“Lining Up with God” Alignment with the Will of God Compiled by Pastor Leonard Roy Harris As Outlined in “The Lord’s Prayer.” Matthew 6:5-15   If you only pray because you love to be seen and heard by others you receive no reward from God because you received it from man. ALIGN WITH GOD’S WILL WITH THE RIGHT MOTIVES IN PRAYER. Matthew 6:5(James 4:3)  Pray by: 1. Going to your room (at home). 2. Closing the door (in private)  3. Praying to your Father, who is unseen (This is seen in Hebrews 11:1 and 6 because we are sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see, this commends us to God and pleases him because in coming to him we believe that he exists and that if we earnestly seek him he will reward us. Commend means to be well reported of as one who pleases God-see Heb 11:5 in the example of Enoch. Earnestly seek means to search out, investigate, and crave) 4. Praying to your heavenly Father in secret knowing that HE IS LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU! 1Peter 3:10-12 is a key here! 5. Do not babble trying to be heard with many words KNOWING THAT YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER ALREADY KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED! Faith in our heavenly Father’s knowledge of our needs causes us to use less meaningless wordiness in our prayers. Babble means to vainly and tediously repeat meaningless words rather than simply trusting God with simpler meaningful words.  Now, that we have been orientated we can prepare to align with God’s will through the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-15  Align with God’s will in prayer by: 1. Setting your heart focus on your Father in heaven. Pull away from people and distractions and cares and worries. Think about and visualize God your heavenly Father on his high and mighty throne in heaven looking right at you! “Is my heart set on my Heavenly Father?” 2. Praising your Father in heaven for who he is. Learn the many names of God and be aware of all of his characteristics and praise him and lift him up high! The Father is looking for true worshippers according to John 4:23. “Am I worshipping my heavenly Father?” 3. Asking for the coming of God’s kingdom. Your hearts desire is not the building of your own personal kingdom but to bring in the kingdom of God. You are not only asking for it but you are personally moved with a passion for the salvation of the lost and you are actively praying for them and crying out to the Lord for harvesters and you are leading the way by being a “HARVESTER FOR THE KINGDOM” through personal discipleship, personal evangelism, personal follow-up, personal discipleship of new and un-discipled believers and personal small prayer, care, share groups in homes. This is mentioned in James 5:1-6 about those who seek to build their own kingdom instead of bringing the lost into the kingdom of God. Jesus’ work in the harvest and heart for the harvest is mentioned in Matthew 9:35-38. Jesus came to be a harvester according to Luke 19:10. He tells us in Matthew 6:33 to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (through our obedience) and all of our practical needs will be met! Colossians 3:1-10 tells us about setting our heart and mind on God’s kingdom in heaven which is soon coming to earth!“ Am I a harvester of the Kingdom?”  4. Yielding to God’s will on earth just as those in heaven yield to his will. THIS IS THE KEY TO ALIGNMENT! DISCERNING GOD’S WILL AND YIELDING TO IT! The Father’s will is revealed through his word by commandments. If we love the Lord first and with all of our mind, heart and will and strength, we will align ourselves with him by obeying his commands. This is the everyday commandment. Romans 6:11-22 explains how to yield our will to the will of the Father. “ Am I yielding my will to the Father?” 5. Asking God to meet our needs. Earthly worries are a distraction from the will and ways of God. Matthew 13:22 describes the worried Christian as a “thorny” Christian who has allowed earthly worries and the deception of riches to distract from God and his will and ways. 1 Timothy 6:9-10 warns about the deception of riches. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us not to be anxious about our needs being met, but to ask the Father to meet them. Philippians 4:19 tells us that God will meet all of our needs! There is a connection between yielding our will to God to free him to meet our needs according to John 15:7. Our disobedience blocks God’s opportunity to meet our needs. “Am I asking my Heavenly Father to meet my needs, trusting him to do it?” 6. Asking God to forgive us for breaking his relationship commands. We are in debt to everyone to love as we want to be loved and as Christ loved us. O let us not find ourselves before God with a huge debt of agape love that was not paid while we were on earth because we did not forgive others and seek to serve them through love. “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8 Not forgiving others blocks God’s opportunity to forgive us when we ask him for forgiveness according to Matthew 6:14-15. Some may have a large list of unforgiven sins piling up because they have not forgiven others. “Am I paying off my continuing debt to love others and to forgive others?” 7. Asking God to lead us away from temptation and for deliverance from the evil one. The Lord wants us to look to him so we might recognize the way that he gives us out of every temptation according to 1 Corinthians 10:13. Our part is to follow the steps of James 4:4-10 which are the steps of humility. HUMILITY ALIGNS US WITH THE WILL OF GOD AND PRIDE BREAKS THE ALIGNMENT! 1). Submit to God.  2). Resist the devil 3). Wash your hands from doing sin (confess, repent, forsake sin) 4). Purify your heart from being double-minded (not fully committed to obey God. Wavering between your will and God’s will). 5). Grieve, mourn and wail over your sinfulness. Do not become hardened in your sin. 6). Humble your self personally before the Lord saying: “ Not my will but yours be done.” And he will lift you up into his will. “ Am I walking in humility?”