October 29, 2025 • 27 mins
Hungry for a faith that feels alive, guided, and grounded in peace? We dive into covenant alignment as a relationship that reshapes daily life—less striving, more trusting—and learn how seeking first the kingdom reframes every choice, habit, and plan. Instead of chasing clarity, we begin with obedience, stepping when God says step, and discovering that direction often arrives mid-journey. Along the way, we talk about how character outlasts speed, why boundaries protect what we love, and how to build simple rhythms of prayer and Scripture that actually bear fruit over time.
We also open up a needed mindset shift: this walk isn’t a list of can’ts; it’s an invitation to participate in what heaven honors. That includes the Sabbath and the biblical feasts, not as salvation requirements but as relational rhythms that align us with God’s timing. Our Sukkot story brings the point home with a tangible moment of healing and a deeper experience of peace—a reminder that resistance can be an invitation to breakthrough when our will aligns with God’s. If you’ve ever felt like you’re fighting battles you didn’t need to fight, this conversation offers a reset and a way back to the straight and narrow without shame.
You’ll hear practical guidance on self-awareness, choosing better inputs, and avoiding the detours that lead to unnecessary warfare. We reflect on Abraham’s obedience, the prodigal story’s overlooked older brother, and the simple courage it takes to say, “If Your presence doesn’t go with me, I won’t go.” The heart is clear: become a person who is blessed to be a blessing, walking in the works prepared for you with integrity, patience, and joy.
If this conversation encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a fresh start, and leave a review so others can find it. Have questions or stories to share? Email lifearoundthefire@gmail.com—we’d love to hear from you.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:38):
All right, guys.
Want to welcome you back toepisode number two of Covenant
Alignment with Steven Cruz beingour teacher.
And Steve, I'm going to let yougo ahead and just pick up from
where you left off.
Maybe do a little recap from thefirst episode to your folks who
haven't listened to that have anidea where we're going.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01):
Hello, everyone.
Life around the fire.
Yeah, we want to do a just arecap.
Episode two here.
We talked about covenantalignment and what that kind of
starts looking like for us asbelievers and followers of
Yeshua, Jesus.
And essentially a covenantalignment is a you know, can be
(01:25):
equated to a marriage agreement,right?
To becoming one flesh.
When we're born again, we'reborn by the Spirit of God and we
were made one with Him.
And so the mathematical equationthat I threw out there was one
plus one equals one.
And so it's it's a divineaddition where we're not doing
(01:50):
our own thing, but we're we'refollowing the ways of the
kingdom of the Lord.
And it's all centered aroundrelationship, around Matthew 6,
verse 33, seek first the kingdomof God and his righteousness.
And so I believe that as we justbegin to unpack these episodes
(02:10):
of Covenant Alignment, it'sgoing to become more and more
clear to all of us that this isabout relationship, and it's uh
a relationship that has ebbs andflows, and there's ups and
downs, and there's mistakes andfailures, there's victories and
wins.
And I think for us as believers,as Christians, we must continue
(02:34):
to put one step in front of theother.
We cannot get, you know, if wefall down, we can't stay there.
We got to get back up andcontinue to walk and be the man
or the woman of God that God hascreated us to be.
As you know, a marriage is apartnership.
The Lord wants to co-labor withyou.
Um, I always say that the Lordwon't move a parked car.
(02:57):
And so we got to at least get itin gear and start heading down
the road in the direction thathe showed us.
And that's what we saw with thelife of Abraham in Genesis 22,
where God showed him the nextstep for him to take.
And he said, Go here and I'llshow you more once you get
there.
And we see that see thatthroughout all of Scripture.
We see that with some of theprophets where you know the Lord
(03:19):
said, Hey, go to this town.
When you get there, I'll showyou, I'll show you more once you
get there.
And so we see that played out inJesus' life.
You know, he gets baptized, hegets immersed by by his cousin
John, and immediately the HolySpirit drive, you know, sends
(03:39):
him out into the wilderness tobe tested.
And then from that time, he'syou know, pulling away to hear
from the follower theinstructions for the day, the
the plan, and you know, gettingaway in private.
I think that is a big key withCovenant Alignment is canceling
and silencing all the othervoices in our daily lives to be
(04:00):
able to hear that still smallvoice of the Holy Spirit of
where he's directing us.
You know, I always wake up andstart the day with, you know
praying for my family, and thenI go into ministry and stuff
like that.
It always ends with, you know,Lord, order our steps today.
And if your presence doesn't gowith us, I do not want to go.
(04:22):
For it is in your going with usthat we are made distinct.
How will the people know thatyou're with us if you do not go
with us?
And so if I've gotten to thisplace in my walk with the Lord,
that you know, if he's not gonnago with me or he's not in it,
then I I simply won't leave thehouse.
(04:44):
Otherwise, the things that wecould be be building or doing
could be in vain, or it could bea divine delay in the sense that
it's not beneficial or the righttiming to go do something,
whether that's going to thegrocery store or going to go do
ministry, either way.
You know, there's there's graceto to get this thing right.
(05:08):
The Lord is uh is with us inthis in the walk.
That's why they call it a walk,it's not a marathon.
The Lord is more cons moreconcerned about our character
and develop developing ourcharacter than anything else.
And so what we saw in the lastthe first episode was a life of
obedience is played out inGenesis chapter 22 with Abraham.
(05:33):
And we see when he obeyed theLord, the Lord knew the Lord
found out that he could trusthim.
And so I like to say that uhworship is the culture of the
(05:53):
kingdom, and the culture isobedience.
And so obeying our our father,you know, I have have a have a
son, and through this having myown son, I'm gleaning more of my
own relationship with with AbbaFather in heaven, of you know,
(06:16):
he sees just like I see for myown son, things that are good
for him and things that are notgood for him.
I see this divine correlationbetween, you know, our father,
his thoughts are not ourthoughts, and his ways are not
our ways.
And so my my son can think hewants to go do something, but
(06:39):
Papa is seeing, you know, thatthat's dangerous.
You know, he might not want todo that right now.
And so the Heavenly Father isguiding our steps as well with
that same mindset as he has thebest intentions in mind.
And I think covenant alignmentreally speaks to life around the
fire in the ministry, where it'sbuilt on relationship, loving
(07:01):
God and loving others.
And so as we begin to unpackthis over the next few months,
we're gonna begin to see wherethe two really do become one.
When you're newly born again andinto the kingdom of God, you
know, there's a lot of lot ofself that has to be shed.
(07:24):
You know, it says to the Biblesays to, you know, to become a
living sacrifice.
We have to die to the old selfbecause we are a new creation
creation in in Christ Jesus.
And so we can't bring our oldkingdom of darkness habits,
patterns, and thinking into thekingdom of God anymore.
(07:46):
We have to really examine ourlives and really be determined
that you know we want to see thegospel commandment of go ye
therefore and bear fruit.
Make disciples of of all nationscome to pass.
(08:10):
You know, we want to hear goodand well and faithful servant.
But you know, are we willing todo God's things, God's ways?
And a lot of man's wisdom canget in can get in the way of
that.
And so seeking first the kingdomof God is really the uh the
(08:30):
essence of covenant alignment.
And so we gotta, as believers,we've gotta create spiritual
disciplines.
You know, our prayer life, ourour getting in the word time,
you know, we need to make setboundaries and maintain those
boundaries.
You know, we it takes time tobear fruit.
We can sow a seed, and we knowwe live in a microwave society.
(08:52):
We want it to come forth andbear fruit right then and there,
but that's not how the kingdomof God works.
That's not how agriculturalworks.
You know, you sow a seed, yougotta water it, you gotta
nurture it, you gotta give itsome grace, some truth, some
time.
And then when it's just right,the the seed will come forth and
(09:15):
bear fruit that we can eat of.
And so when we establish prayerrhythms, when we pursue
revelation, when we embracedisciplines, when we maintain
boundaries that are healthy,we'll begin to be over a period
(09:36):
of time seeing that we'rebecoming more in aligned with
the kingdom of heaven, which isthe covenant that has been cut
with us through Yeshua'ssacrifice at Calvary, his death,
burial, resurrection, andascension to the right hand of
the Father.
And so covenant alignment is ais a it's simple, but it's so
(10:00):
deep and so just plentiful.
There's so much to eat of,there's so many directions that
we can go.
And so we're just gonna takethis journey together as we the
Lord begins to revealrevelation.
We're gonna unpack it.
And so key as some key aspectshere of Covenant Alignment is
(10:20):
daily faithfulness.
You know, we have to befaithful.
Like I said, God is not gonnamove apart, car.
We're the only ones that are incontrol of ourselves.
God is not gonna trump our freewill.
That's why he gave it to us.
He wants people to freely choosehim and obey him.
And from that, he partners withus and blesses us.
(10:42):
And so in Covenant Lima, there'sthere's not only boundaries, but
yet there's blessings that areattached that we'll get into in
the future, where, you know,that that's the latter part of
that verse in Matthew 6, 33,seek first the kingdom, kingdom
of God and his righteousness,and then all these things will
be added unto you.
And so the Lord wants usprosperous, He wants us healthy,
(11:04):
He wants us whole.
He wants us making His nameknown in the earth.
And so it's not that we're notgonna have trials and
tribulations because thosethings build our character.
You know, the book of Jamestalks about, you know, you have
need of endurance that you'reyou're testing, it's producing
something.
You know, don't give up,continue on in the in the faith
(11:25):
of the Lord.
And so as we walk, we begin toshed that old identity and come
into our kingdom identity assons and daughters of God.
Another key aspect of covenantalignment is being aware, having
self-awareness is is essentialto being you know a fruitful
(11:48):
disciple in God's kingdom.
You know, if we're notself-aware, you know, we can be
deceived.
I mean, we we have to watch thecircles that we're in, you know,
the things that we're listeningto, our ear gates, our eye
gates, we have to the thingsthat we watch, the things that
we listen to, the people we hangaround, you know, what is
(12:13):
feeding us?
You know, one of the keyquestions that I asked in the
first episode was are youfighting spiritual battles that
alignment could resolve?
And so it's every aspect of ourlives.
It's not just obeying the voiceof the Lord like Abraham did,
you know.
I mean, not many of us havethose experiences where, you
know, we're gonna be called tosacrifice our promised child,
(12:37):
but you know, are you did theLord tell you not to go do
something?
You went and did it anyway?
Well, then that brought anunnecessary battle, and now
we're crying out to the Lord tofix it when in reality we need
to repent and come back to Himand get back into alignment.
We're out of alignment.
Where we're on a road, we'vegone down the highway, we've
gotten off on an exit and takinga detour.
(12:58):
Well, that detour brought trialsand tribulations and warfare
that wasn't our portion, butbecause we went on our own
beaten path, we need to get backon the road that he put us on in
the first place, the straightand narrow way.
And we'll find that, you know,we're we're battling the enemy
(13:19):
and worn out when in reality wejust need to get back on the
road that the Lord told us toget on.
And all these uh skirmishes andthese disputes and these
distractions vanish throughgetting back into a covenant
alignment.
And so I've seen that time andtime again in my own life.
The mandate for my home, as thepriest of my home is seek first
(13:42):
the kingdom of God and hisrighteousness.
There's a lot of depth in that,but it's when you think about a
covenant relationship with amarriage between a man and a
wife, it's have you're oneflesh.
So what I do affects the otherperson.
(14:03):
It's the same thing with Jesus,it's the same thing with Father,
it's the same thing with theHoly Spirit.
You know, we the Bible sayswe're not to quench the spirit
or grieve the Holy Spirit, andso what we do does affect him.
And so it's as simple as that ofbeing mindful of the Holy
Spirit, taking a step, walkingdiligently, and not being just
(14:31):
wise in our own eyes.
And so the last aspect of thecovenant alignment that I'll
share today before we move intosome some questions and answers
with David is a motivation forbreakthrough.
(14:52):
A lot of times we see that youknow there's a resistance in our
walk.
And resistance is an invitationfor breakthrough.
And when we're in an alignment,it's a pathway to spiritual
growth and unlocking, unlockingblessings.
What's being held up will bereleased in the name of Jesus in
(15:15):
your life.
When we align our will withGod's will, we can move from a
place of our own personaldesires to a state of divine
purpose.
And that's when we're fulfillingthe works that He's called us to
walk into as His worksmanship.
You know, He has created you fora purpose.
(15:37):
You are fearfully andwonderfully made, and He has
good works for you to walk in.
And that is my heart's desirefor not only my family, but the
listeners here at Life Aroundthe Fire that we would position
ourselves to be blessed, to be ablessing, and to make his name
(15:58):
known in the earth.
And when we have, we positionour hearts to do that, the Lord
sees our heart posture and he'llcome in with a grace and a mercy
and an empowerment by his gracethat will excel us forward in
his divine strength, not on ourown.
(16:22):
Just from getting in alignment,just by repenting and coming
back to the Father.
And as I'm speaking, I'mreminded of the prodigal son
story.
We won't tap into that too muchright now, but the prodigal son,
I believe that story is just asmuch about the brother that
stayed than it is the one thatleft and came back.
(16:44):
The one that stayed, there's somuch depth and richness in that
story.
That story is not much that thebrother that stayed at the home
that was with the father, and hesaid, you know, you know, you've
your your son has squandered allhis inheritance and you know,
ruined your name and you'vefattened a calf and thrown a
(17:05):
party for him.
And the father says, You know,son, you've you've always been
in my house.
You've everything that I havehas been yours.
He said, Your your your brotherwas dead and now he's alive.
And so we we have to have thisbalance of you know really
staying connected with the Lordof we have access to the God of
(17:28):
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, theKing of the Universe.
And so we are royal sons and anddaughters uh of the universe in
that regard.
When we really break it down tothinking like that, where we
have access to something thatothers don't have.
(17:50):
And if we're not tapping intothat, if we're not uh focusing
on our relationship with theLord instead of pointing the
finger what someone it's is orisn't doing, you know, it gets
off of our purpose and ourdistraction as a as a child of
God.
SPEAKER_02 (18:08):
And so maintaining that singular focus in our walk
is just an is a critical notonly to be self-aware, but you
know, really tap into what isavailable to us as covenant sons
and daughters that's a good uhgood point for us actually to
(18:34):
highlight regarding uh thiswhole topic of covenant
alignment because sometimes aperson can feel as though this
whole thing is about a bunch ofstuff that we can't do.
We're not supposed to be doingthis, we gotta eliminate this,
have to eliminate a variety ofthings.
(18:58):
And the emphasis on we we got todo this.
Versus we get to.
The fact that we have thingsthat are available to us that we
might not even know about.
And that seems to be theemphasis that I'm hearing coming
(19:18):
through that there are thingsthat are in that God has
provided for us in covenant andcertain things that are
available that Jesus, when hecame, didn't come to eliminate
them, he came to illuminatethem.
And part of it deals with thingsthat are established by God,
(19:45):
such as the Sabbath, such ascertain festivals.
And the fact that in my recentexperience it's been very
refreshing for me to see thatthose haven't been eliminated,
because I come from a backgroundwhere I was taught that those
things were done with.
Jesus came, they're no longerneeded, that we are Gentiles, we
(20:09):
don't have to adhere to that.
And the fact of the matter isthat's really not the point.
The point is not we get to.
It's not doing it will make itso that we have relationship
with God.
It's not that we have arelationship with God, we can
participate.
And Sukkot was one of thoserecent festivals and you
(20:35):
celebrate it.
Is that correct, Sidney?
SPEAKER_00 (20:37):
Yes, we do.
SPEAKER_02 (20:38):
Yeah, and so can you just share a little bit about
your own personal experiencewith Covenant Alignment in
regard to celebrating thatfestival?
SPEAKER_00 (20:54):
Yeah, we get we've been celebrating it now for
seven, eight years.
It is the festival to renew ourour covenant with the Lord.
(21:15):
And so it's just interestingthat uh what we here in America
we have cultural holidays likeThanksgiving and Christmas and
such, and everyone is veryexcited, and you know, but we
don't get as as excited as thefeast of the Lord, where the
(21:38):
Lord adds to our holidaycalendar, and we kind of like
put our hands up, you know,stiff arm it kind of a thing.
But when uh when you engage init by faith and and start to
celebrate it and and rememberand demonstrate and long look
(21:58):
forward to because it's not onlya remember, Sukkot's not only a
remembering, it's a lookingforward to the marriage supper
of the Lamb.
And so it's it's not a this hasnothing to, you know, the feast
of the Lord like Secot hasnothing to do with salvation,
it's about relationship whereyou know the Bible does say that
(22:19):
the sheet nations are going tocome year after year and then
going forward and of celebratingthe feast of Secco in Jerusalem.
And so it is a pilgrim's feastwhere this is a continual
celebration going on foreternity.
So when we celebrate at home,it's just I think the biggest
(22:42):
highlight to answer yourquestion, David, is we're
aligning with what heaven isdoing right now.
And so there's power when wealign and the proper time with
what heaven is doing, when weget in agreement with the ways
of the Lord, where you know,like the Sabbath, the Lord is
(23:02):
on, He's the Lord of theSabbath, he's heaven is honoring
the Sabbath as well.
You know, God is resting too,God is on the feast, God is
remembering Shakota and having afeast as well.
And so it's it's just thattapping into that, just a shift
of the mindset of uh I get to dothese things.
And it just brings brings ourwalk of faith alive.
(23:25):
And and the Lord always shows upin my life in our home.
It's just it's just remarkable.
When we just love on him, heloves on us.
SPEAKER_02 (23:36):
When you say shows up, what what brings you what
what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00 (23:44):
Well, showing up meaning the inward witness of
the Holy Spirit.
There's a joy on the inside,there's a peace that's
unexplainable.
I mean, we've seen the Lord moveand in healings.
Yeah.
I remember one yearspecifically, it always comes to
mind.
We had friends over.
My wife had sprained her ankle,and we were we entered into the
(24:11):
feast of Sukkot, and she washobbling around, her foot was
all swollen.
Then we got into the into thesukka that we we make on our
back porch.
We had friends over, and myfriend was like, you know, I
can't remember exactly what hesaid, but he said something
like, you know, I think you needto like pick up your mat and go,
(24:33):
kind of a thing, like just likeJesus said to the the
paraplegic, and my wife, a lightbulb went off, and she received
like that, you know, this is anopportunity for God to to heal
you, and she didn't pass it by.
And her ankle wasinstantaneously healed.
(24:54):
She walked out of there on herown two feet with you know, like
there was no ever an issue or asprain.
So that one really stands outwhere there's when I say the
Lord showed up or he shows up,for me and my household, it's uh
it's a tangible presence.
(25:14):
You can it's the peace, theinward peace, the atmosphere
changes.
Earth aligns with heaven.
You know, we pray in the prayer,you know, your will be done on
as on earth as it is in heaven.
We we just align.
You think about like the starsor the planets or the moons
aligning when heaven and isheaven and earth are in
(25:37):
agreement, they align, andthere's a you know, the Jacob's
ladder, so to speak, is openwhere there's you know, there's
a free flow of the just thehealings, the provision, the
blessings, the peace.
So I I think for us, the peaceis the main thing.
You can tangibly s taste thepeace of God in our home, not
(26:03):
only internally but externally.
There, the atmosphere is set.
The Lord shows up in the sensethat it is just if you haven't
ever experienced that.
Man, when the Lord shows up, youknow it.
SPEAKER_02 (26:22):
That right there breaks it down and brings us to
a point where it's really,really, really important for us
to once again emphasize thatrelationship versus just
religion is what we're talkingabout in Covenant.
(26:44):
I think there are many of us whoexperience enough of religion
trying to do it, trying to begood, trying to do it, and
really feeling more empty thanwe felt before we began.
But when the Lord shows up andmakes his presence real and it
(27:06):
brings about that inner peacethat goes beyond understanding,
a tangible shifting of theatmosphere.
Come on, man.
Being aligned.
And so once again, folks, weactually really care about
what's going on and and morethan just uh saying we love you.
(27:30):
We really do, we love you.
And if you have any thoughts, uhquestions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line at lifearound the fire at gmail.com.
That's our email address, ortype in Life Around the Fire and
look us up on the web.
In the meantime, God bless you.
Adios, amigos.
All right, guys.
Want to welcome you back toepisode number two of Covenant
Alignment with Steven Cruz beingour teacher.
And Steve, I'm going to let yougo ahead and just pick up from
where you left off.
Maybe do a little recap from thefirst episode to your folks who
haven't listened to that have anidea where we're going.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01):
Hello, everyone.
Life around the fire.
Yeah, we want to do a just arecap.
Episode two here.
We talked about covenantalignment and what that kind of
starts looking like for us asbelievers and followers of
Yeshua, Jesus.
And essentially a covenantalignment is a you know, can be
(01:25):
equated to a marriage agreement,right?
To becoming one flesh.
When we're born again, we'reborn by the Spirit of God and we
were made one with Him.
And so the mathematical equationthat I threw out there was one
plus one equals one.
And so it's it's a divineaddition where we're not doing
(01:50):
our own thing, but we're we'refollowing the ways of the
kingdom of the Lord.
And it's all centered aroundrelationship, around Matthew 6,
verse 33, seek first the kingdomof God and his righteousness.
And so I believe that as we justbegin to unpack these episodes
(02:10):
of Covenant Alignment, it'sgoing to become more and more
clear to all of us that this isabout relationship, and it's uh
a relationship that has ebbs andflows, and there's ups and
downs, and there's mistakes andfailures, there's victories and
wins.
And I think for us as believers,as Christians, we must continue
(02:34):
to put one step in front of theother.
We cannot get, you know, if wefall down, we can't stay there.
We got to get back up andcontinue to walk and be the man
or the woman of God that God hascreated us to be.
As you know, a marriage is apartnership.
The Lord wants to co-labor withyou.
Um, I always say that the Lordwon't move a parked car.
(02:57):
And so we got to at least get itin gear and start heading down
the road in the direction thathe showed us.
And that's what we saw with thelife of Abraham in Genesis 22,
where God showed him the nextstep for him to take.
And he said, Go here and I'llshow you more once you get
there.
And we see that see thatthroughout all of Scripture.
We see that with some of theprophets where you know the Lord
(03:19):
said, Hey, go to this town.
When you get there, I'll showyou, I'll show you more once you
get there.
And so we see that played out inJesus' life.
You know, he gets baptized, hegets immersed by by his cousin
John, and immediately the HolySpirit drive, you know, sends
(03:39):
him out into the wilderness tobe tested.
And then from that time, he'syou know, pulling away to hear
from the follower theinstructions for the day, the
the plan, and you know, gettingaway in private.
I think that is a big key withCovenant Alignment is canceling
and silencing all the othervoices in our daily lives to be
(04:00):
able to hear that still smallvoice of the Holy Spirit of
where he's directing us.
You know, I always wake up andstart the day with, you know
praying for my family, and thenI go into ministry and stuff
like that.
It always ends with, you know,Lord, order our steps today.
And if your presence doesn't gowith us, I do not want to go.
(04:22):
For it is in your going with usthat we are made distinct.
How will the people know thatyou're with us if you do not go
with us?
And so if I've gotten to thisplace in my walk with the Lord,
that you know, if he's not gonnago with me or he's not in it,
then I I simply won't leave thehouse.
(04:44):
Otherwise, the things that wecould be be building or doing
could be in vain, or it could bea divine delay in the sense that
it's not beneficial or the righttiming to go do something,
whether that's going to thegrocery store or going to go do
ministry, either way.
You know, there's there's graceto to get this thing right.
(05:08):
The Lord is uh is with us inthis in the walk.
That's why they call it a walk,it's not a marathon.
The Lord is more cons moreconcerned about our character
and develop developing ourcharacter than anything else.
And so what we saw in the lastthe first episode was a life of
obedience is played out inGenesis chapter 22 with Abraham.
(05:33):
And we see when he obeyed theLord, the Lord knew the Lord
found out that he could trusthim.
And so I like to say that uhworship is the culture of the
(05:53):
kingdom, and the culture isobedience.
And so obeying our our father,you know, I have have a have a
son, and through this having myown son, I'm gleaning more of my
own relationship with with AbbaFather in heaven, of you know,
(06:16):
he sees just like I see for myown son, things that are good
for him and things that are notgood for him.
I see this divine correlationbetween, you know, our father,
his thoughts are not ourthoughts, and his ways are not
our ways.
And so my my son can think hewants to go do something, but
(06:39):
Papa is seeing, you know, thatthat's dangerous.
You know, he might not want todo that right now.
And so the Heavenly Father isguiding our steps as well with
that same mindset as he has thebest intentions in mind.
And I think covenant alignmentreally speaks to life around the
fire in the ministry, where it'sbuilt on relationship, loving
(07:01):
God and loving others.
And so as we begin to unpackthis over the next few months,
we're gonna begin to see wherethe two really do become one.
When you're newly born again andinto the kingdom of God, you
know, there's a lot of lot ofself that has to be shed.
(07:24):
You know, it says to the Biblesays to, you know, to become a
living sacrifice.
We have to die to the old selfbecause we are a new creation
creation in in Christ Jesus.
And so we can't bring our oldkingdom of darkness habits,
patterns, and thinking into thekingdom of God anymore.
(07:46):
We have to really examine ourlives and really be determined
that you know we want to see thegospel commandment of go ye
therefore and bear fruit.
Make disciples of of all nationscome to pass.
(08:10):
You know, we want to hear goodand well and faithful servant.
But you know, are we willing todo God's things, God's ways?
And a lot of man's wisdom canget in can get in the way of
that.
And so seeking first the kingdomof God is really the uh the
(08:30):
essence of covenant alignment.
And so we gotta, as believers,we've gotta create spiritual
disciplines.
You know, our prayer life, ourour getting in the word time,
you know, we need to make setboundaries and maintain those
boundaries.
You know, we it takes time tobear fruit.
We can sow a seed, and we knowwe live in a microwave society.
(08:52):
We want it to come forth andbear fruit right then and there,
but that's not how the kingdomof God works.
That's not how agriculturalworks.
You know, you sow a seed, yougotta water it, you gotta
nurture it, you gotta give itsome grace, some truth, some
time.
And then when it's just right,the the seed will come forth and
(09:15):
bear fruit that we can eat of.
And so when we establish prayerrhythms, when we pursue
revelation, when we embracedisciplines, when we maintain
boundaries that are healthy,we'll begin to be over a period
(09:36):
of time seeing that we'rebecoming more in aligned with
the kingdom of heaven, which isthe covenant that has been cut
with us through Yeshua'ssacrifice at Calvary, his death,
burial, resurrection, andascension to the right hand of
the Father.
And so covenant alignment is ais a it's simple, but it's so
(10:00):
deep and so just plentiful.
There's so much to eat of,there's so many directions that
we can go.
And so we're just gonna takethis journey together as we the
Lord begins to revealrevelation.
We're gonna unpack it.
And so key as some key aspectshere of Covenant Alignment is
(10:20):
daily faithfulness.
You know, we have to befaithful.
Like I said, God is not gonnamove apart, car.
We're the only ones that are incontrol of ourselves.
God is not gonna trump our freewill.
That's why he gave it to us.
He wants people to freely choosehim and obey him.
And from that, he partners withus and blesses us.
(10:42):
And so in Covenant Lima, there'sthere's not only boundaries, but
yet there's blessings that areattached that we'll get into in
the future, where, you know,that that's the latter part of
that verse in Matthew 6, 33,seek first the kingdom, kingdom
of God and his righteousness,and then all these things will
be added unto you.
And so the Lord wants usprosperous, He wants us healthy,
(11:04):
He wants us whole.
He wants us making His nameknown in the earth.
And so it's not that we're notgonna have trials and
tribulations because thosethings build our character.
You know, the book of Jamestalks about, you know, you have
need of endurance that you'reyou're testing, it's producing
something.
You know, don't give up,continue on in the in the faith
(11:25):
of the Lord.
And so as we walk, we begin toshed that old identity and come
into our kingdom identity assons and daughters of God.
Another key aspect of covenantalignment is being aware, having
self-awareness is is essentialto being you know a fruitful
(11:48):
disciple in God's kingdom.
You know, if we're notself-aware, you know, we can be
deceived.
I mean, we we have to watch thecircles that we're in, you know,
the things that we're listeningto, our ear gates, our eye
gates, we have to the thingsthat we watch, the things that
we listen to, the people we hangaround, you know, what is
(12:13):
feeding us?
You know, one of the keyquestions that I asked in the
first episode was are youfighting spiritual battles that
alignment could resolve?
And so it's every aspect of ourlives.
It's not just obeying the voiceof the Lord like Abraham did,
you know.
I mean, not many of us havethose experiences where, you
know, we're gonna be called tosacrifice our promised child,
(12:37):
but you know, are you did theLord tell you not to go do
something?
You went and did it anyway?
Well, then that brought anunnecessary battle, and now
we're crying out to the Lord tofix it when in reality we need
to repent and come back to Himand get back into alignment.
We're out of alignment.
Where we're on a road, we'vegone down the highway, we've
gotten off on an exit and takinga detour.
(12:58):
Well, that detour brought trialsand tribulations and warfare
that wasn't our portion, butbecause we went on our own
beaten path, we need to get backon the road that he put us on in
the first place, the straightand narrow way.
And we'll find that, you know,we're we're battling the enemy
(13:19):
and worn out when in reality wejust need to get back on the
road that the Lord told us toget on.
And all these uh skirmishes andthese disputes and these
distractions vanish throughgetting back into a covenant
alignment.
And so I've seen that time andtime again in my own life.
The mandate for my home, as thepriest of my home is seek first
(13:42):
the kingdom of God and hisrighteousness.
There's a lot of depth in that,but it's when you think about a
covenant relationship with amarriage between a man and a
wife, it's have you're oneflesh.
So what I do affects the otherperson.
(14:03):
It's the same thing with Jesus,it's the same thing with Father,
it's the same thing with theHoly Spirit.
You know, we the Bible sayswe're not to quench the spirit
or grieve the Holy Spirit, andso what we do does affect him.
And so it's as simple as that ofbeing mindful of the Holy
Spirit, taking a step, walkingdiligently, and not being just
(14:31):
wise in our own eyes.
And so the last aspect of thecovenant alignment that I'll
share today before we move intosome some questions and answers
with David is a motivation forbreakthrough.
(14:52):
A lot of times we see that youknow there's a resistance in our
walk.
And resistance is an invitationfor breakthrough.
And when we're in an alignment,it's a pathway to spiritual
growth and unlocking, unlockingblessings.
What's being held up will bereleased in the name of Jesus in
(15:15):
your life.
When we align our will withGod's will, we can move from a
place of our own personaldesires to a state of divine
purpose.
And that's when we're fulfillingthe works that He's called us to
walk into as His worksmanship.
You know, He has created you fora purpose.
(15:37):
You are fearfully andwonderfully made, and He has
good works for you to walk in.
And that is my heart's desirefor not only my family, but the
listeners here at Life Aroundthe Fire that we would position
ourselves to be blessed, to be ablessing, and to make his name
(15:58):
known in the earth.
And when we have, we positionour hearts to do that, the Lord
sees our heart posture and he'llcome in with a grace and a mercy
and an empowerment by his gracethat will excel us forward in
his divine strength, not on ourown.
(16:22):
Just from getting in alignment,just by repenting and coming
back to the Father.
And as I'm speaking, I'mreminded of the prodigal son
story.
We won't tap into that too muchright now, but the prodigal son,
I believe that story is just asmuch about the brother that
stayed than it is the one thatleft and came back.
(16:44):
The one that stayed, there's somuch depth and richness in that
story.
That story is not much that thebrother that stayed at the home
that was with the father, and hesaid, you know, you know, you've
your your son has squandered allhis inheritance and you know,
ruined your name and you'vefattened a calf and thrown a
(17:05):
party for him.
And the father says, You know,son, you've you've always been
in my house.
You've everything that I havehas been yours.
He said, Your your your brotherwas dead and now he's alive.
And so we we have to have thisbalance of you know really
staying connected with the Lordof we have access to the God of
(17:28):
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, theKing of the Universe.
And so we are royal sons and anddaughters uh of the universe in
that regard.
When we really break it down tothinking like that, where we
have access to something thatothers don't have.
(17:50):
And if we're not tapping intothat, if we're not uh focusing
on our relationship with theLord instead of pointing the
finger what someone it's is orisn't doing, you know, it gets
off of our purpose and ourdistraction as a as a child of
God.
SPEAKER_02 (18:08):
And so maintaining that singular focus in our walk
is just an is a critical notonly to be self-aware, but you
know, really tap into what isavailable to us as covenant sons
and daughters that's a good uhgood point for us actually to
(18:34):
highlight regarding uh thiswhole topic of covenant
alignment because sometimes aperson can feel as though this
whole thing is about a bunch ofstuff that we can't do.
We're not supposed to be doingthis, we gotta eliminate this,
have to eliminate a variety ofthings.
(18:58):
And the emphasis on we we got todo this.
Versus we get to.
The fact that we have thingsthat are available to us that we
might not even know about.
And that seems to be theemphasis that I'm hearing coming
(19:18):
through that there are thingsthat are in that God has
provided for us in covenant andcertain things that are
available that Jesus, when hecame, didn't come to eliminate
them, he came to illuminatethem.
And part of it deals with thingsthat are established by God,
(19:45):
such as the Sabbath, such ascertain festivals.
And the fact that in my recentexperience it's been very
refreshing for me to see thatthose haven't been eliminated,
because I come from a backgroundwhere I was taught that those
things were done with.
Jesus came, they're no longerneeded, that we are Gentiles, we
(20:09):
don't have to adhere to that.
And the fact of the matter isthat's really not the point.
The point is not we get to.
It's not doing it will make itso that we have relationship
with God.
It's not that we have arelationship with God, we can
participate.
And Sukkot was one of thoserecent festivals and you
(20:35):
celebrate it.
Is that correct, Sidney?
SPEAKER_00 (20:37):
Yes, we do.
SPEAKER_02 (20:38):
Yeah, and so can you just share a little bit about
your own personal experiencewith Covenant Alignment in
regard to celebrating thatfestival?
SPEAKER_00 (20:54):
Yeah, we get we've been celebrating it now for
seven, eight years.
It is the festival to renew ourour covenant with the Lord.
(21:15):
And so it's just interestingthat uh what we here in America
we have cultural holidays likeThanksgiving and Christmas and
such, and everyone is veryexcited, and you know, but we
don't get as as excited as thefeast of the Lord, where the
(21:38):
Lord adds to our holidaycalendar, and we kind of like
put our hands up, you know,stiff arm it kind of a thing.
But when uh when you engage init by faith and and start to
celebrate it and and rememberand demonstrate and long look
(21:58):
forward to because it's not onlya remember, Sukkot's not only a
remembering, it's a lookingforward to the marriage supper
of the Lamb.
And so it's it's not a this hasnothing to, you know, the feast
of the Lord like Secot hasnothing to do with salvation,
it's about relationship whereyou know the Bible does say that
(22:19):
the sheet nations are going tocome year after year and then
going forward and of celebratingthe feast of Secco in Jerusalem.
And so it is a pilgrim's feastwhere this is a continual
celebration going on foreternity.
So when we celebrate at home,it's just I think the biggest
(22:42):
highlight to answer yourquestion, David, is we're
aligning with what heaven isdoing right now.
And so there's power when wealign and the proper time with
what heaven is doing, when weget in agreement with the ways
of the Lord, where you know,like the Sabbath, the Lord is
(23:02):
on, He's the Lord of theSabbath, he's heaven is honoring
the Sabbath as well.
You know, God is resting too,God is on the feast, God is
remembering Shakota and having afeast as well.
And so it's it's just thattapping into that, just a shift
of the mindset of uh I get to dothese things.
And it just brings brings ourwalk of faith alive.
(23:25):
And and the Lord always shows upin my life in our home.
It's just it's just remarkable.
When we just love on him, heloves on us.
SPEAKER_02 (23:36):
When you say shows up, what what brings you what
what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00 (23:44):
Well, showing up meaning the inward witness of
the Holy Spirit.
There's a joy on the inside,there's a peace that's
unexplainable.
I mean, we've seen the Lord moveand in healings.
Yeah.
I remember one yearspecifically, it always comes to
mind.
We had friends over.
My wife had sprained her ankle,and we were we entered into the
(24:11):
feast of Sukkot, and she washobbling around, her foot was
all swollen.
Then we got into the into thesukka that we we make on our
back porch.
We had friends over, and myfriend was like, you know, I
can't remember exactly what hesaid, but he said something
like, you know, I think you needto like pick up your mat and go,
(24:33):
kind of a thing, like just likeJesus said to the the
paraplegic, and my wife, a lightbulb went off, and she received
like that, you know, this is anopportunity for God to to heal
you, and she didn't pass it by.
And her ankle wasinstantaneously healed.
(24:54):
She walked out of there on herown two feet with you know, like
there was no ever an issue or asprain.
So that one really stands outwhere there's when I say the
Lord showed up or he shows up,for me and my household, it's uh
it's a tangible presence.
(25:14):
You can it's the peace, theinward peace, the atmosphere
changes.
Earth aligns with heaven.
You know, we pray in the prayer,you know, your will be done on
as on earth as it is in heaven.
We we just align.
You think about like the starsor the planets or the moons
aligning when heaven and isheaven and earth are in
(25:37):
agreement, they align, andthere's a you know, the Jacob's
ladder, so to speak, is openwhere there's you know, there's
a free flow of the just thehealings, the provision, the
blessings, the peace.
So I I think for us, the peaceis the main thing.
You can tangibly s taste thepeace of God in our home, not
(26:03):
only internally but externally.
There, the atmosphere is set.
The Lord shows up in the sensethat it is just if you haven't
ever experienced that.
Man, when the Lord shows up, youknow it.
SPEAKER_02 (26:22):
That right there breaks it down and brings us to
a point where it's really,really, really important for us
to once again emphasize thatrelationship versus just
religion is what we're talkingabout in Covenant.
(26:44):
I think there are many of us whoexperience enough of religion
trying to do it, trying to begood, trying to do it, and
really feeling more empty thanwe felt before we began.
But when the Lord shows up andmakes his presence real and it
(27:06):
brings about that inner peacethat goes beyond understanding,
a tangible shifting of theatmosphere.
Come on, man.
Being aligned.
And so once again, folks, weactually really care about
what's going on and and morethan just uh saying we love you.
(27:30):
We really do, we love you.
And if you have any thoughts, uhquestions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line at lifearound the fire at gmail.com.
That's our email address, ortype in Life Around the Fire and
look us up on the web.
In the meantime, God bless you.
Adios, amigos.
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