We are starting a 5 part series called “Aligned” preparing for a new season that God has for us.
I love working outside, on my screened-in porch, because I feel like I'm nestled in nature among the trees that surround our property. The fine lines of the screen almost disappear from sight and a person forgets that they are in an enclosed area. One day a bird flew in while I had the screen door opened. I guess the little creature was thinking the same thing that I did--the screen was not there and it won’t be trapped by the screen that surrounded the structure. But the bird did get trapped in our screen porch and it couldn’t align properly to go through the open door and enter back into its freedom. The bird’s Alignment for its Assignment to fly freely into the sky was “off” and it couldn’t escape the trapped area. The bird hit with great force the screened walls for several minutes, but that didn’t help its assignment to fly outdoors, because it continued to be trapped indoors by the illusive, almost invisible screens of the porch. The bird had to align its actions and energetic attempts to escape with the opening of the door, or it was going to be unsuccessful to fly free. But the bird couldn’t find the door to its freedom on its own.
When the bird was fully exhausted after trying to no avail all options of escape on its own, it finally partnered with me as I repeatedly directed it to the open door and thus to freedom. The bird partnered with me only when it became too tired to resist my help. My help might’ve felt trapping as I swooped around it to block harmful directions and point it to the only direction of freedom for it: the open screen door. I know that the other walls that didn't have the door frame on them looked like they have no freedom obstructions. But the reality was just the opposite. The wall, which looked to have most obstacles to freedom, was the only way to align with its God-given assignment of flying freely. If the bird had not aligned with one open door, it was going to wear itself out by bumping into the walls of our porch and possibly even die trapped.
ALIGNED
Will you get in alignment to enter your freedom-giving assignment?
Maybe you had a great 2019, or not so great, but believe it or not, we’ll be standing shortly in front of the open door of a new year: 2020 that can lead us to an amazing personal and corporate growth. So the Question is, “Do you want to get in alignment to enter your new assignment and succeed in the things God is directing you toward?”
In order to do that we have to partner with the right entity: God joins with the right people and discerns the right voices in our lives.
PARTNER
Will you partner with Jesus Christ, God’s Incarnate?
Soon we’ll celebrate Christmas. Jesus came so we can Reconnect and Partner with God in all of our activities. Isaiah in 9:6-7, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says this about Jesus…
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” - Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT
At creation we were given a stewardship mandate over the entire earth, and all assignments in life are an expression of that mandate. We are called to dominion that displays the loving and generous heart of Father God. But because of the separation and depravity that sin brought, we cannot exercise a just ruler-ship without God. Jesus came to reconnect us to God and we must partner with him for success. In order to do our assignments well, we must Partner with Jesus who came in flesh to Align us for our Assignments in a proper relationship with God, so everything we do in life is successful… when we do it with God.
JOIN
In order to be successful at what we do, we also need to Join with brothers & sisters in Christ in order to have the right Alignment for our Assignment. Eph. 4:16 says
“For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.” - Ephesians 4:16 (AMP)
Join with people who are sacrificially generous and genuinely committed to see you grow in your relationship with Christ. The right assignment/vision with the wrong people is irrelevant.
Through genuine friendships and sacrificial generosity, we grow in our relationship with Christ and our alignment for his new assignment. In a sense, this is a committed partnership that stays strong over time. It’s like being connected by the joints and ligaments in your natural body.
The Question that we, as the Body of Christ, need to ask ourselves when we meet new people, is not “what’s in it for us?” but how can we add value to them. This is what genuine relationships, based on generosity, look like! At Real Life Church, we are intentionally building a culture of genuine friendships and sacrificial generosity.
You may ask: Can church-less Christians mature? No, because we need the “others” in the body of Christ to practice our belief system with. Our Christian character cannot be forged in isolation from believers, or only among unbelievers. We need the help of the closely joint and knit together fabric of the Body of Christ for our personal growth and success.
DISCERN
In order to be successful at what we do, we not only need to partner with God, join with the right people, but also discern the right voices we allow to speak into our lives. Discern the voices to make better choices. When you discern things in the natural you often get sidetracked from the will of God.
Voices Lead to Choices.
The voices in your life always lead you to your choices. The Right Voices Lead you to the Right Choices. And so are the Wrong Voices leading you to the wrong choices. The wrong voices poison the eye gates and the ear gates of your soul! You need to occasionally go in and prune who you allow to speak into your life both in your physical and virtual circles. If there is someone in your life that’s talking to you and undermining the relationship with your spouse, this will feed into the destruction of your primary partnership in your life--your marriage. The best seasons in your life happen when you are in alignment with your spouse and the two of you are in agreement.
If you have wrong voices talking to you, they can pull you right out of alignment. If you are struggling with your marriage and you surround yourself with people who have failed marriages and listen to their advice, you will likely not hear from them how to repair your marriage. Seek advice from a successfully married couple that has weathered through many ups and downs and remained together. Remember… Voices Lead to Choices.
Joshua 10:2 When they got into battle they Joshua got sucked into their problems. Their problem becomes your problem. Who you attach to is important, because people drag.
God puts certain ministries and certain people around you, It’s called the body of Christ, God has anointed certain vessels in the body of Christ for your sake that you can be connected to the body of Christ. That’s why God gives prophets, apostles, evangelist, teachers, pastors. - Ephesians 4:16
HIT THE MARK
To unlock the alignment for your assignment, you must be in the right partnership. Join with the right people and listen to the right voices.
So, in 2020, Are you going to hit the mark or miss It? Now is the time to re-calibrate and prepare to nail the assignment! To unlock the alignment for your assignment you must be in the right partnership with God, join with the right people, and listen to the right voices.
How are you going to position yourself to go through the open door that God is placing before you in 2020? You have to be aligned right to go in!! Otherwise you'll fritter your energy as the unfortunate bird that flew into my screened-in porch & couldn’t align itself with the open door to enter its freedom. Just because you exert energy that doesn’t mean you will be fruitful & hit the mark.
The love of God and the wisdom of God enter in this world through the right alignments. The right alignments encourage you and help you in the right direction to stay in the will of God and his open door for you.
Will you join with people who align with the purposes of God and can accelerate your success in achieving what God is calling you to do in the earth?
Here at Real Life Church, we welcome you to real alignment in relationships, generosity and purpose to expand the kingdom of God in this world.
Do you want to hit the mark in 2020?
I invite you to make your relationship with God and with your church family a priority in the coming year so we can jointly go toward alignment for your divine assignment.
(Ecclesiastes 4:9-11) This scripture is about this divine idea of how partnering correctly increases your success ratio in terms of the relationships you have in your life, the people that are in your business, the spiritual alignments that you listen to. This is a powerful subject in terms of Alignment for your Assignment.
Live Streamed November 10th, 2019
https://youtu.be/7nr3j9O4KSU [45:47]