Kingdom Family
Kingdom culture is being established at The Wilderness Place, and it is a beautiful place to be. What does kingdom culture look like? It starts with a large family gathering around the Kings table for a meal on Sundays and Tuesdays. Each person brings something special to our time together including the children in the room. In a family we gather around fathers and mothers. This is very different from gathering around pastors, teachers or doctrines.
Let’s take a peek into the story of Esther again. In chapter two of Esther, we get a description of a Jewish man who adopted his cousin after her parents died. When you think about his scenario you realize Esther may not have had a choice in him adopting her, but she did a have a choice in submitting her heart to his guidance and leadership. Since she chose to honor him as her father this opened up tremendous blessings in her life. Oftentimes, Abba puts us in family that isn’t blood, and it becomes the greatest gift of all. Sometime after Mordecai adopts Esther there is a decree by the King, so he brings her to the kingdom. When he brought her to the kingdom, he gave her special instructions on how to conduct herself. He also instructed her to not reveal the origin of her family. Esther had great favor with Hegai who, is the King’s eunuch. He knows all about the King. Everything he likes and desires. Hegai represents the Holy Spirit. Hegai moved Esther into a special place, gave her special food from the Kings table, and ordered beauty treatments for her daily. Esther spends a year soaking in oil and perfume. The Holy Spirit was making her tender to the things of the King. At the end of her soaking, she only wanted to please the King. What makes your heart happy? What do you like? Because her heart was for the King only, she received the crown. She gained so much favor and blessings with the King that is literally changed the world around her. We all know the story of Esther and how she saved her people. This part of the story is talked about a lot in the church. You are saved for such a time as this, but no one really digs into how she got to this place.
She got here by choosing to surrender to a father. Kingdom culture starts with surrendering to a father in the kingdom family. We must choose to plant ourselves in a family. We don’t always like what a father says but if we honor his guidance and leadership, it brings blessings to our lives. I am sure Esther probably did not agree with keeping her family origin a secret, but she submitted to his guidance. Her honor brought incredible blessings to her life. These blessings are not monetary. They are the healing of the heart and wholeness to your soul. The physical healing of your body. The restoration of families.
We are seeing a beautiful family emerge out of the wilderness with a father who has a heart for the King. A father who always points his family to Jesus. It is truly incredible what the Holy Spirit is doing in Mississippi through The Wilderness Place. We are so thankful for Pastor Tim, our Spiritual father who is leading us to establish the ways of the Kingdom. We are thankful for the family who has planted themselves here and is honoring his leadership and guidance. It is changing us and everything about our families. Kingdom culture is family choosing each other in the good moments but most importantly in the hard ones. We are walking through parenting together, growing in our tenderness to the Holy Spirit together, encouraging each other in our marriages, we have walked through the death of family together, sickness and it is changing us not only inside the four walls of the church but most importantly to the world around us.
Family, we are coming alive in the wilderness. Thank you for your honor and commitment to establish this culture in Gulfport and Mississippi. The last shall be first.
If you are reading this and find yourself thinking I don’t have a family or a spiritual father to guide me. We invite you to the table. You are always welcome to our home. There’s always room for more. You’ll find love, grace and mercy. The tenderness of Jesus is always in the air.
