As this beautiful, articulate, fierce, young woman spit lines from the podium my heart burned and tears came to my eyes. Emanating from this force of nature was something exquisite and powerful. My consciousness was re-awakened to a truth that must have grown dim – words have power.
It seems to me that many of us had forgotten this truth. For a time, we were caught up in a world where words were flung about without thought or care. Sprayed wastefully like cheap cologne or maliciously like rubber bullets. We set our eyes on political power and legislative agendas as the saviours of our world. Our hearts fibrillated in anxiety or exulted in victory, as our preferred narratives collided with reality.
Then came Amanda, armed only with a slingshot full of words. She took aim. And let loose. Straight between the eyes of hate, ego, division and fear-based-manipulation! She stood astride the divide and aimed high. She called out the best in us, over and over again. The sound waves seemed to cleanse and heal. The sonic pulses fanned the flames of convictions that had grown cold and polished ideals that had become dull.
The clarion call rang out over Capitol Hill: hope, harmony, truth, justice, faith, unity, perseverance, bravery, mercy…
Could God use a poem just as powerfully as legislation? Indeed, could a poet be more powerful than a President? Out of the mouth of babes God has ordained strength. We are designed to shape our world by the words we speak.
Let us not forget, words have power.
James 3:3-5 (MSG)
A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!
Copyright 2021, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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All of creation longs for unity. It is evident everywhere. Gravity is evidence of it. What we experience as ‘falling’ is actually the attraction between earth and our physical bodies. All matter is constantly pulling itself together. The bond between atoms is so strong that the fusing of atoms releases ginormous amounts of energy that literally fuels the stars. It’s like an atomic orgasm. Speaking of orgasms… Sexually, our bodies crave union. Every teenager knows that the force of sexual attraction is almost irresistible. Our DNA is hard-wired for procreation through sexual union. The same is true of our social-selves. We long for emotional connection with others. We all know instinctively that being alone is not good for us. Hence, the existence of loneliness. We need to belong to a group and without that sense of belonging we will never be happy.
What is less understood or acknowledged is that we were also designed for spiritual unity with God and with others. Those who know this most poignantly are those of us who, like me, have converted to Christianity. Before coming to Christ, I considered myself a happy person, but I knew that something was missing… I just had no idea what. There was a ‘hole’ in my soul that could not be filled. The only clue I had was that from time to time I would find myself getting depressed at sunset as thoughts ran through my mind. “What of any real meaning have you done today?” We can try to fill this gap with many things: alcohol, philanthropy, sex, children, prestige, accomplishment, family, fame, drugs, possessions… The list can be endless but until our Spirit is united with Christ through the Holy Spirit, the sense of incompleteness will remain.
But that is just the beginning. We are immediately conscripted into a much larger plan; a divine re-unifying of all saints and all creation in Christ. I say, RE-unification because through Adam all was disconnected from Christ and death entered creation. But, through the cross, we have been reconciled to Christ.
Paul, speaking of Christ, says it this way in Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV):
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
ALL things are being reconciled to Christ. This is the wonderful celebration to which we have been called! We are part of a divine re-unification of all things to Christ! The spirit comes first but everything is touched; everything must be redeemed: sex, society and creation itself.
I believe this is a powerful lens through which to view the world. Everything that we see in the world around us that is good is of God and everything we see that is evil is in a state of disconnection and it is our privilege to be agents of redemption. We should so carry Christ in our mortal flesh that everywhere we go and everything we do brings a redemptive effect. Do you see war, sickness, poverty, promiscuity, injustice, corruption, crime and demonic activity? Then that is exactly where we are needed because that is exactly where Christ is needed. The love of God in Christ is the most transformative agent in the universe!
Maybe we have believed in the law of separation? Maybe we have heard, “Come out and be ye separate,” or “What fellowship has light with darkness,” as a call to separate ourselves from the world? After all, we are often told not to be ‘worldly’ by well-meaning preachers. However, these Godly instructions are not about where we go or who we associate with. They are about our identity, who or what we worship, and the values we hold. These issues are what give us our saltiness. Salt mixes into everything to such a degree that you can hardly distinguish it physically, but you know it’s there because you can taste the difference.
Are there any neighbourhoods we would never want to visit, far less live? Are there any people with whom we would never hang out or even be seen? Maybe because of their ‘alternative’ lifestyles or maybe their weird doctrines? Instead of separation let us yield our lives to the divine law of attraction – the divine unification – taking Christ everywhere He is needed until all is reconciled!
Copyright 2020, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
To receive more content like this in your inbox and to receive a free e-copy of my book, The Primacy of The Voice of God – Elevating the Word of God to Its Rightful Position, please subscribe to www.authenticjoy.org.
One of the challenges of any marriage is the merging of two family cultures. New family norms and rituals must be formed that can be a wonderful ‘best of both worlds’ or an ‘acceptable compromise’. Some issues are easier than others. The degree of difficulty can range from easy peasy, like how to squeeze the tube of toothpaste (a real example btw!), to the not-so-easy, like coordinating parenting styles.
In my marriage, Christmas is one of those seasons that brings this culture clash issue to the fore big time. I come from a family where Christmas is just another holiday. If it wasn’t for the children, I probably wouldn’t even put up a tree. But for my wife, Tricia, Christmas is the high point of the year! Her mountainous village of Paramin is known for its Christmas parang music and food (There is even a song about it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWooZugXL3Q). At Christmas time, neighbours go from house to house drinking, eating and serenading each other. Serious planning and thought go into this most holy time of the year and Tricia’s family starts playing Christmas music from August!
So, you see the problem. Last year my poor newly wed bride practically cried through Christmas Day as the culture shock of a bare bones Nicholls Christmas blanketed our quiet home. I tried to liven it up a bit this year but still it was a far far cry from the atmosphere of love, family and celebration that permeates a Paramin Christmas. I’m sure we will do it better next year. God is always working with us, even in the nitty gritty of my wife and I becoming one. This year Tricia wanted to get new curtains and bedsheets. We had no money, but I said, “Honey, any extra money I get is yours.” Well God must have been smiling as the words left my mouth because that very week my company announced a bonus payment that was very unexpected especially considering these times. My praying wife got her Christmas wish.
This annual dilemma got me thinking about the paradigms that shape how we live. For me, events are not what I focus on. I believe that family should be treasured throughout the year and Christ celebrated every day. Reserving a special day to have some euphoric moment occurs to me as forced and fake. I prefer to focus on consistent habits. Tricia believes in that too but whereas I had an either/or mindset, she has an and/both mindset; consistent habits AND special days of celebration. She loves putting aside a special day for all of us to celebrate something special together and, for some, it may be the only time they think about Christ at all. It’s about doing things together, as a family, as a church, as a community.
Slowly but surely, she has been winning me over to her way of thinking and just like that a new and unique family culture is being birthed. My hope is that Christmas for us will be an overflow of the love we show for each other throughout the year and the way we celebrate Christ every day. And if Christmas Day doesn’t go exactly the way we planned then that’s ok. It’s not about having the perfect day; it’s about living a life that treasures Christ in the little acts of love and in the grand displays of shared celebration.
There is a phrase that has been resonating in my heart for this season and I know that God put it there. It’s the phrase, “Fullness of joy.” In God’s presence there isn’t just joy, there is fullness of joy! What’s more joyful than joy? Shared joy! Relational joy! Jesus’ mission was to share the joy that already existed between Father, Son and Holy Spirit with every one of us. In John 15 and 1 John 4, John said that he shared the things he wrote so that the joy of the writers and the readers may together be full or complete. Think about it… Have you ever had some really great experience by yourself and your only regret was that there was no one there to share it with? I have. Somehow that sunset would have been better with someone to whom to say, “Wow. Look at that.” Joy shared is joy multiplied for everyone!
Copyright 2020, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
To receive more content like this in your inbox and to receive a free e-copy of my book, The Primacy of The Voice of God – Elevating the Word of God to Its Rightful Position, please subscribe to www.authenticjoy.org.
God is in many ways a mystery. The bible says it this way in Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV):
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God is inscrutable. He is above human scrutiny. If we could understand God; if we could pin Him into a package that our minds could comprehensively define, then you can be sure that that would be a god of our own making. The clay cannot understand the ways of the Potter. The mind of Creator is, by definition, on an unfathomably superior plane to the created being.
I think we constantly need reminding of this. We too easily become arrogant and presume levels of enlightenment beyond our endowment. We become too sure of what God would and wouldn’t do; too convinced of our theology and doctrine; too secure in our denominational position. God does reveal Himself to us, of course, but be assured that what we know is far less than what we do not know.
The minute we become too sure of what we know is the minute that we lose our ability to receive the next revelation of God; to transition to the next season in God gracefully. You see, we never have it completely figured out. We read the historical accounts of the bible (with full knowledge of the end of the story) and feel that the way it all panned out would have been obvious to us had we been there, but consider this:
John the Baptist actually witnessed the Father speaking from heaven and the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus as he baptized Him. Yet, when John found himself in prison and heard what exactly this Messiah was doing (or not doing) he asked, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” What Jesus was doing did not fit into his prophetic interpretation of scripture. And this was the great prophet John! Jesus said of John that among those born of women there had arisen no one greater than John the Baptist!
What about the disciples on the road to Emmaus? Jesus had been crucified and there were rumours of His resurrection. They bemoaned, “…we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” A dying Saviour and an Israel still under Roman occupation was nowhere in their frame of reference of the Saviour.
What’s my point? God often defies our expectations of Him. We cannot follow Him through our human reasoning or academic study of the scripture. Only the Spirit knows God’s next move.
1 Corinthians 2:8-11 (ESV)
8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
To this very day, the Western world is bound in an intellectual approach to God mainly through the study of scripture. Studying scripture is good and necessary but without actively engaging the Spirit it is inadequate.
Those who have embraced mystery, often called mystics, have frequently been vilified by the rest of us. A spiritual approach to seeking God has often been misbranded as New Age. This tragic misunderstanding has cut off many from an abiding relationship with Christ.
I was recently reminded of the amazing access to tangible relationship with God that opened to me when I first came across the concept of Contemplative Prayer. A very well-respected mother of the faith expressed her appreciation of my contemplative position and I realized how much it had now become a part of me. When I first discovered the contemplative, it was rare to hear about it in mainstream Christian media but recently I have been hearing preachers mentioning names like Thomas Merton, Richard Rohr, Brother Lawrence and Madame Guyon and I have rejoiced. Contemplative Prayer is better known by our Catholic brothers and sisters and I would dare say it is something that they have that we all need.
Listen to Madame Guyon in her book Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ:
“You see, the only way to be perfect is to walk in the presence of God. The only way you can live in His presence in uninterrupted fellowship is by means of prayer, but a very special kind of prayer. It is a prayer that leads you into the presence of God and keeps you there at all times; a prayer that can be experienced under any conditions, any place, and any time… May I hasten to say that the kind of prayer I am speaking of is not a prayer that comes from your mind. It is a prayer that begins in the heart.”
This type of prayer is a way of life that is not very common but, in my opinion, an absolute necessity. However, my overarching purpose is not a contemplative prayer sales pitch but rather to unearth the mindsets that cause some of us to throw out ‘different’ viewpoints like contemplative prayer without any serious consideration.
I personally have found that every time I get comfortable with accessing God in a particular way or to a certain religious routine, God shakes things up. The life of a disciple, I have learned, is a commitment to constant movement. My revelation of God and how He works in my life is constantly evolving and broadening. The minute we become so rigid, so right, that God can’t change our doctrine, is the moment of departure from His will. Imagine if Peter had dismissed his vision of God telling him to eat unclean food. (The thought is not so far-fetched… Anything contrary to the Law (Bible) must be from the enemy right?) What if Abraham had said that God would never ask him to kill his son? Would a good God ask such a thing? I think if we honestly place ourselves in these stories, we might find that we are not so sure that we would have accurately discerned God. These pioneers of the faith had to follow God into uncharted waters, down paths that even seemed unbiblical initially. But they had faith; they trusted beyond human reasoning.
Even the Christmas story is a reminder that God comes to us in unexpected and unanticipated ways. Mary had to believe that she could conceive the Messiah by the Holy Ghost, something that never happened before in history. The Jewish world had to grapple with their King coming as a helpless child from an inauspicious family. Emmanuel, God with us, rarely draws close exactly the way we imagine.
Walking with an inscrutable God necessarily entails embracing the unknown even if it offends our understanding of God up to that point. Our mental understanding cannot be allowed to be the arbitrator of our trust and obedience.
Copyright 2020, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
To receive more content like this in your inbox and to receive a free e-copy of my book, The Primacy of The Voice of God – Elevating the Word of God to Its Rightful Position, please subscribe to www.authenticjoy.org.
Seven years ago, my life was dramatically changed when I discovered this truth:
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
C.S. Lewis
(I didn’t read it from Lewis’s book, The Weight of Glory, but from John Piper in his message on Christian Hedonism. You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cRkUt4glaE)
I had spent more than twenty years trying to reconcile my innate desire to be happy with my desire to please God. The fact is that the world is FILLED with unhappy (or at best mildly happy) Christians trying to convince people that not drinking and not having sex and not partying and going to church and reading the bible and praying is the most enjoyable way to live. Pffft. Please. We are not convincing anyone. I know I wasn’t convincing myself… Until, one day, I experienced the Presence of God. In that very moment, I felt like I had taken the first desperate breath of air after years of being held under water. That life-giving gasp signaled that I would indeed live and not die. That I could be an unbelievably happy Christian.
To this day, the Presence of God is the ONLY thing that has eclipsed the copious worldly pleasures that I have tasted. The sad thing is that Christians who have experienced the fellowship of the Presence of God are rare. I don’t care how great the worship session was or how much the preacher blew your mind, without God’s tangible presence touching our lives we are still dead. D.E.A.D.
In Psalm 16:11b David says:
in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
This truth is worthy of a lifetime of pondering and pursuit. Consider these statements:
Fullness of joy – no joy lacking, perfect joy, complete fulfillment.
Pleasures forevermore – eternal bless, unending happiness, delights upon delights.
This is where every Christian should reside. When this type of joy exudes from our soul, then the world will know the glory and worth of our King! We should not settle for less. We cannot settle for less! There can be no waivers or qualifications! Nothing less than His Presence with us can be accepted as the normal Christian life. This was Moses’ prayer. We will not go without Your Presence! We have become altogether too content to go on without God. Go on with our worship sessions. Go on with our oratorical theatrical sermons. Go on with our well-choreographed shows utterly devoid of the Presence and power of God.
When the glory cloud fell on the temple that Solomon built, the priests could not even stand to minister! Has the Presence ever brought us to our knees? God has left the building. The church has become a dead academic institution of biblical doctrinal propagation. Tragic.
There is something called the existential reality of God. Few have experienced it. God can be felt, heard and seen. Saul saw a blinding light and heard a voice. That encounter so transformed his life that he left behind the Christian-killing Pharisee of Pharisees Saul and became the apostle Paul – commissioned by God. This existential reality of God has practically left the planet and the responsibility for that tragedy falls squarely on our shoulders.
My exhortation to us today is, “Do not settle!” Do not settle for dead religion. He has promised that if we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him! Let us make an unbreakable oath with ourselves to become lifelong seekers! Whatever little caresses of the Spirit that I have felt, have left me hungry for more. Whatever little tastes of His love that I have sampled, have left me completely wrecked and longing for more of Him and Him alone. Whatever whispers of His voice that have broken through my consciousness, have left me yearning just to hear His voice.
Do not settle for church as normal! Do not settle for a mediocre Christian life! Do not settle for being a good Christian with a happy family and a pet charity. God is so much more! Seek Him until you find Him. We are meant to live in the unspeakable joy of the Presence of God! Anything else is a wasted existence. Any other life pursuit is a side-issue.
Copyright 2020, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
To receive more content like this in your inbox and to receive a free e-copy of my book, The Primacy of The Voice of God – Elevating the Word of God to Its Rightful Position, please subscribe to www.authenticjoy.org.
As I watch the unfolding US elections from the safety of my home in Trinidad & Tobago it seems to me as if American Christians have gone mad. I’m trying really hard to make sense of it (insert emoji of my brain sweating).
So far, I think I’ve figured out that there is one group for whom Mr. Trump is an Elijah-styled hero taking on all that is evil in America. His abrasive personality and speech can be overlooked or even condoned because they believe that’s what is required to fight against the evil forces that is arrayed against him. They even have prophecies to back it up.
Then there seems to be another group who are more focused on the behavior and character of the man. For them, Trump represents an icon of misogyny, bigotry and divisiveness. Any positive policy decisions cannot compensate for the mere force of negativity that pours forth from his speeches and twitter feed on a daily basis.
What’s interesting is that both of these groups are Christian. So, who is right? And does God care which side of the fence we fall on? I would like to propose that God is less concerned about our opinion of Trump and far more concerned about how we navigate this highly divisive issue.
Like it or not, one thing that Martin Luther’s reformation introduced into the church was the propensity to part ways when we disagree on issues. The existence of so many different denominations within the global church and the commensurate features of separation and castigation will not be a feature of the people that reigns after the return of Jesus. There is a unification of the church that must take place as the body matures into the fullness and stature of Christ.
However, many have interpreted this unification to mean that all will come to common agreement on THE TRUTH. This may happen, but I am fully convinced that there first must be a unification of hearts before there can be a unification of minds. The skill that the 21st century church has to learn; the lesson that God is orchestrating world events to allow us the opportunity to learn; is this: How to strongly disagree with each other while remaining in undiminished and loving covenant relationship.
The heart issue that God is putting His finger on, is how we treat the person that we disagree with on issues we feel very strongly about. Do we treat them with love and respect? Do we pursue deeper understanding and relationship? I believe 2020 has been deliberately designed by God as a year of reckoning. There has been no shortage of opportunities to part ways with our brothers and sisters:
Global pandemic: From God or from the enemy?
Wearing masks: Responsible act or sign of a lack of faith in God’s protection?
Ban on church congregation: Responsible community partnership or infringement on religious freedoms?
Black lives matter movement: An opportunity to show solidarity for victimized brothers or an evil spirit to be opposed?
Trump: Friend or foe?
I believe that this is a critical moment. The stance we choose toward that ‘other’ person is now under God’s microscope more than ever before.
For me, God’s corporate demand echoes the personal demand on my heart in my marriage. There are issues on which my wife and I have different views. We both have strong opinions. We both believe we are ‘right’. So, what do we do? Parting ways is not an option. Forcing the other person to comply with our way is also not an option. So, what are the options?
One of us could compromise. But if we both feel that we are doing what is right in God’s eyes then why should we go against our convictions?
We could avoid the issues that we disagree on entirely. But how do we move forward in true partnership if we never discuss tough issues. How do we move forward in partnership without making any decisions on what’s important or how to tackle problems?
It seems like a puzzle that has no solution, but I believe there is one! The solution for my marriage and for the global church is the same:
Choose to engage rather than to avoid.
Seek to listen and understand the other point of view rather than only to propagate yours.
Choose to discuss and collaborate without disrespecting, dishonouring and slandering.
Seek to mend fences and include those with different views rather than separate and divide.
Choose to live in the tension and unresolved-ness and patiently wait for God to work it out.
Choose to trust God to work His will in and through the other person’s beliefs and methodologies even if they are wrong.
Choose prayer and lovingkindness as your primary means of influencing situations rather than persuasion, lobbying or bullying. (Even when you have the power to get your way)
We, the church, are the ones charged with loving our enemies. We are the ones of whom Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) We are supposed to be the model; the leaders in humility, love and unity. We have been anything but… Our behavior on social media has been deplorable. We have led the way in bullying others to our beliefs. 2020 is our year to flip the script! It’s time to be the church!
To receive more content like this in your inbox and to receive a free e-copy of my book, The Primacy of The Voice of God – Elevating the Word of God to Its Rightful Position, please subscribe to www.authenticjoy.org.
Copyright 2020, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Jesus is the creative agent of the Trinity. He is the one who manifests things. He is the one who incarnates. As Jesus unfurled creation from himself it must have been a sight to behold! Then in a stroke of creative genius, He imbued mankind with two God-like qualities – authority and autonomy. We were delegated the responsibility of executing God’s rulership and we were given the freedom to exercise that authority as we saw fit. And then we did the unthinkable… We put ourselves out of congruence with the Word, disconnecting ourselves from the Life Source and thus disconnecting all of creation from the very source that upheld it. We introduced entropy – the continual and progressive decline of all creation into disorder. We introduced corruption. We introduced death.
So, what did Jesus do? He stepped into His disconnected creation to reconnect mankind with Himself. He incarnated Himself! John 1:14 (ESV):
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus subjected Himself to the very futility, suffering and corruption that mankind introduced. Then, by His death, He took into Himself all those consequences of disconnection and cancelled its power. Death lost its sting. And then, with a final masterstroke, as He resurrected from the dead, He re-introduced His creative power into the earth by giving us the ability to reconnect to the Source of all Life! But more than that He has given us the responsibility for reconnecting the rest of creation back to this Source. Paul calls it the ministry of reconciliation.
But what does this ministry of reconciliation look like? In one place it is described as all the kingdoms of the world becoming the kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ. In another place it is described as His glory covering the earth. In yet another description, His Spirit is poured out on all flesh.
In short, we have a mandate to reconnect everything to Jesus. Unfortunately, I do not think we have understood this mandate of reconciliation. Many of us have had an adversarial if not superior relationship with the disconnected world. Having been saved from that mess, we now look back on it with a sense of fear of re-infection. We protect our separation from the world at all costs, not realizing that ‘that mess’ needs us. In fact, that mess is our responsibility! Every place where there is corruption and disaster in this world is damning evidence that we have neglected or abandoned our assignment!
Romans 8: (ESV)
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
Can you see that we are agents of freedom?! Can you see that our ascension to the full authority and effectiveness as sons and daughters of God is what all creation is eagerly longing for?!! Our mission is not to hide ourselves away! Our mission is to be light; to be salt; to be the yeast of the kingdom. We have to be in the midst of the darkness and mess and bring light and redemption to every sphere of life. We cower in fear of being infected by the world, not realizing that we are the ones that are supposed to be doing the infecting!
There are some of us who understand and embrace our redemptive assignment, but our effectiveness has been dismal at best. Why? Because we have been taking Christianity and religious doctrine and feeding programmes to the world instead of Christ. We have been obsessed with educating the world instead of redeeming it or focused on alleviating suffering rather than transforming men. Consider this: Jesus did not open a school, hospital or not-for-profit organization (at least not in the traditional sense). Instead He supernaturally eliminated ignorance, sickness and hunger everywhere He went. Every teaching burned the hearts of men. Every healing was miraculous. Every food distribution demonstrated a divine source of provision. Where is the supernatural demonstrated power of Jesus in our lives?
Christ is the life source. Our #1 priority is bringing people, systems and creation itself into direct contact with Christ. This necessitates His tangible presence in our lives. He has the redemptive power. It flows from Him. Many of us talk about Christ, even preach about Christ, but our words are hollow, and our lives lack any shred of evidence that His power is at work in us. Contrary to popular opinion, our ministry is not proselytizing! Oh no! His power and love must flow through us with such voltage that everywhere we go and everything we touch is reconnected to the source!
Our mission is to make His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. When Jesus interacted with people His life-giving authority was evident. He lived what He spoke. Everywhere He went, love flourished, sickness (corruption) ceased and lack turned to abundance. He is on the same mission today; except He has found it fitting that it takes place through us! Our mission should look like making Jesus evident. We must make Jesus manifest in us. Wherever we go disorder should be transformed to order, lack to abundance, death to life and darkness to light. We are His delegated agents of redemptive transformation!
To receive more content like this in your inbox and to receive a free e-copy of my book, “The Primacy of The Voice of God – Elevating the Word of God to Its Rightful Position”, please subscribe to www.authenticjoy.org.
Copyright 2020, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
Intimacy. What does this word mean to you? Intimacy. What are the emotions that it evokes? Intimacy. It’s a word that should only be spoken tenderly, preferably whispered. Intimacy. It captures close relationship, mutual vulnerability and tangible love. Intimacy. It’s a word for lovers.
I just started a book, that a very good friend shared with me. The book is ‘Seen. Known. Loved.’ by Gary Chapman (author of The 5 Love Languages) & R. York Moore and this is the quote from the introduction that my friend hooked me with:
“Why then are so many religious people rude, harsh, and condemning of others? Where is Christian love? While just over 70 percent of the US population identifies as Christian, many of them are merely cultural Christians. They call themselves Christian because they grew up in a Christian culture. More importantly, many of them have not personally and deeply responded to the love of God. They are, in fact, still searching for love. As are so many of us, whatever our spiritual beliefs. And until our deep need for love is met, we are not likely to become lovers ourselves.”
I don’t know what the rest of the book holds but this quote has been reverberating and resonating with other strains of thought and longings of my heart in this season. It has been like another clue that God has given me on my journey with Him.
As I suppose is natural in life, I have been coming into contact with people with a wider and wider variety of Christian upbringings, who have been part of different Christian traditions and cultures. But what I have noticed is that there is one thing that, for me, makes the faith of some individuals overwhelmingly more attractive than others. I can define that thing as ‘intimacy with God’. There is something about a person whose Christianity is centered on a relationship with the person of God. There is something different about a man or woman who is passionately in love with Jesus.
One would think that a personal relationship with Jesus is a no-brainer, par for the course for all Christians, but… (re-read the quote above). Many are still searching for God. You can hear it in the way they pray, their choice of words, what flows from the abundance of their heart. Many have fallen in love with the idea of God. Most have fallen in love with the idea of being biblically righteous. Some love being dominion enforcing heaven warriors. The list could go on and on, and none of these are bad things, but they are not THE thing.
The whole point of Jesus’ death was so that we could be intimate with God. This is what He died for! He rent the veil that separated us from His Presence! By the blood of Jesus, the Father threw our sins into the sea of forgetfulness that they would no longer separate us from His touch! Jesus left the earth so that He could send the loving Spirit to dwell in our very hearts. The entire death and resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit was our God leaping across the mountains to draw His betrothed to Himself and shadow us under the wings of His loving embrace.
We are His beloved betrothed bride, but we are yet to taste of the final ecstasy of union in marriage with our Lover. Revelations 21:2-4 (ESV):
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
God’s choice of words in Revelations is not by accident. He uses the picture of a bride and her husband very deliberately. It is the most intimate relationship that we can experience on this earth. Our King wants to share Himself with us and for us to share ourselves with Him. This is the center of the heart of God toward us. Every Word of God has this heart desire for intimacy with us at the very core. All creation whispers, “I know you. I love You. Come to ME.” Jesus’ final prayer on the earth was that we be one as He is one with the Father. He desired that the love fellowship of intimate and eternal communion that He shared with the Father be extended to envelop us. Wow!
This is why the answer to every single issue that we face is, ‘Draw closer to God’. Lost? Lonely? Purposeless? Draw closer to God. Problems in your marriage, in your church? Draw closer to God. Want to walk in greater anointing, gifting, supernatural power? Draw closer to God.
Intimacy with my God is my raison d’etre. This is the purpose of my existence. This is my why and my how. Many sincere souls have tried to sell me ‘accurate doctrine’ or ‘cutting edge truth’ or ‘biblical exactitude’ or ‘the kingdom prototype’ or ‘missions’ or ‘the apostolic’ or ‘house churches’ or any number of a million things as THE key and it has distracted me in years gone by… but not any more… Those years are but an insignificant distant vapour to me.
Some months ago, God said to me, “You have learned the part of the student, now understand what it means to be a worshipper.” With it He gave a clue – the woman who anointed Jesus with the alabaster jar of perfume. I am beginning to understand… worship is about intimacy. There is only ONE THING, one burning, indomitable pursuit – deeper and deeper intimacy with my Maker… now and forevermore. Amen.
Copyright 2020, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
This moment in time in America is God-ordained. Not only is the ‘coming to a head’ of race relations God-ordained, but also the fact that it happened when the world is at home and paying attention is God-ordained. The fact that blacks and whites have taken to the streets regardless of the very real danger presented by Covid-19 tells us that for many this issue is so important that it is literally worth dying for…
I sit here in the island of Trinidad where brown people are the majority. While I share not only ancestry with African Americans but also a history stained by slavery, I cannot pretend to fully understand what it means to live in America. Yet… I feel the pain of my blood brothers. I cannot ignore it and I refuse to be silent about it.
I am a Christian. That means something to me. It means that I see myself especially connected to my brothers and sisters in Christ of all races. So, in the flesh I am connected with African Americans through our shared heritage and experience, AND at the same time, in the Spirit, I am one family with my sisters and brothers of faith in America. This means that I have loved ones on both sides of this divide. In the body, in the church, there is hate… there is division and worst of all there is silence… and it hurts. It is not only the pain that one part of the body feels when the other is wounded but also the add-insult-to-injury-pain that comes when one part of the body dismisses and devalues the pain of the other.
So, I have a few things to get off my chest today.
To my white church family:
DO NOT TURN AWAY. STOP AND LISTEN. As I said, this time is God-ordained. Today, there is an opportunity presented to you. Do not miss it. The parable of the good Samaritan was Jesus’ response to a question. The question was, “Who is my neighbour?” It was asked by a Jewish lawyer who wanted to argue himself out of the requirement to love your neighbour as yourself. I see the same attitude in my white church family today.
The history of the church and race relations in America is riddled with an attempt to define black people as some ‘thing’ other than our neighbour. First, they were sub-human. Then they were 3/5 human. Now they are criminals. That is one argument I hear in the church to deflect the commandment to love: “George Floyd was high.” “George Floyd was less than an upstanding citizen.” The other argument is that our outcry is rooted in a demonic or non-Christ agenda. “Have you seen the BLM agenda?” they say. So, we are either criminals or demonic. Neither worthy of compassion it seems.
Jesus gave no such qualifications to the definition of neighbour. In fact, the focus of the parable was not the worthiness of the wounded man to receive help (that was taken as fact). The focus was on who was ACTING like a neighbour to the wounded man. We too have to choose whether to keep walking like the priest and the Levite, or to stop and tend to the wounds of our black brothers and sisters like the Samaritan. Choose. Silence is not an option that Jesus gave. The church has been silent far too long. The reason Jesus scripted the Samaritan as the ‘hero’ in this parable was an indictment to the religious leaders. It was an indictment to the ones who should have taken care of their brother but didn’t. Let’s be different.
Listen, I get it. I have visited the USA on more than 10 occasions, and I have never felt victimized. Policemen have been helpful, and for the most part I have felt safe. For many years my personal experience caused me to be ambivalent to the cries of my black brothers and sisters. Over the years, I have had to have several conversations with my family and friends who either live in the USA or studied there, to truly understand their experience. It changed me. This is not about statistics. There is no answer in statistics. Talk to people on the other side. Listen to them. This is about listening to a family member that is suffering. Uncle John may be a wonderful man to me but if my daughter said that he was abusing her you better believe that I would take her seriously (even if the statistics said that most uncles do not abuse their nieces). My experience does not give me the right to ignore and invalidate someone else’s experience. And the love of Jesus compels me to stop and tend to the wounds of my family; to show compassion.
To my black church family:
DO NOT LOSE FOCUS. STAY THE COURSE. I know you are hurting. I know you are tired. I want to remind you that we (and I say we because of the trans-Atlantic slave journey that we share) are the people who believed in the Jesus that our slave masters told us about despite the fact that they did not act like Jesus. In fact, we believed it more than them and still do! https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/02/07/5-facts-about-the-religious-lives-of-african-americans/
Our faith has been integral to our survival. We have only made it this far because of Jesus. Do not forget that! Speak out. Protest if you feel led too. Take action where you are led to. Engage the issues vigorously. But do not for a second think that your victory will be by your power, not His. I repeat, this is a God-ordained moment. What I mean by that is this: God has brought this issue into world view and by so doing issued a demand on the church to change. God did that. In typical God style He did it through a plague and an oppressor who refused to take his knee off the neck of his victim.
We only come out of this better as a church if we refuse to hate. If we refuse to shame. If we remain committed to relationship with our white brothers and sisters, many of whom have good intentions. Celebrate those who are willing to take a stand, and there are many (this too is from God.) There are many making safe space for black church members to be vulnerable about their experience and we in turn have to make it safe for white church members to be vulnerable about their perceptions. This cannot be done without the active work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We need Him now more than ever! But I know we can do it… because we have done it… Listen to the prayer of a slave woman in 1816 quoted in the book ‘Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans’.
“Oh Lord, bless my master. When he calls upon Thee to damn his soul, do not hear him. Do not hear him but hear me. Save him. Make him know he is wicked and he will pray to Thee. I am afraid, O Lord. I have wished him bad wishes in my heart. Keep me from wishing him bad though he whips me and beats me sore. Tell me of my own sins instead and make me pray more to Thee. Make me more glad for what Thou has done for me a poor slave.”
Only God can so work in the heart of a human to truly live Jesus’ call to bless our enemies. I believe that few have lived this to the degree that African Americans and women have, and that is more precious than freedom. If African Americans were to gain equality and lose this love in our hearts we would have lost all. I say this not to manipulate into submission but to exhort you as a brother in flesh and Spirit to treasure and guard the love of God that lives so richly in your heart.
Finally, to all my church family. Let us come together to heal and be the Body of Christ like we never have before.
Here are three videos that demonstrate those safe spaces that I spoke about:
My novel Authentic Joy is now available on Amazon for $0.99 USD on Kindle or $0.00 Kindle Unlimited. Click here to read it now.
Authentic Joy is about dissonance. Dissonance in music theory occurs when there is a clash between two notes or tones. As a Christian, for many years I experienced an internal dissonance. There was the person that I wanted to be and then there was the person I actually was on the inside where nobody could see. I believe many believers have experienced this internal incongruity at one time or another. In a sense, there will always be a gap between what we espouse as Christians and where we are on the journey toward that Christlike ideal. That is normal. What I am talking about is something deeper. It is a deep sense that our internal reality does not accord with who we believe we are supposed to be right now.
I grew up in Trinidad, the home of carnival and bacchanal (drunken revelry and licentiousness). This was the culture that shaped my youth. Added to that, I was naturally a free-spirited person. I was a pleasure-seeker. As far as I knew, the aim of life was to experience and enjoy everything that it had to offer to the fullest.
Then, at the age of twenty, I made the decision to give my life to Jesus and started attending church regularly. I’m sure you can see the impending clash. I changed my external lifestyle rather suddenly but inside I was experiencing increasing levels of torment. Nobody else in my church seemed to be having this issue so I kept up the appearance of ‘normalcy’ for a few years until one day I cracked, and all hell broke loose. I unceremoniously exited my fake Christian life, followed my hedonistic tendencies full throttle and wrecked my life spectacularly.
Authentic Joy, is an autobiographical novel that chronicles twenty years of my life from discord to internal harmony. (Spoiler alert) God found me amidst the wreckage of my life. He pulled me out. I made a few discoveries along the way. I discovered that external behaviour modification is a dead end. I discovered that all men are flawed. I discovered that nothing less than a real encounter with Jesus can change those internal parts of our personality that are as familiar as our skin. I discovered that there is no greater joy than the fellowship of Jesus Christ. I discovered authentic joy in Christ.
To read more about my story get Authentic Joy now on Amazon for $0.99 USD on Kindle or $0.00 Kindle Unlimited. I promise you won’t be able to put it down 🙂.
Joyfully,
Copyright 2020, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
