Colossians 1 verse 9 says; “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”

 

The reason why believers must be filled with the knowledge of His will as a matter of necessity is because there is the will of God to be done. Another word for that is there is a need or necessity for alignment. A will cannot be done if there is no knowledge of that will. There can never be alignment if we ignorant of what we need to be aligned to. And this is what necessitates the inclusion of wisdom and spiritual understanding in the verse we read above.  So, in other words, to be filled with the knowledge of God's will is to be filled with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. Again Apostle Paul said it in another light in Ephesians 1:17. It says; “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” This is the summary of the subject matter under discussion. The Dynamics of Alignment: How to be Filled with the Knowledge of God's Will.

 

Isaiah 46:11 says; “I will call a swift bird of prey from the east— This is God speaking here; it says; a leader from a distant land to come and do my bidding. I have said what I would do, and I will do it.” God is looking for men that will execute His counsel on the earth. And His counsel cannot be carried out if there is no alignment or if there are no men to align. The desire of God for such a season as this is for all flesh to align with His agenda which will serve as a precursor to establishing His will on the earth.

 

The essence of this article is to diagnose and proffer solutions as to why professing believers find it difficult to align at such a time as this. I came to realize that it is one thing to have the sons of Issachar in a generation, a tribe, and among a people, it is another thing to submit to such a people. Our refusal to be under their command for guidance and instruction is at the detriment of our lives, ministries, and destinies. This is the issue this article seeks to address.

 

Now, what is alignment? Alignment talks about an alliance or a united front. It talks about partnership and oneness. It talks about submission and subjection under God's authority. Alignment in the context of this article talks about being one with God and doing the same with Him. That means you are not ignorant of His will, and you are doing His will. There are two things I like you to keep at the back of your mind as you proceed with this read. Number one; if you must align, you must know His will. But it is not enough to know his will, number two; you must also be doing the will. When Jesus was teaching His disciples how to pray, He said pray in this wise; “Our father who art in heaven, hallow be your name, thine kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

 

One thing is very clear from this prayer; there is a will in heaven that must be done on the earth. So, alignment is an agreement to the intention of God, for His eternal purposes and counsel, His grand agenda be done on the earth just as He desired it in heaven. 

 

So, having understood what alignment talks about, why do we find it difficult to align with God's purposes, His will, and predeterminate counsel?

 

#. Number One: Lack of Faith. I know this point may not come as a surprise, but I would like you to read what the Holy Spirit is saying about faith and how the lack of it causes misalignment. Whenever you see total submission and obedience, faith is not a missing factor. In fact, faith is the driving factor or force behind the accomplishment and obedience to every will of God. Where there is faith there is no doubt or fear.

 

So, Faith is the basis or foundation upon which alignment is maintained or sustained. Alignment with God requires obedience of faith. It doesn’t matter if it is little faith or great faith. We find it difficult to align because we have no faith at all. Apostle Paul said; "the life I now live in the flesh I live it by faith." The Bible at different places say the just shall live by faith. So, life is required to be lived by faith; by the proceeding word of God. It is because Abraham believed God and walked in faith that God credited it to him as righteousness. When God wants to begin a walk with any man, if faith is lacking, that intention in the heart of God will not become a reality.

 

The reason is because I have come to discover that walking by faith and not by sight is the highest and greatest form of alignment. You can put it in other words as walking worthy. Much more than faith being the substance of things not seen and evidence of things hoped for, that is the faith that creates or provides; Much more than the believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth the Lord Jesus, that is the faith that saves. But faith in the context of my discussion was practically highlighted by Apostle James.  According to him, faith is action-oriented in nature. It is a function of doing. It looks to me like faith is a verb it requires your doing, your response to the word. He said show me your faith without works and I will show you mine by my works. Faith without works is dead. The reason why believers find it hard to align is the lack of willingness to show faith by their works. We are full of the knowledge and confessions of faith. Yet we cannot back it up or follow through with our words. Let your faith be in action, when God says arise you must arise, when God says join the chariot of the eunuch you must obey, when God says build an ark you must not hesitate. It is this kind of faith that pleases God.

 

 

#. Number Two: The cares of this world. The cares of this world have the capacity to make a believer either find it difficult to align or fall out of alignment. The cares of this world talk about what to eat, what to drink, and what to wear. But Jesus asked a fundamental question in Matthew 6 that deserves our attention. He said is life not worth more than these things? So, what is the value of life? It is simply living according to purpose. Or living purposefully. When you are consumed with the cares of this world, God will not give you the cares of this world. But when you live purposefully, even the things of the world that you need and don’t care about will be brough to your direction.  So, there's the cares of life versus the purposeful life. You are either living purposefully or you are allowing the cares of this world to hinder you from living purposefully. When you begin to live by responding to the cares of this world, you have fallen out of alignment. What this means is that you are not seeking the kingdom of God first.

 

 

#. Number Three: The love of this world. This is a powerful and potent point worthy of attention. This is what determines the authenticity of our love for God. The Bible says when you begin to love the world the love of the Father is not in you. This means that the love of the Father must richly dwell and be expressed in us. The moment you begin to to love the world, the love of the father fades out. Let me bold to say that our alignment is a function of love. The Bible speaks about being rooted and grounded in love. Not in the world but in the Father. When Jesus was asking Peter do you love me? The subtle message He was passing across was that your alignment is a function of your love for Jesus. When you want to know if you are still in alignment with Gods will, ask if you still love Jesus. And when you are in love with Jesus, you are firmly rooted, you are not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

At this point I would like you to pray; the demand and prayer burden is Lord help me to return to my first love, to the place where my love had waxed cold. Help my love to burn afresh for you, let my heart pant after you again.

 

#. Number Four: We are ignorant of the hope of His calling. A phrase in Ephesians 1:17-18 caught my attention. It says “that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know the hope of your calling.” There is something called walking worthy of your calling, there is also something called the hope of your calling.  

 

Alignment is rooted in the understanding of the dynamics of the hope of His calling. Do, you know why Jesus called you? Has He revealed to you the hope of His calling? The reason why you are to walk worthy of your calling is because there is a hope of His calling. In other words, there is a joy in view. This is what makes for being in ministry for the right reasons. He said concerning Apostle Paul, I will show him the things he will suffer for my sake. So, when Paul was suffering for the sake of Christ, the perils didn't mean much to him, the persecution also. At a point he said I am not just willing to be bound but to die for the sake of Christ. He was always rejoicing in hope even in his chains and in prison, he would say I thank my God, admonishing others to rejoice always, because he knows the pursuit was not for mundane things but for crowns; the crown of glory, the grown of righteousness. It is on the basis of this conviction that he would say I have learnt to abound and to abase. That is a man who has known the hope of his calling. What is the hope of your own calling?

 

#. Number Five. Pride. This refers to the ‘I know it all mentality’. It is often said that pride goes before a fall. It is difficult to find a proud man on the path of alignment. Because the will of God requires a lowly posture, i.e. adopting and having the attitude and mindset of a child. The willingness to know, to learn and to grow. And this requires that we are bendable, we are breakable and we are malleable. Except there is a willingness to be humble, counting yourself and seeing yourself as nothing, forgetting the things that are behind and reaching for the things that are ahead, it will be difficult to stay in alignment.

The Bible says God resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The grace you receive via the posture of humility is what helps you stay on the path of alignment. Pride often goes together with blindness. The more you are proud and rigid, the more you are misaligned, misinformed and mislead. I pray the Lord will help us in Jesus name.

 

So, what are the things that makes alignment possible?

 

#. Number One: The willingness to Giving up on your own will for the will of God to prevail. It is called conformity to the patterns of God. The will of God was designed for man to conform to. The only thing you are not permitted to conform to is this world and the systems of this world. The Bible says; Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That you may know what is that good and acceptable and the perfect will of God. Your alignment is not in conformity with the word but your understanding of the perfect will of God. Jesus being aware of the grand plan of God came to the garden of Gethsemane, Bible described the content of His prayer saying; Father I wish this cup can pass over me, but nevertheless not my will but yours be done. That word “nevertheless” is very profound. He wished there was another way but He said let your will be done. That is alignment. In this regards the Bible speaking about Jesus in Hebrews 10:7, He said; “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ”  

 

 This is where alignment begins; there must be a marriage between the discovery of what has been written concerning you in the volume of the books and accepting and doing what was written in the books concerning you. In the kingdom, alignment is a function of coming into the consciousness or knowledge of what you have been born to do. This is where purpose comes in. This is the consciousness that makes you never to consider living for yourself. Because your life must be spent on something, and it must be for the purposes of God.

 

If I may ask what is your purpose? Have you begun to live and work in your purpose? Have you abandoned everything else in order to do Gods purpose? I hear the Spirit of God saying what about those who have abandoned their purpose in order to pursue the things outside of His kingdom and righteousness. This article is coming in form of an alarm system. Go back to the things you have abandoned; the purposes of God, and start doing them, give it whatever it takes. Therein lies your satisfaction and fulfillment.

 

 

#. Number Two: Vision. See what God said to prophet Habakkuk; write the vision that it may run he that reads it. So, vision gives direction to you and to others. So, when he that wants to be run by vision reads the vision, he aligns to the vision. That is how powerful vision can be. One of the mission the Holy Spirit came to the earth to accomplish was to correct the visions of men and to restore them. It says; “your young men shall see visions”

 

This is where it gets interesting; I like you to pay close attention to this. The Bible says in Genesis 13:10; “And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere.” See that? What he saw was a plain that was well watered. Let’s continue with that verse. It says; “Before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.” This is very profound. He saw the well-watered plain but didn’t see that the land would be destroyed. But vision sees beyond, it sees the destruction even in the well-watered plain. Did the Bible not say there is a way that seems right unto a man? What is the end of that way? It called it the way of destruction. Vision helps you to align and follow the way of wisdom, it is called the ancient path.

 

After Lot had separated from Abraham the Bible says in verse 14; “And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward.”  So, while Abraham lifted up his eyes and was possessing, lot lifted up his eyes and was losing out. When you lift up your eyes what do you see? Is it the plain of Jordan or the land of Canaan? We are all a product of what we see. Vision is your capacity to see the future. Whether you will possess or enter the wrong path is all a function of what we see. The quality of the life you live and the turn out in the future is a function of what you are seeing now. Because the well-watered garden he once saw became a city of destruction, the well-watered garden dried up. But Abraham was seeing terebinth trees yet it was a land flowing with milk and honey. Vision will make you see gold in the dust.

 

Your vision is the number one instrument to decipher or decrypt Gods blue print for alignment. If you see wrongly, you will not align properly. That is why where is no vision restraints are casted off; like a blind man leading oneself and others into the ditch. This is why our desire is that the light of God’s word be a lamp unto our feet and a light onto our path.

At this point I desire you to pray and say O lord anoint my eyes with eye salves. So that I may see where I have veered off, and come back into alignment.

 

#. Number Three: Sowing and waiting according to Gods instructions. But before this point can take effect, fervent prayer would have gone forth. Most times, aligning to Gods will may never be convenient. You may consider the shame, the cross, the scoffing and scorning. The Bible says Jesus despised the shame, and endured the cross. It was in the place of prayer that He defeated flesh by saying nevertheless not my will but yours be done. He prayed so earnestly and fervently that the sweat became like drop of blood.

 

Before you can hear the instructions of God, you must have prayed. Having received that instruction, then you do as the word had commanded. God instructed Isaac in Genesis 26:2. “Then the LORD appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you.” And he obeyed, how did I know that? Verse 6 says; “So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.” Bible says “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. ¹³The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous.” Simply because he aligned.

 

The same land where there was famine, he kept discovering wells. In verse 22; the Bible says; And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” Did you see that? That is the power of instruction. Instruction keeps you at a state of equilibrium and balance. It keeps you at the center of Gods will. When God says don’t go to Egypt, it is simply tantamount to crisis and destruction if you disobey. Alignment is not a negotiation; it is a function of obedience.

 

Never take Gods instruction for granted, your present state could be as a result of instructions you despised or took for granted. Ask the Lord to have mercy, restore and realign you again.

 

#. Number Four: Sensitivity and discernment. Alignment is never possible in the flesh. The Bible says God is Spirit and those who worship Him, who can align with Him are those who connect with Him in Spirit and in truth. And this is why sensitivity and discernment is very important.

 

When you are discerning and sensitive to the Spirit, you connect with the Spirit of God, what it brings forth is revelation. Here is an example; Apostle John said I was in the Spirit on the Lords Day and then I heard a sound. Note that word he said; I was in the Spirit. No one hears the sound of the Spirit if he or she is not in the Spirit. The Bible says in the book of Revelations; Let he that has an ear hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The Spirit may be saying something, if you are not in tune, if you are not in alignment, you may miss out. That missing out talks about misalignment.

 

So, hearing what the Spirit says is very important. Jesus said as I hear my father say I say, as I see him do I do. Prophet Isaiah heard a question, who will go for us? And he quickly opted in, He aligned. Bible says he replied here I am send me.

 

When every one was giving their opinion about Jesus, Peter said you are the Christ the son of the living God. And Jesus said flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. Light and revelation comes by the Spirit, but your ability to trap that light for direction is a function of the sharpness of your discernment. This is what makes you full of the knowledge of Gods will.

 

 

In conclusion, it is not enough to desire to be part of the formation of the end time army; but alignment is very key. It takes your ability to see, to hear and to walk by faith and to discern what the Spirit says to the churches to be part of the formation. And I pray as the Lord grants us grace and illuminates our hearts, perpetual alignment will become our reality and experience in Jesus name.

 

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Apeh Francis Abah!

Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!