Consciousness, Conviction & Continuity

Thank you, Father, for this amazing, amazing opportunity and time together. Thank You for this blessing of rain that is pouring down. Thank You for Your presence, for Your love, for being a light unto us. Thank You for this fellowship, for this communion. Thank You for Your Word and for Your Spirit. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You paid the ultimate price to make it possible for us to be one with our Father.

Thank You, Father, that everyone that listens to this message, everyone that is present here tonight, that their hearts are open to hear from You and You alone. Thank You that they will hear Your voice, embrace it, and act upon it, and see the results of Your presence. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Last Saturday I asked you what you are doing here, but tonight I know you are definitely here for Him. If, despite the rain and the rugby and whatever else, you are here, you definitely want to be here. So may He reward you greatly for your presence.

I'm still a bit overwhelmed seeing my daughter worship like that, and the words of that song and how appropriate it is in our lives. God is good.

So I have in my heart to share with you where is it that we are living from. And it relates to a few things. I think the one is: which world do we live from? Whose faith do we live from? Whose conviction are we living? I want to ask a few questions concerning that and touch on a few things in the Word that might lead us in some direction on these questions.

I'm maybe going to start with the faith one first, because I've been speaking about that quite a bit, so it's maybe not necessary that I spend a lot of time on it. But whose faith is it that you are living? I don't want to dwell on that one too long because it is a deep topic on its own, but I'll share two scriptures with you that you know very well.

Hebrews 12:2 says, and I've explained to you before, that the word 'our' is actually not in the original text, so I prefer using the New King James Version, though there are a handful of verses that need slight adjustment. But even in the King James Version, if you read it, you'll see the word 'our' is in italics. If it's in italics, it means it's not in the original text.

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV)

The concept of faith was made possible by Jesus. You cannot have faith outside of Jesus. It is only Him. He is the author – and that's why it not only says He's the author of faith, He's the finisher of faith. He is the one, He is the being, He is the force that created it, that made it possible, but He completed it as well. It's important to understand that: it's His faith.

“I am crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20 (NKJV)

The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. So it's important, if we talk tonight about which world do we live from, which faith do we live from, to understand that it is His faith. He completed it. When you go through the process of baptism, and understand how it's explained in the Word, you are in Him. When He died, you died with Him. When He was resurrected, you are resurrected with Him. That is why you have no faith outside of Him.

I'm not going to dwell on that topic too long, but it's important because it creates a bit of perspective when we start talking about the next topic, and that is: which world is it that we are living from? Immediately when we talk world, I'm going to use the word reality. Which reality do we live from? We know that there's a spiritual realm and a physical realm, and we as physical beings function in both of them at the same time. But the fact that we function in both at the same time doesn't mean they're equally significant in our lives. There are things we need to choose in terms of where we function from.

It relates to maybe a few things – if I can use three Cs to give you perspective, and then we'll go into more detail. It relates to your consciousness, your conviction, and continuity.

If we talk about a spiritual realm that exists, and we know that is reality – I've spoken about it many times – God is a spirit, and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The word alethinos, that truth, is reality, that which exists. So if we worship God, we must worship Him in reality, the reality of who He is. He preceded the physical world. So He's a spiritual being. If we want to worship Him, we worship Him in spirit, and if I can insert a word, His reality. That's where we worship Him: in spirit, in His reality.

So if we talk about that world, it's not enough that we just know about it. That's consciousness, but your consciousness about that world can be on various levels. We have a responsibility to go deeper in our consciousness of that world, and I'll show you some scriptures regarding that just now.

Once we have established the consciousness, the second C that flows from that is conviction. Can we function from a place of conviction that that is our reality? Because you are more confronted – even though it might be perception – with your physical world around you. You have more opportunity; it's easier to function according to the rules of the physical world that confronts you. So it's not only consciousness; there must be conviction.

I think all of you have seen in life, if you meet somebody who has conviction – I'm even talking physical things now – if there's somebody who talks, and it might be a salesperson, but if that salesperson walks in and starts talking about his product, if he truly believes in it, if he lives and breathes that product, it's his life, you can see whether he has conviction. He functions from that place of conviction versus somebody who is just trying to sell something. It's the same for us. Once we have consciousness, that consciousness needs to move us into conviction, that we live from a place of conviction, not only consciousness.

And then, of course, the last C is continuity. There's something about continuity that is required to achieve what Ephesians 4 speaks about: until we come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. It can't just be that sporadically, from time to time, we get into that place. I'll share with you about that from the Word. So you know me by now – I like giving you the big picture, so that you know where we are going.

So let's quickly talk about consciousness, and I'm going to start using another term for it: our ability to see. Awareness, and our ability to see.

Matthew 13 from verse 13 – I'm going to read through it quickly. There's a lot of verses, but I'm going to read all of them to give you context, then focus on the last one.

“Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.”

Matthew 13:13-16 (NKJV)

Remember what we are talking about? Where are we living from? Which world, which faith, which conviction are we living from? And if we talk about this place, this world we function from, it says, 'Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they will hear.' We function in a physical world and a spiritual world at the same time, yet the Word has many explanations in the New Testament where it says the natural man cannot perceive the things of the Spirit, cannot see it – it doesn't even make sense to them.

So even though we all function in this physical world, we all are exposed to the spiritual world at the same time, whether you know it's there or not, whether you believe it's there or not – you are in it. You are part of it continuously. But it depends on what you can see. Like this Matthew 13 passage is explaining, we can either function from a place where our eyes are closed, our ears are closed, our spirits are closed, and we do not perceive reality, or it can be different. But it's evident from these scriptures that it's a choice that we make. It's not just something that happens against our will. It is a choice.

I'm going to read the prayer from Ephesians 1 from verse 15.

“For this reason I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”

Ephesians 1:15-18 (NKJV)

So verse 18 speaks about having the eyes of your heart enlightened. When the Word talks about heart in this context, as soon as it starts talking spiritual, heart is referring to your spirit. I've explained many times: you are a spirit, you have a soul, and you stay in a body. This who you are, you are a spirit. This prayer was directed towards that: having the eyes of your heart enlightened, having the eyes of your spirit enlightened, to position you in a place where your spirit starts becoming more dominant. The ability of your spirit to relate, to see, to become aware of where it is from, becomes more prominent. It's a choice.

In Romans 1, God continuously explained that everybody knows that I exist. Everyone. He says, 'I've revealed myself.' Everybody knows. But it is a choice.

Many of you also do counselling, and it's one of the biggest achievements when you can move somebody from a place of victim mentality to get out of it. With a victim mentality, you can always blame where you are on other people, on circumstances – and I'm not ignoring some terrible circumstances that you might have been through – it just does not help when you have a victim mentality. It's not that I don't have empathy; it's just the reality.

It's the same with this. People can continue to argue, 'But I didn't have that opportunity,' or, 'Jesus didn't show up in my room,' or, 'I didn't see an angel.' You can blame it on a hundred and ten things. God says, 'I'm present always, now, continuously, always – you have the opportunity to hear Me, to see Me, to respond to Me at any stage.' Every one of us has equal opportunity.

So we can't have this: 'Yeah, but that one, what he sees, what he hears, what he talks, what he's able – if I could hear it like that, if I could see like that, I would also be like him.' That's a lie from Satan. Every single one of us was created to be a specific function in the body of Christ with specific gifts, and none of us can say that I'm not important in the body.

I quickly want to read something relating to that from 1 Peter 4, verse 7.

“But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers, and above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another.”

1 Peter 4:7-10 (NKJV)

As each one has received a gift – say with me: each one has received a gift. You cannot sit here and tell me you have not received a gift. You cannot sit here and tell me that you are not important in the body of Christ. God created you. Who of you here created yourself? None of us created ourselves. So do you really think God didn't know what He was doing when He created you? And when He says in His Word, 'Each one has received a gift, so minister it to one another.'

I fell into that trap when my life changed in 2009, that I wanted to negotiate with God. When He sent me to Stellenbosch, I said to Him, 'Give me two years, then I'll know the Bible well enough.' He said, 'At what stage did you think it was dependent on you? Go now.'

Don't wait till you think you are perfect for the job. What is that old saying? 'God doesn't send the perfect. He equips the sent.' So don't think that He's going to wait till you think you are perfect and then send you. No. It's about His ability. I just wanted to jump into that because I think somebody here needed to hear that. You have received a gift, and it says minister it, minister it, minister it.

That's what's so amazing about us coming together like this, and this fellowship and communion that we experience – even while you are drinking tea, you can receive something life-changing by somebody just touching you, just speaking to you, just encouraging you. That's what it's about.

That's why I continuously say to people: what you needed to receive today, don't ever make the mistake that it's confined to this portion of the Word being shared. When you opened your eyes this morning, the Holy Spirit started speaking to you already. When you were drinking tea, He was ministering to you, maybe through somebody standing next to you. And maybe that time you spent drinking tea was the most significant thing you would have received today, not necessarily from here. So don't limit God in terms of what He wants to do.

So we are speaking about two worlds that we function in and our ability to see. I'm going to use a very simple example which you all know very well, but I like this. 2 Kings 6 from verse 15 – you know this very well, about Elisha and his servant. But there are a few things, if we focus on this, that really speak to me about this concept of where we live from.

“And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, 'Alas, my master! What shall we do?' So he answered, 'Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.'”

2 Kings 6:15-16 (NKJV)

This guy was worried, he was afraid. They surrounded him. Wherever he looked, he saw horses and chariots. And Elisha said, 'Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.' What is interesting here is at that stage the servant walked out, he looked with the eyes of the flesh, he saw horses and chariots, the city being surrounded, and he saw this as a big challenge, and he was desperate. He came to Elisha and said, 'We have a problem.' And I can just see that facial expression of Elisha, totally relaxed. Not fazed. It didn't matter how many people were around them, how many chariots and warriors – Elisha is just relaxed. I can just imagine this servant thinking, 'Do you not understand what's happening?'

But what is amazing – let me read the next verse and then come back to this.

“And Elisha prayed, and said, 'Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.' Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

2 Kings 6:17 (NKJV)

What is interesting to me is that when the servant spoke to Elisha and said, 'This is what I see,' at that stage already Elisha said, 'Don't worry, those that are with us are more.' So how could he say that? Because he saw it. He was already seeing it. That's the difference. For the servant, there was this little window, this small portion, where Elisha said, 'Lord, just open his eyes,' and He opened his eyes, and then he saw. Whereas Elisha didn't ask, 'Lord, open my eyes as well.' It wasn't at that stage, when Elisha started praying, that the Lord showed him a glimpse and then it disappeared again. He was continuously aware of the spiritual realm he was functioning in.

Is this taking you back to the question, where do we live from? We can come – I'm saying it very respectfully, you'll understand the context – we can come to a place like this, and during a night like this, during worship or whatever the time is, we can have this amazing supernatural experience, a moment where we see, we hear, we receive, and it's a life-changing experience in that moment. But my question is: is that similar to what the servant experienced? If we walk out from that, is there continuity regarding that?

I'm first in the queue to say that when I spend my private time, and there's a time when you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit coming over you, you feel that anointing – man, I love it, I'm not going to lie to you. Just experiencing that presence of the Lord, and when you see things in the Spirit and it opens up and you see – it's amazing.

But there comes a time – if I compare it to Peter and Paul, when they walked through the cities and their shadow fell on somebody and they got healed, versus when they started out, walking up to somebody, praying for them, and the person got healed – then they progressed from there to just walking down the streets and people get healed. It's the same principle. Yes, it says desire spiritual gifts, desire His presence. I'm taking nothing away from what you can receive here tonight. I'm taking nothing away from the life-changing significance and ability in a one-moment experience like that. But I believe God wants more for us.

God wants us to dwell in that place where we can continuously see and hear and function from that place. It says we are seated in Christ Jesus in heavenly places, from where we look upon that reality, that consciousness of where we live from. It must so overwhelm us that we have that conviction – that is who I am. When we get that conviction, that this life is temporary, this physical world is temporary, but that spiritual realm that I'm from is going to exist forever. And I believe that should be our desire, to continuously say, 'Open my eyes, Lord.'

Not just, can I put it this way, asking for something that flows against what my lifestyle is, against what I'm spending my time on. No – it needs to flow with that. I can't just... yes, there's always grace. There's always grace. It can never be about us doing everything right. But there is a flow that contributes towards what we experience when we experience it. All of us know: when you spend more time in prayer, you experience more. You see more, you hear more. It's just how it is. When you spend more time in the Word, when you spend time fasting, it just positions you in a different place where you become more spiritually sensitive, and you feel like you're on that high, and you function from that place.

So yes, we should desire; we should ask God, 'Open my eyes. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.' When we worship that, we must have an expectation. Yes, we can ask it, but our lifestyle should be in line with what we are asking. We should be willing to spend the time on our knees, spend the time in the Word, spend the time ministering to one another, to be faithful to what He has entrusted to us. So Elisha was already seeing this, and he was continuously seeing this. That's why he was not fazed.

And yet the servant – the story continues from verse 18.

“So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, 'Strike them, I pray, with blindness.'”

2 Kings 6:18 (NKJV)

I'm asking myself the question – at that stage Elisha prayed and said, 'Lord, strike the people with blindness.' This is not in the Word; I'm just asking the question, so bear with me. What relevance does it have to the fact that he saw the angels and the horses of fire, and then he asked, 'Lord, strike them with blindness'? Do you think there's a relation between the two? What is the relevance of the angels being there, of the horses of fire being there, and him specifically asking, 'Lord, strike them with blindness'? If he didn't see that, would he have prayed that? I'm just asking.

So you know what happened after that. They were struck with blindness. He took them into the city – but the whole grace component of it was also significant. He took them into the city, they couldn't see, and when their eyes opened up, they were pretty much sitting ducks. The king asked Elisha, 'Can we strike them now?' And Elisha said, 'No, that's not what we do.' And they arranged a feast for the prisoners and sent them away.

Amazing. So in this process, what I want to say about that, and which leads me into the component of what is the significance of living this life from this world – what is the significance and the role of the Holy Spirit in that?

Because for us, the Holy Spirit is that significant component that establishes the relationship with God, stirs it, activates it, enhances it. And like this story with Elisha, he could have messed up at various stages, despite the fact that he saw in the Spirit. He had to have a conviction by the time the king asked, 'Should I strike them now?' He could have been a hero, saying, 'Look at this, look at all the men that were slain because I brought them blind into the city.' He would have been a hero. That's not what he did, because that's not what the Lord told him to do.

So if we come back to it – you know I like practical things – can we live a life every day where, if I walk into that boardroom, I know what it is that the Lord wants me to do? Whether He wants me to win or whether He wants me to lose. Whether He wants me to accept it or reject it. The obvious might not be the answer.

Like this, having taken all these people captive, the obvious might have been, "Let's slay them." That was not what the Lord said. The Lord said, "Feed them and send them." So when we talk about where we live from, it has to be something that plays out practically in our lives. I'm not talking about some theoretical thing that we just say, "Okay, the concept is there." I'm saying, how does it play out in our lives every day?

How do we achieve it? How do we get there? How do we ensure the third C, the continuity? It's not like the servant, who, for that one moment – who knows, maybe it's the only time in his life he ever saw an angel. Maybe not. But I'm sure that was not the life Elijah lived. He continuously saw the things happening around him. He continuously heard the voice of the Lord, which made him a precision instrument, which is what I believe we should all be.

Not just a generic instrument, but a precision instrument, because that's the way the whole body will start doing what God called it to do – when every one of us functions in precision, and all of us can testify how the Lord journeys with us and our ability to hear and respond in obedience. He will sometimes just tell you, "Open the door," or He will tell you, "Close the door." It doesn't seem spiritually significant, but yet He's teaching you to be obedient.

Often, immediately after that, you will know why you had to do that. He's teaching us. It's a practical life. In our everyday lives it has to be evident that we function from that place.

We easily refer to the concept of living a life led by the Spirit, and talk about sons of God. Those that are led by the Spirit are called sons of God. It's not this thing that's out there or that just happens automatically. It's a decision. It's a conscious decision, the desire of your heart, to say, "I've come to a conclusion that this is my temporary." Like Peter also said, "It's a tent. It's time for me to take off this tent pole. This tent, I know, is just a temporary thing. This is not what it's about."

We spoke about this last time – building with gold. We need to have the conviction that I am from a place which is eternal, and my significance in this physical world, although this world is disappearing, is that which has eternal value.

But for that, we need to live a life led by the Spirit. If you compare the servant with Elisha and ask, "Who of them would be able to live a life led by the Spirit?" For that servant it would be very difficult, because he's not seeing, he's not hearing. He's looking at the physical. That's where he is. That's how far it can go. But we have a responsibility to move from that servant place to the Elisha place, especially in the dispensation where we are, where Jesus paid the price.

He died, He was resurrected, and He said, "It will be good for you when I go, because my Father will send the Spirit." How much more should we, who have the indwelling of the Spirit which they did not even have, function at a place where Elisha functioned – to be able to continuously hear and see? Like those verses in Matthew 13 as well: how many people hear, but do not perceive; they see, but cannot understand what it is that they see.

We have the opportunity to allow the Spirit to take us from a place where we might have these sporadic incidents of experiencing the glory of the Lord. How many times do we come into a place like this, and we worship and pray, and we see the glory, we experience the glory, we feel that tangible presence – and it's amazing, and I thirst for it, I desire it, and I always will.

But I also know there has to come a time where it stays. Not just that it is one percent of our lives, and for the rest of our lives, ninety-nine percent, we continue in this physical world and wait again for a month until we can come back into that glory cloud and see in the Spirit. That cannot be what we are aiming for.

There's progression required, like with Paul and Peter with healing. It's the same principle. It's okay now to walk up to somebody and pray for them, and they are healed. But there comes a time when people will be healed just by us walking down the streets, because of Him.

Just a side note – when we talk about His faith, when I was praying and preparing this, this concept kept coming up in my mind: the fine balance between people saying, "I have authority in the name of Jesus to heal people." That's fine, but I think there's this transition, that same principle we speak about: it's His faith. It's according to His faith that I'm living. This life that I live now, I live by His faith. People will often relate that also to saying, "Don't take God's glory," which for me is a weird remark to make anyway.

I think there's a higher level of revelation where it's not so much me that has the authority in His name, but the fact that it is His name that has the authority. I don't have to say, "I have the authority in the name of Jesus." I can merely say, "Because of the authority in the name of Jesus, be healed in the name of Jesus."

Maybe it speaks to somebody here – I didn't put it in my notes, but now that I'm speaking, it came up again, because that's what I experienced while I was praying. Sometimes it actually takes the burden off us – the same way it takes off the burden about how big my faith is, so that I can just access His faith. It takes the responsibility off me. How much authority do I have? Nothing. All the authority is in His name, but you have access to it. He says, "All authority has been given to Me, therefore go." That means you can function in His name like an ambassador. You have all access to that.

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”

Romans 8:5 (NKJV)

You've heard this many times. The first thing that spoke to me when I read this was: there are things of the Spirit, and there are things of the flesh. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh – this physical world, there are things the flesh demands, there are things the physical world demands. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

We read that verse, but have you thought about, have you spent time to understand, what are the things of the Spirit? What is important to God? I always pray, when I pray for a night like this, "God, let that be everything You had in Your heart."

I don't know – like the first time ever I prayed for somebody, she came to me and said she'd been trying for twenty years to stop smoking, please pray for her. I took her hands and started praying in tongues, and she fell over. I prayed for her to stop smoking. The next Sunday she came back with a list of twenty-one things that were healed in her body that I did not know about. We don't have to be so clever and strategise and think, this, this, this, and list it all. We need to connect to God's heart.

If our desire is that our heartbeat must be His heartbeat, His desire – I believe that is why Jesus had compassion. He said He looked at the people and had compassion, because it was the Father's heart. He said, "When you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." When we live that life, it's not just a world we are talking about that we function from. It's a Person. It's a DNA, it's a lifestyle, it's an ability, it's something different.

When we dwell in that place, when we function in this world, it needs to look different. It needs to be His heartbeat, and the amazing thing is it doesn't even mean every day looks the same. I believe when we wake up in the morning we should just worship God, tell Him how great He is, and then say, "Father, today just send me the people that I should meet. Let me see the things I should see, let me hear the things I should hear, and allow me to change lives. Father, whose life can I change today?"

If we live that life, God is faithful. I can promise you, you will not pray that prayer for many days and have it be empty. When you continue to pray that prayer, look how God will start sending people to you. Remember that verse I sidetracked to? He says, "Each one of you have received a gift. Minister it." What are you waiting for? For yourself to become better? I do not have anything else to offer than the Word of God and the Spirit of God, and to benefit from the relationship that I have with God that allows me to minister the Word and the Spirit. It's not about us getting better; it's about stepping out of the way more, so that people can see Him. But it means we need to be obedient, otherwise you will not walk the road today that God told you to walk, and you will miss the person He wanted you to minister to.

It's a relational place that we function from. It's not just a world. It is dwelling in His presence. When His heart beats, you feel your heart beat. When He says, "This is priority now," that is what is priority. We can so easily fall into the trap, because that's how we function in a physical world, to think that it's this thing we are building – we are building this castle, we are establishing this ministry, this concept, this thing – and it's always this big thing, always this thing we're chasing, always this gold somewhere out there.

If we achieve that, then we've done what God sent us to do. Yet He's in the detail of our everyday living, and our ability to just show up at a time when a person needs something, and you show up and you minister according to that – it might be the simplest thing you've ever done, yet to that person it's the most significant thing they've ever experienced from God. How many times have I heard the testimony of people saying... I had one person like that, in the same year that my life changed, that I ministered to, and he said to me that if I hadn't ministered to him that day, he would have committed suicide. He was on his way to do it.

Many of you have ministered to people like that. It's a life of precision. It's not falling into this thing where it's this big thing we are building, we are establishing, I'm growing – yes, that's part of it – but it's more, right now, right here: who needs a touch from God, because He's touching through you.

You have everything you need. Don't wait for a calling, for an anointing, for a touch, for a word of prophecy, whatever. Don't wait for it. I'm not saying all those things are not good – don't wait for it. He's enough. Just stretch out your hand and touch somebody, because they are waiting for it, and He has sent you to do it. He will flow through you, and His life and ability is more than enough.

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Romans 8:5-8 (NKJV)

Does that sound familiar? "Cannot please God." It says you must have faith. "How can you please God?" Without faith you cannot please God, because how can you come to somebody you don't even believe in? So that's not about the size of your own faith. It's the reality of tapping into what Jesus has done, into His faith, and functioning from within His faith. It is possible to please God.

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

Romans 8:9-10 (NKJV)

Just listen to this, because I want you to understand something about the following verse that I don't think we always necessarily read into it correctly. So verse ten says, "But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead" – keep that in mind – "the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." You understand, like 2 Corinthians 5:17, when you become born again, your old creation is dead. There's a new creation. Those that are in Christ are a new creation; old things have passed away, because of sin. "But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness." We have received the gift of righteousness. The life of Christ that you receive has the righteousness of God, not something you can establish yourself.

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Romans 8:11 (NKJV)

I think we narrow down that verse – I'm not excluding it – to focus on the mortal, saying, "You know what that is speaking about is the fact that this physical body, that at some stage will become dust, God has given life to it." So I have to accept that through the Spirit of God, my physical body doesn't have to die. I do not believe that is what that is saying.

We must always use the Word to explain itself, like John 3:3. If you read John 3, it's amazing – those three, four, five scriptures all explain the previous verse, and you can build a doctrine based on something where five or six verses tell you the same thing. But if you look at the previous verse here, the way we interpret that "mortal bodies" phrase – yes, it's part of the bigger picture, but I don't necessarily think that was the focus, because that's not what the previous verse said.

Verse ten said, "But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead" – it's talking about a dead body, a physical body. Your body is dead because of sin; the Spirit is life because of righteousness. It says the same thing: body is dead, but the Spirit is life. And then it continues the same concept into verse eleven: "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who dwells in you." My interpretation is rather that He's saying, "Despite the fact that your body is mortal and that it will die at some stage, despite that, I've put life inside of it."

Keep that in mind. I think this world that we are talking about that we live from has a concept significant to it, which we read from Revelation and many other places, and that is the concept of light. We function from a world of light, and I believe that's significant to understand, because if we talk about that prayer we read earlier from Ephesians, it says, "Let the eyes of your heart be enlightened."

So there's an element of light that becomes relevant. If we want to say which world do we function from, there's an element of light that has become relevant in where we live from. I'm going to make this statement, and you can process it, because it's maybe more than what you think it is: there's a world you cannot see unless you see it in light.

Just process that. There's a world you cannot see unless you see it in light. But we have a responsibility to see it and to function from that place.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

John 1:1-5 (NKJV)

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. There's a world that you will not be able to see unless you see it in light.

“There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world.”

John 1:6-9 (NKJV)

If we want to function from that place, we start understanding it's not like a physical world where we say, "Okay, here I stay in South Africa and there I stay in the US," and you compare the two. When we start talking about where it is that we function from, in our limited capacity we see it as: here is a physical world, there is heaven, and we function from within Christ in that place. Yet we understand it's far more than that.

It's like the fact that Christ became the living stone, and speaks about us being living stones, and the fact that that life – what we are building, the life of Christ – is now in us, that same life, and we are building on that cornerstone, we are building on that foundation, but we are building with living stones. We are establishing a life form which we are not separated from. It's not a country that I live in. I build the country by the life in me. I build the body of Christ by the life in me. By every one of us being a living stone, when we come together and we build the body of Christ, we are establishing that place, that world that we function from. We establish it here.

Often when I speak about faith, I say my definition of faith is not hoping that God will do something, but knowing reality and functioning according to reality. It's the same principle. When we come to that place of understanding, like Elijah functioned from a place where his reality was: there are always angels. What is your problem? There are always angels. There are always chariots of fire. There are always horses of fire. What is the problem? They're always there.

If we are aware of that, would our actions look different? Would our words look different? Would our decisions look different? If we function from within that place, where we start realising it's not a place that's somewhere out there – it is here, and we are in it, and it's in us. That is where we function from.

But then it touches on that: they that function in the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh; they that function in the Spirit set their mind on the things of the Spirit. So all of a sudden – what determines the world I function from is what I set my mind on. What is my conviction? That consciousness of that reality needs to come to us, and that is why the Word is so important.

We do not have to sit here and think out what that reality looks like. That is why the Word is there. The Word shows us that reality. But I must spend time so that that world, which I cannot see unless I see it by light, will be enlightened to me. It will become my continuous reality. I'm using the example of Elijah and angels because it's a practical, simple thing, but it's far more than that. It's not just seeing angels. It is how that world functions. What are the rules of engagement? What is the ability? What is the authority? It is just different.

I know we live in a world that, from a physical perspective, is falling apart. And it's not news; it's consistent with the Word. If we think the physical world out there is going to get better, we've got a surprise. I see people praying for peace, and there's a time and a place, relating to Israel, with specific responsibilities that we have for that. But to expect that the whole world will remain in peace is a contradiction of the Word. Jesus said, "I didn't come for peace."

But there's a world, there's a reality, there's a responsibility that we've been entrusted with – His kingdom, His lifestyle – that we have a responsibility to establish, disregarding whether it's complete darkness. Isaiah said complete darkness will cover the earth. But he didn't say it to say, "So you've got problems, there's nothing you can do about it." That's not why he said it. He said it so that we know we have access and responsibility to something that is far beyond that in terms of ability. We have a responsibility.

We all know there are very definite times and seasons, and I firmly believe there has been a dispensation, a season, where people have tried to see many of the things the Word speaks about but have not been able to see it and manifest it on that level, because the dispensation hadn't arrived yet. But the danger for me is that we look at our current ability as the body of Christ and think that is how it's always going to be. That would be the biggest mistake to make – to think where we are now is the full potential of the body of Christ. Not nearly. We are only scratching the surface.

But that means we need to have a conviction in our heart of what it looks like when God shows up. In the Old Testament, which was far from where we are living at this stage, the people didn't get sick. The people didn't have need for anything. There was none of them that were feeble; there was none of them that were barren – not even the animals – because they dwelt in the presence of the Lord. How much more now, with the indwelling of the Spirit and the calling that we have?

But it requires something. It probably requires a lot of things, but it starts with the direction. It says those that set their mind, their heart, on the things of the Spirit – it takes a decision. It takes action. How do you set your mind on the things of the Spirit? You take a decision, but subsequent to that decision, it takes fellowship with the Spirit. It takes time in the Word.

We talk about this reality, this world – and it's a limited word; you understand when I talk about "world" now, I'm not talking about something separate, but for lack of another word, I describe it that way. But the Bible explains to us what that world looks like, what the rules are, what the possibilities are, what it will look like. And if we don't study the Word to see that, how will we come to the place we speak about with the third C, conviction?

Many of us have been kicked in the teeth in our faith, exercising our faith only to have things turn out differently. It doesn't mean it's going to be like that indefinitely. How many times are we going to get up and do the same thing because we have a conviction? If you don't have that conviction the first time you get kicked in the teeth, you're going to stay down. The thing Paul boasts about is the fact that he continued the race.

Yes. How will we ensure that every one of us continues the race? If you're going to measure it by everything happening the way you want it to happen and by everything being a success, about never getting sick — if you're going to measure it against that, you're going to have a major challenge. But if we can take the Word and say, "But Lord, Your Word says…" I often say when people pray and people struggle to pray and don't know how, "How much more simple can it be to pray the Word?"

You don't have to come up with clever words and think things out. Just take Ephesians 1 and pray the Word. Take a Psalm and pray the Word. The Word is there for a reason. That is reality. It is showing us reality. It becomes alive in our spirit. And I've explained it many times: you need to mix the Word with faith. When it comes into your spirit, you mix it with faith, you act upon it, you speak the Word of God.

Continue to speak the Word of God, not from a wishful-thinking place, from an "I know what my reality is like" place. And if you are kicked in the teeth three hundred times and you have to get up every time, then that is what we do. But not because of this definition of faith that says, "I'm hoping one day God will show up and do something." It's from a place of saying that my faith is knowing reality. What does reality look like? Reality says there's a step here, then I put my foot there because there is a step there. And if I fall, I fall and I get up. I say, reality says there is a step there, and I take that step again.

And that is why we need each other, because in the dispensation we are in, we are challenged with the results the body of Christ is showing — but it's not going to be like that forever. There's going to come a time where the significance of the body will be far beyond Paul and Peter walking down the street and people getting healed. It is coming.

It is consistent with the Word, but that doesn't mean there will not be challenges. It doesn't mean there will not be wars. It doesn't mean there will not be famine. But if we do not stand together — like it says, the Word of God is the mirror. You have to wake up. When you get up in the morning, you check in the mirror before you go out the door just to make sure everything is good. What if we take the real reality mirror and look in that in the morning?

It says, "Wow, God, You say I'm this beautiful. God, You say I can do this. God, You say I have a purpose. God, You say I have a gift and I should minister it. God, You say I function by the Spirit. I am who You say I am." And you walk out the door having looked in that mirror, which is your reality, and we function from that place. There's going to come a time where the manifestation of the body, the manifestation of God's presence in this earth, will be unlike anything this world has seen yet.

But we are custodians. Imagine if you read through the Old Testament — many people say they can't read through the Old Testament because it's just blood all over. But if you understand the principle of how serious God was to protect the seed, to protect the gospel, to protect the Word, and what He was willing to do for that, and how long it took, and what a price was paid, with so many generations, so that Christ could be born, so that the gospel could be established, so that the Word could manifest…

How many generations of us will it take before we get to the point where the manifestation of the glory of God in this earth will be beyond anything this world has seen? How many generations? Does it matter? Because we can only live this generation. We can only live from this place where we are faithful with what we are able to do at this stage. We cannot say, "But I haven't seen it."

The first year that my life changed, one of the first things God told me was, "Don't function according to what you have seen. Don't function according to what you know. Don't function according to what other people say they are not able to do." Most of you will remember, from the first year my life changed, I told this story about Moses standing in front of the water. God says, "What do you have in your hand?" He has this staff, and God says, "Okay, open the water." And I see this picture of Moses saying, "God, just one question — how many people have done this before?" God would say, "Let me think… none." Moses says, "Okay, that's good, because I can't do it either."

It's not about how many times you've seen it done. It's not about whether you've ever heard of it being done. It's about whether we have a relationship from a place of conviction, of reality, to say, "But I know who God is."

That's why I made that side remark. It's a slight emphasis difference, not a major thing, but my ability and His ability, my authority and His authority — it's just that stepping out of the way to say, "God, just be God, despite me." And I'm glad He does that, because in my thirteen-year journey, He's had to be God despite me many times. And it always works out when He's God, not because I did things right. Even when I mess up, He shows up.

One of the key things that drives that is the condition of your heart. You need to spend the time. If you are true to what He has sent you to do, when you are faithful, when your heart is pure, God shows up — not because you do things perfectly.

So, to function from this place — I'm ending off — my question is: what world do we function from? What faith do we function according to? The faith, I think we've spoken about many times — it's His faith. The world we function from is His reality, but it's more than His reality. It's His ability. It is Him. It's His priority. It's His agenda. I said to you last time, what amazing relief to know that I don't have to work out the strategic plan — He did it already. I don't have to establish the foundation — He did that already. I don't have to come up with the building plan — He did that already. I just have to show up and let Him be God.

We have a responsibility to function from that world, and it doesn't happen by itself. You need the Word, you need the Spirit, and that is why we need each other. I'm going to emphasize it again — I said last time regarding accountability, I do not believe you are serious at all about laying your lifetime down if you do not have an accountability group.

One of the biggest things we need to come to, when we talk about the body of Christ, is to understand: I do not belong to myself. I cannot do whatever I want, whenever I want. You need an accountability group. You need Spirit-filled, mature people who can guide you and be your accountability when you mess up. But that means it's a decision that you make.

I want to encourage you — we have a very simple programme. If you're not on that Telegram group or WhatsApp group yet, just ask somebody to add you. We're going through a Bible reading programme, literally reading one chapter a day. That is it — one chapter a day. There's enough time for you to catch up; if you fall behind on one chapter a day, you catch up over the weekend. There's more than enough time. But that one chapter a day will be significant for us to fill ourselves with the Word.

You can't do the one without the other — the Word, the Spirit, time and prayer. You can add worship; there's probably a lot you can add, but I'm specifically talking now about the Word and the Spirit. You need to spend time in the Word. If you don't have the desire — and that's the downfall of accountability groups — the day you know you are doing something wrong, or the day you know you have given up, and then you don't post it on your accountability group, it doesn't help you to post when everything is going well. That's not when it's needed. It's the day you say, "I don't feel like it today, I'm not going to do it today" — that is the time you need your accountability group.

I've spoken about this recently, and maybe this is also a time and place to mention it: I strongly want to encourage you on your accountability groups. I know the majority of you have accountability groups; if you don't have one, get one in place — otherwise we are not serious. On your accountability group, post every time you spend time in the Word.

You are used to only posting on your accountability group when you need help. But we need to be proactive. It's like a heart-rate monitor that keeps going. So if I'm on your accountability group, I want to see that you are reading the Word, because I should be responding by the time you're not posting. The time you don't post that you are reading the Word — that's the time I need to say, "My friend, what's happening? Do I need to come over and spend time with you, or what is it that we need to do?" We can't wait for things to fall apart and then say, "Yes, but, but, but." No — it's proactive.

I want to encourage you on your accountability groups: implement that from tomorrow. When you spend time in the Word, you post on your accountability group. On the groups I've started, the guys just post a little Bible or book emoji or something, so I'd know. You don't have to write much — just post that emoji, the Bible. I know then, he's okay, he's spending time in the Word. And that is what we have to offer each other, to help each other — not to condemn, not to judge. It's to help one another, to connect to the source through the Word and through the Spirit, through prayer, through these interactions, fellowship interaction.

Thank You, Father, that You are just amazing, that You're a God of love and grace and favour. Thank You that You've done it all, that You've paid the ultimate price, that You sent Your Son to make it possible for us to access this world of light, of life, of love.

And thank You that we are ambassadors of that way of existence, that we can manifest it in this earth. Thank You that it's through Your Word, through Your Spirit, through fellowship with one another, that we can establish Your kingdom in this earth. I want to pray specifically tonight, Father, that You will touch everyone here with a desire for Your Word. Encourage them, strengthen them.

Maybe they've become despondent. Maybe they've tried so many times only to give up. Maybe they've tried to exercise their faith so many times just to see it not work. Father, tonight I want to ask that You supernaturally come and open their eyes to experience Your touch, Your love, Your ability. Thank You, Father, that none of them will give up. None of them will become despondent.

They will stand up again. Recommit, Father, and allow You to be God to them and through them. Thank You that every one of us will hear Your voice, will respond to it, will become precision instruments to be at the right place at the right time, to give the right word to the right person, to touch, to feel, to see, to hear, to engage, to allow You to manifest who You are. We thank You that we can be servants of the Almighty God.

Thank You that You encourage us and strengthen us and enable us far beyond our physical ability. Help us to set our minds on the things of the Spirit. Help us to manifest You in everything that we engage in. We worship You, Father, now and for eternity. In the name of Jesus. Amen.