Alignment requires me to avail myself of what is available. That is, the leader shares, and I accept my shareholding responsibility. This means I sacrifice my values to prioritize someone else’s values. This means I sacrifice my passion to burn with someone else’s passion.
Of course, the priorities are the kingdom of God and the King’s right behaviors, living the lifestyle of the kingdom culture. Of course, the passion is the passion of the Father for His purposes known as agape love.
As Clay Nash says, “Value my values if you align with me.” To this I add, “Burn with my passion if you align with me.”
1. If we measure leaders by shared passion, we will recognize the moment they stop valuing our values. Without shared passion, you cannot maintain shared priorities.
When I observe a leader without passion for the priorities of our assignment, I know they are questioning the values of that assignment. They will either stop working on priorities and create some of their own, or they will start redesigning the assignment to fit their values.
Soon, that leader will be saying, “Dr Don, you bring confusion when you get involved.” Or, “Dr Don is an old wineskin. We are never going to get where we need to go if he doesn’t change.” Or, “I need to find a leader who has my values.”
The kingdom of God cannot operate on you finding a leader who shares your values. It cannot only operate upon the sacrifice of your values in alignment. In alignment with the leader you are assigned, an assignment from Jesus. you make His values your priorities. The values of Jesus flow through the assignment of Jesus to your leaders.
While the kingdom has a set of values that never change. Specific values flow into specific assignments. The leaders positioned by Jesus to represent Him share His values and His passion.
2. If your leader does not have the passion of Jesus, you are not connected to the Source of kingdom priorities. You are in something dead even if it is growing or even manifesting miracles. It is dead works ignored by Jesus.
Most of what people call “revival” is people finally getting God’s values and passion as their priority.
But revival chasers are no more connected to the purpose than the witch of Endor. They have a passion alright, but it remains their own passion for their own experience. Until they sacrifice that burning to an assigned leader in alignment relationship, they remain vagabonds. Revival groupies do not impress Jesus. They certainly share experiences but they do not share values and passion.
If you don’t believe me, consider how they run off to the next opportunity to share an experience! They are dying from conferencitis. Any hint of alignment makes them cower in fear. They would have to submit what they crave to a kingdom assignment. Instead of getting high by sharing someone else’s experience, they would have to burn with shared passion and live by shared values.
Leaders shared the passion of the leader with whom they are in alignment. They learn to share the values of that leader. In doing so, they embed the values and passion of Jesus for the assignment He gives them. Outside that flow of alignment, they will operate in their own values and passion.
The kingdom of God is a living, spiritual matrix. Alignment is the arrangement that makes the values and passion of Jesus available. Assignment defines alignment. I align by assignment with a leader’s assignment. That leader is aligned to an assignment bigger than his own. In this way, we are all aligned with the Architecture of the Kingdom Matrix of ministry. The spiritual ecosystem is explained by metaphors like building, body, and bride. The connection points supply. “Every joint supplies.” I release. I receive. I do so where I am aligned.
I never align myself. I never assign myself. This is the kingdom of God and the King’s appropriate lifestyle and kingdom culture. I seek it. The shared values of the kingdom are available at the point of my alignment. To expect the King to provide you with a bypass is ridiculous and delusional. You are just demanding to live by your own values and passion when you say you are directly connected to Jesus without any kingdom alignment. The connection points for your personal lifestyle and the connection points to the kingdom Ecclesia are not the same thing. One is about the grace of life; in this we are all equal. One is about function in the kingdom culture; in that we are all unique.
