One of the main reasons Christians never see their dream or vision realized is that they never come into this place of divine alignment, which is to say the same thing God says and do it the way God wants it done. Again, the reason God insists on this is so that He can bring forth Christlikeness in our lives.

As you align yourself with God, you are becoming more like God. His plan is not just to bless you, nor does He want you do to it His way just to prove your obedience to Him. He wants to alter you, to change you, to make you into the image of Jesus Christ.

When you receive a word from the Lord, you find out very quickly if you are walking in divine alignment or not! We find out just how aligned we are with God when we receive a word from Him to do something different from what we are used to doing.

For example, when the Holy Spirit directed me to move my family to Russia and help to establish churches in the great revival that is taking place there, my first reaction was not "Yes, Lord!" In fact, I cried out in pain, "But what about my ministry in American, Lord?"

First, I tried to buy God off. I told Him that I would send all the missionaries in Russia all the teaching tapes they wanted. Not only that, I would give as much financial support for their ministries and other missionaries in the world as God would direct. Still, the word remained: Move to Russia.

When that tactic didn't seem to satisfy God, I agreed to make a trip to Russia with some other evangelists, hoping that the visit would appease God and relieve me of this terrible burden. Instead, the hook was driven deeper into my soul: I fell in love with the Russian people.

Finally, I thought my deliverance would surely come when I told my wife that I thought God was telling me that we were supposed to move to Russia. Instead of bursting into tears with argument after argument against going, she tearfully and joyfully agreed.

There was no way around it now! If we were to obey God and walk in divine alignment with His plan and purpose for our lives, we would have to move to Russia.

So I made the official announcement, taking great pleasure in boldly proclaiming the word of the Lord for our lives. Then this great man of faith went home and hung his head over a toilet bowl for twenty-four hours, vomiting! Anxiety flowed through my veins, worry filled my mind, and nothing I did would relax me.

All I could think about was going broke, losing our home in the United States, the ministry going right down the tubes, and those I had employed in the ministry not being able to feed and clothe their families. Money! Money! Money! How would we ever manage?

When I received and acted upon this word from the Lord, everything in me that was not in alignment with God's will and every ounce of doubt and unbelief in my soul came rushing to the surface - literally! All I could think about was money! Over and over and over I cried, "Lord, what will happen to my ministry if I obey You?" Finally, I not only heard His answer, but began to understand it. He said, "What will you miss if you don't obey Me?"

There is nothing more thrilling than those times when the Holy Spirit moves and gives you a grand and glorious plan to follow, but there is always that pound of flesh that must be cut off in order for you to come into divine alignment, enter into His supernatural rest, and carry out His will for your life.

What if you received a word from the Lord right now to quit a company where you had been employed for ten years and start a new business? The idea is exciting in the beginning, and you can envision all that money pouring into your office, money that you will funnel into the preaching of the gospel. Then you start the process of considering all that your obedience will require of your personally, and the flesh is not so enthralled!

It's easy to give up everything to obey God when you don't have very much, such as the time when He called us into the traveling ministry and we didn't have anything anyway. But it can be much more difficult when He has enabled you to build something great and wonderful, and then He asks you to lay it all down and move on to something foreign and different!

The most thrilling aspect of choosing to obey God's will for your life and coming into divine alignment, however, is knowing you are still pliable enough in His hands to give up everything you have if He requires it of you. It's a joy and a pleasure and the greatest reward to know that after He has made you "ruler over much," you are still, above all else, the faithful servant of the Lord.

All of us who want to follow God one hundred percent know deep down in our hearts that it is only from this attitude of servanthood, from this position of solid, unequivocal alignment wit the will of God for our lives, that we can march forward to fulfill our divine destiny in total confidence and real, unshakeable faith.

Source: Dream Thieves by Rick Renner
Excerpt permission granted by Albury Publishing