Understanding Apostolic Alignment

Understanding Apostolic Alignment

Message at Glory of Zion’s Head of the Year Conference, 5770 by Dr. Robert Heidler

We live in an exciting time!  God is preparing to pour out the greatest move of the Spirit of all time.  It is the Second Reformation, and in preparation, God is restoring the Church to His original plan!  God is re-forming His church to become a New Wineskin!

The sad truth is, for many, church today doesn’t seem to “work.”  We have pastors who work long, hard hours.   We have saints that love the Lord.  But we don’t see the kind of results they saw in the New Testament.  The lost are not being reached.  Nations are not being changed.

Why is it that “church” today doesn’t work the way it did in the New Testament?  The answer, I believe, is that we haven’t followed the directions!

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1 Cor. 12:28 establishes an order for the church.  “God has appointed FIRST apostles, SECOND prophets, THIRD teachers, THEN come miracles .healing .helps, etc.
God says, for the church to function as He intended, you start with the APOSTLE.  The apostle has the anointing to make “church” work!  For church to operate the way God intended, you must be correctly related to, or “aligned with,” an apostle!  When you align with an apostle, apostolic anointing flows into everything you do!

An apostle is like a faucet!  God’s anointing for church flows through the apostle!  No matter how hard you try, or how good your methods, if your cup is not under the faucet, church will not work!

But if you align yourself with a true apostle, apostolic anointing begins to flow!   The LIFE of God fills His church!  The key to a church that functions in New Testament power is apostolic ALIGNMENT!

What do we mean by alignment?
To align with an apostle means you get in a committed relationship with that apostle.  It’s not a hierarchy where the apostle is a dictator who orders you around.  But it is a committed relationship.  It’s a covenant relationship.  Chuck Pierce is my apostle.  I’m in covenant with him.

Your apostle is one you go to for counsel.  He’s the one you trust for direction.   You commit yourself to your apostle like David’s mighty men committed to David.

David’s Mighty Men give us a good picture of alignment
When David was in the wilderness, many came to join themselves to him.  That’s alignment!
Some of those who came to David had probably been aligned with Samuel.  But the season of the Judges had ended!
Some had been aligned with Saul.  But Saul disqualified himself through unbelief and disobedience.  Saul’s time had passed!
Some of those who came had never been aligned with anyone.  But they looked at D avid and caught his vision.  They saw the anointing of God on him and said, “This is the man God is calling me to align with!  I want to be part of what he is doing!”
They came to David for many reasons!  Some of them were people who were passionately in love with God.  They looked at David and saw his heart for God and said, “He’s the kind of man I want to follow!”

Some came with great needs.  I Samuel 22:1-2 tells us, “Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them.”

What a wonderful group that was!  But they were in such great distress they had nothing to lose!  They needed to be connected with somebody, and they caught David’s vision and committed themselves to it.

Others who came to align with David were people with great skill.  I Chron. 12:1-2, 8 says, “Now these are the ones who came to David . men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear, and whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains.”

These were highly skilled individuals who wanted lives to count!  They wanted to find a worthwhile place to invest their lives, and they saw that Saul’s reign was a dead-end.   So they aligned themselves with David.

So there were many people coming to David, with many levels of ability and many motivations.  But as they all aligned with David, David’s anointing flowed into them!  The anointing that was in David when he killed Goliath and defeated tens of thousands of the Philistines flowed into all of them!  And they became his mighty men of valor!

Together they took Jerusalem and brought in the ark.  Then the presence of God came down into David’s tabernacle and they experienced God’s glory in the land!
That’s the power of alignment!

Alignment is a basic Biblical principle.  We see it all through the Scriptures.  The mighty men aligned with David.  Joshua aligned with Moses.  Elisha aligned with Elijah.  The disciples aligned with Jesus.  Timothy aligned with Paul.  Biblically, you don’t get anywhere without aligning with somebody!

When you align with someone, it means you commit yourself to them, you submit yourself, you link yourself to them, you learn from them and make self accountable to them.

The result is, their anointing flows into to you!
There are many places you can align.  There are many apostolic networks and ministries around the world.   Most of them are very good.  Each will have a unique God-given focus.  Each will have a different vision.  Only God can show you which one He wants you to align with.  But you need to be aligned somewhere!

The Alternative to Alignment
The Alternative to alignment is scattering! A few months ago, a woman from another country emailed me with a long list of questions.  She had been going from church to church, and from conference to conference, receiving ministry from many different people.  As a result, she was in complete confusion!

She said, “This person says this, but that person says that. I don’t know what’s true!”  She was confused on so many different issues, it would have taken hours to try to answer all her questions.  So instead of trying to answer all of her questions, I tried to get to the heart of her problem.

I told her, “Your problem is, you are trying to process too many sources of information, and it’s put you in confusion.”
You see, that woman was receiving from many sources, but really aligned with no one!   The result was that she was not getting anywhere!

Someone recently told me about a minister on TV that had called the entire Church to fast for 21 days.  They asked me if I was going to fast.

When you hear something like that, you better know who you are aligned with!  There is ALWAYS somebody somewhere calling the church to fast!  If you fast every time somebody calls a fast you will never eat!

But I know who I am aligned with!  When Chuck Pierce calls a fast, I know God wants me to fast!  But I’m not going to stop eating just because a minister on TV is calling another fast!
You see, you must be aligned SOMEWHERE!

There are many streams in the river of God.  There are many different ministries.  Each has a different God-given emphasis!  Each has their own call.  It’s good to receive from many!  But you need to know who God has aligned you with, or you will end up with confusion.   I know who I’m aligned with, and it’s one of the greatest blessings in my life.

God is forming His New Wineskin.  As the church aligns apostolically, the five-fold ministry begins to operate, the saints are equipped to minister, and God’s New Wineskin forms!
And when the new wineskin forms, God WILL pour His new wine!

1 Comment
  • Phil
    Reply

    If Dutch Sheets, Chuck Pierce, Peter Wagner and the rest of the NAREVATICANCAAUSAR shift one more anointed paradigm in the heavenlies, I mean: If they paradigm one more decree over the shifting seven mountains. Wait. . . If they birth one more strategic wineskin as they shift into high gear in the river of the new wine as they synergistically release intercessor angels over the nation while calling down the ruling spirits

    October 25, 2009 at 8:47 pm

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