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Year of Partnership and Obedience with God
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As we close out 2023, I want to start by acknowledging God's faithfulness. Some of you aren't old school enough to know what it feels like when the Holy Spirit moves so powerfully that you don't even need music. You just think about the goodness of Jesus and what He's done, and your soul cries out: Hallelujah.
This is how we're going to end 2023—by recognizing that God has been too good to us. Too many storms we've come through. Too many struggles we've overcome. Too many demons we've defeated. The devil should have taken me out when he had the chance, but the fact that I'm still breathing means I have to give God glory.
What the devil meant for evil, God turned around for my good. What should have killed me couldn't kill me. What should have taken me out couldn't do it. God is faithful. God is faithful. God is faithful.
God has been too kind, too merciful, too graceful. I can't sit quietly in this moment. After everything that should have ended your life, the fact that you're still breathing is enough to say, "God, thank you, Jesus."
It's easy to focus on what didn't happen this year—the goals you didn't accomplish, the things you didn't achieve. We magnify the hand of the enemy. But can you just spend 60 seconds thinking about the goodness of everything God did for you? Some people didn't make it to this moment. Some people died. The fact that you're here is reason enough to say, "God, thank you."
Even if you lost somebody you love, God kept you alive for a reason. There's a reason He shielded your life. There's a reason He protected you. I don't fully understand His plan yet, but what I know is that God kept me here on this earth for a reason.
Going into another year, I want to shift my focus. If God still has me here, let me step into communion and partnership and covenant with Him to make sure I'm fulfilling the reason I'm alive.
Thank you for the whole year. Thank you for the good and the bad. Thank you for the beautiful and the ugly. Thank you for the desert season and the storms. Thank you for the times I felt stable and the times I felt insecure. Thank you for the times I was happy and the times I was angry. Thank you for the times I came in praise and the times I came in sadness. Thank you for all of it.
God declared: In all things give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you. The ups and the downs—all of it was for a reason. You were building something in me. Every season was necessary. Every season was useful.
I've learned to praise you in all of it. God, you give us a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness. We can put on praise even when we don't feel it. If we just put it on, we know how to be grateful for what you've done.
I feel the Holy Spirit so heavy right now. God has given me a very strong instruction for this next year—2024.
God said: You cannot do this year without me.
This is going to be the year of BUILD. We're going to be building this year. We can't go up from here if His presence doesn't go with us.
It's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the living God.
This year, we have to be submitted. I know there have been times in your life when you thought you could do some of this on your own. You've lived for God, but you've reserved a portion of your life for your own strength. God is saying:
This is not the year for that. This is the year where you have to say, God, everything that I do, I do it submitted to you. Everything that I do, I need you. Wherever you tell me to go, I go expecting you to lead me in every step. Whatever you tell me to say, I say it exactly how you tell me to say it. Whatever you tell me to do, I don't create a variation—I do exactly what you told me to do. I will follow you step by step.
God is ordering your steps for the year, and He's calling you to build something.
Many of you have been waiting for God to do all the work. But God says: This is the year where faith without works is dead. I'm expecting partnership. I'm calling you to step in with me. I'm calling you to start working with me.
I've already been working for you, but I want you to work with me. I've been shifting things in your life. There are people I removed from your circle without your choosing, without your opinion. But now I need you to step with me. There are people you know that shouldn't be there—you have to get them gone. There are things you know you should let go of—you have to let it go now.
There were things I've been telling you to change and release and move into, and you've been procrastinating. You've said, "Maybe next time. Maybe next year. I'm not ready, Lord." But God is saying:
When I've called you, I am the one who has determined whether or not you were ready. If I've released my voice in your ear, it's because I'm calling you to step into a season of obedience.
As we build, we are going to be building like Nehemiah had to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. There are things that have been torn down. God has been saddened by some of the things that have been happening in the church in His name.
God is calling us to rebuild:
This year is not a year for partial obedience. Many of you have walked with God, but many times you walk away and repent and receive grace. You come back, but this is the year you're walking away. What will it cost you?
Every time you walk away, you're missing steps. Every time you walk away, you're missing bricks. You're missing the foundation. And when you try to build on something unstable, everything you build can crumble.
You have to do it with God. You have to do it with God.
Our acronym for 2024 is BUILD: to get in a place of saying, "God, I want to be uncomfortable in lazy discipleship. I need to be uncomfortable in lazy discipleship."
But this is the year I need to be uncomfortable in lazy discipleship. I need to push myself and say: I have to grow and walk with God.
God's going to do the building, but God is expecting my hands to move with His.
This year cannot be a lazy year. Hear me. This year cannot be a lazy year. This year, God wants us to stand in with Him.
When you've been saved for a long time, you understand that we go through seasons that are lazy. When you've been saved for only a year, your zeal is so high. You don't want anything but Jesus. But when you've walked with God for 10, 15 years, the enemy can rob you by taking away the zeal you had in your early days.
God said in Revelation:
I see all your work. I see you preaching. I see you teaching. I see you serving. I see you helping the community. But I got one issue against you: you left your first love.
Many of you have lost the zeal. You love God, but your dedication to His word hasn't been there. You love God, but your dedication to prayer hasn't been there. You love God, but when it's time to fast, you break it easy because you've lost the zeal and commitment you once had.
We get into a lazy and relaxed season where we start sleeping in at wartime. This is when the enemy shows up.
The enemy doesn't show up when you're ready for battle. Every season you were ready for battle, you won. He is afraid of a prepared you. He is terrified of a prepared you because he understands the spiritual weapons you have. He knows that you can take every thought and bring it down to the obedience of Jesus Christ. He knows that whatever you bind on earth, heaven backs you up. He knows that whatever you loose on earth, heaven backs you up.
So he cannot fight you at full strength. He can only fight you when you go to sleep at wartime.
If you look at everybody in the Bible, there are so many stories of people who failed because when it was time for war, they were sleeping.
Look at David. David as a king had an incredible track record. Everyone talks about David and Bathsheba, but before that? David's track record before Bathsheba—you don't know a sin he committed. You know nothing but a man who submitted to God.
Even when a king was trying to kill him, David would not raise his sword. Even when enemies were trying to take his life, David said, "I would never use this sword unless God tells me to use it." This is a man who had so much integrity that he was willing to let somebody he loved try to kill him and he still honored him.
This man won every single war. 12 countries came before him. Nobody could stand before David because there was an anointing on him. When David was prepared, there was nothing you could do with him.
He didn't even need a sword. All he needed was a song. He didn't even need a sword. All he needed was a prophetic word. He didn't even need a sword. All he needed was a command from God. And when he showed up, armies would bow down. He was anointed.
He was anointed—not just to talk, but such that when he opened his mouth, his mouth was a sword. When he said something, heaven backed him up. He was not something to play with.
But he got tired.
The Bible says it was a time when kings go to war. And David said, "This year I'mma sleep in this. This year I'mma sleep in. Y'all, I've won every battle. God's been good to me. Y'all go ahead and do what y'all do. I'm going to take a nap."
He never planned on sinning. Never planned on turning his back on God. Never planned on failing. But anybody who really loves God knows that your biggest failures are the ones you didn't plan. They catch you by surprise.
David wakes up from a nap, sleeping where he's not supposed to be, laying in a bed he shouldn't be in, sleeping at a time he should be fighting. He wakes up and sees a woman across the way, and David falls into one of the biggest mistakes of his life.
This mistake catapulted him into a space where he did not recognize himself. If he had been where God told him to be, he would have never seen this temptation. If he had been on assignment, he would have never failed. If he had been in obedience in the first place, he would have never been in sin.
It took another prophet—and David was himself a prophet and king—to come tell him: "Prophet, you are out of God's will."
David understood what prophecy does. Sometimes God uses the prophetic word to expose where your heart is when you've lost sight of where you are. Because some of you have been lazy in your discipleship and you don't even know it.
And now you're being lazy in your discipleship. You didn't even recognize that you only been praying for you when God told you to pray for us.
David falls into this space where he's trying to cover a mistake that a healthy David would have never made. Watch this: he wouldn't even kill a man who was trying to kill him. In fact, David cut a piece of his robe to prove: "If I wanted to, I could take you out. I'm letting you win because God told me to be submitted."
He was prophetically speaking what Jesus was going to say: No man takes my life. I'm only here because I'm laying my life down. If I decided to fight, there's nothing you could do with me.
Even with cutting a piece of his robe, he repented to the man: "That's not who I am. I did that in the spirit of pride and arrogance. Because God has taught me humility, I want to apologize."
This man had a level of integrity you would not even understand.
And here he is killing an innocent man named Uriah. David is trying to figure out: How did I get here? All because I went to sleep when it was time to fight.
He's crying to God in Psalm 51:
Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit. I didn't even know my spirit went bad. I didn't even know my heart left you.
I'm challenging you apostolically and prophetically: Sometimes you got to get in God's presence and say, "God, is my heart still with you? Is my spirit right?" Because I could be in the house and not be in your presence. I can be in ministry and not be in your will. I could be doing church and not be in obedience. Just because I'm showing up doesn't mean I'm present.
David is saying: "God, my heart has gone bad because of some mistake or something that happened. But I thank you that you're creating in me a clean heart."
He said:
This isn't me. This isn't me. I'm the prophet. I'm the minstrel. I write songs. I don't set up murders. This isn't who I am.
And some of you have made some mistakes that really don't accurately represent your identity. If people read that one chapter of what you did, they would make a conclusive judgment about who you are. But if you were to be honest, it's not who you are.
You are a person that loves God for real. This chapter doesn't show it. This chapter doesn't show that you've always put God first. That you didn't kill people that were trying to kill you. That you wrote poems and songs that honored the Holy Spirit. That you would pray like it's nobody's business. That you really loved God for real.
But this chapter—if people could see who you were in this chapter, they would make a judgment call about you. They would think that they're better than you. They would think that they know God more than you.
I'm setting somebody free right now because you've been stuck in a chapter and God's trying to get you out of here. You've lived in an identity that doesn't accurately represent you.
You love God for real, but you've been in this repeated cycle. It starts with one mistake—not who you are, just one thing. And you're like, "I don't want to be that thing." And you try to become something else that makes that thing worse. And then this makes that thing worse. And then you try to cover it up, which makes it more worse.
But he gets to a place where he says:
God, create in me a clean heart. Oh God, renew a right spirit within me.
So many of us need to make this cry. So many of us need to make this worship plea in His presence to God: "I'm recognized that I've let some things in that don't accurately represent my heart towards you. I love you for real, but I had a David moment. I had a Peter moment where I denied you because the pressure got real. I denied you because the temptation got heavy. I denied you because I was sleeping when I was supposed to be fighting."
Peter denied Jesus three times. And Jesus came back and said, "I still chose you to feed my sheep."
Peter is weeping: "Lord, you know I love you."
And Jesus says: "Peter, I know you do. I know that last mistake doesn't identify you. That last mistake doesn't define you. That last mistake is not who you are. Pete, I know who you are. But in a moment of difficulty, you did some things and said some things that don't really represent your heart towards me. But I can see the look in your eyes. I can see the tears falling when you think about how you let me down. And I know that you love me. And I still called you to feed my sheep. I still chose you. I still placed an anointing on you. I still called you to be a part of this process. I still picked you. Even when you felt like you shouldn't be picked anymore, I still picked you because now you will lead from a place called grace.**
Leave from grace. And Peter led differently.
I want to challenge you: If that's you, if you feel like, "God, this is the year where I've got to let go. I went to sleep when I was supposed to be fighting and I had a chapter of my life that didn't accurately represent my heart towards you. I love you for real, but maybe there are some pieces, some clauses in my life. Some things that I might have said and done that didn't accurately represent my heart towards you. And I cannot go into another year still carrying the identity of an old chapter. I want to turn the page today."
If that's you, you can raise your hands or simply come to the altar. I want to pray over you. Don't let this year drag into the next year. Leave it here. Rip out that chapter. Let it go. Let it be done.
The enemy is losing right now. He made some of y'all feel like that chapter was your whole book. But that was just a chapter. It's such a small piece of the story that God is writing over your life. You can't even fathom what God is getting ready to write in the book called your life.
He said your latter will be greater.
Father, I pray that their latter will be greater. I pray that their latter will be greater. I pray, God, that this next half of this book will accurately represent their heart.
I thank you, God, that whatever sleeping has happened during the time of war, whatever the enemy tried to do to destroy them, their identity, their focus, and what it is that you placed over their life—God, we rebuke that right now in the name of Jesus.
And I speak prophetically over them, Lord God: You are bringing in new hearts. Create new hearts right now, Lord God, and renew the right spirit in your sons and your daughters.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will begin to rebirth people right now here at this altar. Every hand that's raised, God, you'll begin to touch them and rebirth—rebirth identities, rebirth focuses, rebirth mindsets, God.
Any way that they saw themselves that was broken and destroyed—I speak right now, Lord God, that they'll begin to see themselves with a clean slate. Lord God, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. And even if they were in Christ and feel like, "God, but I knew better," that's okay.
Because repentance doesn't put you at the back of the line. Repentance puts you back in line.
I thank you right now, God, that they are back in line with what you have called for them to do. They are not going to continue to falter and waver because of one chapter of mistakes, God. You're giving them a new identity even now. New identity even now.
I thank you, God, that you're bringing clean hearts. There are heart transplants happening right now, God. The heart they had went bad because of some trauma or a mistake or something that happened. But I thank you right now, Lord God, that you're causing heart transplants. Brand new hearts are being established, surgically implanted.
That old heart is done. It's damaged. There's been too much hurt in it, too much doubt in it, too much pain in that old heart. We remove that heart right now, Lord God. That stony heart, God. And we give them hearts of flesh.
Hearts that can feel again. Not emotions, but Your presence. Hearts that can feel again. That we would be men and women after Your own heart, God. That we would sense and feel You in every single moment.
That we would prophetically declare what Moses said, God:
We cannot go up from here if Your presence doesn't go with us.
And so Lord, we make a promise to You this year, God, that we are not going to try to do this thing without Your presence. That we are not going to try to do this thing without Your presence going with us, without Your presence leading us, without Your presence guiding us, without Your presence touching us in every way.
God, we are not going to move in our own strength. But God, we're going to wait on the Holy Spirit.
Wait, I say, on the Lord, and be of good courage. Wait, I say, on the Lord, and we will wait on You.
I'm going to wait on You, God, until You tell me to run. Until You tell me to go. Until You tell me it's time to move. I'll wait on You.
And I pray, God, that right now I strip off the guilt of this year. Strip off the shame. That's the tactic of the enemy—to try to make you still feel guilty and shameful. I tear it away—the guilt, the shame, the thoughts, the mistakes, the failures, the times you tripped, the times you wavered, the times you doubted.
You rip that off of them right now in the name of Jesus.
And I speak, God, that there's a clean slate. Clean, clean, clean. As the ten lepers were walking, they were cleansed. I pray God, as we continue to walk out this year, that we'll see greater degrees of cleanliness in our lives and that we'll walk with You in a greater measure.
And I speak this over you: If you receive that, give God praise.
