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Month: December 2019

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What’s The Formula For Breakthrough?

We love formulas. Give us five prayers that unleash the power of heaven or three steps to walking in victory and we are all over it like a hog in mud! We approach the bible with this same mindset. We read about Daniel and all of a sudden we have a new formula called the Daniel fast! We read about the worshippers who circled Jericho and we have another formula: leading spiritual warfare with praise! However, as I study the scriptures I’m becoming more and more convinced that the only formula is that there is no formula! I mean, if we made a list of all the different strategies the people of Israel employed to win their battles, it would be quite a long and diverse list. No two strategies seemed the same. It seems that God emphasized not a formula-based faith but a God-dependent faith. The formula is to hear from God all the time, every time.

This was brought home to me in a fresh way as I studied Matthew chapter 2 yesterday. It is a really interesting chapter in that it contains the fulfillment of three Messianic prophesies. It starts with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, Israel. Then Joseph has a dream by which the Lord warns that Herod will seek to kill the child and directs Joseph to take his family to Egypt. Finally, after Herod dies, Joseph takes his family back to Israel (but to the town of Nazareth this time), again prompted by divine direction. The author of Matthew is careful to point out that there is a prophecy about the Messiah coming from each of these three cities; Bethlehem, Egypt and Nazareth.

So I tried to put myself in Joseph’s shoes but with a 21st century mindset… I know, quite a mind-twister lol. Ok so here I am, I got the Saviour of Israel in my care… (no pressure). I’m also a Jew so I know the scriptures pretty well (like by heart) and I know that there are three prophesies about where this child comes from. So what’s the formula for successfully raising God’s promised Messiah? Which city should the child be born in? Do I plan a visit to each city? When? In what order? To figure it out, I naturally pull out my Strong’s Concordance and study all the Hebrew words in the prophecies and Google all the articles and YouTube videos on Messianic prophecies. (By the way, this exercise kinda reminded me of the eschatological gurus who keep getting the end of the world wrong… hmm.. whatever happened to all the blood moon fanfare last year?… anyhoo, I digress…)

The thing is, that was not how Joseph approached life…not at all. He simply did what God told him when God told him. An angel of the Lord appeared in a dream and told him to go to Egypt, so he went. Another angel appeared in another dream and sent him back to Israel when Herod died and he went to Nazareth. Simple. No formula. Just a simple faith that totally trusted God to direct his path.

As I begin to think about my 2020 goals, I’m thinking in 2020 I want to get back to a simple yet powerful faith. I want to grow in obedience to the Holy Spirit, step by step, day by day… there are no formulas, only a life fully surrendered to Christ and completely led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.

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The Joy Of Giving

Christmas holidays as a child were spent at my grandparents’ house. The first sign that it was Christmas was the opening of the ‘special cupboard’. Out of that cupboard would emerge a smorgasbord of treats to delight our taste buds. There would be Peardrax, marshmallows, cashew nuts, nougat, chocolates and of course a tin of Danish cookies.

The next event on the Christmas agenda would be the decoration of the Christmas tree. Grandpa was in charge of this affair. He would delegate tasks and oversee the entire production starting with the assembly of the plastic tree with the fake tinsel snow (This is the Caribbean. Ain’t no white Christmas here.) The grand finale would be the turning on of the multicoloured lights that blinked in time to a music box and we would all sit back and take it in with warm hearts and twinkling eyes.

But, like most children, what I was most excited about was the presents! It was all a countdown to the opening of the presents on Christmas Day. Everything else was just the supporting acts to that main event. I could hardly sleep on Christmas Eve as the adrenaline pumped through my veins.

Then the big day would come! The final hurdle between us and the presents was praying with Granny. We would dutifully clasp our hands and close our eyes while butterflies danced on the inside and then….. we would tear into the pile of gifts under the tree!

This pattern repeated year after year from as far back as I can remember. But soon I started to notice another pattern; by the end of Christmas Day I would have this sinking feeling in my heart. It was a strange feeling. I couldn’t define it for years until one year it hit me – the presents never lived up to the anticipation. It was kind of like going to a movie that you were looking forward to seeing all year and it turned out to be crap. I had an expectation that the presents would bring me euphoric joy and they never did. That was the day I discovered the vanity of material things. They cannot deliver joy no matter how big or expensive.

But I also discovered something that exceeded my expectations every year… the joy of giving! From that year forward I put more thought into the presents that I got for my family than the ones that I received. I began to look forward every year to seeing the joy on their faces as they opened my tokens of love.

Christmas taught me that it really and truly is better to give than to receive.

As Christ came not to receive but to give His life so that we would gain eternal life, let us celebrate the reason for the season by giving to the less fortunate and showing our loved ones how much they are treasured.

May your Christmas be joyful!

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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Seeing Christ In The Blend

Many years ago, I remember listening to a popular psychologist speaking on a radio programme and she was saying that she never got into a relationship because she had a daughter and she did not like the idea of having a step-parent in her daughter’s life. I also remember thinking at that time that it sounded good, but something wasn’t sitting right in my spirit.

Now, with a lot more of life under my belt, I look back and I know what it was that disturbed me. It was a lack of faith. A lack of a bigger view of Christ and His ability to redeem the human condition. I understand her fears. There are many horror stories involving stepparents but Christ is bigger.

It has been 6 months since my wife and I exchanged vows joining our lives and our families as one, and these 6 months have not been without its challenges. (There were some days I just felt completely overwhelmed.) As soon as we got back from the honeymoon things got real pretty quick. Putting children with completely different backgrounds, experiences and family cultures under one roof is not something I would recommend for the faint of heart. There are issues of different parenting styles, feelings of jealousy toward this new person taking my mother’s/father’s time, issues of annoying new siblings and so on and so on…

Many times, it is easy to see the negatives and what isn’t working but I am determined to see the opportunity for Christ to be glorified in the midst of the chaos. The scriptures say (Mat 5:43-48 ESV):

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This passage reveals a kingdom secret – Christ is glorified not by how we love the lovable when things are ideal but by how we love the unlovable in the midst of difficult circumstances. The opportunity in my family is for us to demonstrate love in the midst of a situation that is not simple or ideal. And it’s for this reason that I’m undaunted by the challenges of my blended family. In fact, I’m excited and I get more and more so every time I see a glimmer of that redemptive love of Christ at work.

Christ does not write off people. There is not a situation or person so badly wrecked that Christ cannot transform it or him/her into something beautiful and life-giving. We must never forget that. We must hold onto that standard and never let go.

Again, I reminisce… many years ago, as a newbie in Christ, my pastor proclaimed from the pulpit that the men in the church were so messed up that they were beyond help and he had to start from scratch with a new generation. I cringed, but even so, I still did not fully grasp the magnitude of ignorance of Christ revealed in that statement. I pray I never lose sight of who Christ is to such a degree. I pray all who read this would receive a fresh impartation of faith to believe God for the resurrection of dead situations, dead relationships and rotten people. Lazarus was rotting but he wasn’t too far gone for Jesus to turn death into life!

Some Christians may see a blended family as an icon of failure; a second-rate Frankenstein assembled from the broken pieces of ‘real families’ but I see it as a place where the resurrection life of Christ can shine brightly. I see it as a place where second chances are redeemed by the blood of Christ. Second chances to exemplify the true love of husband and wife (Christ and the church) that children may have never seen before. Second chances for children to witness the centrality of Christ in the home as love is manifested in the down-n-dirty of long-suffering, patience, self-control, kindness, gentleness and compassion.

I see the first little green buds of that resurrection life in my family. I see it when the children all invade our bedroom just to sit on our bed while we pretend to protest about the invasion. I see it when the older ones show concern about the younger ones when they are sick or feeling down. I see it when my wife treats my children like they are her own (sometimes better!). Yes, there are big challenges, but Christ is bigger!

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.