As a participant, you will be taken on a 10-week journey that explores the mechanics of how to transition from a place of disconnection to meaningful, and satisfying connection with others. We examine issues such as identity, self-worth, and vulnerability. We also tackle the challenges of staying connected with people with different values from us and how to do conflict well. And much more! We will explore kingdom relational principles and partner with Holy Spirit to discover hidden barriers that may be keeping us from having the kind of relationships God wants us to have. Participants will realize a marked improvement in their ability to partner with God in their relationships.
FORMAT:
The focus of this workshop is improving your practical ability to connect with others. Therefore, the sessions have been carefully designed to facilitate tangible growth in your effectiveness in building and maintaining healthy kingdom relationships. To this end, the sessions are camera-on sessions that include theory and practice, all based on sound biblical principles. You will come away with tangible work products and tools that will facilitate your continued growth well into the future. We have deliberately designed this as a series of small group meetings over a period of time to allow for ample personal reflection and meaningful sharing in a safe space of community with others. This methodology has been proven to deliver superior results for our participants.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
This course is for everyone! The content is relevant to every relationship in your life and they say that the biggest determinant of our quality of life is the quality of our relationships. Please note that all faith traditions are warmly welcomed.
FACILITATORS:
Matik Nicholls and Tricia Celestin-Nicholls share a burning passion for Jesus and for empowering people. They live in the beautiful Caribbean twin islands of Trinidad & Tobago with their five children and one granddaughter. Together they lead a small non-denominational faith community.
What they share in this workshop is largely based on their journey toward having a better marriage, and having better relationships with their children, parents, siblings, co-workers and brothers and sisters in Christ. A journey that involved facing their trauma and dysfunction, pursuing healing, getting professional help, and learning the relational skills that they were missing.
In addition, Tricia is a certified coach with the International Coaching Association and is trained in Story Informed Trauma Therapy and Trauma Counselling.
COST:
$30 USD or $200 TT
Note: If you feel that God is leading you to take this course but you cannot afford this price, please reach out to us.
To do a direct bank transfer use the following information:
Name: Matik Nicholls
Bank Name: Republic Bank Limited
Account No.: 260086069031
Account Type: Savings
Swift Code (international transfers): RBNKTTPX
For more info on international direct transfers click here. When the transfer is completed, please email the receipt or a screenshot to matik.nicholls@authenticjoy.org together with your name.
I am super excited to announce my new plan on YouVersion!
I believe it is my best plan yet! I took the key concepts and principles from our leadership workshop and put them into a 15-day devotional format. I am confident that it will add tremendous value to your leadership!
…people rise to leadership in our society based on extroversion, which means they have a tendency to ignore what is going on inside themselves. These leaders rise to power by operating very competently and effectively in the external world, sometimes at the cost of internal awareness…In the preparation and selection of leaders, we need to look for those who are growing in self-awareness, who are willing to take responsibility for themselves and what drives their behaviours, and who have the courage to bring that self-knowledge into the leadership setting.
Ruth Haley Barton
There was a time when people thought that leaders were born not made. You either had the gift of leadership or you didn’t. This paradigm is less popular now. The new way of thinking (at least in the business world) is that leaders can be trained. Anyone can learn leadership skills and become a proficient leader. In religious circles, we have a similar type of thinking when we think that going to seminary qualifies you to become the leader of a congregation.
However, in the kingdom leaders are neither born nor trained, they are incarnated. Incarnation is the process of embodying God in the flesh. Christ embodied the Father in the flesh and we must embody Him. That’s why we are His body. You see, in the kingdom, there is only one leader, one head of the body – Christ. We are all followers. We only become leaders/influencers insomuch as Christ lives in us and works through us. Hebrews 2:10 says in the NLT translation that God made Jesus the perfect leader through His suffering. I describe the process of becoming a kingdom leader as the Three C’s of Incarnation:
Calling
Crucifixion
Co-creation
First, we must discern our unique calling in the kingdom. There is some sphere that we were designed to influence. We must make it our business to find out what we were created for! Secondly, we must go through the refining process of crucifixion so that our influence is untainted by our own agenda. Finally, we must learn to lead in partnership with the Holy Spirit (which I have titled co-creation mainly because I wanted another C word). We were not designed to lead alone! This process is actually more like a cycle. We discover more of who we are called to be, go through one level of refinement, and learn to partner with God to a certain degree, and then He takes us to another level and then another, and so on.
Jesus demonstrated all of these stages throughout His life. He demonstrated that He understood His calling when He read from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue and announced that He was the fulfillment of that prophecy. When He gave all of His “I am..” statements (I am the Bread of Life for example) He also demonstrated that He knew who He was. Scripture says that Jesus learned obedience through His suffering. Even Jesus had to go through processing and learn to choose God’s will over His will right up until the point of His crucifixion. And finally, we see many examples of Jesus partnering with the Father; doing and saying nothing out of step with Him.
The key point to note here is that we do not become kingdom leaders primarily by focusing on the external skill and practice of influencing others but by the internal work of incarnating Christ on the inside of us. What manifests outside of us is what exists inside of us. The greatest leader will be the one who has done the most inner work!
Journal with Holy Spirit: When you think about how Calling, Crucifixion, and Co-creation have played out in your life, what comes up for you?
Copyright 2024, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
I turned 50 in 2023! That brought a mixed bag of goodies and booby prizes.
Emotionally and mentally 2023 felt like my healthiest year ever! No exaggeration. A decade of steady self-work coupled with 4 years of work that my wife and I put into our marriage began to bear massive fruit last year. Covid was an accelerator in that it afforded me unforeseen levels of quality time with God that boosted my relationship with Him 10fold. It also accelerated (forced) the bonding between me, wifey, and our children as we spent months together working and learning from home. While I am saying that Covid helped and we put in the work, I cannot overstate the fact that God was the heavy-lifter here. Only He could do the amazing things in the hearts of our family members that caused us to knit together and only He could use a pandemic for our good! Mind you, it did not feel so rosy when these two families from St. Joseph and Paramin first moved in together! It was pressure but in 2023 the diamonds began to emerge.
Added to that, after being in one department for the past 18 years, a switch to a new area in late 2022, brought a breath of fresh air into my career as well. So with my wife and I being in a good place, the children excelling, the career taking on renewed life, and being involved in the fulfilling work with my wife of creating communities of love and belonging for Christians to grow, 2023 just felt like I was thriving.
While it’s nice to share celebratory reports, that’s not the main purpose of today’s blog. There were two key lessons that I learned in 2023 that I felt led to share with you.
Physical Health
2023 was my worst year ever for my physical health! Here the pandemic was not helpful at all! In 2023 I felt feeble (there I said it). Weight gained during the lockdown seemed to refuse to come off. In fact, I gained more! Injuries seemed to be taking forever to heal and for the first time, I considered that I may never be able to play football (soccer) or surf again. I had a fatty liver, high cholesterol, some kind of mystery dizziness, and shortness of breath. Things just seemed to be going from bad to worse. “Is this 50?” I asked myself.
BUT I discovered something coming down to the end…. I will never lose weight or stay fit doing activities that I do not like to do. I tried for the whole of 2023 to stay fit by walking and home workouts. I can get more out of group workouts but inevitably people workout to music that I don’t want in my head. So that’s a no-go. But last month I played football for the second time since before Covid and while I almost died, by the next day I literally felt my whole body become stronger. Overnight! Then I played again twice last week and the dizziness and shortness of breath are gone. So what I realized is that I need to do intense cardio activities and that’s only going to happen by doing things I love to do.
So in 2024, I will be making time for football and mountain biking. I realize that it is imperative that I have intense cardio workouts. Walking and home workouts are not enough for me to stay fit. I will be prioritizing this over work and ministry.
Folks, I know we always talk about prioritizing our health but I’m encouraging you again, especially my fellow pastors and professionals, the work is not more important… the seminar, church service, or feeding the poor programme is not more important. Also, take the time to know your own body and what works for you. Do what you love, it’s far more sustainable!
Relationships
God had me focusing on relationship-building for all of 2023. Mainly with my close and extended family and I learned something invaluable: God’s grace flows through our connections with people. The word that was the icon of what God was after in my life was CONNECTION.
It involved me having discussions with my mother about things that happened in the family when I was a child and not dismissing her perspectives so quickly. It involved me apologizing to my boss about the way I gave him some feedback, taking the time to explain my heart’s motive, and assuring him that I was for him not against him. It involved me building bridges with coworkers by genuinely finding and celebrating their strengths and offering tangible assistance in achieving their goals. It involved trying to understand my sister better and building bridges instead of taking offense. It involved being quicker to remove any distance between my wife and me. It involved taking a softer tone with my ex-wife. It involved walking in my children’s shoes a little more.
The result was that I saw God’s grace at work in my family and workplace more than ever. It crystallized something very clearly for me. God is not doing something over here and we are doing relationships over there. The vehicle for God’s grace to flow is the love connections between each other. The stronger the connection, the more of God’s grace can flow in our lives. If I want to see revival in my family, I have to build stronger bonds with my family members. If I want to see revival in my workplace, I have to build deeper relationships with my coworkers.
There is a depth of relationship with each other, a purity of love and affection, that God has intended for us that I do not think we fully grasp as Christians. I don’t think we have any grid for just how amazing and glorious it will look to live in unity. Nor do we understand just how much work it will take to get there. I am fully convinced that God is not interested in our programmes, seminars, conferences, and meetings apart from a foundation of building deeper relationships. So this year less is more. I’m cutting back even further on the ‘conversations’ that are just empty intellectual foreplay without any heart communion. I’m ditching even more of the online groups and social media where people share a whole lot of opinions and so little of themselves. I’m going deeper with fewer.
Here’s an added epiphany that I had: God does not need my help to fix people. I saw two people in my life begin to change and address things that I saw they needed to address for years. I dropped hints, I gave gentle advice, I shared relevant information and I obsessed about whether I was doing enough. But in His own timing, God showed them what they needed to see. Neither said that I had any role in their epiphanies. God was doing something in their lives. I laughed at myself. God doesn’t need my help. Well, I’m sure He uses my love and my prayers but beyond that…
So my second encouragement to you is to prioritize a few significant relationships this year and really work on them. Don’t try to be a better person in a general sense. Try to be a better mother to a specific child, a better friend to X, a better husband to your wife… But most importantly, do it from the point of view of just trying to build a stronger connection between you and them. Seek to understand them better and help them to understand you. Seek to provide any support you can to their growth and success (as they define it, not you) without expecting anything in return. Petition God for blessings on their life in your private prayer time. Love them.
Happy New Year!
Copyright 2024, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it
Habakkuk 2:2b (ESV)
In this well-known verse, the word vision has more to it than meets the eye. It means a divine revelation or a prophetic vision. The verse that follows (verse 3) also makes it clear that this is a vision of the future. I believe that this concept of prophetic vision holds some insight that is very relevant to our personal growth as well as our maturation as the Body of Christ.
I have observed several instances in various situations in family, work, or church where it seemed that people just refused to grow past their current state. There seemed to be no lack of reasons why they saw no need to journey any further in their personal growth. It always pains me when it happens. I can’t understand why someone would refuse to even explore the possibility that there is room for growth. As I talked to God about this recently, He showed me that the issue is perception.
God showed me the Israelites leaving Egypt and heading to the promised land as an example. As the Israelites journeyed with God in the wilderness, He began the process of maturing them from slaves in Egypt to people who would become a mighty nation and rule Canaan. It was sometimes a painful process as all growth involves change and change is painful. At one point in the journey, the Israelites began to complain, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” The Israelites fell into the deception of comparison. When we cannot envision the future that God has for us, we cannot ‘run’ to attain it. As the popular saying goes, the body cannot go, where the mind has not gone.
Hosea 4:6 says that the people perish for a lack of knowledge. Where there is no vision of God’s dream for our lives, then progress can only be measured by comparison with our past selves or with the people around us. Therefore, we settle for much less than God’s will for our lives, we stop growing and we will ultimately die. This death by comparison manifests itself in mindsets like, “I have achieved enough. I’m comfortable. Why rock the boat?” or, “That’s just how God made me.” Sometimes the mindset that keeps us in stagnation can sound very biblical, “I am a new creature in Christ by faith. There is nothing more that I have to do Christ has done it all.” or, “When Christ is ready, He is well able to change me.” There is always some truth to a deception, it is just not the full truth. Our spirit is completely new (we have been saved) but our soul (will, mind, and emotions) is being transformed (being saved) and our body will be made new when Christ returns. The process of transformation of our souls is not without our willing effort although the power to change does indeed come from Christ by the Spirit.
I wish to propose that there is much work to be done and it will continue until we attain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Jesus is the only measure. Our leaders are not the measure, how far we have come is not the measure, and our friends are not the measure. We are yet to see the Bride come into her fullness of love, peace, righteousness, joy, authority, and dazzling beauty. I am fully convinced that there is a deep wholeness, unity, abundance of life, and hosting of the Spirit that we are yet to even scratch the surface of as a church, but unless each of us is individually consumed by a personal vision of who God created us to be, we will not attain this corporate reality. To be gripped by a vision it must be personal. Even the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is too general; we must receive a personal revelation from the Spirit of God of our unique identity and calling. As I heard Dano McCollam say recently, “The bible gives us our last name – what everyone in the family is like. We are all more than conquerors, for example. But the prophetic gives us our first name – our unique identity as a daughter or son in the family.”
So my prayer today for myself, my wife, my children, my family, my friends, and all my brothers and sisters is that our hearts and minds would be open to receive God’s personal vision for our lives. And that the sight of that vision would birth in us a hunger for more and determination to pursue God’s perfect will for our lives like never before. I declare that every limit to our growth will be broken! Be it our physical comfort zones, our theological comfort zones, our social comfort zones, our denominational comfort zones, or the limits we have accepted due to our gender, our age, our past, our education, or our genetic makeup; we will break out of every construct and narrative that limits God’s vision for us!
Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
One of the things that my wife and I have in common is that we are both committed to continuous improvement. We have been consistently investing in our personal growth for decades. A few years ago, we realized that we needed to make an investment in our emotional intelligence if we wanted to move forward in our spiritual and relational growth. This was the first time we came across the feelings wheel.
Shortly after this discovery, we came to a point in our marriage where we realized that we needed professional help to get unstuck. Lo and behold the feelings wheel turned up again in one of our sessions. As part of my homework, I had to record my emotions every morning. I quickly realized that I was not very smart emotionally. I needed the wheel to help me to name my emotions.
Next, we were reading a book about building strong relational connections and there it was again. This time as a tool that we could use as a couple to share with each other the different emotions that we had experienced throughout the day. The same book (and many others that we read) also talked about practicing intentional gratitude as a way to improve emotional well-being and connection with the divine.
Soon enough we were looking for an easier way to facilitate and share with others these new habits that were adding so much value to our lives. So we decided to create an app. Thus was born EQuip!
It allows you to record how you are feeling on a particular date and at a particular time together with the activity that may have caused the emotion and a short note.
It allows you to see your emotional trends and will even send you notifications if it picks up a trend for you. For example, if you are sad every Monday afternoon, EQuip will alert you 12 hours before that time to allow you the opportunity to make changes to your habits.
It allows you to record moments of gratitude with an easy-to-remember title, a short note, and photos. Intentionally reviewing these gratitude memories is a proven way to improve mental health and emotional well-being.
It allows you to record a list of life-giving activities which you can reference to pick you up when you are feeling down or lacking inspiration.
We hope that this tool will be of value to you on your journey.
One request: Please share!
Thanks!
Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
Participants will be taken on an 11-week journey of growing in self-awareness and discernment of their calling in Christ. We will explore the kingdom model of leadership and discover hidden barriers that may be keeping us from reaching our full leadership potential. Participants will learn how to partner with God to lead with authenticity, passion, and generational impact.
The focus of this workshop is on how to develop leadership capability in practice. The focus is practical not theoretical or theological. Topics covered include:
What is kingdom leadership?
How do we build kingdom leadership capacity?
What limits our leadership?
Discovering our unique identity & calling
Leading with authenticity
Leading with passion
Crucifixion – losing our life to follow our calling
Leading with selflessness
Leading from wholeness
Co-creating with Christ
Partnering with God’s presence
Partnering with God’s voice
Letting our light shine
Serving others
Empowering others
FORMAT:
This workshop has been carefully designed to take leaders on a journey that facilitates a growth process that results in a tangible shift in their effectiveness as leaders. Expect to be challenged and stretched. You will come away with tangible work products and tools that will allow you to continue growing as a leader long after you have completed the workshop. We have deliberately designed this as a series of sessions over a long period (compared to a seminar or conference for a couple of days) to allow for group discussion, personal reflection, and putting what you have learned into practice. This methodology has been proven to deliver superior results for our clients.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
We do not limit leadership to only those who hold formal organizational positions, hence this workshop is for anyone who wants to grow their leadership capacity to influence the sphere of life that they have been called to. Please note that all faith traditions are warmly welcomed.
FACILITATORS:
Matik Nicholls and Tricia Celestin-Nicholls share a burning passion for Jesus and for empowering people. They live in the beautiful Caribbean twin island of Trinidad & Tobago with their five children and one granddaughter. Together they lead a small non-denominational faith community.
Matik has held leadership positions at various levels in the business sector for over two decades and is currently employed as the Vice President Innovation & Corporate Agility at a local natural gas processing company. Over the same period, Matik has also held various leadership positions in the church sphere such as worship leader, children’s ministry teacher, and youth leader. He is also a Covey 7 Habits practitioner and trained John Maxwell facilitator. In both the secular and religious spaces, Matik has been avidly learning and putting into practice the best kingdom leadership practices since he was twenty-one. He loves to read, hike, surf, and mountain bike. Matik also brings to the workshop a high-functioning teaching gift.
Tricia started leading in her local church at the age of fourteen as Vice-President of the Youth Group and went on to serve in various capacities such as Common Sense Parenting Facilitator, Hospitality Ministry Leader, and Parish Coordinator. She is a certified coach with the International Coaching Association and is trained in Story Informed Trauma Therapy and Trauma Counselling. She loves running, hiking, and coordinating events in her community. She is passionate about supporting leaders. Tricia also brings to the workshop a high-functioning prophetic gift that sharpens her deeply insightful coaching and facilitating ability.
To do a direct bank transfer use the following information:
Name: Matik Nicholls
Bank Name: Republic Bank Limited
Branch: Grand Bazaar, Trinidad & Tobago
Account No.: 260086069031
Account Type: Savings
Swift Code (international transfers): RBNKTTPX
For more info on international direct transfers click here. When the transfer is completed, please email the receipt or a screenshot to matik.nicholls@authenticjoy.org together with your name.
DESCRIPTION: Participants will be taken on a journey of reviewing 2022 with the Holy Spirit and looking forward to 2023. Expect to come away with a clear theme for 2023 and goals/next-steps for the various areas of your life (spiritual, vocation, family, health, relationships). All of this will take place in an environment of peace and a praying community that will leave you empowered and refreshed for the year ahead.
TARGET AUDIENCE: This workshop is open to anyone seeking to walk more intentionally in their God-ordained purpose in 2023. All are welcome. It is especially geared toward those who want to accelerate their growth in Christ.
COST: $100TT
CONTACT: Email celestintricia@gmail.com or WhatsApp/call 868-761-5342
DESCRIPTION: Participants will be taken on a 13-week journey that explores topics such as intimacy with God, identity, responsibility, wholeness, healing from trauma, resilience, thriving in trials, and discovering your calling/purpose. The sessions will include teaching, discussion, reflection, and activation in an environment of loving community. The emphasis is practical, not theological. Our focus is on how to practically live out the commands of Jesus.
TARGET AUDIENCE: This workshop is open to anyone seeking to walk more intimately with Jesus Christ and become more like Him. All are welcome. It is particularly geared toward those with a hunger for spiritual growth.
Spiritual Formation 301 was EXCELLENT!! Like the previous Sessions SF 101 & 201, packed with solid Biblical content, thought provoking, life transforming activities and discussions. I believe the facilitators through the leading of Adonai took us all on a journey each session where we were confronted, inspired and motivated to pursue authentic deeper intimacy with our Father. All my relationships have benefitted significantly from what I have gleaned as a participant in these sessions and if possible I would be willing to do them over again!
Thank you Matik and Tricia for making yourselves available and willing to process life with us in community as we provoke each other unto good works, and grow up into mature sons. God bless you and your ministry. We love you.
Rose, Turks & Caicos
It was a great pleasure to be a part of Spiritual Formation 101, 201 and 301. It has been a very enlightening, informative and eye-opening experience.
The purpose of these sessions was to encourage spiritual growth; to move from a place of immaturity to a place of maturity in Christ. It was about teaching the participants how to form new habits to help us grow and be more intimate in our relationship with others and with God. We identified where we were at in these relationships and through teachings and practice, looked at ways to find our identity in Christ. We learned and discussed ways to move from individual mindsets to a Kingdom mindset.
I loved that this was an open place to share. I had quite a bit on my plate at the start of 101, and being in that space was a healing in itself. It renewed my trust in God. At that time, my husband was having some issues with his sight; he couldn’t see. But listening to the teachings and hearing what others had to share helped me to see God’s hand working in my life, and that of my husband, even in that situation.
It seems like there was something happening in my life for each fraction of Spiritual Formation. In 201, I was having some issues with my alcoholic brother. He was drinking and getting into fights. But being in a place that I felt safe to share and being taught about God’s continued grace, helped me through. During 301, I was not in the best place spiritually; I wasn’t giving God His due, not spending enough time in His presence. But Matik’s presentations (practice and assignments) helped to pull me out of that place and be more focused on my relationship with God.
I truly believe that spirituality is much more important than religion. I also believe that God isn’t about saving only one religion but all of mankind. These three ‘courses’ reiterated that fact. Interacting with people of different countries, religious persuasions and socio-economic backgrounds, taught me that I take a lot of things for granted in my life.
I truly enjoyed these sessions and looked forward to them. I would this again if given the opportunity, because there was so much to learn that I’m sure I missed something(s).
Thanks so much for this Matik! May God continue to bless your efforts to spread His Kingdom message to others.
Jeneil, Trinidad & Tobago
Hi everyone. My name is Gillian. My husband and I met Matik and Tricia virtually during our search for a greater level of understanding of the Kingdom of God and desiring a greater daily impact in our lives through a deeper intimacy with God. I have had the great opportunity to sit expectantly through the Spiritual Formation sessions for the 201 and 301 courses. At the time when the 101 course was being offered, I was not available, but caught up, I believe, with the Basic, and Phase One sessions on the Authentic Joy website- https://authenticjoy.org/.
The Authentic Joy journey has been a real eye opener for me. In their loving way, I was encouraged to ask myself some deep questions, that allowed me to understand who I am and who God created me to be. My fellow course-mates helped in the process by sharing their experiences and what they gleaned as well. I especially liked the exercises and the habits we were encouraged to develop. Journaling is still a challenge but I appreciate the value of it and will settle in one day. Our model was always Christ Jesus and I learnt that real life was thriving in His love, joy and peace and not the false self of the survival mode where I had the tendency to perform for acceptance.
We are all to continue to seek the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and in this, mature in love and purpose. I encourage you to go on this journey of Spiritual Formation. For me although the course has ended, the transformation journey continues. I am committed to ardently pursue intimacy with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. My life depends on it.
Thank you, Matik and Tricia for your passionate pursuit of God and joy in giving this course. I love you both.
I have come to be convinced that there are only three root practices that underpin the life of every thriving Christian. There are many beneficial habits or disciplines but they all draw from these three in my opinion. It may sound like an oversimplification, but I have found that most truth is simple. It is not necessarily easy to walk out but it is not complicated. Here are my three power habits of Christianity:
Intimacy – Pursuing deepening relationship with God.
Transformation – Pursuing hearing and obeying His voice with greater and greater frequency, accuracy and immediacy.
Dominion – Pursuing expansion of God’s kingdom in your sphere.
Put another way:
Connecting more and more with Christ.
Becoming more and more like Christ.
Connecting the world more and more with Christ.
These habits are sequential and cyclical. By sequential, I mean that we can only become like Christ to the degree that we are intimate with Him, and we can only expand Christ’s dominion to the degree that He is in us. This means that intimacy with Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit is the #1 pursuit of the Christian life. Everything we do such as praying, worshipping, fasting, and bible study, should be mainly toward this end. If it is not, then we are wasting our time.
The second habit is the transformation of our lives by hearing AND obeying God’s voice. Some of us may assume hearing simply means reading the bible. Let me be absolutely clear here – we can read the bible and never hear His voice. Only those intimate with God hear His voice. There must be an unmistakable awareness that our lives are guided by a person, not just biblical principles. We must be constantly led by the Spirit. The final habit, dominion, is the demonstrated power of God in our lives. Our Christianity must actually work. Demons must flee. Sickness must flee. Christ must transform our families and businesses and communities from brokenness to wholeness.
By cyclical, I mean that this is not a one-time 1-2-3 and then we have arrived at the pinnacle of Christianity. It is more like we get a little closer to Him, then we become a little more like Him, then we influence our world a little more, and then we draw a little closer again, and on and on in a beautiful upward spiral of grace.
These three things are a pattern that can be observed in scripture from beginning to end. Let’s take Moses and Joshua taking the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. We have Moses refusing to go without God’s presence and building a temple for Him to dwell among His people. We have God giving the law on Mount Sinai and commanding the Israelites to walk in obedience to all His laws and commands. And we have Joshua leading the Israelites to displace the inhabitants of Canaan and occupy the land. Temple, Law, and Land. Intimacy, Transformation, and Dominion.
Consider also the Israelites returning from captivity in Babylon. There are three waves of Jews returning from exile. The first wave is led by Zerubbabel and the focus is on rebuilding the temple – Intimacy. The second wave is led by Ezra and the focus is on re-establishing obedience to the law – Transformation. And the third wave is led by Nehemiah and the focus is on rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls – Dominion.
Finally, all is fulfilled in Christ who is the way (making a way to true intimacy with God), the truth (the Word made flesh – our model and means for transformed life), and the life (living with absolute kingdom dominion over sin and death).
So, if you want to thrive make these practices the foundation of your life:
Commitment to the single-minded pursuit of intimacy with God.
Commitment to hearing God better and obeying Him more completely.
Commitment to a lifestyle of stepping out in faith to see results in real life.
Christ be with you!
Copyright 2022, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
If you haven’t yet, check out our FREE Spiritual Growth Foundation Course in which we cover the four foundational principles for spiritual growth and much more! In addition to on-demand videos which you can watch at your leisure, there are downloadable handouts for those who prefer written content.
I have been working for the same company for 18 years. I started as the Marketing Officer and then got promoted to Vice President Marketing. That’s a long time to be working in the same department. My job was never boring. I liked what I did and there were plenty of opportunities to get involved in initiatives and projects that kept me learning. Nevertheless, I began to feel a yearning in my soul for something more. It didn’t help when a few organizational changes also contributed to my growing demotivation.
Then God spoke. Or maybe I listened for the first time (to God and to my wife), instead of just telling Him what I wanted Him to do. Whichever it was, it was clear that He was calling me out from this malaise to re-engage with my job. “Alright if You insist,” I grudgingly obeyed. “OK Matik, you are going to re-invent yourself!” This was my inner pep talk as I began to brainstorm ways to enhance myself and my portfolio in ways that were meaningful to me. I had a masterplan, and I was excited.
The very next week my boss called me into his office. “Matik, I want you to disrupt yourself.” As he began to challenge me to come back to him with a plan to re-invent myself, I was laughing like a child and praising God on the inside. He had no idea how ready I was for this challenge. LOL.
Moments like these always cause me pause. Moments when the realness of God at work in my life becomes so tangible. It’s like a tree root bursting out at the surface of the earth, that evidences the vast root system that lies unseen below your feet. Oh God, thank You for unveiling Your goodness in my life. Every time I make one tiny step towards You in obedience, you make ten giant ecstatic leaps towards Me.
A few conversations later I was appointed Vice President Innovation and Corporate Agility – a new assignment for me and uncharted territory for my company. However, just how strategically God had set me up, only dawned on me when I began to do some reading in preparation for my new responsibilities. I realized that to be an innovative organization required a culture that was hugely diverse and collaborative; a place where trust was high, and people felt valued and safe; where it was OK to try new things even if you failed. Little epiphanic explosions began to fire all over my brain. You see, for months God had been speaking to me about creating kingdom community where people are valued for who they are, empowered to become spectacularly great and outrageously loved; a place where people find belonging and safety instead of shame and judgment. Creating such a community of believers had become an obsession but I never saw this coming; I never expected God to put me in the forefront of creating kingdom community in my workplace. Sure, I always advocated this type of culture and tried to make it the culture of my team in Marketing but I never expected to be given the opportunity to have such an integrated work and spiritual life in a secular space.
I do not know if this is what happens for all faithful Christ-followers in one way or another – if as we forsake all and follow Him, our paths inextricably lead into greater and greater purpose… or if this is just my peculiar path… But most of all I am grateful… Grateful to God for giving me work that is meaningful and fulfilling and challenging (as all meaningful work should be). Grateful to my boss and the board of directors for trusting me to lead this mission. And grateful to all those who believe in me and support me and wished me well in this new venture.
I do believe that there is no one more innovative than God. The picture of the body of Christ is a picture of what an innovative community looks like. God knows that when diversity is undergirded by deep love and unity in community, miracles happen. This is what the early church looked like. This is what an innovative community looks like. Many different parts. One body. Unconditional love.
As I step into the unknown, I’m putting my trust in Him, trying to love people well, and making this my mandate:
“To create an organizational environment that unlocks the greatness in every employee and brings them together to create a community of collective genius that consistently and profusely innovates.”
Copyright 2022, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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