The entertainment world captivates our attention and defines our perspective. So many times we are left needing to dismantle and unlearn wrong things so we can learn right things correctly.
The impossible pursuit of eternal fulfillment through temporal things can easily haunt our lives. Tracy and I were building our dream home. Charlie & De De Glaze came over to bless the work as it was well under way. Excitement was contagious! Every person we had shown the property and the progress of the build was thrilled for us. Our family and friends were congratulating us and cheering us on. In this instance, however, De De said something that marked me. In a moment of celebration she looked at me and said, “This is going to be such a wonderful home and it has so little to do with the house you are building.”
There is a an atmosphere of a home that never comes from the house. The atmosphere of your heart determines the atmosphere of your home. A house is a structure. A home is something carrying something deeper. The deeper more meaningful things in life require something more than just the temporal structures of this world.
Life’s greatest treasures are easily undervalued and overlooked when we are overcommitted and under-connected. It’s all to easy to be stressed out, unkind and releasing that which is contrary to building a home because we’ve focused on the house which brings with it house payments, upkeep, etc. We all can act like grizzly bears at home and teddy bears everywhere else. No matter what the atmosphere of your home may be God’s Kingdom can fill that atmosphere if we bring our hearts before him allowing Him to have control.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle. This was a very unappealing place to go with an unpleasant smell. Somewhere along the line someone had the thought of changing its image. They began developing ideas to implement. Over time the attitude began to shift and an atmosphere of fun began to emerge. The Fish market began to be known for its climate of contagious joy. The culture was established in such a way that it is now a centerpiece for corporate training.
This progression is the basis for my book, 180 Degree Turnaround. The process of change begins with knowing and practicing fresh thoughts of hope. Thoughts sustained produce ideas. Ideas sustained produce attitudes that become deeply rooted in our hearts. Attitudes sustained produce an atmosphere about our lives by which we become known. Atmosphere sustained produces a climate that affects the lives of people around us. Climate sustained produces CULTURE that becomes our legacy that lives on long after we are gone.
Maybe the atmosphere of your home is a little like a stinky fish market that is unappealing at the moment. Change is all about a culture shift. You can experience the inspiration to change without ever addressing the culture of your life. After some time, inspiration fades and the culture prevails like ruts on a well-traveled road that keep you held on course. Don’t lose hope!
Shifting your culture is like steering a ship. At first it appears that not much is going on. But then, steadily, over time, there begins to be a noticeable change in the scenery. Before you know what happened, the course of your life has been altered and you will never be the same.
Change is a process not an event!
When you get your atmosphere right good things grow and bad things die. The culture of God's kingdom in our hearts and homes will cause our lives, our friendships, our families and our marriages to flourish wildly.
Recently Tracy and I were out and about. As we walked to the car I found myself having a deep sense of appreciation for our many years of friendship. As I opened her door I did so from a deeper place of service in my heart. She slipped into the seat and instead of closing the door I leaned into the doorway. I looked deeply in her eyes and she knew I was having a meaningful conversation that required no words. She looked back at me in conversational reciprocation and we kissed. Not like a peck on the lips. We really kissed and it was a meaningful heart connection. It seemed almost magical.
Patterns born from Kingdom priorities have the power to produce moments that are filled with a deeper sense of eternal purpose.
I want to commission you to awaken the culture of God's kingdom in your heart and in your home. This releases an atmosphere that will grow expressions of God’s Kingdom in every person’s life who has the privilege of being impacted by your family.
Neh 4:14 …Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes. NIV
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Create an atmosphere in your life that will attract the attention of God.
Worship music
Family meal talking about what God has been talking about!
The Word
Pray for family members and close friends.
DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY GROUP LEADERS
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
LEADER’S NOTES: In this season we are addressing how being fully known and being fully loved awakens something healthy within us that makes us fully loving. Our families and our households should be influenced and blessed by God’s love as our first and foremost priority.
THE POINT: God isn’t just wanting us to conquer emptiness. He desires to fill us with all the fullness of God so He can overflow from our lives into our world and this should start in our home. Eph 3:19.
Fully known. Fully loved. FULLY LOVING FAMILY.
There is an entire industry built on helping businesses create an inviting atmosphere. The focus is to be intentional about what customers experience by focusing on what they see, hear and even smell.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Share a time you can remember experiencing a good atmosphere in a restaurant or some experience you had.
2. Share a time you can remember experiencing a bad atmosphere in a restaurant or some experience you had.
We were created for atmosphere. Relationships tend to thrive more readily when the atmosphere is right.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
3. How do you think it would influence a friendship if you discovered a friend’s favorite music
and purposed to play that the next time you were together?
Being intentional about the atmosphere of any relationship will deepen that relationship. This happens on a much deeper level when we consider the spiritual atmosphere of our hearts and our homes.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
4. What are some ways you can cultivate a spiritual atmosphere in your heart and in your home?
Nehemiah 4:14 …Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes. NIV
Our commission this week was to awaken the culture of God’s Kingdom in our hearts and homes. This is how we fight for our family.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Create an atmosphere in your life that will attract the attention of God.
Worship music
Family meal talking about what God has been talking about!
The Word
Pray for family members and close friends.