Functioning in God’s rhythm

Thank you, Father, that You are God and that we may know You. What a privilege, Father. Let us never become complacent about Your life in us and the price that Jesus paid to make it possible. We cry out to You, Father. We desire Your presence. We seek Your face. We want to be touched by You. We want to be enabled.

We want to be activated. We want to manifest Your presence in this earth. Thank You for life. Thank You for purpose. Thank You for this fellowship that we may have tonight. Thank You that we may worship You freely and glorify Your holy name. Let us know what it means to worship the only living God. Let us have godly reverence.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You made this possible. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for life. Life in every word, life in every interaction, life in our purpose. Thank You that You guide us and that You lead us. Thank You that You touch every person that is here tonight, that You strengthen them, that You enable them, that You activate them, that You motivate them, that You position them for a purposeful life, a life in Christ, a life where there's only one God, one King, one Spirit, one baptism, one life.

We worship You, Father, with everything we have, everything we are. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Some of you are competing with the sun, but at least you'll be able to hear me – don't use the excuse to keep your eyes closed for too long, I'll be watching you. Thanks for being here. It's awesome to be here in His presence, to come together like this and just to be part of something purposeful, something that is life.

So I have a few thoughts, and unlike what I normally prepare with – about 20 to 30 scriptures – there's a lot that I'm going to share from my heart tonight regarding this year, and I'm not going to add scriptures to it. A lot of it can be substantiated with scriptures; if you really want that, I'll give it to you afterwards. But I want us to focus on what I'll be sharing with you, much of which is just general, from what is in my heart.

I think from about the end of November the Lord started speaking to me about this year, and there are a few things He shared with me. I've received a lot of confirmation regarding it, and I'm sure when I share with you what is in my heart specifically about this year, it won't be a surprise to you. I think all of you will have some of these components already confirmed in your heart, and it will maybe just confirm something you needed confirmation on.

The one thing the Lord started saying to me from the end of November was that this year will be a year where there is a grace available to make it easy to function in His rhythm. Hear that again: it's not just a grace to function in His rhythm – there's a grace for this year to make it easy to function in His rhythm. So the focus is on the easy. There is a grace – you know the definition of grace, it's receiving something we don't deserve. It's something God is giving us this year to make it easier for us to be able to function in His rhythm.

Because I'm sure many of you will say, "I've tried so many times to function in that sync, in that rhythm of God, and I haven't been able to do it." So this is good news – this grace is His ability that He is giving us. His ability. Think about it: it's His purpose, it's His kingdom, it's His desire, it's His ability to make it easy for us to function in sync with Him. So I'm excited about that.

But I think, like with anything – even when it comes to salvation, it spoke to me so much when Tessa said the only thing we can build with, that rock, that foundation, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It just wipes away so many things, focusing on that cornerstone and that ability. That's one of the things about this year.

But let me not run ahead. The thing is, what God gives us, He doesn't force on any of us. He makes it available. Even in the Old Testament He said, "I put before you life and death; choose life." He will not force us. So whether we use that grace to make it easy for us to function in His rhythm is up to us – totally up to us. There's one or two of you where the sun is really fully shining in your face; if you want to move around, you're welcome to do so, even here in front. If you want to move out of the sun, please feel free.

For me, when I've spent time on this, I've said, "Okay, we're talking about our ability to function in the rhythm of God – that's nice, but how important is it? Is it one of the things on the side that's nice to have?" How important is it for us to function within the rhythm of God? I think that's something we need to get into our hearts. As always, I'm standing here listening to this myself, receiving it, having a choice to respond to it and what I do with it. It's up to every one of us to decide what we do with what we hear tonight.

But I came to the conclusion that functioning in rhythm with God is one of the most critical things left for us. Why is that? We have a very clear understanding – the Bible is very clear that there is a state the body of Christ needs to be in: come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, unto a perfect man. It says He will come for a bride without spot, without blemish. So there's a state the bride needs to be in for Jesus to return.

To come to that place, one of the things I'll speak about later tonight, which has been in my heart personally, is to get different components in the body of Christ to work together. It's probably one of the most difficult tasks. And how ironic is that, because what do we think we are busy with? What are we building? What are we preparing? There is one God, there is one Christ, there is one body. For us to come to that place, it's inevitable that this one body functions as one body.

We can easily compare the body of Christ with a physical body and say it is like a body. It is not like a body, it is a body. Did you grasp that? Christ is the Head and we are His body. It's not like a body. Why is that important? If I say, "I'm a physical human being and this body I have is like a body," I could take this hand, put it there, put that foot there, and say, "Okay, if I put this together, it is like a body." I don't need something like a body – I need a body. If I want to move forward, I need a body, not something like a body.

So if we want to get to that place – and I spoke about this the previous time; if you didn't hear it, download the app and listen to that recording again, because it was very important – I spoke about dying, dying to yourself. There is no replacement for coming to that place. When we come to the place where we die to ourselves and realise there is one God, one King, and nothing I am and nothing I have is mine – we act as if we still own something. We don't.

Like the example I used recently, when I asked a group of people to sow into someone's life – "Can all of you just contribute five hundred rand?" – so many said, "I need to pray about it." But you went out for dinner last night and it was five hundred rand or more; did you pray about that before you went out to dinner? Now because somebody asked you to sow into somebody's life, what is that mindset? The mindset is, "It's my money and I need to think and decide what to do with it." It's not your money. It's not your body. If you have died, you cannot resurrect yourself.

You have died. The only resurrection you have is in Christ. You don't have a different resurrection. The life you now have is the life in Christ, and it doesn't belong to you. When we get to the mindset of every one of us having died to ourselves, having sacrificed everything, knowing that it is Christ who lives – when I live, it is Christ who lives, I manifest Him, I live for His purpose, nothing belongs to me anymore – when we get to that place, we will start recognising how important it is for the whole body of Christ to function not like a body, but as a body, where we cannot have one leg wanting to go that way and another leg wanting to go this way – that body is going nowhere.

When we speak about functioning in the rhythm of God, we know there are seasons, times, purposes, different components. But we know that for the body of Christ to move forward as one body, to come to that place of readiness for our Lord and our God to return, it is impossible that we all shoot in different directions, run in different directions, build our own little kingdoms, and think we are building the body of Christ.

It is like if we were all blindfolded and I said, "Meet me behind the braai place," but we're all blindfolded. If we all get there, it means we are in sync. It's the result that counts.

They often speak about how the church in China functioned for a long time, where they would not tell people what time and where church is. If you want to have church, you need to be able to hear in the Spirit, otherwise you will not be where the church is. They do not tell you where, they do not tell you when – and yet people show up. So there's a place we need to come to where, for me, functioning in the rhythm of God, after all, it's about Him – He knows what the plan is, He knows His intentions, He knows the times, He knows the seasons.

So it's critical for us to function within the rhythm of God, so that we come to this place of coordinated focus and effort.

If I speak about this rhythm – I don't know about you, but when I speak about functioning in rhythm with God, I can actually see it in my spirit. I can see this rhythm, like waves, like sound waves. I can see that rhythm. The one thing I know about functioning in rhythm with God, and specifically this year I'm talking about, is that it's not a straight line, it's a wave.

It's important to understand why it is a wave. It is not predictable to function in rhythm with God. I'm not saying this is new, but we know that God wants to strip us from everything that stands in the way of us functioning in sync and in rhythm with Him.

Whether it is religion, whether it is preconceived ideas, whether it is my own beliefs, or whatever it is, God wants to strip us from that place. So when we function in rhythm with God, it's not going to be a straight line, because He needs you to hear continuously, every day. If being in sync and in rhythm with God was religion, and you could tick the box and say, "I was at church once a week, that's the rhythm," that's not God's rhythm.

I'm not saying it can't be part of it, but that's not the rhythm, because that is predicted, preset, and in that man-made rhythm. I'm not saying God can't function in it, but there is something beyond that. If we want to function in His rhythm, we cannot for one moment think that God is contained in a time slot, in a specific methodology, in a specific belief set. God is not contained in that.

This is going to be the challenge for you. If you embrace what I'm sharing tonight, this will be part of the challenge for this year: to know that if this rhythm is not a straight line, then doing this week what you did last week is not going to work. Doing this year what you did last year is not going to work. Doing things because it's a routine in your life is not going to work. I know many of us need routine.

I'm not saying throw out your routine all of a sudden. Stick to the routine until you have something better, okay? Don't throw out what works. I'm saying let's become sensitive to understand there is something more that God wants to achieve this year. For us to get into that rhythm, we need to understand it will not be life as usual. It will not be predictable. It will not be habit. It will not be religion. It will not be doctrine. What will it take to function in this rhythm?

I'm going to share with you seven things that I believe it will take to function in this rhythm, and some of them might sound very close to each other, but if you listen carefully, you'll understand why they are different.

Number one, which I think is a fairly obvious one, is desire. You cannot create life, you cannot have life, if it's not from your heart. If you want to function in rhythm – this is a concept now that you want to embrace, you want to act upon it – the first thing is desire. Do you have a desire to function in rhythm with God?

It's the same thing that touches on what I shared earlier. Are we at a place where we can say, "I've died to myself, I belong to Him, there is only one God, I live for one purpose, whatever I am, whatever I have, is His"? Am I at that place where I've totally died to myself? It's the same thing about this desire: do I have a strong enough desire to function in rhythm with God?

Because what if functioning in rhythm with God costs you everything you have at the moment? Would you still be willing to function in rhythm with God? Or would you say, "No, no, no, no, I didn't sign up for this"? So you need to start with that desire. Is it your desire to put God first, to totally put Him first in everything?

Because if you start there, you would be willing. If you make a strategic decision to say, "Lord, I want You and only You. I want to be in sync with You. Whatever Your desire is, I want that to be my desire. Whatever Your desire is, I want to act upon it," then whatever follows after that, you'll be willing to adjust and change to be able to do that. So for us to function in rhythm with God, it is firstly desire.

Secondly, intention. It sounds very similar, but it's not. Desire is that place from your heart of just making Him God. The intention is that you're not going to sit back like a couch potato and do nothing about it. The intention is that, now that you have the desire, which is the conviction – you won't have the desire unless you have a conviction – you're saying, "My intention, I have full intention to execute, to implement whatever is required in my life to be able to function in rhythm with God."

So I'm going to get you to work with me here. Number one is? Desire. Let's try that again. Number one is? Desire. Number two is? Intention. Okay, right, so you're still with me.

Number three – these all seem fairly simple, but we'll evolve them a bit. Number three: ability to hear. How are you going to function in rhythm with God without the ability to hear?

One of the things I hope you have started realising is that when we talk about functioning in rhythm with God, we are talking about you as an individual. This is personal. I am not talking to a group. This is individual. This is for you, personally.

Your ability to hear is not about what somebody else is saying; it is about you, yourself, at that place where you hear, and from that place of hearing you have conviction. So we need the ability to hear. Number four: the ability to recognise His voice, or prompting. That sounds very similar to the ability to hear, but there is a difference.

Samuel heard somebody calling out, but he didn't know who was calling him. He heard a voice, but he didn't know whose it was. So it is not enough to hear. The Bible says that even the devil will present himself as an angel of light; the demons will present themselves as angels of light.

So just seeing an angel of light doesn't mean that's what it is. Just hearing a voice - especially because we still have this thing called flesh - means we still need to decide, with every decision, is it spirit or is it flesh? We need to be sure, when we hear that voice, that we can recognise it is God's voice. I said 'voice slash prompting', because we can have the perception that when we speak about God's voice, we are simply speaking about an audible voice that you hear.

It is much more than that. It is a prompting, often a nudging, where it is not something you hear. It's not even something you can definitely say to somebody: 'I had one hundred percent conviction that God spoke to me.' Sometimes you can just say, 'I just had a conviction that I should turn this way,' and that becomes the testimony that flows from it. But it is more than a voice - it is a prompting, a guidance.

Number five, respond to His voice. There is no sense in hearing His voice and not responding to it. There is no sense in experiencing that nudging, that prompting to do something, and not responding to it.

So we are not going to function in His rhythm, and this is where I come back to: are we drawing lines in the sand, saying, 'This is what I'm willing to do, this is what I'm willing to sacrifice, only up to here'? Because it might be that God says, like He said to the rich man, 'Sell everything you have and give it to the poor,' and the rich man was not willing to do that. Is there something you are still holding onto - your security, your sense of value, the thing you think you created, that you built up, so that you can decide what you want to do with it? Or are we at a place where we can say, 'I will respond to His voice'? I am sure all of you have been there. It is not always the easy choice. I have been there many times, trying to argue with God because it seems He doesn't know what He's doing - but He always seems to know what He's doing.

Are we willing to respond to His voice, disregarding everything else? I'm sure you have often been at that place, like I have, where you need to respond but it doesn't even make sense to you. Nothing about it makes sense, but in obedience you do it.

Number six, relationship - and I am going to speak about this in a bit more detail, because there are a few things relating to it that are very important. We are not going to function in rhythm with God if we don't have a relationship with Him. You know the story I like so much, of the seven sons of Sceva? If you don't have a relationship, you still rely on what somebody else is telling you what God is like. You are still relying on somebody else to tell you the direction, the purpose, what the year is about, what the message for the year is. You are relying on somebody else, because it is not coming from a place of relationship, intimacy. Remember, this is not for a group - it is for every single one of us. It is individual. Relationship, intimacy - without it we cannot function in that rhythm.

Let's just check that you're still with me: desire, intention, ability to hear, ability to recognise His voice or prompting, respond to His voice, relationship. Number seven: to function in His rhythm requires His presence.

I have just realised over the years how easy it is - there's this small divide between spirit and turning it into religion. Human beings tend to take something that the Spirit gives life to, and turn it into religion, because we want to feel comfortable in the fact that it's contained, in a box, with a set of rules, an input and an output that we can manage. But we can't do that with His presence.

Either these preceding six items lead to the manifestation of His presence, or they don't. But you can't manipulate it, and you can't function with it intellectually. You can maybe get away with desire and intention intellectually; ability to hear becomes difficult; recognising His voice - you're not going to manage that with intellect. Responding to His voice, you could do that intellectually. Relationship - you might intellectually think you have relationship. But if you are not functioning from your heart, with conviction and intention in those six, you are not going to manifest His presence.

Without His presence, it turns into religion, and it won't yield the results it's meant to yield. So I'm saying we do not have a choice. For the sake of the body of Christ, we do not have a choice, and there is a sense of urgency for every single Christian to come to a place where we function in sync, in rhythm with God.

It is impossible that the Holy Spirit will show up and tell us conflicting things. There is one body - not like a body, it is a body - and if one leg goes this way and one leg goes that way, this body is going nowhere. So we need to understand: when we have died to ourselves, we need to understand what the master plan is. The master plan comes from the Head; once I've submitted myself to that, I simply respond. And in responding, every component of the body will respond according to their relationship, their conviction, the presence of God manifested, and the body will automatically move in the right direction.

Can I risk putting my foot out there and say that we have not been entrusted with the ministry of judgment? It says we have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. We have not been entrusted with the responsibility to determine whether everybody else is doing what they should be doing. But do I care whether I am doing what I should be doing?

Just think about it. If for a moment we forget about speaking about what somebody else is doing wrong, about what God has called somebody else to do that they're not doing, or about what some minister on television is doing or shouldn't be doing, or some doctrine we don't agree with - if we continue to spend our time on that, where does it say God sent you to do that? Where does it say that is your primary responsibility? How are you going to manifest God's presence by doing that? We have not been entrusted with that. We have only been entrusted with what I need to do.

If I do what God tells me to do, it might involve Him saying, 'Go to Erica and give her this word.' But that's because I am obedient, hearing and ministering according to the Spirit - not because I am checking up on her, saying, 'Shouldn't you rather be doing this? Are you sure you should be singing that song? Shouldn't you be singing that one instead?'

If we just realise that our primary responsibility is between me and God - don't try to live somebody else's relationship. In my early years, one of the people who played a major role in my spiritual growth and had a leadership role always said to us, 'You do not know whether that person is doing exactly what God told them to do. It is not your right to speak about somebody else.'

It might seem wrong, but if God did not entrust that person to you, and put you in some sort of relationship to shepherd them, it is not for you to condemn them or speak about them. We are achieving nothing. It's the same even in physical life. Look at an office - how many people spend half their time talking about what others aren't doing that they should be doing, when if they used that time to do what they should be doing, the whole office would already be different?

How much more in a spiritual aspect. If we come to the place where we say, 'I am accepting responsibility to hear God's voice and respond to it; I am not going to criticise what everyone else is doing' -

So it is personal, it is intimate, and we do not have a choice. That is the responsibility we need to take up. What is the outcome if we function from that place? Because we need to quantify this to some extent: okay, we hear, we need to function in His rhythm; there are a few things we need to get in place to be able to do that - what is the expectation that will flow from it?

I think one of the things that will be very obvious - and I'm not sure we will necessarily like it - is that your daily living will be different. Guaranteed, it will be different. How do I know? Because I can look at the state of the body of Christ, and I can tell you it is not in rhythm and in sync.

So something is wrong. If we want different results, we need to do things differently. Now, what is important to me, in terms of my conviction of what the Lord has shared with me regarding this year and functioning in rhythm - you need to understand this is going to take something. Maybe I was a bit fooled by the fact that He said to me there's a grace that will make it easy to function in rhythm.

So I'm glad about that, but that doesn't mean it isn't going to take a lot of adjustment. It doesn't mean it won't come at a price. What this means is that I have to commit myself again to God and say, 'Strip me of everything that is standing in the way.' If I can put it figuratively: every day I step out of my door, I need to be willing to respond to what God tells me to do.

And my expectation is that this - what I saw - is a wave; it is not straight, it is a wave. Why? Because we want to put it in a box, we want to make it religion, we want to make it predictable so we can tick a box. God says, 'No, I want your heart. I want relationship. When we are at that place of relationship and intimacy, and you can hear My voice, then I am going to lead you like the blindfolded.'

Who of you would be willing to step out of your door every day blindfolded? I'm hoping you're pedestrians and not driving a car - but in essence, that is what we are saying. We need to step out every day with an expectation, saying, 'Lord, I want to do today exactly what You show me to do.' I'm saying figuratively, because it might be something you had a conviction about, or received a conviction, the previous night already, or a week ago, whatever.

From that place of relationship, Jesus said, 'I can do nothing except what the Father shows Me.' He had to be in a place to be able to see what the Father showed Him. If He didn't have that conviction, that intention, that purposeful focus on God, acknowledging Him as His sole function and purpose - if He didn't do that, He would not see. He couldn't just do whatever He wanted and then have the Father come and force it on Him, opening His eyes and saying, 'See.' No.

How many times through the night did Jesus pray? How much time did He spend throughout the night just seeking His Father's face and presence? And in that, He saw - so when He went out, He already knew what was waiting for Him. How many times did Jesus say something that showed He already knew it from that place? So when we walk out every day, we need to be willing, in a place where we can say, 'God, today I want to really function in rhythm with You.'

My expectation is that little or none of it will be predictable. Very little of it will actually be routine or recurring. Because what is God's desire? If He wants our hearts first, if He wants that relationship so that all of us can function in sync, that is what He will make a priority - to say, 'I'm not going to tell you what's going to happen in two days. I want you to hear. I don't want you saying, "Okay, if I did this today, I'm sure I'll do it again tomorrow." No.'

We need to be open and willing, so that when we step out, we say, 'Lord, what is it You want me to do today?' He might say, 'Turn left.' He might say, 'Turn right.' He might say, 'Go speak to that person.' He might say, 'Don't go to that meeting. Don't phone that client. Phone that other client. Go have coffee with that person.' It is those small promptings that will cause testimonies to flow, like, 'I can't believe it - I was at the right place at the right time. It was one word, one look, one touch, and this was the result.'

It is that place that is beyond us. I am sure that in being in sync and in rhythm with God, we are going to walk in the supernatural, because it is not meant to be something we can always explain. I could have simply drawn money from an ATM because I had the money - but that's not it. That's not big enough. That's not significant enough. That's not impactful enough.

It needs to be that the person receives that money at the moment they prayed for it - at the moment they needed to buy food, at the moment they needed to pay school fees. And that's why I always say, when it comes to finances, when it comes to serving, it is not about when it suits you. Hear me well on this, because a lot of it might sound like something you've already been functioning in - and I'm saying to you, it's not.

You might be tithing. You might be sowing into many things. You might say, 'My finances are sorted out.' But the Lord might be saying to you, 'No - not that amount, this amount. Not that place, this place. This person, that time, that thing.' And you need to actually say, 'I'm waiting. I'm waiting - what does the Lord say?' He says, 'Do that,' and then you do it. That's just one example. With everything, it will be like that - it will not be predictable.

It will be so fine, so in tune, so in sync, that the result and the experience from the recipient's side - the reality of the situation - will speak of God's presence, not of the physical thing that was done. It will speak of God's presence when we are in sync, when we are in rhythm. Then we will function like that example of the underground church in China, where people arrive at a place without anybody having organised it.

I cannot see how we will get the body of Christ to the place where Jesus will return, until we come to that place of being fully in sync. So we have to have an expectation. I'm asking: if we function in that rhythm of God, what can we expect? I'm saying to you - expect that every day will look different. Expect that every day... that still sounds okay, but hear me out on this.

Expect that every day you are going to become dependent on hearing God's voice for that day, because we need to respond every moment, every day. We need to be able to respond according to the master plan, according to the purpose, according to His desires. I see part of the picture. I see it's like a heartbeat.

It is that – you know the heart, it contracts and it pumps. Tu-dup, tu-dup, tu-dup, tu-dup, tu-dup. It's that contracting into relationship with Him and releasing life. Contracting, releasing, contracting, releasing. Contracting into relationship with Him – that time of intimacy. It is not religion, it is not habit. It is seeking His face as the Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, seeking that place.

We enter into Him. We lose ourselves in Him. We receive, we are equipped, so that we can go out and give life. Every person we come into contact with will receive life because of who we are in Him – His life in us, His life through us. The grace makes it easier, but circumstances are going to become more difficult if we don't function from that place.

What do you think is God's priority? Do you really think that some of the things we pray for are God's biggest priority? His first priority is His kingdom – lost souls manifesting His presence. It's His kingdom, whatever it takes. Sometimes it will take that you need to have ten million to do it.

Sometimes it will take that you need to lose ten million so that you can do it. Don't get caught up in the physical thing we think we should be praying for, the physical thing that we think we should have so that we may do. He's after our heart. He is after His kingdom. There's a sense of urgency. We need to function in sync so that we manifest His presence at the right place, at the right time, in sync with the master plan, whatever it takes.

But I can guarantee you it will involve His presence, and we cannot manipulate that.

One of the pictures I saw, and a question I want to ask, is: what if the only way to spread life is through a chain, a chain of human beings? What if you need to impact an individual to be able to manifest His kingdom?

I saw this picture of a shining golden ball or globe of light – just this golden shiny thing – and I saw how I take it from me and give it to the next person, in person. Now, one of the things I'll talk about just now is how critical relationship is, how critical one-on-one interaction is, and that place we need to function from, where the life I received – that which has been entrusted to me, eternal life, His ability, His purpose, which is in me – I hand it to somebody else in person.

That doesn't mean I'm losing it. I'm able to give it because I have it, and I'm able to continue to give it, but I need to give it in person, to one person.

I believe a critical component of this year of functioning in His rhythm is relationship, but more so one-on-one relationship. Firstly, the obvious thing: relationship with our Father. We're not going to function in rhythm without a relationship with our Father. Then we take up the responsibility to establish relationships one-on-one with people, as He guides us.

I'm convinced that relationship in this year is key – not superficial, surface relationships, but relationships with intent, sacrificial relationships. Relationships where we are actively involved and make it a priority to focus on one individual, so that we function from that place where we can be in sync and impart what God is entrusting to us.

Just think about it for a moment. If we say we are functioning in rhythm and in sync with God, what is the expected outcome? It's that I interact with an individual and manifest the presence of God in whatever way – whether it is money, whether it is a lift, whether it is a word, whether it is...

Whatever it is, it is manifesting God's presence, but it will be in sync. So we cannot turn this into a religion, or a physical thing, or a set of rules or a way of thinking – you know, "if I'm in sync with God, then..." And yes, that could be part of it, I'm not saying it's not, but the biggest priority is not "not being in an accident today." I'm using that just as an example, because we might be at a place where we think, "My biggest expectation is that if I'm in sync with God, then I'm going to do a great big business deal today where I end up with ten million rand in the bank, and that's in sync with God, and then I'm happy."

I can tell you the core component of being in sync and in this rhythm is going to involve the individuals we interact with. It's going to be precise. It's going to be specific. It's going to be intimate. It's going to be from that place of manifesting His presence.

I want to speak about something else as well, but let me end off this portion by saying: I have an expectation that this year we have grace available that will make it easier for us to function in rhythm with God. But it's not a nice-to-have. It's not a side thing where I continue with my life and just experiment with this thing about how to get in rhythm with God.

No. This is the thing. This is the primary thing – the relationship we have with the Father, which enables us to function in His rhythm.

The amazing thing is – let me rather say it this way – I am saying we all have different functions, different purposes, different skill sets, we're placed in different places for different reasons, and so on. So there's a lot of diversity.

You might have heard the term a lot: unity in diversity. Even in the body there are different components; they function differently. But the picture I'm seeing is these waves, these rhythms that are all over the place, until we come to that place where all our rhythms are in sync because they are in sync with Him. Understand me well: it might look different for you than for me. It might mean that you do one thing – this is Alethinos talking – you do one thing and I do another thing.

But the fact that we were in sync means that we both did what we were meant to do. We are not the complete picture. He's the complete picture. But as we continue to desire His presence and to function in His rhythm, it's going to position all of us so that we can bring the body to the place where it should be.

I want to encourage you to have the desire, because it starts there – to have that expectation, that if you make the commitment to say, "God, I want to function in Your rhythm this year," you have an expectation to say, "Father, let me clear" – figuratively speaking – "let me clear my table of religion, of habits, of preconceived ideas, of things I've heard in the past, of things that have been said to me."

"Let me clear my table and say, Lord, I only want to see and hear what You want to say to me, what You want me to do." Have an expectation that we are totally going to live dependent on Him, and that every day is going to be different. It's not going to be predictable, but that we function from that place. If you walk out, you will decide: do I turn left, do I turn right, do I phone this person, do I go and have coffee with that person? If you make it a priority – those seven things I mentioned: desire, intention, ability to hear, ability to recognise His voice or His prompting, respond to that voice, relationship, and manifesting His presence...

If you have a conviction that you want to implement that in your life and function from that place, I do not see – this is my conviction – I do not see that as the body of Christ we have an alternative but to come to that place. Because what will that speak of? It will speak of the fact that every Christian has decided to make Him Lord – not what I think I should be doing. He's Lord.

He's God, and He's not confused. He has one plan. We're all part of that plan. If we submit, if we have that conviction, we'll come to the place where we can fully manifest His presence. Think about it for a moment: we talk about the body of Christ. What is it that we manifest? It's not – I say this respectfully, hear me – it's not my gift, it's not my office, it's not even the anointing.

It is Him. Not... it's like breaking this line between trying to build, establish, name and label this office, this gift, this covering, this... No, strip it. It's just Him. It's just Him. When we function from that place, where all else that interferes falls away, we truly function from a place where He's Lord, where He's God, where He's King, and our only desire is to manifest Him.

So, amen. You can go and process that for yourself, and come to your own convictions as to what the Lord is saying to you, and whether you're going to take it up seriously.