T h e Pointed Life ALIGNMENT A Position of Agreement with God 1
WELCOME Hey there, I am so glad you are reading this. The very fact that you have this in your hands or on your screen tells me that you are hungry to see God work in your life. The amazing news is that God wants to, and will finish the work He began. Often times, when things in our life are out of whack, we try to fix the things without getting to the root of the issue. Then we find ourselves wondering why we are still a mess with no real lasting change, or why we keep falling into the same cycles without seeing much forward progress. Do you know what I mean? I believe the root of the issue often is that we get out of alignment with God. That is why I am starting this year with the Alignment Series, and I am so glad you have joined me! During the Alignment Series I am going share a little of my own story and give strategies to help you realign your mind, words, and heart with God s. This is the key to seeing God s purpose prevail in your life. I promise you, if you will make the simple, yet powerful adjustments I share about in the series, you will begin to see change for the better. I don t know what you went through last year, but I want you to know greater things are yet to come! I am fully persuaded that the truth of God has the power to set us free. With love, P.S. There are 7 parts to the study: Agree, Renew, Unveil, Think, Feel, Speak, and Process. Each part is designed with space for you to journal and delve a little deeper into the scriptures. It is my hope that God will do a work of transformation in your life, as you seek to realign your mind, heart, and words with His. THIS STUDY IS INTENDED FOR THE POINTED LIFE NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBER, AND FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. 2
PART 1: AGREE Did you know one of the definitions of alignment is a position of agreement? When you re in agreement with someone it means you are in harmony with them. You share the same feeling or opinion about something. I want to share the same feelings and opinions as God. Do you? Sometimes knowing what He thinks about something is as simple as asking Him. Our opinions can be formed by many things that are not in harmony or alignment with God and His truth. Who we are agreeing with is so important for us to identify, because our agreement begins to define us and shape our lives. When we realize our view is formed by someone or something other than God s truth, then we need to reject that view, learn the truth, and realign with it. Throughout the next six parts of this series we are going to learn about how to do just that, and why. Spend time with the Lord asking Him to search your heart and reveal any opinions you have formed or agreements you have made that are contrary to what He said. Write down what He shows you, and agree with God. 3
STUDY THE WORD Read the Word: Matthew 18:19-20 Write the Word: Matthew 18:19-20 Hear the Word: What is God speaking to you? Do the Word: How will this change how you live? 4
PART 2: RENEW Do you love the show Fixer Upper? I do! If you ve never seen it, it s a show about renovating houses hosted by Chip and Joanna Gaines. What I love about the show is how Joanna and Chip take a house that others may overlook, and after a demolition and reconstruction process the renovated house is much more beautiful and valuable than before. In Romans 12:2 it says, Do not be conformed to this world. What does that mean? It means we do not allow the world to shape our views, opinions, judgments, character, beliefs, values, and so on. But sometimes we do allow other things to shape us, and we don t realize it. Romans 12:2 goes on to say, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The meaning of the word renew is similar to a renovation process. Sometimes we have to go through a similar process in our minds. Our default thinking patterns are constructs in our minds that are not always healthy or aligned with truth, and need to undergo a renovation. Sometimes there are actual strongholds, which need spiritual weapons to bring them down. We will talk more about that in part 4. This process can be difficult as we realize things we have believed with all our hearts are not actually the truth, and those mindsets have to be renewed. The result of a renewed mind is transformation, and is totally worth it! But God needs our permission to the do the work. Spend some time with the Lord and ask Him to help you renew your mind. Write a prayer asking Him to reveal to you to the ways you are conformed to the world, and invite Him to continue the work of transformation. 5
Read the Word: Ephesians 4:20-24 Write the Word: Ephesians 4:20-24 STUDY THE WORD Hear the Word: What is God speaking to you? Do the Word: How will this change how you live? 6
PART 3: UNVEIL Like Adam and Eve were naked and afraid and hid from God in when they sinned in Genesis 3, shame tries to keep us in hiding away from God. But Jesus says, Come, unveiled and unafraid. Learning how to be open and honest with God is one of the greatest lessons I have learned walking with Him. David, who wrote most of the Psalms in the Bible was open and honest with God. We can learn from him. David was not afraid to share his heart with God. God welcomed him and knew David was a man after God s heart. In the midst of the struggles and honesty about them, David also remembered and declared God s faithfulness. In Psalm 13, it was like he said, I am going through all this stuff. I don t know why. Where are You God? I don t like it. It feels bad. But nonetheless, I know You are still good. You will save me, and I will worship. On the following page, take some time to study Psalm 13. Then come back to this page and write to God telling Him how you really feel, and ask Him any honest questions you have. Be honest with God. 7
Read the Word: Psalm 13 Write the Word: Psalm 13:5-6 STUDY THE WORD Hear the Word: What is God speaking to you? Do the Word: How will this change how you live? 8
PART 4: THINK We talked about renewing our mind, which is essentially changing our thinking. Do you know it is possible to have our thinking modeled after Christ s? 1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us, we have the mind of Christ. What that verse is means is we have the God given capacity to think and reason like God does. The Spirit searches the depths of God, and we have His Spirit. We hold the thoughts, feelings, and purposes of God s heart. Do you want to know God so intimately that you think like Him? You can. I believe this is why the devil lies to us incessently. Have you ever heard the saying the battlefield is the mind? It s true. The enemy loves to try and get us to think things that are contrary to truth. He is a liar, the father of lies, and lies bind us. Deception is one of his most powerful weapons, but we have a more powerful weapon. We have the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. It is the truth that sets us free from the lies that bind us. Most of our warfare really does start in the mind, and can have an effect on every other part of our soul, our body, and our life. That s why I believe 2 Corinthians 10 talks about the weapons of our warfare at the same time it talks about taking our thoughts captive. Take time to question what it is you are thinking on a continual basis. If those thoughts do not line up with the Word of God, replace them with truth. Write down your answers. 9
Read the Word: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Write the Word: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 STUDY THE WORD Hear the Word: What is God speaking to you? Do the Word: How will this change how you live? 10
PART 5: FEEL The heart, when talking about emotions, can be a complicated subject. Emotions are layered and complex, and they don t stand alone. Our emotions can be effected by what we think, what we eat, what we see and hear, and what we experience. When I am dealing with a negative emotions, I like to ask, why? Why am I feeling this way? I ask God for discernment, so I know how to deal with what I am feeling. I heard someone give this analogy about feelings and it helped me. I want to share it with you. Feelings are like children. When we are driving we can t just put them in the trunk and forget about them. But neither can we let them drive. What that means is feelings have a place, but they don t have to be our masters. Feelings can make us feel like we are on a roller coaster ride. They are fickle and can literally change at the drop of a glass of milk. I know we cannot get into the whole world of feelings, emotions, and intricacies of the heart right here and now. But I can leave you with this: When our thoughts begin to change, becoming more in line with truth, then our feelings will be positivity affected. With that said, I want to reiterate how important it is to be honest with God about our feelings and invite Him in to have His way. He wants to guard our hearts with His peace, even in the middle of the most turbulent waters. But the Bible tells us we also must guard our hearts. Spend some time with the Lord and ask Him to reveal to you the things that you have let into your heart that are not aligned with Him. Write down what He reveals to you. 11
Read the Word: Proverbs 4:20-27 Write the Word: Proverbs 4:23 STUDY THE WORD Hear the Word: What is God speaking to you? Do the Word: How will this change how you live? 12
PART 6: SPEAK Recently, I heard a preacher ask, What if you had today exactly what you said yesterday? I started thinking about the number of times I said, my mind is blown, the day before. I was like, Wait, I have just come through a year of literally feeling like my mind is blown. I do not want that. It sobered me. I have become acutely aware of the power that words have. Proverbs 18:21 says, life and death are in the power of the tongue. If we really believed that, I wonder how it would change the way we talk. Just today, my son and I were joking around. He s a funny guy, but he kept saying things like, I suck at life. I fail at all things. It was in jest, but I could not let it slide. I told him, you don t want that to be true, Son. Don t let it come out of your mouth. Changing the way I speak to myself, about myself, about my life, about others, and to others weres some of the most powerful changes I made. Take some time to think about the words that you have been speaking lately. If you realize you are saying things that don t speak life, write down the words that speak life, and begin declaring them. 13
Read the Word: Ephesians 4:29-31 Write the Word: Ephesians 4:29-31 STUDY THE WORD Hear the Word: What is God speaking to you? Do the Word: How will this change how you live? 14
PART 7: PROCESS We may have come to the last part in the study, but realigning with God is something we need to do often. Think about the things you have learned in this study, and the adjustments you made as a life-long practice. Just like pot holes that knock your car out of alignment, there will always be things trying to pull you out of alignment with God. We may practice some bad habits that take time to transform. We may have thought patterns and even strongholds that may take longer to bring down. And when it comes to our words, even the Bible talks about it being a challenge to rule our tongue. But it is possible. God gives us ability to do things we could not do on our own. It is called grace. Our walk with God is a life-long journey and a daily process, and that is okay. Be patient with yourself. We are all in the process of becoming, and we are continually being transformed from glory to glory. There are good things in front of you. God s thoughts and purposes for you are good. You can shape your life around the purpose of God. You can do this, with God, His Spirit, His Word, and a community of like-minded people cheering you on! Take some time to reflect on the things you learned. Write down the things that stood out to you the most, and what you believe God is speaking to you about them. Process with God. 15
Read the Word: 2 Corinthians 3:18 Write the Word: 2 Corinthians 3:18 STUDY THE WORD Hear the Word: What is God speaking to you? Do the Word: How will this change how you live? 16
HI, FRIEND. WELCOME TO THE POINTED LIFE. The Pointed Life exists to help women shape their lives around the purposes of God. As incredibly busy wives, mothers, students, friends, and sisters, it is easy to become passive observers rather than active particpants of our own life. This community was born out of a desire to help women lead the life they are called to. Our aim is direction, not perfection. We re glad you re here. Stay connected by signing up for our newsletter at our website. STAY CONNECTED i instagram: @thepointedlife f facebook: @thepointedlife t twitter: @thepointedlife e email: hello@thepointedlife.com u website: www.thepointedlife.com ABOUT THE AUTHOR Michele-Lyn knows what it s like to feel paralyzed by fear, be unable to get out of bed because of depression and physical illness, be deeply pained by disappointment, and feel angry with God. She also knows what it s like to be set free, have hoped renewed, be healed, and be raised from death to life. She is fully persuaded that the Word, Spirit, and Love of God have the power to save, heal, and deliver, and she has a passion to communicate the truth that brings freedom. Michele-Lyn Ault Request Michele-Lyn to speak or learn more at: www.michelelynault.com 17