock of everyone in the family.

The enemy is constantly trying to keep believers in Chair 2 because he knows that in Chair 1 we can see the Father’s face, hear His voice, feel His love, experience His presence, and live in His pleasure. From this place, we carry these blessings into the world and draw people back to the Father. Are you experiencing kingdom alignment? How can you engage with the Father everyday to maintain this posture? 

Papa God is waiting in the secret place to source you with all that you need to walk into your kingdom assignment, but first, He wants you. 

The story of Daniel, and how his heart was burdened for a pagan king, is one example of how sons and daughters walk out their destiny. Because we know that the mission of our Father is a family mission, we do not stand against the world in judgement. We are for the world. Our hearts are invested in those we love, honor, and serve. We are always asking the question, “How can I be a blessing?” because we know it’s the heart of our Father to bless– and because, in our alignment with Him, He has put the desire to bless into our hearts as well. 

If you really want to know how to bring honor and glory to God in this world, become an agent of the Father’s blessing. 

We are carriers of the Dove’s habitation and we live from heaven to earth. 

The rest of the world is living from earth toward heaven, hoping to get some of heaven’s blessings and resources into their lives. 

We are already in the Father’s house; He has already said, “All that I have is yours.” 

We are agents who bring those resources and solutions into every area of our world. We carry the atmosphere of heaven – the love and honor we have experienced in the Father’s living room–  for others around us to experience.

We can’t impart what we don’t have. Daniel and his friends understood who they were and who they belonged to. The culture within them shaped the culture around them. 

Culture changers know who they are, whose they are, what they have, and what they are called to do – to be a chosen nation and a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9.)

They also know what is happening in this world and look for opportunities to bless and carry shalom into restless, anxious, and even dark places. 

As priests, we re-present God before the people and the people before God. As sons and daughters of the King, we carry keys of the kingdom to bind and loose and prophesy the King’s decrees. Those are all intercessory roles, and they flow from the intimacy we have with the Father. From that intimacy, we take on the responsibility of ruling and reigning with Him. Our place of habitation becomes a kingdom culture, and our culture brings the blessings of love, honor and covenant. The increase of the kingdom and the government of shalom are going to be on the shoulders of the Son (Isaiah 9:7) – and the sons and daughters. 

The kingdom culture is first and foremost a family culture – not an institutional culture, not an organizational agenda, and not a religious movement. If the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Spirit in heaven is the prototype for earth, as we saw in Eden, then heaven’s environment on earth is going to look like that fellowship. We will still honor people we disagree with, love those who are not yet receptive to our love, and bless those who might expect us to  curse them. That’s what the prayer “On earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10) is all about. We do this together with the Father, Son and Spirit. It’s a journey together as a family. 

Together in the family of heaven you are called to shift culture. You only have authority over what you weep over, so I want to challenge you to position yourself to receive the Lord’s heart in the areas of culture He has put on your heart. What does He say about these spaces and these people? And then, I want you to ask the Father, what is He doing and how you can bless what He’s doing. It’s a wonderful thing to be entrusted by Papa God.

One of my favorite ways to illustrate humanity’s worldview is to put three chairs on a stage to represent three kinds of people. When I am teaching on this, I set up three chairs on the stage and say that out of the seven-plus billion people in the world, every single one of them is living his or her life from one of these chairs. Chair 1 is about the kingdom of God, Chair 2 is the kingdom of self, and Chair 3 is the kingdom of the world. 

CHAIR 1 – ROOTED IN SONSHIP

In Chair 1, you realize the kingdom is not about the things of this world, so your focus is never on problems but always on kingdom opportunities.

Christians are in Chairs 1 and 2. If you are living in either of those chairs, you are saved. But there are many differences between Chair 1 and Chair 2. Most Christians live from Chair 2, even if they have visited Chair 1 at times. Chair 1 is a beautiful place to be. Those who live from that place are rooted in the spirit of sonship, which we talk about quite a bit in this book. Chair I is about experiencing God’s pleasure without ever having to perform. In fact, you already have an A + on your report card before you ever go out and do something. In Chair 1 you live from a place of total rest. The Dove, the Holy Spirit, comes to rest on you; you become His habitation. You can hear the Father’s voice as a son or daughter and trust that He is able to guide you. You know you belong,  so you can believe God’s promises and then behave as He has called you to do —  you learn to put “be” “ have” and “do” in the right order. You know who you are and then you live from your inheritance and walk out your destiny too. You aren’t trying to get from earth to heaven but also want to bring heaven to earth. You can live as a river overflowing righteousness peace, and joy in the Spirit (Romans 14:17), overwhelmed with the things of God, because that is the atmosphere of the kingdom.

CHAIR 2 – THE KINGDOM OF SELF

In Chair 2, you have a tendency to live for God rather than living from God because you have become rooted in the orphan spirit rather than a spirit of sonship.

Chair 2 is the kingdom of self. Most people don’t think Chair 2 describes their worldview because they don’t recognize the subtle differences. We have all been Chair 2 Christians at times, and we can easily slip from Chair I into Chair 2 thinking at any point in our lives. But over time, we learn to see the difference. You are always under pressure to perform because it’s what you do that makes you who you are. You experience the Holy Spirit’s visitation but not His habitation as the Dove resting on you. Instead of confidently hearing God’s voice, you try to discern His will while fearing you might be misled by self or the devil. Instead of being a son or daughter in order to have and then do, Chair 2 believers are trying to believe the right way in order to behave the right way in order to belong. You try to live from inheritance and destiny so you can know who you are rather than the other way around. You’re alway trying to become something because you don’t know or have forgotten your true identity. You’re trying to get to heaven rather than trying to bring heaven to earth. 

 Chair 2 Christians often talk about how bad things are getting and how God’s judgment is coming on this problem or that city. They are like the disciples who wanted to call down judgment on a Samaritan town that did not receive Jesus (Luke 9:54). Jesus rebuked them because He came to bring life not destroy it. Those in Chairs 2 are both afraid of the world and influenced by it because the perspective is that if you don’t separate from the world, you will be corrupted by it. If you touch a leper, literally or figuratively, you become unclean. Everything in Chair 2 is rooted in fear, even when it is disguised in the vocabulary of love.

I am convinced that much of the church is living from Chair 2 and doing ministry from that perspective – not motivated by love but by fear. They serve not because of their significance as sons and daughters in the kingdom but in order to become someone significant in the kingdom. They work not from God but for Him. Hundreds of thousands of churches are filled with Chair 2 people who know about the Father but don’t actually find their identity in Him or make their home in His living room. They function as spiritual orphanages.

The Chair 2 perspective is always thinking about self. Why didn’t I get blessed the way that other person did? Lord, what are You going to do for me? Once when Lenny LeBlanc and I were ministering together, I adapted his beautiful worship song “There Is None Like You” into a Chair 2 version:  “There Is None Like Me”! That’s the focus of a Chair 2 position. I’ve had people tell me they came to hear me speak but didn’t like having to sit through two hours of worship. “That’s okay,” I say. “It wasn’t for you. It was for Him.” An orphan spirit says, “I didn’t get what I needed! Where is it!?” For many of us, Chair 2 has become normal, but it is actually abnormal in the kingdom. Jesus is normal. In the kingdom, anything that does not look like Him is not.

CHAIR 3 – LOST

If you are living in Chair 3, you are lost. That is the world system apart from Jesus, outside of the kingdom of God. It includes 1.6 billion Muslims, more than a billion Hindus, and nearly half a billion Buddhists, as well as atheists, agnostics, and every other non-Christian. Every one of these people are looking for love, security, value, significance, and purpose. It’s in our DNA as human beings. But they aren’t able to find these things, whether they are looking in religion, money, accomplishments, or anything else. I believe the biggest god in the world right now is money, regardless of the religion of the people seeking it. Whatever people serve, that’s what they worship. – Excerpt from Called to Reign

Which chair are you sitting in? What are some of the things that are keeping you from the rest of the Father? Jesus maintained His rest in His identity and you can reign in life with Him from this place. This is your privilege as a son or daughter of God. Don’t wait, receive this invitation from Papa God today.

Paul and Ahlmira (my spiritual son and daughter) have seen world-changing love in their ministry and their family of believers. One woman named Mira, who was a part of their church in the Philippines in her college days, returned years later with her husband and a high school-aged daughter. Ahlmira told her, “You are home,” and it hit Mira like a rhema word from God for the moment. She embraced the family atmosphere.

Then she extended the family atmosphere to many others, especially the women she was discipling in her ministry group. She made it feel like Papa God’s living room. The group grew in love and started noticing anyone God would highlight to them.

Mira traveled more than an hour to visit the mother of one of her group’s members, and the mother was so touched and felt so valued that she invited them to start a gathering in her town to help kids in the area.

Every month they would gather, first with a few children, then with twenty or thirty, with many of them bringing their mothers with them. Mira’s group would teach Bible lessons, provide some food, and pray for the sick. People were healed. Love overflowed with acts of kindness and generosity, and power flowed with it.

When one of Mira’s group member’s sisters was jailed for drug use, the group began visiting her and bringing her food. This gathering grew too, and many other inmates got to hear testimonies and Bible teachings. The warden eventually asked Mira to formalize their work as a recognized jail ministry and help conduct some programs for inmates. Some inmates who have since been released have joined Bible study groups and spread love to their communities.

What Mira received, she gave. And what others received from her, they gave. And the waves of love continue, transforming lives, families, neighborhoods, communities, and even distant places.

Do It Again

God has given me a holy ambition to see the light of Love shining in the darkest nations. This testimony is a perfect example of what is happening right now in Cuba and what God wants to do all around the world. The love of Jesus is spreading throughout homes, and Jesus is being glorified. These Lighthouses of Love are beacons of light rising in their communities to care for whoever comes to the family table. Love is moving out in order to draw people in so that they can taste Heaven on Earth. 

At Global Mission Awareness, we are supporting these Lighthouses to see the Father receive many sons and daughters returning home. We have a goal to establish 1,000 Lighthouses of Love across Cuba, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Would you join us in investing in love, the one thing that changes everything? We have been invited by the Father to ensure that people get to experience a God that looks like Jesus, and we have said “YES!”

Please pray and consider partnering with the GMA Lighthouses of Love Movement. You can donate by clicking here. 

For over 30 years, I’ve had the honor of traveling to incredible places all around the world. I’ve seen the most memorable architecture and eaten at immaculate restaurants. Seeing the beauty of God displayed in places from Austria to Uganda has given me a picture of just how majestic God is. As much as I love the adventure and passion to bring the light of the gospel to the darkest places on Earth, one thing remains for me; there’s no place like home. When I finally get home and get to kiss my wife and sit down with her for dinner, it fills my tank. Nothing can compare to this. When my children are home for the holidays, how the heart of this father swells. I am in my happy place. There’s nothing like being in the space that we have cultivated together. Let’s not forget my dogs. Sookie, my boston terrier, is like my own personal little ambassador of love.

If you’ve heard me speak, you can tell right away that I am not from the United States of America. I was born and raised in the beautiful country of Norway. Some would even call me a Viking. I have not lived in Norway in many years, but I enjoy every trip that I make back home. To return to the place of my birth and see my family always fills my tank but I’ve made the USA my home for now. Because of my busy travel schedule, I spend a lot of time in embassies around the world. 

There’s something about walking into these embassies no matter what country I am in, like when I walk into the Norwegian embassy in Washington DC. I feel at home. They speak the language of my family and on a given occasion, I may even smell some of my favorite Norwegian food. When I cannot go home, sometimes I can experience a little taste of home in this space. It’s the same way when I’m traveling, and I miss my wife or my children. All I have to do is make a call so that I can connect with them and hear the sounds of their voices. 

The Lord has put something deep within my heart. It’s a part of this holy ambition that I have been given by the Father to bring the light of Jesus to the darkest corners of the Earth. The world needs to experience a God that looks like Jesus. Some people have never even heard of His first coming, though. They do not know that there is a place called home that’s prepared for them by our beautiful Jesus. 

Do you remember the first time you met Him? Do you remember the first time you said His name when you believed, and you experienced the grace and love of the Father wash over you? There is nothing like the experience of our Father in those moments. It is the taste of home with a good Papa. I’m so glad for the gift of His presence being everywhere with us. I’m so glad that we can experience our heavenly home wherever I am. \

I have this dream in my heart. It’s a dream that people in the darkest nations will begin to have the experience of heaven in their neighborhoods, businesses, and organizations. People will come into the awareness of the love of God because the presence of Jesus has filled the houses of believers who have allowed God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to make their home with them. These houses will become like embassies of heaven. They are a taste of home. They are places where the hopeless receive hope, the orphan finds a home, and the sick are healed. Here is where everyone gets to come to taste and see that Abba, our Father is good. 

These places are lighthouses of love. Their light shines in the darkness and when people might not know what to do, they will know who to go to. These beacons of light call people home to an encounter with Jesus and into the heavenly family. It calls them safely to the shore to come and feast. Can you see it? Here is where they meet one they’ve been waiting for their whole lives and didn’t know it.

My heart rejoices that at the moment, we have 104 lighthouses all over Cuba where needs are being met as sons and daughters of God are representing the family of heaven. This is how heaven comes to Earth. This is what God is doing in Cuba, and this is what He wants to do in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As a kingdom family movement, we are supporting these lighthouses to see a harvest of sons and daughters. We have a goal to establish 1,000 Lighthouses of Love in the nations. Will you join us as we invest in love, the one thing that changes everything? 

Please pray and consider partnering with the GMA Lighthouses of Love movement. You can donate by clicking here.

Without doubt, the greatest hindrance to our ability to step into our destiny is fear. Fear, which is rooted in unbelief, holds us back from the purposes of God. Unbelief thrives in a heart that is not in alignment with God’s nature, purpose, power, and presence. Because of this, every believer must confront unbelief and come face to face with fear. There is no way around it. To step into freedom, we need to deal with unbelief and fear—first within us and then around us.

Thankfully, our heavenly Father has given us everything we need to defeat fear (2 Tim. 1:7). These three gifts—power, love, and a sound mind—are the keys to saying no to fear in our lives.

1. The first key to overcoming fear is learning to walk in the power of God. When we face overwhelming circumstances, we can respond to them in one of three ways—we can run from them, we can ignore them, or we can face them. The first two options are rooted in fear. The third option, facing our circumstances, is the choice to step into God’s gift of power in our lives.

2. The second key to overcoming fear is love. According to the Bible, love is the antidote to fear (1 John 4:18). Love deals with the roots of fear. It disarms and dissipates it. This is true, first in our relationship with God, and, second, in our relationships with others. First, we allow God’s love to chase out the fear in our hearts—the fear that He will let us down or punish us when we fail, as well as the fear that others will hurt us. Second, through our experience of God’s love, we learn to fearlessly love others.

3. The third key to overcoming fear is cultivating a sound mind. A sound mind can be defined as “wisdom and understanding that leads to Kingdom lifestyle choices, habits, and mindsets.”  In other words, a sound mind is a mind that thinks according to Heaven’s perspective. The Bible promises that we have been given a sound mind, or the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This doesn’t happen overnight or by accident. Little by little, day by day, as we do the things that bring glory to Him, we will experience transformation in our minds (Phil. 4:8).

Fear can seem like an unbeatable opponent. It is one of the giants that overwhelms and sidelines most people. But fear doesn’t have to win. Love is all it takes to overcome any amount of fear (1 John 4:18). When we are made perfect in love—when we receive a full revelation of God’s love for us and what His love entails—we are freed from the grip of fear.

Take some time and think of areas where fear is holding you back. Then, ask the Holy Spirit what His strategy is for you to overcome these fears.

Have you ever gone swimming in a river? If so, you’ve stood at the edge and taken a first step in. Immediately, you are ankle-deep. Wade a little farther, and you’re up to your knees. Keep going, and the water is waist-level. Then chest-level. Then up to your neck. And if you really want to go for it, you let yourself go all the way under. 

Intimacy with God is much like that. You can go ankle-deep. You can keep going and let the water flow past your knees, your waist, your neck, or even over your head. You can keep pressing in for a day, a season, or a lifetime. But many people don’t go that far. They stop when they’ve had just a bit, a trickle, a little affirmation that yes, God is there, you and He are connecting, and all is well until the next time. 

God gave Ezekiel a prophetic picture of this kind of river. The prophet was shown waters coming out of the temple in Jerusalem that gave life everywhere they flowed. At first, the river was just ankle-deep, then it was knee-deep, then waist-deep, and then it was too deep to cross. This is how the Father’s love and the Holy Spirit’s power works in our lives. This vision has several meanings at different levels, but one one of them is to represent our experience of the presence of God. And if this river represents God’s presence, it must also represent the flow of love into our hearts. 

Some people think they are satisfied with a taste of it. Others cannot be satisfied with just a taste. They know they need more. Some keep on going because they can never get enough. They want total immersion, a baptism in an ocean of love in the depths of their spirit. But they also want more than a baptism. They want an ongoing flow. 

God has enough love for that. You can swim in that ocean of love. There’s enough for you to go to the nations and represent His heart to the multitudes. I encourage you to dream big like that, but also to go ahead and start representing love where you are. You can envision huge revivals and movements sweeping across nations and regions and the world, but there also has to be enough love in you for your wife or husband, your children, your boss, and your neighbor. 

Many people long for the kind of love that transforms nations but have trouble with the kind of love that reaches out to a difficult relative or neighbor. They want the Father’s love for ministry purposes. All of it is available, but it does not work well just to go for helpings of certain kinds of love like they are items on a buffet. If you want to go for it all, then it is very important to go for it all.

But you will also need to recognize seasons in your life. Revelations of love come in waves, with God preparing you for the times that are coming and then giving you more when you are entering into a new season. And a least some of His reasons for doing that are up to you. You often get from Him whatever you are prepared to give to others. 

Remember God’s purpose from the very beginning–to fill the earth with His people who bear His image. To put this another way, to fill the earth with His glory through the people who will carry it. 

This is why the heavenly family of love created human beings, why the Son of love became Love in the flesh, and why He breathed the Holy Spirit into His followers. 

You were made for this mission, but you cannot carry it out unless you meet God in a place of intimacy and let Him love you. This intimacy may begin with droplets and trickles of His presence and love, but an increase is always available to those who steward these foretastes.

 

Interested in learning more about this topic? Purchase my book The Love Awakening by clicking here!

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Do you remember why you are doing what you are doing? Let me ask you, do you have a clear end goal in mind from where you stand today? When I think of Jesus, I am humbled and grateful that He always had the end in mind. There are two instances in the scriptures that fill me with joy and gratitude. One is when Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy set before Him. He envisioned being united with us, freeing us from the curse of sin and death, and that kept Him going. The other instance is when we are told that the Lamb, Jesus, was slain before the foundation of the world. This means that the Father had the end in mind from the beginning. I am grateful that His vision is much greater than ours, and that He allowed us to experience the fullness of His love.

In a conversation with his disciples, Jesus gave an important response that is often overlooked. I want to emphasize its significance because it forms the foundation of my biblical worldview and the reason I am writing this blog today. In Matthew 24:3, the disciples asked Jesus when certain events would occur and what sign would indicate his return and the end of the age. They used the word “sign” in the singular form, but in Matthew 24, Jesus lists several events that will occur leading to his second coming. 

In Matthew 24:14, it states that the “gospel of the kingdom” will be shared around the world as a witness to all nations before the end comes. The end refers to the coming of Jesus in power and glory, which is exciting. By reading further into this chapter, we can see a beautiful unfolding of events. The term “nations” in this passage refers to various people groups, as the Greek word used is “ethnos”. For instance, Pakistan has 463 people groups that speak different dialects and accents. The gospel of the Kingdom will not only cross regional, religious, and racial boundaries, but it will also take root in every nomadic tribe, village, and every nuance of humankind. This is truly remarkable!

Jesus will soon enter His Kingdom and you are an important part of His grand plan. As a redeemed member of the Church and a messenger of this Kingdom, you have a role to play. I urge you to choose to live each day in the reality of Jesus’ Kingdom and His glorious return. In this Kingdom, perfect love will reign and all fear will be eliminated. Let’s make this choice together and prepare for the coming of our King. 

While we wait for the second coming of Jesus, there are many people who have not yet heard of His first coming. They must know. Jesus wants them to know.

Ask the Father today, “What can I do to play my part?” and practice simple obedience. That’s all it takes. Together we will usher in the reign of Jesus by making sure that Earth looks a little more like heaven and that every nation will hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

To learn more about how to partner with us to bring the light of the Gospel where Christ has not been preached, visit our website here. 

 

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