7 Mountains

Okay... so there's been time for the dust to settle a little, & I apologise if these posts are confused and unsettling...this is definitely a process, as I try these ideas & thoughts on to see how they fit.

I had a brilliant day of revelation on Saturday and I came across some fantastic teachings by Lance Wallnau on the 7 mountains.

Full video here:

The 7 mountains are 7 areas that impact and influence culture. They are religion, government, education, art/entertainment (includes sport), media, family (includes healthcare & counselling), business (includes economy & science/technology).

Lance talks about individuals being anointed to operate in their sphere of influence (or on their particular mountain). It is based on 2 Corinthians 10:14, that talks about our sphere of influence. And we can be overextended & overstretched, if we overreach and go beyond our commission.

I thought media was my mountain, but I think God is showing me it is art/entertainment. Media's goal is to spread the good news. Art/entertainment's goal is to celebrate life and help people to worship God in spirit and in truth.

As God began to show me the art/entertainment mountain, I felt disgust. I have hated the art scene and judged it ruthlessly as being full of proud, pretentious, high talking, self-absorbed snobby socialites that care more about their image than anyone/anything else. I never wanted to be part of that scene.

As a Christian why would I possibly want to pursue anything in that place...Babylon itself? In fact God had told me for years to flee Babylon...

So I rejected the mountain of art/entertainment & the people within it. But I lost my sphere of influence and my calling and purpose. God's heart is for me to recapture this mountain for him. Art and Entertainment, and those that dwell in that world, are in deep pain. Where there is pretension, pride and pomp, I am to counter with humility. Where it's all about self promotion and self seeking, I am to come in the opposite spirit. It's about nurturing human spirits and bringing God's beauty to the world.

I have resisted becoming a full-time artist because "there's no money in art". I felt God show me that when artists made it all about them and put their own self interests first, the world stopped valuing art because they saw artists as doing it for themselves and their own pleasure, and not for others, so they lost interest in supporting the arts financially. Some businesses exploited artists, by realising they could harness their desire for self-promotion, they use artists to promote their own businesses. Hence the rise in industries like graphic design. But this was never God's intention for arts and entertainment. When artists shift their focus onto promoting Godly values such as blessing and nurturing their audiences, the value, recognition and finances will return back to the arts.

Summary:

• My mountain (my sphere of influence, or place of impact) is Art & Entertainment.
• I rejected my mountain and lost my place and purpose.
• Attempting to operate in other mountains (such as family/counselling) led me into being overstretched and burnt out.
• When I successfully operated in the arts mountain, I was welcomed and financially blessed.
• I can take Babylon by influencing artists in my sphere to follow God's ways, and to seek God over their own image.
• The world will value the arts when they shift towards reflecting Godly values.

Update:

As God's been calling me to this art mountain, I felt conflicted. Perhaps overseas is a bad idea. Counselling & art therapy is not my mountain...perhaps I'll burn out again. But I felt God say I could do both. So at this stage:

• My application is in for overseas. I still don't know which country yet.
• I've talked to my church.
• I would like to have a small exhibition of my art to raise funds and the church is supportive.
• I would also like to speak at church, prepare a movie/slideshow, and create a comic book to quickly explain my testimony and why I'm going.
• God has also shown me some information to research to take with me overseas.
• Plus I still need to clean up, sort out & pack up my bedroom & art studio.
• I'm also still applying for jobs and have an interview on Friday.
• I would also like to do an animation for a friend who asked me back in November. I feel like I have finally broken through now and have God's permission to create it, but I only have a few weeks to do it.

I feel like I have too much on my plate!!

Prayer Request:

• That God will bless my time and help me to work quickly & efficiently, without distraction and stress that I may complete everything on my heart to do.
• That God will continue to give me revelation on where he's calling me to, and wisdom to understand & walk in it.
• That God will connect International Teams to the perfect place that he has prepared for me overseas, and that they will be blessed in that process.

As I sit in my studio I'm quietly amused...I am surrounded by paintings of mountains! I think God has been trying to tell me something for a little while now.

"Volcano of Anger & Pain", 2007. I think it is a good reflection of what Babylon currently looks like.

My first live worship painting at Northridge Vineyard, 2010.

Painting for Stop Motion Animation, "My Mountain", 2011.

2nd Painting for Stop Motion Animation, "My Mountain, 2011.

"Mountain of Breakthrough" that helped me return to church this year, 2012.

"Let God break forth", live worship painting, 2013.

This was a live worship painting of a mountain that I painted in 2010. I painted over it on Saturday as I listened to Lance Wallnau. I think it is a picture of redeemed art going into the nations.