Day 11 – Alignment

WEEK TWO FOCUS… CREATING SPACE FOR HIS VOICE

An easy way to describe the kingdom of God is to say it’s wherever the rule and reign of Jesus are established. In heaven God’s rule and reign are
always perfectly established. But to see it demonstrated on earth, we must allow Him to align us with His will as it is in heaven.

Agreement with God brings us to the place “where we say, “Yes, Lord. It is for Your glory that I live, I want Your will to be done in my life above all else.”

Alignment by God is the place where He begins to put things in order so that His kingdom can come into our lives. God begins to bring His power and reveal to us what His perfect will is so we can start moving forward with a clear and precise direction.

Alignment is the place where we are positioned by coming into agreement with God.

Fasting brings us into greater alignment with God in a way that prayer alone cannot. And it takes regular seasons of prayer and fasting to stay in alignment with God’s perfect will.

In the Book of Acts we see the apostles fasting regularly, and many crucial God-directed moments came when they were fasting.

One day Jesus went up a mountain (called the Mount of Transfiguration) to pray, and He took Peter, James, and John with Him… (Matthew 17)

While there, Jesus was transformed into His glorified state, and Peter, James, and John had a front-row seat. These guys had walked with Jesus every day, eaten meals with Him, and listened to Him teach. They were already convinced that He was the Messiah. But then they saw Jesus in a glorified state-what a mind-blowing experience!

As incredible as that was, Jesus did not allow them to just soak in their mountaintop experience. He quickly got their minds focused on kingdom business and got them moving down the mountain.

The disciples didn’t know it, but a man in desperate need was waiting for them at the bottom of the mountain. This should serve as a reminder to us that our encounters with the glory and presence of God are intended not only to bless us but to fire us up to go out and make a difference by reaching out with compassion to people who are lost and hurting.

The man they encountered was a father in need of a breakthrough for his family….

Matt 17:14-16 At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.” NLT

This man’s son was epileptic and, by some of the language used here, it would appear he was suicidal too. The phrase the father used, “falls
into” something, was a euphemism of that day to describe suicide attempts. No doubt this father was desperate. He loved his son, and I’m sure the pain he felt was overwhelming.

This man knelt humbly before Jesus, shared with Him the pain of what his son was going through, and also told Jesus of his efforts to get help. The man had brought his son to some of Jesus’ disciples and they were not able to cast the demon out.

Pay close attention to Jesus’ response, and to the dialogue that takes place
with His disciples afterward:

Matt 17:17-21 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”  18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” NKJV

When the disciples came privately to Jesus and asked, “Why could we not cast the demon out?” in a word, Jesus told them it was because of their unbelief. This is the root problem for us as well. We want to experience the supernatural power of God and see Him move, but we, too, like the disciples in this story, sometimes operate in unbelief.

The power of God is available to you, as it was to this boy. The problem was not the demon…the problem was unbelief. So Jesus addressed the unbelief.

Every moment of everyday voices are whispering, speaking and then screaming at us. It’s estimated that you have 65,000 thoughts everyday, and for some the majority of those thoughts are negative and until we recognize the voices that speak to us we will not be able to fight them effectively. 

It’s time to let go of your Doubts and Unbelief… Regardless of what you’re going through, remember, God’s Word is always true.

TODAY IS ABOUT YOU LETTING GO OF UNBELIEF…   

Unbelief it’s a great enemy of God’s dream for your life, limits your potential, it causes procrastination, and causes you to miss God’s best for you life.

James 1:6-8 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. NLT

Here is the truth…

Before God can use you in a powerful way, you’ve got to give up the doubt and unbelief.

- Sam Hinn