(This is an ongoing series about prayer as it relates to Whole Life Worship which started on May 15, 2013)

I’ve learned this the hard way. When my wheels are not aligned it gets expensive. I go through tires quicker and I get worse gas mileage. It’s also dangerous, as I have to compensate my steering against the pull of a misaligned wheel.

The same is true with our lives. When they are not aligned with the right thing it can be expensive and dangerous. Relationships fall apart through lives that are aligned with deception and selfishness. Fortunes are lost through lives that are aligned with addictive behaviors. Time is wasted on lives that are aligned on the wrong perceptions. Generations are tainted and families destroyed when one person makes a poor alignment decision.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus addresses the alignment issue:

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

There is only one way a creature was meant to live: in alignment with the ways of the Creator. Everything else will result in the “wheels falling off the wagon.”

It is not enough to call God, “Father.” Nor is it enough to revere His name. We need to follow His ways. We need to align ourselves with His purposes.

Asking for God’s Kingdom to come is asking for the reign of God to extend beyond the reaches of Heaven (another word for “that which is under His reign”) to the human realm of earth. At one time, the realm of the earth was under God’s reign. But you know the story; there was sin and the Fall, the transference of the earthly and human realm to the powers of darkness, the redemption by the Son of God, and now – slowly but surely – the Kingdom of this world is becoming the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ. While God desires to see His Kingdom to come to all people, it is imperative that the one person who needs this alignment the most is the one whose face we see in the mirror everyday: you and me.

When we pray for God’s Kingdom to come, we are asking God to rule in our lives. This is something we need to do regularly. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross made it possible to be free from the prison of sin and death. Now I live in the freedom of God’s Kingdom – but I need to align myself daily (if not several times during the day) to the reign of God. It means that I am not in charge of my life; the Lord is.

This has a tremendous upside. While it is true that I am surrendering my life to God, I’m also putting myself under His protection, His provision, and His grace. I don’t have to worry about things and situations that are out of my hands. My life is totally in the hands of my Loving King, who is Almighty, Wise, Omnipresent, and Sovereign.

In the prayer, I also align my actions to God’s will. Jesus gives us the best example of what that means when he said, “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does” (John 5:19). Doing God’s will is simply doing what He commands us to do. This assumes that we are listening and seeking Him. Romans 12:1-2 points to offering ourselves to God as a living sacrifice (which, by the way, is Whole Life Worship). When we do this, we are transformed so that we can know and do God’s will.

This alignment of Kingdom reign and alignment of God’s will results in a life that glorifies God. It also results in a life of fruitfulness (John 15) and abundance (John 10:10).

When we pray this part of the prayer, we are not just aligning the “wheels” of our lives, we are gassing up the car and heading down the right path … to life, to Whole Life Worship.

When you pray do you take time to align yourself to God’s reign and will?

What are specific ways we adjust our lives to this alignment?