One of the concepts that we teach at Authentic Joy is the idea that in pursuing spiritual growth we need to have a training mindset not a trying mindset. We often use the metaphor of running a marathon to explain. In the metaphor, the ‘marathon’ is that challenge in your life that you are trying to overcome. Some examples are impatience, unforgiveness, pornography, a short temper, anxiety, racial prejudice or over-eating.
A trying mindset would be like waking up on the day of the marathon and saying, “Today I will finish this marathon! God says I’m more than a conqueror!” And so, we set off to try our best to complete the marathon… without training. Our determination and grit may get us halfway there, but without putting in the training, we inevitably end up face down in a puddle of sweat and tears.
A training mindset, on the other hand, would be like waking up every morning and training for the marathon. Training prioritizes consistency and progress over the end result. It embraces learning from failure as a necessary pathway to growth.
One of the most damaging things about a trying mindset is the cycle of guilt and shame that results when we do not achieve our goal. This has been one of the most difficult mindsets to change in my own life. In the areas where I struggle with an ongoing sin issue, every time I fall, my tendency is to beat myself up and wallow in shame. Then, to comfort myself, I end up even deeper in self-destructive behaviours. When I finally muster up the courage to go back to God in repentance (again), it resembles something like this: “This time, this time, I mean it God. This time I will stay the course.” And so, the cycle begins again. With no real plan, change is unlikely.
A training mindset has the potential to break this cycle, but there are several components to the approach that need to be implemented:
Self-compassion
Roots not shoots
Coaching
Community
I will unpack each of these facets of the training mindset in this series.
See you for the next instalment!
Copyright 2025, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
For centuries, Christ followers have observed the practice of retreating from the ‘normal’ busyness of life for a period of renewal and reconnection with God. This sacred time revives our heart with passion for Christ, renews our perspective on what matters most, and refocuses us on our holy pursuit of the kingdom of God.
In keeping with this holy practice, we are inviting like-minded disciples of Jesus for a weekend of encounter, healing, and revival. Come and refresh your soul and revive your heart with us!
The weekend will include unhurried times of:
Worship
Silence
Walking in Nature
Teaching
Individual Reflection
Sharing
Shared Meals
ALL DENOMINATIONS ARE WELCOME!
If you find yourself feeling a little ragged around the edges, or maybe your faith just seems a bit dry lately, or maybe you are just hungry for more… come join us…
"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28 (NLT)
Date: 6pm Fri 25th to 4pm Sun 27th July 2025 Venue: The Seminary of St. John Vianney and the Ugandan Martyrs, Mount Saint Benedict, St. Augustine Cost: $1,000 (includes meals and accommodation – limited spaces) Facilitators: Matik & Tricia Nicholls Email: matik.nicholls@authenticjoy.org WhatsApp: 761-5342/686-1408
Make payment by direct transfer to: Matik Nicholls and Tricia Celestin-Nicholls Republic Bank Limited (Elerslie Plaza) Savings Account# 260086069031 WhatsApp screenshot to any of the numbers above
Are you growing or just going through the motions?
Spiritual growth doesn’t happen by accident—it requires intentionality, perseverance, and a deep relationship with God. BECOMING mature: A Practical Guide for Disciples of Jesus by Matik Nicholls is a transformative resource for believers seeking real growth and a deeper walk with Christ.
Drawing from decades of personal struggle, failure, and redemption, Nicholls offers a real-world guide to spiritual maturity. Once a church leader trapped in secret sin, he walked away from his faith—until a life-changing encounter with God’s radical love led him home.
Now a discipleship coach, Bible plan creator, and spiritual formation teacher, Nicholls walks readers through the stages of growth, addressing identity, intimacy with God, wholeness, dependence, resilience and purpose
Rooted in scripture and personal experience, BECOMING mature challenges you to move beyond superficial faith into a life of deep trust, radical love, and unwavering discipleship to Jesus.
No matter which stream of the faith you are from, whether you’re a new believer, battling stagnation, or seeking more of God, this book provides practical tools to help you grow.
Written with hard-won wisdom from life’s trenches, this is for those ready to break free and mature in Christ.
We are super excited to announce that we have a new book coming out!! Whoopee!!! My latest book, Becoming Mature: A Practical Guide for Disciples of Jesus, will be released on April 21st, 2025!
If you feel like you are struggling in your spiritual growth journey or just not progressing as fast as you would like, then this book is for you. Becoming Mature offers a transformative approach to Christian discipleship using scripture, personal experience, and psychological insights to connect with the reader. Becoming Mature takes you on a step-by-step journey of growth in love, purpose, community, identity, responsibility, wholeness, resilience, competence, and most importantly, intimacy with God.
It’s available to pre-order now on Amazon. Get it here!
And since y’all are my peeps. Here’s a free preview of the introduction.
Introduction
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
~ Rudyard Kipling ~
As a young boy, Rudyard Kipling’s poem If (quoted above) made an indelible mark on my soul. Before I knew Christ, it embodied what I believed maturity would look like. It was the only poster that hung in my room, constantly reminding me of the man I wanted to become. It is no coincidence, I believe, that maturity has been an obsession throughout my life. In hindsight, it was a God-inspired obsession, a heavenly calling. God has given me more understanding since my boyhood days, both through divine revelation and through practical experience.
I would describe my achievements in life as mediocre. I have a checkered history where my personal relationships are concerned. Today I am happily married to a wonderfully on-fire woman of God, and we have a beautifully blended family of five children and one granddaughter. I attribute this outcome solely to the grace of God. (If you knew my story you would too, trust me.) My children are good kids. I am very proud of the adults they are becoming but none of them are really on fire for God…yet. I have a successful career, currently holding a managerial position at a natural gas company, but I could have achieved more. I can’t say I have won many souls for Christ, nor have I any notoriety in the Christian world. There is only one thing that I have truly excelled at – inner work. I have a dogged commitment to doing the hard, hidden work of maturity.
So let me set your expectations straight upfront: This book is about the unglamourous, unheralded hard work of becoming like Christ that most won’t see and very few will give you accolades for, BUT it is THE MOST important work that you can do, and if you choose to put in the work, your reward will be great indeed.
Excited? Let’s start unpacking it with Romans 8:19 (NLT):
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
It is significant that in this verse the apostle Paul used the Greek word huios (which is translated as ‘sons’). There are four possible words that he could have used. There is nepios which is a word used to describe an infant. An example of its usage is contained in Hebrews 5:13. Then there is paidion which is a young child as used in Matthew 19:13-14. There is also teknion which describes an adolescent or immature young adult. In the New Testament, it is often used by a teacher to refer to his disciples who have not yet matured. For example, in 1 John 5:21. Finally, there is huios. It is the word used for a mature son. It is the word used to describe Christ as the Son of God, and the word Christ used for Himself when he referred to Himself as the Son of Man.
Therefore, in the context of Romans 8:19, all of creation is not longing merely for more converts to Christianity, but for all the Christian babies, children and teenagers to grow into mature manhood and womanhood. This is what the world is waiting to see, and this is the cause that I have given my life to. My mission is to be an example, a catalyst and a servant in God’s glorious plan for maturing the Bride of Christ into absolute perfection, full authority and dazzling beauty of the fullness of Christ! I too, am eagerly longing for the church (myself included) to grow up into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. I hope it will happen in my lifetime, but even if it doesn’t, I will happily dedicate the rest of my years in service of this vision. Of course, this is not just my vision, this is God’s heart desire for His daughters and sons. He longs for us to come to maturity.
This mission is the reason for this book. My prayer is that you will find practical wisdom here that will help you grow in Christ. This is a book about the how – how we become mature. The contents are the gleanings of my journey toward maturity. I converted to Christianity as a teenager when I became a Roman Catholic through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). Then, at twenty-one, I became a born-again believer and got baptized (again) in a non-denominational church with Pentecostal roots. However, I did not begin to see significant growth in my maturity until my late thirties.
What was responsible for this acceleration in my spiritual growth? A God-encounter. Up until that moment I had experienced a lot of religion and a lot of behaviour modification but limited transformation. What I mean is, I was filled with knowledge about God and how a Christian should behave but I had very little (if any) change in my internal desires and motivations.
(To read about my testimony, check out my first book – Authentic Joy).
After my encounter with the liquid love of Jesus, I began to see a change in my life. This was not as a result of my willpower, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, fuelled by His love for me and my love for Him.
This is how it started for me. From that moment, I would meet with my Rabbi every morning with excitement to discover what He wanted to teach me each morning. That was over ten years ago, and it was just the first key to unlocking a life of transformation. On these pages, I will share with you all that I have learned from my successes and my failures on my life’s journey thus far.
Stay tuned for more sneak peek previews in days to come!
Copyright 2025, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
