Intentionally Kingdom Cultured
The heavenly hindsight of my God given phrase for 2020: Intentionally Kingdom Cultured; is seen as a very amazing divine retrospection, and very revelational now that I have grown through 2020, which has to have been the most unconventional, dissatisfying, disappointing, discouraging and weird year, I have ever grown through in my life. There wasn’t much in the year of 2020 that has not been changed and any root in me that has not been shaken to its core. As God decided to dethrone all of our idols in 2020, in that way only He could, nothing remained the same. There isn’t much in this year that was untouched or unchanged by the “Cancel God” culture in play in our societies. It seems like evil principalities and powers have had the upper hand in our cultures. But things are never as they seem, as the purposes of God in the unseen are always in play for our good and His glory, as God is never not at work for the good of His people He loves.
2020 Saturated Deception
I can honestly say that this year was saturated by the evil intention of the stealing of our freedom, the assaulting of our civility, and the destruction of our unity. Our nation has been ravaged by evil in 2020. This is how we see it in our worldly viewpoint. The cancel God, cancel nationality, cancel everything culture stepped up in full gear with evil initiating fake reality through plagues, riots, strife, hatred, anger, mob violence, deception, fraud, cheating like we have never seen before. 2020 ushered in a new kind of fear and anxiety that has stripped us of compassion, common sense, community, and civility, and left us isolated and divided. 2020 is a year steeped in all kinds of deception, false narrative, fake news, mediatic false frenzy, censoring, and cheating, even to the point of stealing an election through mass fraud. There has never in my life time been a era where deceit has taken center stage and has changed things up in our culture radically, so much so it is hard to recognize our nation. Yet, God is in the midst of it all is still purposefully on the move to His amazing endgame He has envisioned for our nations. He is trustworthy truth that will stand the test of this time.
Ground Hog Day
In 2020 the cultural pendulum swung in the opposite way. Opposite became our ground hog day, repeating itself over and over in false narratives, until what is right now is proclaimed wrong, and what is wrong is now accepted to be right. In this life season, we have seen the deny-accuse, a cultural pattern of deception in play in a strong way, this deny-accuse evil repetition, where the accuser is the one who has done the evil deed and the accused is the innocent one. Justice has been flipped on its head as judges no longer make judgment based on the law and the constitution, but by their own tainted, biased, corrupted view point. Thus and therefore, learning to be “Intentionally Kingdom Cultured” in 2020 was the best thing I could learn in this horrific year of deplorable, devilish, deception and chaos.
Worldly Viewpoint
The first lesson of 2020 was to learn how not to react out of my flesh, out of my worldly viewpoint, but to slow down my impulsive reaction and respond to God first, and not out of the defeat in my worldly viewpoint. I needed to learn how to respond in and out of God’s victory, the victory He has already won for me. Living in and out of Jesus’ victory, was my first intentional kingdom culture change. In 2020 our culture is saturated with the “cancel God” ethos and it was a good time to learn not to flesh out in reaction to very mean, spiteful, bitter people who are living out their deception in their fake reality and emotionally throw up over you every time your reality of truth collided with their fake reality. This year we learned the harsh truth that people enveloped in a fake realism no longer hated what you believed in that was counter cultural, but they hated you too and actually would hurt you if given the chance to do so. How sad is that? 2020! Yet, we take hope in knowing God’s best is yet to come.
A Hard Road before Them ~ “Listen carefully: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves [have no self-serving agenda]. 17Beware of men [whose nature is to act in opposition to God], for they will hand you over to the courts and flog you in their synagogues; 18and you will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given you within that [very] hour; 20for it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Matthew 10:16-19 Amplified Bible
Bold Blatant Evil
Evil was not hidden anymore in 2020, it is the new evil, where you just commit your fraud in broad daylight as lies are no longer hidden, they are blatantly and arrogantly spoken. Therefore, it was a great season to learn not to be trusting in my worldly viewpoint, but to be leaning into God’s Kingdom perspective. To be intentionally Kingdom cultured, I was taught this year how not to take things I heard into my heart, to put up a guard against speculation, assumption, presupposition, theory, and prescriptivism. I learned to discern to not walk in what I think I know, but take the time to listen up for God’s reality of truth. A huge percent of people in 2020 lived out of what they were spoon fed by others, who were trying to manipulate them, they never truly knew the truth, they lived out of what they “thought they knew”. This made the clashes between fake reality and the reality of truth have a propensity towards physical violence, because they falsely believed that was the only way to make their point heard. Being intentionally Kingdom cultured by God, I learned a lot about the wisdom of being gentle as a dove and wise as a serpent in 2020.
Permission Not Granted
In 2020 I learned being Kingdom cultured meant not giving people permission to speak into my life that did not give God permission to speak into their life. Being wise about who I gave permission to speak into my life was a big change for me in 2020. The main stream media and all people I did not know, people who did not do life with me, I revoked their permission to speak into my life. I shut off all mediatic false frenzy news. I began to be taught foremost by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, through listening up during my vital-vertical relationship times with God. I started discarding every opinion spoken to me and opened my ears wide to God’s discernment and wisdom. I began to be a picky eater and only settled for the reality of truth. I choose to no longer be satisfied with the second best of man’s experiential speculation, and I began to go to the source of all knowledge, asking God for wisdom, discernment and navigation through the muck and mire of this 2020 year where everything suddenly changed up in a chaotic way I could not keep up, and I felt lost in the radical modification of things that had been foundational in my life.
If we are out of our minds in a blissful, divine ecstasy, it is for God, but if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14For it is Christ’s love that fuels our passion and motivates us, because we are absolutely convinced that he has given his life for all of us. This means all died with him, 15so that those who live should no longer live self-absorbed lives but lives that are poured out for him—the one who died for us and now lives again. 16So then, from now on, we have a new perspective that refuses to evaluate people merely by their outward appearances. For that’s how we once viewed the Anointed One, but no longer do we see him with limited human insight. 2 Corinthians 5:13-16
“This is where the distortion of God’s word has settled into our nations, chaining our freedom, justice and liberty for all. We have change things up, so that we serve no power higher than self. We have corrupted our cultures, we no longer resemble Jesus, HIs way, truth and life. We need to pray to break the chain of self-supremacy off of our nations, in Jesus Name, by the power of His resurrection that happened so that all of us, all of us, created by God in His Image, could be free and live out of the free will we were graciously given, out of the common sense bestowed upon us, out of the law written upon our hearts by God and underneath the Rulership of God’s Love, which is a Kingdom Supremacy that no man corrupted or can corrupt, and no darkness can put out the light of truth contained in its authority. We pray for God to change it up in our nations according to this truth, this way of God’s found in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15. We decree and declare the love of God will control us, we will know Jesus, His way, truth and life and we will live for Him, resemble Him in the all of our everything. Let it be so.” Author ~ KimberlyMac
Hard Lessons Of 2020
These were hard lessons to learn, cutting out all assumptions, speculations, rationalizations, presuppositions out of my saying and out of my hearing. I stumbled many times before eventually beginning to learn to be intentionally kingdom cultured in a way that I was changing, and was not accepting anything short of the truth. This has truly been the biggest change of my year and has affected me much. Being undivided in heart, is always something I desire, my human condition derails my alignment with God at times. The Holy Spirit taught me to be intentionally Kingdom cultured, it was my responsibility to make the right choice the first time, and I needed to slow down my impulsive reactions to the things in my worldly view point. Things that were unjust, unfair and deeply discouraging and disappointing to me. My human condition and that of others set me up to learn how to deal with disappointment. Making the wrong choice to react is not a responsible option when you are being intentionally kingdom cultured by God. I needed to stop blaming my bad reactions on my “human condition” because this was just not the truth. If I stayed connected to God, heart to heart, in wholly-holy alignment with Him, I could make the choice to not react impulsively, because in my weakness His strength could flow. I did learn this was possible for me, as all things are possible in Christ. Christ in me, my hope of glory. I knew I needed to learn not to react to my world, but respond to God and His Kingdom first. God showed me that to be intentionally kingdom cultured, I needed to step out into my day as one who belonged to the Kingdom of God, not to this world. The reality of truth is, I don’t belong here and never will; I just live here for now. I needed to learn to be self-controlled in my impulsive reactive nature and the way to do that was to deal with my identity. Was my identity wholly-holy in Christ? If so, I am a citizen of heaven and I needed to act like I was kingdom cultured, not worldly cultivated.
John 10:17-18 “The Father has an intense love for me because I freely give my own life—to raise it up again. 18I surrender my own life, and no one has the power to take my life from me. I have the authority to lay it down and the power to take it back again. This is the destiny my Father has set before me.” Philippians 2:5-8 And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let his mindset become your motivation. The Example of Jesus Christ~ 6He existed in the form of God, yet he gave no thought to seizing equality with God as his supreme prize. 7Instead he emptied himself of his outward glory by reducing himself to the form of a lowly servant. He became human! 8He humbled himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient. He was a perfect example, even in his death—a criminal’s death by crucifixion! The Passion Translation
Jesus Our Role Model
Out of my connection with God and His Kingdom, I could be navigated by His Holy Spirit to a godly response, I could be intentionally kingdom cultured by God, so I did not react to my worldly viewpoint, but I responded out of His Kingdom Perspective. Oh, I am still unlearning impulsive reactive actions and learning godly response and I have still been tricked by the enemy who knows which buttons he can still push for an impulsive reaction. I am not there yet, but I am creating new spiritual habits each time I make the right choice, the first time. It was so helpful being taught by the Holy Spirit, learning and growing in this area and from experience to experience, during 2020, of laying down my right to my human reaction, and finding out the way God wanted me to respond. I had a great role model in Jesus, and being in the Word, seeing His life play out in godly precepts that I could meditate on, this is how I began changing. It was not easy, a very hard lesson to learn in times such as these, where injustice is so loud and justice has taken a seat behind a corrupt political agenda.
You have become spiritual adulterers who are having an affair, an unholy relationship with the world. Don’t you know that flirting with the world’s values places you at odds with God? Whoever chooses to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy! 5 Does the Scripture mean nothing to you that says, “The Spirit that God breathed into our hearts is a jealous Lover who intensely desires to have more and more of us”?6 But he continues to pour out more and more grace upon us. For it says, God resists you when you are proud but continually pours out grace when you are humble.”7 So then, surrender to God. Stand up to the devil and resist him and he will turn and run away from you. 8 Move your heart closer and closer to God, and he will come even closer to you. But make sure you cleanse your life, you sinners, and keep your heart pure and stop doubting. 9 Feel the pain of your sin, be sorrowful and weep! Let your joking around be turned into mourning and your joy into deep humiliation. 10 Be willing to be made low before the Lord and he will exalt you! James 4:4-7
Strongholds Of Evil
Where there is no accountability, the enemy is able to build a strong hold in our societies. So many evil plots were hatched in 2020 to try to overturn God’s Will and cancel God’s Way. There has not been much accountability for those who have done evil things and because of this, injustice has a strong hold on our nations. The innocent has been falsely accused and condemned, while the guilty go free to continue their evil spree. When you live in a lopsided culture when it comes to justice, which is driven by deception, it is so easy to forget to add love to the truth you speak and very easy to become compassioned fatigued and embittered. Being intentionally Kingdom cultured this year, I was taught by God how to love my enemy, by seeing them through the heart of God, and hearing His thoughts towards them. The lost are always on God’s mind and we, His people have access to His mind and can know His heart thoughts. When you begin praying for the lost in this culture of godlessness, it is so easy to restore your compassion and civility for them. This is being intentionally kingdom cultured, changing your focus off of this worldly viewpoint, of pride, getting even, punishing others, winning over others at all costs, defaming others and exchanging these cultural wrongs for a Kingdom perspective of humility and the power of meekness and speaking the truth in love. God mourns for all those who are lost and we should too, even if they are cheating, defrauding and getting away with everything, we should see them for what they are, lost from God and in desperate need of a Savior.
Transforming Word Of God
As 2020 progressed, I learned a lot being taught by the Holy Spirit out of God’s Word. God continued to work on my heart as I submitted to His Holy Spirit, to being one who was taught by God, intentionally Kingdom cultured. I became less and less centered on what I wanted for here and more aware of God’s Kingdom purpose and priority. Wow, this changed me and humbled me. I was taught by the Holy Spirit how God’s Providential Care balances two key purposes and I must mirror that with my life. God is purposefully working for our good and purposefully working for His Kingdom Glory. This is why at times His Sovereign Will seems so hard to swallow, as God balances between our good and His glory, while purposefully working towards His miraculous endgame. But God taught me that His Sovereign Will and His Infinite Love go hand in hand, and when I realized this great truth in my reality, and began seeing things out of this Kingdom Perspective, there was not one time in 2020, where I felt His Sovereign Will was more than I could swallow, because it went down easier with His Infinite Love. With my heart wide open to God’s love, I was able to trust Him more even though things were not shaping up the way I thought they should. I became a receiver, opening my heart wide to God each day and receiving what I needed to grow through that day and God was faithful to equip me with exactly what I needed on that day.
Fear Decrease ~ Faith Increase
As God intentionally kingdom cultured me, there was no challenge that I faced that was greater than the Kingdom Purpose contained within the challenge. With every challenge I had in 2020, I stopped thinking about how hard the challenge was and started thinking about how great the God purpose was in the challenge, and by faith, how incredible God’s endgame would be after these unseen God purposes were fully worked out into my reality. I realized each time I faced a great challenge in 2020, that God’s purpose in play in that challenge, was greater than the challenge itself, and this gave me courage to learn and grow through. Fear decreased in me and faith increased in me as I let the Holy Spirit teach me this Kingdom perspective. In 2020, God purposefully navigated me through as I did the hard work of working out my salvation in the challenges I faced, and I made it through 2020 better than I started the year. I did not just go through 2020, to get through, but I actually grew though 2020 and God purposefully saw to it that I gain some incredible Kingdom heart treasure. I am blessed to be Gods and to be taught by His Holy Spirit, and I can only begin to imagine what 2021 has in store for me as I start out with my God given word: “Stretch”. So, I hope you follow me this year as I post on the Author Table of the Bridegroom’s Café, my learning and growing through, my “Stretch 2021”.
Thank you for stopping in The Bridegroom’s Café. We hope the spiritual meal on the Author Table has fed your soul. God bless you MUCH in 2021 as you listen up to The Bridegroom’s Voice. KimberlyMac