The Seven Mountains in Me

Recently, I’ve been contemplating the seven mountains we refer to when we talk about the “Seven Mountain Mandate.” Rather than seeing myself called to one or two of these mountains, with a presence on those mountains, I’m looking at each of these seven mountains within my life, and my personal involvement in each of these mountains.

When I first considered this, I could see a mountain range—the seven mountains—that looked like a blank coloring picture. The mountains themselves were outlined and looked something like a thermometer, which was to be ‘colored in’ to show the level of involvement I had in all of these mountains. My mission was to find out the level of involvement I already had on each of these mountains, and to what extent I should increase or fine-tune my involvement on each one. I was to ask myself, “Is each mountain up to the level and accuracy of involvement I am meant to have?”

Here are some questions I began to ask myself as I considered this.

Family Mountain

All of us are born into a family or to some person(s) who cared for us and brought us into adulthood.

• Who are my family members?
• Who do I consider to be “close” family members and who are extended family members?
• How good (or bad) are my personal relationships with each one?
  Healthy or unhealthy relationships?
• How well do I know each one? Their interests, goals, involvements, and desires. Do I understand their call and purpose in life?
• What is my place in my family, and what kind of influence do I have over each of my family members?
  
        To have true positive input into their life, they must agree to it and accept our influence.
  Sometimes we are only able to pray for them and love them.A characteristic of millennials is they want relationship before lecture.
•          Am I loving my family members? Am I praying for them? Am I peacemaker? A healer? Am I a mentor to anyone? Am I teaching them what is good and right?
•          Which family members have influence/input over me? Which ones are “fathers and mothers” to me? Who am I receptive to?
•           To what extent, and in what ways, am I impacting other families?

Church Mountain

This is our spiritual family which begins in a relationship with the Lord and continues with the body. You find your place and position in the body of Christ and your mission in life becomes clearer. Like our physical family, our spiritual family can help us to see our strengths and weaknesses and help us to learn and grow.

• What level of relationship do I have with the Lord—the Head of the body?
  To what extent am I a disciple of Jesus? (John 8:31-32).
  Don’t be a “Dino” (Disciple in name only).
  How much do I study, pray, seek Him?
• To what extent am I aware of my position within the body of Christ?
  Do I have relationships with other believers?
  Who are those I’m in ‘tribal’ relationship with?
  Who are those outside of my tribe?
  What is my position within each tribe?
  What do I receive from them?
  What do I contribute to the group?
• Who do I consider to be my spiritual mentors?
• Do I have any spiritual children I am teaching or mentoring?
• To what extent do I display the kingdom?
  To what extent am I operating as an ambassador for Christ? The Ekklesia?
  To what extent am I the salt of the earth?
  To what extent am I the light of the world?
• Am I aware of the state of the church in my community?
  My state?
  My country?
  The world?
• Do I support any church or ministries financially? In prayer? Other type of support?
• Do I see the church from God’s perspective?

Education Mountain

Beyond our discipleship studies, we can grow in knowledge and understanding in a variety of subjects. Particularly as we come to understand our mission in life (or in this season of life).

·       To what extent am I continuing my own education and personal growth?
What is our base level of cultural knowledge?

·       Who am I learning from?
Am I learning, or being indoctrinated? (How to think vs. what to think)

·       Am I studying, continuing to learn, both biblically and in other topics?

·       Am I training anyone in a field I am knowledgeable in?

·       Who specifically am I teaching or mentoring?

·       To what extent am I aware of the education the young people in my family are receiving?

·       What is my level of educational influence over my kids, grandkids, local kids—the next generation?

·       To what extent am I aware of what is going on in public education in my area?
Private schools?
Homeschools?

·       What kind of input am I giving towards education in my area?

·       To what extent am I supporting what is right and addressing what is not?

·       Do I contribute financially to private schools, colleges, home-school co-ops, which are abiding by biblical and constitutional standards?

Arts & Science

As we discover our mission, and educate ourselves in it, the next step is to do some hands on exploring.

• What is my personal level of creativity?
•  What am I doing to nurture it?
• What do I dream about, imagine, or wonder ‘what if’?
• What am I currently creating, researching, inventing, or developing? 
• Who am I in relationship with in this field?
• To what extent do I use and/or appreciate the creations of others?
• What do I know about other creators/inventors?
  What do I know about their discoveries and inventions?
  What do I know about them personally—Newton, Edison, Beethoven, etc.
• What innovations do I use and support?
• To what extent do I influence, or encourage, others to be creative, dream or wonder?
• Am I exposing my kids and grandkids to art, science and creative thinking?
  Teaching how to think, not what to think
• If not, how can I?

Business Mountain

You may not own a business, but even just as a consumer, the business mountain is in you. Yet as you develop knowledge and skill in your life’s mission, you may enter the business world through that as well. And, if you work for a business, you have a certain level of involvement there too.

• To what extent is my involvement in the business world personally?
  As a consumer—what are my buying habits? Do I buy too much? Am I impulsive? Do I hoard? Do I waste? Do I give to others?
• How do I purchase? Do I go into debt?
• Who do I do business with? Is it just Amazon?
• Who am I helping to prosper?
• As a producer—What do I produce with my time, energy, money and skill?
  What is my contribution to my family, body of Christ, and community? 
• How am I affecting my community through my occupation?
• As a seller/distributor—what type of resources do I provide for others in my community?
• What products or services do I recommend to others?
• To what extent do I help others connect with good resources?

Media

We have access to others beyond our local reach through media.

• To what extent is my involvement with media, what types do I use, and what do I use it for?Develop Relationships?
  Preach my opinion?
  Criticize others?
  Entertainment?
  Education?
  News?
• What is “trending” that I am following?
• What kind of “news” stories do I read or take interest in?
• What is my response to things that have a strong impact on me?
• Who am I in communication with about current topics?
• What part of my media use is beneficial to me personally?
• What part of my media use is beneficial in developing good relationships with the ‘right’ people?
• How do I influence others in and through my media use?
• How am I influencing or setting an example to the next generation?
• What movies, books, and forms of recreation do I participate in?
• To what extent is my media use beneficial to others?
• How does my media use/disuse impact God’s purposes for me and through me?

Government Mountain

In the U.S. we have a responsibility to govern our country and keep our leaders in check. This responsibility will vary depending on the country. Whatever our nation, the Bible tells us to pray for those in authority.

• To what extent am I aware of those who are in civil authority in my region?
  Do I know the positions?
  Do I know who holds the positions?
• To what extent do I relate to the civil authorities?
  Am I praying for them?
  Am I writing my congressmen and holding them accountable?
  Am I telling them when I agree with what they are doing?
• Do I have a personal relationship with any governmental persons—elected or non-elected? local, state, federal, police, courts etc.
• To what extent am I fulfilling my responsibilities as a citizen?
  Am I obeying the laws (if within God’s laws)?
  To what extent am I praying for those in authority, the land, the nation?
  To what extent am I informing myself on current issues and candidates, and how my elected officials are doing?
  Am I voting in every election?
  How often do I speak up on topics that arise with those I come across during the day?
  How often do I take action with petitions, protests etc? 
• To what extent have I sought out God’s opinion on a current topic?
• To what extent have I studied the Bible on a current topic?
• To what extent have I considered the opinions of others I consider to be my mentors/teachers on current topics?