fbpx

Category: Personal Transformation

Posted on

The Quiet River

In October my wife and I visited Niagara, NY. It was a wonderful time of connection with an old friend and connection with God in nature. One day we did a 10km walk/hike along the Niagara River gorge. At every turn was a new vista of vibrant autumn colours against the backdrop of the vast blue of the sky or the deep blue of the river. We felt like we had stepped into a special moment curated by God just for us.

After walking for quite a while along the river, we came to a stone staircase leading us back to the upper rim. At the top of the stairs was a bench overlooking the river. This is the view taken from that spot.

As we sat on that bench, the river laid out before us and a gentle breeze blowing off the river, a stillness fell over us. We had visited the waterfall earlier and been impacted by the sheer power of the millions of gallons of water flowing over the Horseshoe Falls and exploding onto the rocks below. But here on this bench, we felt like Elijah after the wind and earthquake and fire. God began to speak in a gentle whisper.

“In this season you are that river,” he said. As my spirit unpacked what that meant with His Spirit, He showed me the quiet power of the river. A power that is not boisterous or loud but quietly undeniable. I had been going through a season at work where God was reshaping what it meant for me to influence my workplace for the kingdom. I have a strong justice value system. I feel very strongly about being treated fairly and even more strongly about others being treated fairly and with dignity and respect. In the face of injustice, I can be passionate and adversarial.

But what God was showing me in the river was a different way to stand up for justice and righteousness. God was showing me the power of this mighty river was not only in the foaming white waters but also in the slow steady flow. The same type of steady inexorable flow that formed the Grand Canyon.

God was telling me to quiet my soul. I heard Isaiah 30:15…

This is what the Sovereign Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me
and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength.

He was calling me back to rest in Him and see the wonders that He would perform. Not me, He, the Holy One! In that moment I saw clearly the constant gnawing anxiety just below the surface that I had been living with for the past few months. I saw my unease and disquiet and fret. Even during this vacation, how many of my thoughts were still at work? I exhaled and began to take some deep breaths. When last had I even really breathed?

As I sat on that bench in Niagara a few days before the US elections it was not lost on me that my struggle to grasp Jesus’ way of impacting my world was a microcosm of a global church crisis of an identical nature. We all want to see righteousness and justice established on the earth but the critical question is how. I see us, the church, getting louder, more desperate, and more anxious. We are a lot more froth than depth.

I am still unpacking this lesson and what it means in practice to be the quiet river. But what I do know is this: There is a power to affect our world through prayer (God for us) and presence (God with us) that can only be accessed from a posture of abiding rest in Him and quiet confidence in the victory that has already been won. Being present in the moment to God and to people with a heart to love and to serve backed up by powerful governmental prayer from a pure heart is more powerful than any policy or legislation at the organizational or national level.

After telling His disciples about the Father sending the Holy Spirit to them when He was gone, Jesus said (John 14:27 NLT):

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

Thank you Jesus for Your gift of peace. Teach us to return to Your peace and to remain in Your peace.

Shalom,

Copyright 2024, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.

Posted on

BECOMING MATURE PART 2: JAN-APR 2025

DATE: Tuesdays from 7th January 2025 to 1st April 2025

TIME: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm Atlantic Standard Time

VENUE: Online Zoom Event (Cameras On)

FACILITATORS: Matik Nicholls, Tricia Celestin-Nicholls

DESCRIPTION: Participants will be taken on a 13-week journey that explores topics such as intimacy with God, identity, responsibility, spiritual/mental/emotional wholeness, resilience through trials, and discovering your calling/purpose. Part 2 is particularly focused on how to persevere through trials. The sessions will include teaching, discussion, reflection, and activation in an environment of safe and loving community. The emphasis is practical, not theological. Our focus is on how to practically live out the commands of Jesus and become more like Him.

TARGET AUDIENCE: This workshop is open to anyone seeking to walk more intimately with Jesus Christ and become more like Him. All are welcome no matter your faith tradition.

COST: FREE!

(You must have a Zoom account to register. Sign up for a free Zoom account here.)

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

TESTIMONIALS

Matik and Tricia,

Thank you so much for a beautiful experience of discovering God’s love. It was so good to learn about the ways in which His love is planted, grows and multiplied in my life.
I thoroughly enjoyed every session and eagerly looked forward to the next one every week.
Each session helped me discover something about God that I hadn’t recognized before. And they showed me something of myself that I hadn’t yet discovered or actually knew but was holding back. Putting these lessons into practice in my life has been and will continue to be life transforming for me.
The wonderful thing is that when I am transformed the people in my life begin a journey also. They may not know it or realize it yet but I know that He who began a good work….
Thank you again for putting into us (me) the way you do.
It makes a difference.
The Lord bless you abundantly.

Much love in Christ
Delores, USA

Hello, Matik & Tricia,

First and foremost, thank you for creating a space where I could be open and vulnerable despite the fear I initially felt. It was truly an accomplishment for me to share my thoughts, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to do so.

Throughout this journey, there were times when I didn’t feel like showing up, when I wanted to skip sessions. Yet, my hunger to finish strong, without excuses, pushed me to honor my commitment to myself. I felt compelled to prove that I could make time for me, even amidst the busyness of the day and the emotions I carried.

Your mentorship has had an impact on me in ways I can’t fully express. When I said I felt like I was lost at sea, I meant it. Life’s unexpected challenges—like the loss of my eldest sister and the difficult relationship with my younger brother who seem to battle hatred and anger issues towards our family —had left me questioning everything. There were times when I felt as if I were being targeted, like I was digging myself out of a pit only for the dirt to be thrown back on me.

But through these struggles, I’ve come to understand that although the circumstances were too heavy to bear on my own, I always had the strength to return to the one who promised to be there for me. The class not only encouraged me but also challenged me in ways that forced me to engage with my Bible more deeply. It shouldn’t have taken this class to do so, but I’m grateful that it did. I’ve made a promise to myself to continue strengthening that connection, and I have been making more time for it.

You may not realize it, but on those days, your guidance saved my heart and mind from what felt like an inevitable breakdown.

Thank you once again for all you do. I applaud the message you’re spreading, and I look forward to joining Part 2 next year, God willing.

Warm regards,
Rachel, Trinidad & Tobago

I loved that this was an open place to share. I had quite a bit on my plate at the start, 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 Part 2, 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 Part 3, 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 Part 2 and Part 3 courses.

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 Becoming Mature. 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.

Gillian, Jamaica

This spiritual growth 10 week class through Authentic Joy was extremely well crafted and thorough with the foundational principles of our faith and very helpful and necessary for me, personally, to contemplate the basics and see where things got tangled or bent away from truth. Matik and Tricia provide a warm, safe, authentic atmosphere to ponder together and reflect, and then be encouraged. I was edified so much and it was so affirming to my spirit what God has been teaching me, but took being in community-valuing the Body oneness- to actually believe in it fully. I love the emphasis on valuing community to grow. Also their prayers are SO full of life and powerful. I could have spent the whole time in prayer with them. Their deep relationship with God is so felt. I’m very grateful to have been a part of the class with such good company of other believers!

Margie, USA

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Posted on

How Jesus Started His Leadership Journey

Jesus was practically unknown by the world for most of his life. When John baptized Him at the age of 30 he launched into ministry. I believe there are important lessons for every leader contained in the first 3 things that Jesus did after he ‘went public’. (These lessons are all taken from Matthew chapter 4).

Testing

The first thing that Jesus had to do as a newly anointed leader was successfully make it through a time of testing in the desert. He was faced with several tests that proved He was ready for the responsibility of leadership. These tests were designed to prove that He had the character to steward the power that He was given responsibly.

I believe as leaders we must pass these tests as well if we are to lead with honour and righteousness:

Test #1: Will you mis-use your power as a leader to benefit yourself?  “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” Mat 4:3b (NLT)

Test #2: Will you mis-use your power and influence to advertise how great you are? “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.'” Mat 4:6 (NLT)

Test #3: Will you compromise your values to accumulate power and possessions?  “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.” Mat 4:9 (NLT)

Jesus’ response was No, No, NO! What will our response be? If you cannot pass these tests then you cannot lead honourably.

So what enabled Jesus to pass these tests? It was not solely His knowledge of the scripture. It was 30 years of internal work. 30 years of spiritual formation and character development. 30 years of preparation for 3 years of ministry.

Are you doing the inner work necessary for leadership?

Start With A Succession Plan

After successfully defeating all of the devil’s temptations, Matthew chapter 4 records an interesting turn of events. First, John the Baptist is arrested and Jesus begins to preach John’s message: “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” Then Jesus begins to select the guys who will eventually succeed Him.

Jesus takes over the reins of leadership from John and doesn’t immediately bring some new, cutting-edge message. He continues what John already started. He honours the pioneer who went before Him. How well do we honour those who have gone before us? Do we build upon what has gone before or are we constantly destroying the foundations in a vain attempt to make a name for ourselves?

But equally or even more poignant is the fact that Jesus sets a succession plan in motion at the very start of his ministry. From the inception, Jesus is thinking beyond His time on earth. Do we as leaders think like that? Are we putting off the preparation of the next generation to some time in the future when we are too old to be the top dog? Are we even thinking about what happens after we are gone?

Show & Tell

Finally, Jesus began to travel around the region preaching, teaching, healing and setting people free from demonic bondage. Jesus was not an armchair preacher. He was not even a pulpit preacher. He was out among the people demonstrating the Good News that He announced.

When you met Jesus, you didn’t just get an earful of inspiring talk. He didn’t just cast vision and roll out strategic plans. Jesus stopped for the one – the individual. An encounter with Jesus was unforgettable. He left you better than He met you. You saw the power of God at work, for real, in living colour.

As leaders, do we live what we preach? Do we walk the talk? Are we willing to put our money where our mouth is? Are we willing to lead from alongside instead of from our office or our pulpit? Are we busy managing the organization and forgetting about the individual touch?

Copyright 2024, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
Posted on

Following God In Practice

The hallmark of a life yielded to God is a commitment to listening and obeying. However, I have found that both listening and obeying are disciplines that require practice.

When I was a babe in Christ I could not hear God very well at all and my life was at the mercy of those whom I allowed to guide me. It was not pretty. As an adolescent (in terms of spiritual maturity), I transitioned into taking responsibility for my decisions. I could hear God but only in a very general sense. I knew the general direction that He wanted me to go but not much more than that. Thankfully, today I can hear God much better. The beautiful thing about that is that when you have a word from God, and you know that you know that you have a word from God, staying the course of obedience is easier (still not easy mind you but at least you KNOW that it will work out in the end for your good and His glory).

At the beginning of this year, God spoke to me and said that 2024 would be a year of victory in every area of my life. Like Joshua, I would be taking territory in my health, finances, career, ministry, sanctification, relationships etc. Now, a decade ago I might have been naively excited about this word but not today. I knew what that word really meant. It meant: Get ready for war! I’m still excited, but it’s more of a sober excitement if you know what I mean.

Again, a decade ago I might also have thought that I had nothing more to do than wait for God to drop this victory in my lap. And, of course, I would have ended the year frustrated and disappointed. But not today! I have learned that God wants me to partner with His word; to partner with Him. So, I made a plan of how I would partner with this word to see it come to pass in my life.

One of the first things I did was to rearrange my schedule to prioritize physical exercise and time with God. I slowed down. I got focused. I disengaged from social media. I’m not running around attending a lot of church events. Instead, I’m focused on quiet alone time with Him. In other words, I prioritized self-care. War takes a toll and I know my victory depends on my ability to stay connected and refreshed in God’s presence as well as physically and emotionally healthy. This is what it takes to persevere. It’s all about the long game.

The second thing I did was to engage the services of a professionally trained Christian therapist. I stress professionally trained because we Christians have this belief that any pastor with bible knowledge makes a good therapist. I can tell you from experience this is not the case! Not only that, but many church leaders do not even have a pastoral gift/calling and are really frustrated by having to deal with people’s problems which is not who you want counseling you! You want someone who, first of all, can hear God, and secondly has been called and trained to facilitate transformation in your life. Someone who enjoys helping people become the best version of themselves. Someone who can deal with all of our mess without shaming us or condemning us and who genuinely finds joy in their work. Someone who is your die-hard advocate and is full of hope for who you can become in Christ. I am blessed to have found a therapist who fits that description to support me in this season. If I am to have victory in my personal life I need to put in the inner work.

Next, in each area of my life, I seek God daily for the details of how to engage the enemy and secure victory. While the word of the Lord for 2024 is my rallying call, my inspiration, and my anchor, experience has taught me that the pathway to victory relies on a daily partnership with God. How do I handle this situation at work, Jesus? How do I deal with this issue with my son, Papa? What do you want to do at our church meeting this morning, Holy Spirit? The Spirit-led life is the only pathway to fulfilling God’s word for my life in 2024.

So has it gone smoothly thus far? Ha! Finances are tighter than ever, one of my sons had his first car accident, my granddaughter had a health challenge, I just strained my hamstring this week, I have a cough that won’t go away, and there are contentious issues brewing at work. Just to name a few of the challenges… But this is what I expected. This is the nature of war. There is no victory without war. It is only in our fantasies that a ‘take the promised land like Joshua’ word means a comfortable stroll around Jericho singing a few songs and then we walk in and take over while the enemy hightails it for the hills. At least that was what it looked like in my head in my more immature days.

I am thankful that He has brought me to the place where I can genuinely rejoice through trials because I hear His voice and I KNOW that I am following the Commander of the Armies of Heaven! “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4) This is my peace in the storm.

Every day I see victory in my circumstances. I see it in the unexpected heart-to-heart conversation when one of my children has an uncharacteristically teachable moment. I see it in an unexpected call from someone I do not know that connects me with purpose in a way I could not have planned. I see it in just-in-time resources to help me navigate difficult relationships. Most of all I feel it in His voice and the nearness of His presence. I know I am victorious because He is with me every day. This was God’s word to Joshua:

Joshua 1:9 (NLT)

This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

There are a few things I want to leave with you:

  1. Hearing God takes practice. It develops over time. But it is essential for every one of us to be working on developing this ability. Your effectiveness in living a purposeful life that is pleasing to God is determined firstly by how well you can be directed by Him in your daily walk. This is not just knowing the bible. This is knowing His voice. There is a difference.
  2. When God gives you a word, know that it will not (generally) come to pass without your active participation. God wants to do things with you, more than He wants to do things for you. Active participation means digging into the details of what God requires from us. Never stop at just receiving a word with joy. Dissect it. Ask questions. Work it out daily with Him. God often gives scant details so that we will not run off without Him.
  3. God rewards obedience. When you begin to do life His way and in His timing, you will reap the rewards!

#2 in my opinion, is what makes all the difference in our experience of this Christian life. I know many people who are stressed, anxious, discouraged, and exhausted by following Jesus. There was a time when I was all of those things. We press on and hold on in the hope that all things work for good… But that is not how God wants us to live! We are designed to live in fellowship with God and His presence is supposed to be the source of our internal atmosphere. Our experience of life should be full of peace, hope, and joy not because circumstances are peaceful, hopeful, or joyful but because He is and He is with us! I am not afraid or discouraged because the Lord my God is with me wherever I go! If as a Christ-follower there isn’t peace and joy on the inside of you that is BIGGER than your circumstances then there is a deeper walk in God available to you. Press into it now!

Copyright 2024, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
Posted on

Are We Keeping Jesus’ Word?

Last week I was reading through John 8:31-59 and the word ‘word’ jumped out at me. It’s repeated 7 times in the passage. Jesus is speaking to some Jews who believe in Him and He starts off by telling them in verse 13 (ESV),

“If you abide in my word you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

My immediate question to myself was, “What is His word and how do I know if I’m abiding in it?”. My prayer: “Lord, I desperately want to be Your disciple. I want to know Your truth. How do I abide in Your word, Lord?” I continued reading hoping to find the answer. The Jews begin to contend that they are free because they are the offspring of Abraham. In verse 37 He replies,

“I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

They are still not getting it so they continue with the same argument about Abraham being their father. So Jesus elaborates (verses 39b-41),

“If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.”

The Jews really get on the defensive now, digging in their heels and going further to affirm that they are children of God. Jesus goes deeper (verses 42b-47),

“If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

If we are to believe what Jesus says here, these Jews, who believed in Jesus, have somehow found themselves in the position of being sons of the devil. So in our present-day context, is it possible to belong to a church and believe in God but to be serving the devil and not God? Yes. Jesus also says that these men, who have been reading the Torah since their youth cannot hear the words of God. So is it possible to read the Bible and not hear the word? Also yes.

As I read this passage, I felt God speaking to me – I heard His word. I had become complacent. I had become satisfied with merely doing church. I had become satisfied with just reading the bible. I was in a rut; a stagnant pond with no fresh water coming in. How did I lose my hunger? When did the fire become an ember? And how do I get back to that place of hunger; that place where there is this uncertainty of what happens next; that place where God is so in control that every outcome is not predictable?

There is something about living in the place of ‘hearing and obeying’. It is uncomfortable but it is full of life! There is something about living daily from what God would speak. The place of ‘my food is to do His will’. It’s a place beyond being moral, or biblical, or doctrinally accurate. Those are often intellectual assessments to comfort our flesh that we are doing His will or to be accepted by our denominational tribe. I’m talking about something much more relational, real, and wild – being led by the Spirit. When we are led by the Spirit we are always a bit unpredictable (John 3:8).

“The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

Walking by the Spirit looks like the disciples walking with Jesus. When Jesus was getting ready to leave them He did not say that He would send an Advocate, He said He would send another Advocate. In other words, One who would walk with them as He had (John 14:16).

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. “

David Yonghi Cho was a South Korean minister who led the largest church in history of 700,000 members. In one of his famous sermons on prayer, he talked about living in this relational place of hearing and obeying. He recalled different times when God told him to go to places or step out and do things in faith and others who tried to emulate him and failed. He explained why he succeeded and others failed by contrasting the logos and the rhema. He explains that everything in the bible is potentially ours but it’s not actually ours until you get a rhema word from God. Peter, for example, had to wait on Jesus to instruct him to walk on water before stepping out of the boat. You don’t move until God speaks.

Toward the end of Jesus’ interaction with the believing Jews in John 8, He says, “if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” and again, “‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death”. Are we Jesus’ disciples or just church-going believers? Are we keeping His word? Am I keeping His word? Am I daily listening for His direction and being quick to obey what He is saying? I find myself lacking. I find my ears dull and my feet slow. Eternal life is found in keeping the words that He speaks to us. His word is personal and specific to each one of us. What He asks of me, may not be what He asks of you.

Holy Spirit, give us keen ears to hear Your voice. Give us tender hearts that are sensitive to Your stirrings. Give us swift feet that run to do Your will.

Copyright 2024, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
Posted on

New Devotional: Building Kingdom Leadership Capacity

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!

Link to the plan here!

Here’s a sample from Day2:

How Do We Become Kingdom Leaders?

…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.
Posted on

What I learned in 2023

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.
Posted on

ONLINE WORKSHOP: BUILDING KINGDOM LEADERSHIP CAPACITY PART I

DATE:

Wednesdays from 10th January to 20th March 2024

TIME:

7:30 pm – 9:30 pm AST

VENUE:

Online Zoom Event (Cameras On)

DESCRIPTION:

As a participant you will be taken on an 11-week journey that begins with deeper discernment of your unique identity and calling in Christ, moves through building self-awareness of mindsets that may be hindering your leadership, and ends with exploring practices of deeper partnership with God. We will explore a kingdom model of leadership and partner with Holy Spirit to discover hidden barriers that may be keeping us from reaching our full leadership potential. Participants will realize a marked improvement in their ability to partner with God to lead with authenticity and authority in their spheres of influence.

FORMAT:

The focus of this workshop is developing your tangible leadership capability, not just theoretical insights about leadership. Therefore, this workshop has been carefully designed to take participants on an interactive 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 ample 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:

Our understanding of leadership does not limit it to only those who hold formal organizational positions, hence this workshop is for anyone who wants to increase their capacity to influence the sphere of life that they have been called to. Business professionals, pastors, and ministry leaders will all richly benefit from this course. 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.

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 kingdom leadership principles into practice 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.

COST:

$85 USD or $580 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.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

TESTIMONIALS:

This has to be the greatest leadership course I have ever taken because of the emphasis on allowing the Lord to reveal the specific issue that has hindered the emergence of our authentic, powerful self and the only way we will ever be the leaders we have been created to be is by co-partnering with Jesus.

Patricia Fletcher – Canada

Thank you Matik and Tricia for leading this life-changing course on personal leadership. As we’re moving into a season of knowing God in new and intimate ways, this course was timely. You have created a community grounded on love, allowing us to be Open, Vulnerable, and Humble.
The weekly sessions and discussions helped me better understand my identity in Christ. Our conversations revealed deeply rooted issues that have prevented me from experiencing God in Glorious ways.
I recommend this course to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of self, community, and how to live life abundantly that points to the heart of God.
Again, thank you!!! Our time together is always appreciated, I look forward to more courses in the future.

Jacqueline Edwards – United States

Are you like me? Knowing that you are called to be a leader, but not feeling it? Not yet believing it?
So, when I heard about this “Building Personal Kingdom Leadership Capacity” course I was determined to be there and committed to stay throughout. Matik and Tricia Nicholls offered a fresh caring environment for new and not so new leaders, to explore and accept God’s unique call for them as a leader in His Kingdom. It was a journey of discovery and connection. The 11 weeks went by quickly, but the knowledge gained and habits learnt to further seek, find and centre in God’s eternal purpose were well worth it.
Now, trusting God, I’ll be impacting and influencing those He has placed around me. Thank God for the Nicholls, may He continue to guide and give them His wisdom in providing this well needed course and the many others to come.

Gillian Ellis – Jamaica

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS:

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.

To pay via credit card click Buy now below:

ONLINE WORKSHOP: BUILDING KINGDOM LEADERSHIP CAPACITY PART I

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Posted on

The Spiral of Growth

I liken the pathway of our walk with Christ to a spiral because we often revisit places we have been but from a higher perspective. If we do not recognize our upward growth we may feel like we are going around in circles but we usually aren’t (unless we are not growing of course).

An easy illustration from my life is secular music. I love music. In my teen years, I had a collection of over 100 cassettes. (I know some of you may not know what this is and even fewer have ever seen one but it was how we stored music back in the day. A cassette held 60-90min of music.) I had a song for every mood and listened to everything from heavy metal to reggae. Music comforted me through romantic breakups. Music helped me study in college. Music formed the soundtrack of my life to such a degree that to this day particular songs bring back the emotions of particular seasons like it was yesterday. Then, at 21, I got saved and one day God showed me that my music was an idol in my life and I packed up all my cassettes and threw them out.

Fast-forward a decade and I am struggling in my faith. It has become clear that I may have thrown the cassettes out of my room but not out of my heart. Internally, I still crave secular songs especially since (at this time) gospel music SUCKS in variety and quality. Eventually, I left the church and re-united with many of my old secular habits including music.

Fast-forward another decade more or less, and I’m making my way back to God but this time it’s from a place of heartfelt repentance. I’m falling in love with a God so merciful that He would still accept me, forgive me, and welcome me into His arms. Now I realize that the genre of music is not important, it’s about my heart. I love Jesus and I don’t care about all that religious external stuff. Once it’s good clean lyrics, it’s all good.

Here I am today and what’s my position on music? You guessed it, I only listen to worship music. Not just Christian music but only music that leads me to worship God more. But this time, it’s what I delight to do. I can listen to anything but I only want to worship God.

This is what the upward spiral of growth looks like (at least in my experience). This will happen in many areas of our lives. Take past traumas for example. We may at one point be in a season where God is healing us from childhood trauma. Then we may think we are all good only to revisit the same trauma again years later and receive a deeper healing. Then we may revisit again but this time God may call us to become a facilitator of healing for others. And so the spiral goes. In fact, don’t be surprised if while helping others to heal you are again faced with open wounds that are still festering in your soul and have to lay on God’s doctor’s table again, all the while battling feelings of being unqualified to help others.

Paul dealt with this in 1 Co 8 when addressing the issue of foods sacrificed to idols. He recognized that some people lower on the spiral would be convinced that it would be a sin against God if they ate foods sacrificed to idols. while others higher on the spiral would understand that the idol is nothing and they can eat freely. This clash of Christians at different levels of growth with different perspectives on the same issue is very common in our social media landscape today. In fact, I would say if you ever look at one of the many videos ‘calling out’ leaders on blasphemous or heretic behaviour, 9 out of 10 times it’s just a matter of people being on different levels of the spiral.

Paul gives us the way to handle it. The person higher on the spiral actually has the responsibility to meet the other person where they are at. It’s the only possible way. Those looking at their brothers and sisters up above cannot possibly understand their perspective but those above can understand and accommodate those below. When I was in my ‘listening to secular music’ phase I remember a brother suggesting that I only listen to worship music and I was like, “This guy is religious.” Yet, look at me now! lol I’ve learned not to be so fully convinced that I have THE true perspective. If I am growing my perspective will change over time, and the more open I am to seeing things differently, the faster I will grow. I’ve also learned that my perspectives will sound like heresy to some and that argument as a means to influence is usually futile. Some things you have to experience for yourself.

So my exhortation to you my beloved sisters and brothers is to keep this concept of the spiral in mind as you grow in your faith. Do not be dismayed when old issues come back around, instead see it as an opportunity to face it from a higher perspective and learn something new. And let’s not be so quick to call our brothers and sisters heretics and blasphemers ok? We all see the world differently based on where we are on our journey. Let’s support and encourage each other and leave the Holy Spirit to do his work in each other’s lives as only he can.

Love and blessings,

Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.