Proper Alignment
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - Have your ever driven a car that constantly pulls to the left or right, if you take your hand off the steering wheel for a second it immediately pulls and before you know it you are either headed off the road or into oncoming traffic that is because your car is out of alignment.
Out of Alignment happens when the arrangement in which two or more things are not positioned in a straight line or parallel to each other. There are many times our lives and hearts and minds are out of alignment with God, His Word, and His will for our lives and we find ourselves being pulled in all kinds of directions that are contrary to the straight and narrow. We will begin to drift and unless we correct the problem we will end up in spiritual accident that could have devastating consequences.
When we are out of spiritual alignment, we may often feel a range of feelings like negativity, fatigue, loss of motivation, spiritual, mental, and physical burnout. There may even be times when we feel like God has left us or forsaken us because we are not in alignment anymore. Suddenly circumstances seem too hard to handle, the pressure of life becomes too great to endure, we fail to seek comfort from the One who has overcome the world, conquered sin, death, and has all power in His hands. We begin to look for answers in other things only to realize they are leading us down the wrong way, and we are heading for destruction.
We need to make sure that we are spiritual aligned with God who can turn all things around for our good, and make things right again.
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 is clear when it says, “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God”. This is being in alignment, being in the proper position, being right with God.
If you want all God’s blessing to come on you and overtake you then your ears need to hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left – Isaiah 30:21.
Today I want to talk on the subject Proper Alignment.
PRAYER: -
SCRIPTURE: - 2 Kings 13:14-20 “Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year”.
BACKGROUND: - Israel was being threatened on every side by enemy armies, it was like the poem “Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Cannon to the left, cannon to the right, cannon in front, the were surrounded and life suddenly became too hard to handle. Joash was a young and newly appointed King to the throne, but he knew to seek wise counsel. He goes to Elisha the prophet of God who is Israel’s connection to the Lord and spiritual leader although he was sick unto death. Surrounded by the enemy King Joash went to get some very vital and final advice from Elisha on how to get Israel into alignment with God to receive His blessing for victory.
He was asking Elisha how do we turn these problems in our life, the enemy pressing Israel on every side,
uncertainty, and utter defeat into blessings overflowing from every side. And Elisha gave him three instructions, or points of alignment.
1. Get Ready by getting a Word from God.
Notice that the first thing King Joash did was get ready. He went to the man of God to get a word from God. This is what we must do today when we are out of alignment. We must first, find a promise from God that counteracts the problem or circumstance that is standing in the way of God’s blessing. One song writer said it like this “We need a word from the Lord”.
There will always be tests and trials, adversities, struggles, setbacks, unwanted circumstances and just plain, hard and often scary situations in your life. The trick of the devil is to try to make us believe that what is happening right now, the struggle that you are dealing with right now, the issue you are facing right now is the way it is always going to be. However, I am reminded of the scripture in John 16:33 which says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”. Then 1 John 4:4 says, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world”. Romans 8:31 & 37 “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us. Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us”. That is the Word of God to counteracts what the enemy is trying.
WATCH THIS: - That’s your bow and arrow. That’s the weapon of this spiritual warfare. With the Word of God you can stand on the blessed assurance that because Jesus overcame the world and greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world you are more than a conqueror and if God be for us who can be against us therefore, we can stand knowing that we are standing on the promises of God and because He cannot lie we can have peace that passeth all understanding during any trial or tribulation in the midst of the enemy.
So, the first step to being in proper alignment – getting right with God is to get a Word from God. A word that will counteract what the devil is attacking you with.
2. Stay Focused on What's Important.
“Open the window eastward.”
Elisha was saying that Israel’s greatest problem was the enemy approaching from the east. Even though they had enemies converging on them from every direction, Elisha’s instructions were to focus on defeating the greatest enemy.
It is important to stay focused on the things that matter the most. We can’t be entangled with the affairs of this world but most focus on Christ for only what we do for Him will last. We can’t try to win every battle at the same time.
Recently I was doing some work in our living room that consisted of some spackling, sanding, and painting. Although I wanted to conquer it all at once I had to focus on what was important at the time. I couldn’t paint before sanding and I couldn’t sand before I spackled and before I did any of that I had to get things ready, tape what needed to be taped, get all the supplies needed, move the furniture around. I had to focus on the task at hand to accomplish what the ultimate goal and was and that was paint our living room.
You can’t fight a million battles at the same time open the eastward window. That’s where you need to put your focus and energy. Don’t get distracted get ready, focus on where and how God is directing you. You must press for the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
WATCH THIS: - If you don’t focus on specific, God-directed, God-inspired goals, you will not accomplish what it is you need to accomplish, in other words you will not hit the mark and to miss the mark is the definition of sin. You’ve got to focus on God setting your affections on things above in order to be in proper alignment and be right with God. The sequence of commands used to order soldiers to carefully fire their weapons is ready aim fire. It’s the same for being in proper alignment with God you must be ready, take aim, and fire.
3. Fire Taking God-directed Action
Elisha is the original Troy Landry for those that like me like to watch swamp people because Elisha says “Shoot” verse 17 and he shot. Then Elisha said “The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them”.
King Joash had not yet fought the army of Aram, but Elisha pronounced victory from the beginning. When we are in proper alignment with God and follow His leading and guiding God declares the end from the beginning already giving us the victory. It doesn’t mean we will not have to fight but we can go into this battle with the assurance that we already have the victory.
Verses 18-19 says, “And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice”.
I used to have problem with this scripture because I couldn’t understand why Elisha was upset with Joash, because it seemed as if he did what Elisha told him to do until I began to understand what it means to be steadfast. See Elisha never told Joash to stop hitting the ground. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord”.
Steadfast means firm, unwavering and persistent. Elisha never told Joash to stop, he didn’t say get ready for a little while. He didn’t say pray for a season. He didn’t hold on for only 5 minutes. We must be steadfast, persistent, unmovable, never giving up. We have to fight like we are the 3rd lion to get on the Ark and it is beginning to rain. Never give up.
We must shoot and keep shooting. We must pray and keep praying. We must stand and keep standing. We must run and keep running. We must believe and keep believing. When it is easy SHOOT. When times are hard Shoot. When we want to give up shoot. When the load seems to heavy shoot. We must keep on keeping on until we have utterly and totally defeated the enemy.
This is how we align ourselves with God, it is the sequence of commands used to order soldiers to carefully fire their weapons and that is Ready Aim Fire.
CLOSING: - Are you in Proper Alignment. Ready Aim Fire.
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
