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Tag: #transformation

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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.
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We Only Have One Heart

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

1 John 4:20 (NLT)

I want to draw your attention to one little word in this verse. The word can. Can is not about the will or the choice to do something. Can is about the ability to do something. The word in Greek means to be able to or to have the power or capability to. And if this is the case then what this verse is saying is that if we do not practice loving our fellow believers then we will not have the capability to love God and that is profound!

Often we think, and I have thought at one point, that we can live in isolation in a ‘just me and God’ sort of reality. And by isolation, I don’t mean that we necessarily become a hermit but just that we withhold our hearts from everyone or at least most people. We think we can hold everyone at a distance but be intimate with God. This verse is saying that that is a delusion. The same relational muscles that we must build to be vulnerable with others and to connect across the things that divide us (race, theology, personality, class, education) are the same muscles needed to connect to an invisible God.

I did not come about this understanding by studying 1 John. That is rarely how God teaches me. It was revealed to me in my daily struggles as I processed life with God. Since I married the one and only Tricia Celestin-Nicholls I have been working on trying to remain relational and connected with her through life’s ups and downs. As with all of us, I have suffered my fair share of trauma and I have learned coping mechanisms to keep myself safe. My go-to is shutting down, meaning that I become emotionally numb and withdraw into my own inner world. There are any number of triggers that can cause me to shut down but any form of criticism or vexation pointed in my direction is top of the list. I can also shut down if I am under a lot of emotional stress. And when I shut down it’s with everybody not just the person who may have triggered it. So you see how my poor wife may suffer the brunt of my disconnection even if she didn’t cause it.

So, I’ve been working on remaining open and relational even when I am stressed or feel hurt or threatened. To tell you the truth, it seems like every time I heal one layer there’s a deeper layer that God reveals that needs a deeper healing. The word trauma means soul-wound according to Gabor Mate. In order for me to love my wife better, Jesus needs to heal my soul. This doesn’t just affect my wife of course. It means that I can love everyone better. My kids. My parents. My sister. My friends. My co-workers. My church group. My neighbours. Everyone.

But back to the opening verse, do you see that it also means that I can love God better? What I discovered that led me to this verse is that as I healed, I was able to stay connected to Holy Spirit better. I hid less when I sinned. I was able to hear Holy Spirit better even when I was stressed. I was better able to leave my heart open to receive the love that I so desperately needed and God so desperately wanted to pour on me.

God showed me that I only have one heart. The same heart that loves my wife is the same heart that loves Him. Wholeheartedness is not an option. Healing is not an option. If we are to obey the greatest commandment to love God with all our hearts then we must work on our relationships. It is in that pursuit that traumas are unearthed, wounds healed and hearts made whole.

Working on loving others is working on loving God because you’ve only got one heart!

Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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The Inner Work of Leadership

Often, when we talk about developing leaders in the workplace and in the church, we focus on developing a set of skills and competencies. However, most of the time what hampers our leadership capability is not those external skills and competencies that are readily observable. Sure we can improve our administrative competence, or our speaking ability, or learn to use our talents and strengths more effectively. All of that is good. It will make us better managers but leadership requires something more.

Ruth Haley Barton says it this way, “…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.”

Parker Palmer teaches, “A leader is a person who must take responsibility for what’s going on inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good.”

Finally, listen to Jesus, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First, wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.” (Matthew 23:25-26 NLT)

We manifest around us, the reality that lives inside of us. All of us are walking around with internal worlds tainted by insecurities, unhealed traumas, distorted identities, impure motives, and the like. In other words, we are broken. All of us. To varying degrees and in diverse ways but we all carry the scars of this common fallen humanity. Unless we heal this internal landscape, even with the noblest of intentions and most fervent of faiths, we will do more harm than good. We must first wash the inside.

If you look closely around you, you can observe this neglect of internal work everywhere. Parents burden their children with expectations too heavy for them to bear in a vain attempt to live their unrealized dreams through their offspring, or crush their children’s dreams to “spare them” the disappointment that still haunts them. Managers still try to make daddy proud by piling up accomplishments while their staff suffer in service of their ruthless ambitions. Preachers scrape for significance by bullying their congregation and sucking up to those who could elevate them while quoting scriptures to back up their soul-disease.

True leaders are actively engaged in inner work. If we want to build a community filled with love, peace and joy, it first has to live inside of us. We can teach what we know and people will become more informed but we can only transform lives by imparting what lives on the inside of us. Leadership development is an upward spiral of Calling, Crucifixion and Co-Creation. First, we are called up higher in an encounter with God where He reveals our identity to us. Like King David when he was anointed king by Samuel. Then we must be refined and tested (also like David whose character was shaped for many many years before he ever sat on the throne). Finally, we learn to exercise authority in partnership with God. Again, David was a good example of this, constantly guided by God as he led the people. As long as we remain humble and teachable the cycle never stops. We are constantly being called to a truer version of ourselves, to engage in a process of transformation that enables us to be trusted with greater kingdom responsibilities and to partner more closely with God to expand His kingdom. God only entrusts His authority to those who carry His character.

The moment we stop growing is the moment we begin to lose real influence in the realm of the spirit. How many times have we met men of God who talk about the power and presence of God that used to characterize their ministry? What happened? I believe they stopped the inner work. They thought they had arrived and forfeited their leadership position. They may still have big ministries and many followers but in the spirit, they have lost their position.

I pray that that would never be said of you beloved. I declare that your life will go from glory to glory! I pray that we will be diligent in pursuing our inner work together! Let us encourage each other in this most holy work that when Christ returns He may find a Bride without spot or wrinkle ready to meet her Bridegroom!

Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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Death By Comparison


Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it

Habakkuk 2:2b (ESV)

In this well-known verse, the word vision has more to it than meets the eye. It means a divine revelation or a prophetic vision. The verse that follows (verse 3) also makes it clear that this is a vision of the future. I believe that this concept of prophetic vision holds some insight that is very relevant to our personal growth as well as our maturation as the Body of Christ.

I have observed several instances in various situations in family, work, or church where it seemed that people just refused to grow past their current state. There seemed to be no lack of reasons why they saw no need to journey any further in their personal growth. It always pains me when it happens. I can’t understand why someone would refuse to even explore the possibility that there is room for growth. As I talked to God about this recently, He showed me that the issue is perception.

God showed me the Israelites leaving Egypt and heading to the promised land as an example. As the Israelites journeyed with God in the wilderness, He began the process of maturing them from slaves in Egypt to people who would become a mighty nation and rule Canaan. It was sometimes a painful process as all growth involves change and change is painful. At one point in the journey, the Israelites began to complain, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” The Israelites fell into the deception of comparison. When we cannot envision the future that God has for us, we cannot ‘run’ to attain it. As the popular saying goes, the body cannot go, where the mind has not gone.

Hosea 4:6 says that the people perish for a lack of knowledge. Where there is no vision of God’s dream for our lives, then progress can only be measured by comparison with our past selves or with the people around us. Therefore, we settle for much less than God’s will for our lives, we stop growing and we will ultimately die. This death by comparison manifests itself in mindsets like, “I have achieved enough. I’m comfortable. Why rock the boat?” or, “That’s just how God made me.” Sometimes the mindset that keeps us in stagnation can sound very biblical, “I am a new creature in Christ by faith. There is nothing more that I have to do Christ has done it all.” or, “When Christ is ready, He is well able to change me.” There is always some truth to a deception, it is just not the full truth. Our spirit is completely new (we have been saved) but our soul (will, mind, and emotions) is being transformed (being saved) and our body will be made new when Christ returns. The process of transformation of our souls is not without our willing effort although the power to change does indeed come from Christ by the Spirit.

I wish to propose that there is much work to be done and it will continue until we attain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Jesus is the only measure. Our leaders are not the measure, how far we have come is not the measure, and our friends are not the measure. We are yet to see the Bride come into her fullness of love, peace, righteousness, joy, authority, and dazzling beauty. I am fully convinced that there is a deep wholeness, unity, abundance of life, and hosting of the Spirit that we are yet to even scratch the surface of as a church, but unless each of us is individually consumed by a personal vision of who God created us to be, we will not attain this corporate reality. To be gripped by a vision it must be personal. Even the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is too general; we must receive a personal revelation from the Spirit of God of our unique identity and calling. As I heard Dano McCollam say recently, “The bible gives us our last name – what everyone in the family is like. We are all more than conquerors, for example. But the prophetic gives us our first name – our unique identity as a daughter or son in the family.”

So my prayer today for myself, my wife, my children, my family, my friends, and all my brothers and sisters is that our hearts and minds would be open to receive God’s personal vision for our lives. And that the sight of that vision would birth in us a hunger for more and determination to pursue God’s perfect will for our lives like never before. I declare that every limit to our growth will be broken! Be it our physical comfort zones, our theological comfort zones, our social comfort zones, our denominational comfort zones, or the limits we have accepted due to our gender, our age, our past, our education, or our genetic makeup; we will break out of every construct and narrative that limits God’s vision for us!

Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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The Sacrificial Way Of Life

It’s Easter! A wonderfully sacred time for most of the Christian world. A time to remember the sacrifice that changed everything and reset the world calendar. Most importantly, a time to renew our devotional life. As I read again the epic drama of the days leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, I felt my heart stir as the Holy Spirit breathed on me afresh through the scriptures.


I saw the frenzied crowds faced with a choice; set Jesus free or release the revolutionary – Barabbas. We know what they chose, “We want Barabbas!” My heart broke for their choice. They couldn’t see it. They couldn’t see their salvation in the form of a humble mystic. They wanted a revolutionary who would overthrow their Roman oppressors. My heart broke for us too. We still want Barabbas. Despite Jesus’ example of revolution through sacrificial love and humble service, we still want violence.


The Barabbian gospel is perhaps the most difficult anti-Christ principle to rid ourselves of… View our history – the Crusades, conquest and colonization of America and the 3rd world. As Jesus said to Pilate as he was being cross-examined, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”


Hopefully, today we have seen the abomination and oxymoronic nature of using physical violence to expand God’s kingdom. Sadly however, we Christians are still leaning on earthly power in more ‘acceptable’ ways. Perhaps it is our religious ego overcompensating for our lack of real spiritual authority? Our Barabbian nature lingers on in subtler forms – protests, political movements that support ‘Christian’ laws or judges, vomiting hate toward those who we deem ‘sinners’ or ‘heretics’. It’s the same now as in Christ’s day – we want the political or social power to overthrow our modern ‘oppressors’. These Barabbian false prophets would have us believe that Christians and our way of life are under threat, and we must fight back! But Jesus offered another way – dying for those who want to kill you. Now that is revolutionary!


“We want Barabbas!” wasn’t the only cry that fateful day. There was another cry, this time from the leading priests and temple guards, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Why? Because Jesus was undermining the religious system from which they drew their identity, significance and power. This was their real God – the thing they had to protect at all costs.


We’re still doing it today. Oh, when will we awaken to truly see Christ? Ironically, this even plays out in our very celebration of Easter. There are enclaves within the Christian world that refuse to celebrate Easter because they believe it is rooted in a pagan fertility ritual and furthermore, nobody knows what day it was on, etc. They crucify all who dare to uphold the practice. “If you were truly Christians,” they say, “you would not be involved in such an unscriptural practice!” Typical leading priest/temple guard rhetoric. What month or day Jesus was crucified, the roots of the word Easter, how it started many years ago… it is all inconsequential. The choice here and now, the opportunity, is to lift up Jesus together with believers across the world in sincerity of heart and unity of worship. If our hearts say no to that then we have to ask ourselves, “What is really important to us?” Are we more concerned with saying no to something that undermines our belief system (just like healing on the Sabbath in Christ’s day) or saying yes to the opportunity that Easter presents for unbelievers to hear the gospel and be healed? (Hint: Jesus chose to heal.)


I have been faced with my own inner crowd and leading priest lately. Jesus has been asking me if I am willing to live a sacrificial life. Am I willing to be crucified with Christ that I may be resurrected with Him? Am I willing to let the parts of me that I am still clinging to die? It is as though Jesus has set Himself in front of me, gently held my shoulders, looked me in the eyes, and said, “This is it, Mat. If you want to go any further, it requires sacrifice.”


I can’t say that I was all gung-ho about choosing the way of Jesus. I wanted to. Oh, how I desperately wanted to! But I didn’t feel I had the ability to follow through, not really, not truly, not authentically. I have seen myself choose my way over Jesus’ too often. So many times it felt like my heart would break in utter despair.


But… perhaps this is the mysterious power of Jesus’ sacrifice? Perhaps this is what makes the way of Jesus superior to religious power or political power? Jesus’ sacrifice actually has the power to transform my life really, truly, authentically. And so, I say boldly, “I CHOOSE YOUR WAY JESUS!” I choose to join you in your death and resurrection. Crucify me Jesus. That I may die, and You may live in me. This is the way.

Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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The Fast Track to Maturity

Richard Rohr talks about ‘second half of life maturity’. It is something I have experienced myself but have been grappling with recently for reasons unknown to my conscious mind. The rough idea is that one has to live a bit and experience pain and loss and failure in order to overcome our immature mindsets. Caught up in there is the idea that we must go through the phase of ‘the law’ and religion before we can experience grace and spirituality.

I have done religion with great gusto. I have done sin with great gusto. Now, I am doing spirituality with great gusto. (Do you see the trend?) My struggle is this: Were religion and sin optional or necessary? Fr. Rohr seems to think that it is par for the course. I’m not 100% convinced. Much of what some would call ‘ministry’ that I do these days is premised on the belief that one can be birthed into the kingdom of God straightaway into a relational intimacy with Father, Son and Holy Spirit without the need to go through the intellectual, self-righteous, Christian membership club phase. I have even seen spiritual growth models that show an initial phase of rapid growth that includes becoming a church member and getting involved in church activities etc. But then we hit a wall of some sort (loss, sin, divorce, health issues, burnout, spiritual dryness). You can get stuck at the wall or overcome it to start growing again in deeper relationship with God.

It does seem difficult to traverse from a very black-and-white, biblical mindset to a more mystical (union with Christ) mindset. You can’t really teach someone into maturity if they are already convinced that they know all the truth and have all the answers. I know. I have tried and failed repeatedly. It is because of these experiences that I tend toward agreeing with Richard. It is very difficult to jump 2 or 3 steps from where you are. This realization has helped me to be more patient and far less inclined to try to influence others. It is far better to wait on God to bring to me those who are ready to go deeper and leave those who are not yet ready to go their way in peace (or hit their wall). Perhaps the adage is true – when the student is ready, the teacher appears.

There is one problem with this school of thought – Jesus. Paul (formerly Saul), the self-named Pharisee of Pharisees has one encounter with Jesus and leapfrogs over years of tradition and indoctrination and self-righteousness into the most mystical understanding of the faith recorded in the Bible. Jesus appears to him as a blinding light and a booming voice and Paul is never the same again. Listen to Paul:

…You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book. The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally…

(An excerpt from the Message translation of Philippians 3)

One encounter with Christ is all it takes. I believe that a newborn babe in the faith can be catapulted into second-half-of-life-maturity with one encounter with the Son of God. I don’t believe that you have to wait until you are over 40 like me. You don’t have to be sucked into religion. An encounter with Jesus is available to you now. No frills. No holds barred.

This is of course, what Jesus offered when He said the Kingdom of God was at hand. He did not just offer a message, He healed the sick and cast out demons. He offered a foretaste of heaven! Any message without a spiritual experience is what Paul called persuasive words of human wisdom without a demonstration of the Spirit and of power! (1 Co 2:4)

Nothing less than a knock-your-socks-off, high-voltage contact with the very power of Love personified is yours for the having… if you want it.

Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.

Hungry for an encounter with God? Stay tuned to our Events page.

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ONLINE WORKSHOP: SPIRITUAL FORMATION 201

DATE: Mondays from 9th January 2023 to 3rd April 2023

TIME: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm AST

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, wholeness, healing from trauma, resilience, thriving in trials, and discovering your calling/purpose. The sessions will include teaching, discussion, reflection, and activation in an environment of loving community. The emphasis is practical, not theological. Our focus is on how to practically live out the commands of Jesus.

TARGET AUDIENCE: This workshop is open to anyone seeking to walk more intimately with Jesus Christ and become more like Him. All are welcome. It is particularly geared toward those with a hunger for spiritual growth.

COST: FREE

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

TESTIMONIALS:

Spiritual Formation 301 was EXCELLENT!!
Like the previous Sessions SF 101 & 201, packed with solid Biblical content, thought provoking, life transforming activities and discussions. I believe the facilitators through the leading of Adonai took us all on a journey each session where we were confronted, inspired and motivated to pursue authentic deeper intimacy with our Father. All my relationships have benefitted significantly from what I have gleaned as a participant in these sessions and if possible I would be willing to do them over again!

Thank you Matik and Tricia for making yourselves available and willing to process life with us in community as we provoke each other unto good works, and grow up into mature sons. God bless you and your ministry. We love you.

Rose, Turks & Caicos

It was a great pleasure to be a part of Spiritual Formation 101, 201 and 301. It has been a very enlightening, informative and eye-opening experience.

The purpose of these sessions was to encourage spiritual growth; to move from a place of immaturity to a place of maturity in Christ. It was about teaching the participants how to form new habits to help us grow and be more intimate in our relationship with others and with God. We identified where we were at in these relationships and through teachings and practice, looked at ways to find our identity in Christ. We learned and discussed ways to move from individual mindsets to a Kingdom mindset.

I loved that this was an open place to share. I had quite a bit on my plate at the start of 101, and being in that space was a healing in itself. It renewed my trust in God. At that time, my husband was having some issues with his sight; he couldn’t see. But listening to the teachings and hearing what others had to share helped me to see God’s hand working in my life, and that of my husband, even in that situation.

It seems like there was something happening in my life for each fraction of Spiritual Formation. In 201, I was having some issues with my alcoholic brother. He was drinking and getting into fights. But being in a place that I felt safe to share and being taught about God’s continued grace, helped me through. During 301, I was not in the best place spiritually; I wasn’t giving God His due, not spending enough time in His presence. But Matik’s presentations (practice and
assignments) helped to pull me out of that place and be more focused on my
relationship with God.

I truly believe that spirituality is much more important than religion. I also believe that God isn’t about saving only one religion but all of mankind. These three ‘courses’ reiterated that fact. Interacting with people of different countries, religious persuasions and socio-economic backgrounds, taught me that I take a lot of things for granted in my life.


I truly enjoyed these sessions and looked forward to them. I would this again if given the opportunity, because there was so much to learn that I’m sure I missed something(s).

Thanks so much for this Matik! May God continue to bless your efforts to spread His Kingdom message to others.

Jeneil, Trinidad & Tobago

Hi everyone. My name is Gillian. My husband and I met Matik and Tricia virtually during our search for a greater level of understanding of the Kingdom of God and desiring a greater daily impact in our lives through a deeper intimacy with God. I have had the great opportunity to sit expectantly through the Spiritual Formation sessions for the 201 and 301 courses. At the time when the 101 course was being offered, I was not available, but caught up, I believe, with the Basic, and Phase One sessions on the Authentic Joy website- https://authenticjoy.org/.

The Authentic Joy journey has been a real eye opener for me. In their loving way, I was encouraged to ask myself some deep questions, that allowed me to understand who I am and who God created me to be. My fellow course-mates helped in the process by sharing their experiences and what they gleaned as well. I especially liked the exercises and the habits we were encouraged to develop. Journaling is still a challenge but I appreciate the value of it and will settle in one day. Our model was always Christ Jesus and I learnt that real life was thriving in His love, joy and peace and not the false self of the survival mode where I had the tendency to perform for acceptance.

We are all to continue to seek the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and in this, mature in love and purpose. I encourage you to go on this journey of Spiritual Formation. For me although the course has ended, the transformation journey continues. I am committed to ardently pursue intimacy with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. My life depends on it.

Thank you, Matik and Tricia for your passionate pursuit of God and joy in giving this course. I love you both.

Gillian, Jamaica
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The Three Power Habits of Christianity

I have come to be convinced that there are only three root practices that underpin the life of every thriving Christian. There are many beneficial habits or disciplines but they all draw from these three in my opinion. It may sound like an oversimplification, but I have found that most truth is simple. It is not necessarily easy to walk out but it is not complicated. Here are my three power habits of Christianity:

  1. Intimacy – Pursuing deepening relationship with God.
  2. Transformation – Pursuing hearing and obeying His voice with greater and greater frequency, accuracy and immediacy.
  3. Dominion – Pursuing expansion of God’s kingdom in your sphere.

Put another way:

  1. Connecting more and more with Christ.
  2. Becoming more and more like Christ.
  3. Connecting the world more and more with Christ.

These habits are sequential and cyclical. By sequential, I mean that we can only become like Christ to the degree that we are intimate with Him, and we can only expand Christ’s dominion to the degree that He is in us. This means that intimacy with Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit is the #1 pursuit of the Christian life. Everything we do such as praying, worshipping, fasting, and bible study, should be mainly toward this end. If it is not, then we are wasting our time.

The second habit is the transformation of our lives by hearing AND obeying God’s voice. Some of us may assume hearing simply means reading the bible. Let me be absolutely clear here – we can read the bible and never hear His voice. Only those intimate with God hear His voice. There must be an unmistakable awareness that our lives are guided by a person, not just biblical principles. We must be constantly led by the Spirit. The final habit, dominion, is the demonstrated power of God in our lives. Our Christianity must actually work. Demons must flee. Sickness must flee. Christ must transform our families and businesses and communities from brokenness to wholeness.

By cyclical, I mean that this is not a one-time 1-2-3 and then we have arrived at the pinnacle of Christianity. It is more like we get a little closer to Him, then we become a little more like Him, then we influence our world a little more, and then we draw a little closer again, and on and on in a beautiful upward spiral of grace.

These three things are a pattern that can be observed in scripture from beginning to end. Let’s take Moses and Joshua taking the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. We have Moses refusing to go without God’s presence and building a temple for Him to dwell among His people. We have God giving the law on Mount Sinai and commanding the Israelites to walk in obedience to all His laws and commands. And we have Joshua leading the Israelites to displace the inhabitants of Canaan and occupy the land. Temple, Law, and Land. Intimacy, Transformation, and Dominion.

Consider also the Israelites returning from captivity in Babylon. There are three waves of Jews returning from exile. The first wave is led by Zerubbabel and the focus is on rebuilding the temple – Intimacy. The second wave is led by Ezra and the focus is on re-establishing obedience to the law – Transformation. And the third wave is led by Nehemiah and the focus is on rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls – Dominion.

Finally, all is fulfilled in Christ who is the way (making a way to true intimacy with God), the truth (the Word made flesh – our model and means for transformed life), and the life (living with absolute kingdom dominion over sin and death).

So, if you want to thrive make these practices the foundation of your life:

  1. Commitment to the single-minded pursuit of intimacy with God.
  2. Commitment to hearing God better and obeying Him more completely.
  3. Commitment to a lifestyle of stepping out in faith to see results in real life.

Christ be with you!

Copyright 2022, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.

If you haven’t yet, check out our FREE Spiritual Growth Foundation Course in which we cover the four foundational principles for spiritual growth and much more! In addition to on-demand videos which you can watch at your leisure, there are downloadable handouts for those who prefer written content.

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The Gift of Mortality Salience

All over the world people are demanding a higher quality of life. Many have finally found the will to end abusive or stagnant relationships. Many more have refused to go back to the tyranny of long commutes and soul-crushing jobs. The pandemic has sparked a newfound appreciation for an ancient truth – life is short. Too short not to pay attention to what really matters. Too short to waste our days obsessing over trivial things like profits and housework. Too short to do anything less than something that makes our soul exult.

This phenomenon is called mortality salience – a heightened awareness of the inevitability of our death. I first heard about this phenomenon on a Brene Brown podcast. Thus far, over 6 million people worldwide have died from the Covid virus. I think it is fair to say that we are all experiencing a higher level of awareness of our mortality.

In my opinion, this is truly a gift from God. Anything that awakens us from our deception is a gift. It is a merciful opportunity to course correct. So do not let this moment pass you by! Take action now while your soul is still gripped with the urgency of this moment! Don’t wait! Don’t get sucked back into the soul-numbing existence of chasing after more stuff or more security or more success.

I say yes to more family time and fewer office hours! Yes to eight hours of sleep and leisurely breakfasts! Yes to work that you really enjoy and that makes a difference in the world. But most of all I say yes to more of God and less of religion. Yes to watching the sunrise while meditating on His grandeur. Yes to breaking bread with family and friends. Yes to soaking in His Presence for hours.

Life is too short not to seek God. I mean to really seek Him. To seek Him because He is the only thing worthy of ALL of your time and energy. 

Intimacy with God is the ONLY pursuit that is worthy of your lifetime.

Seek Him first. Here’s a secret you may not have heard before: building big ministries, growing megachurches, saving souls, spreading the gospel, impacting nations and the like do not make good goals for your life. They are good things, just not good as life goals, they are much better as by-products of a life spent in pursuit of Christ and Christ alone.

He alone is worthy. This primal pursuit is the foundation of all other pursuits. The pursuit of Christ makes all other pursuits worthwhile. It doesn’t matter how long you have been going to church. It does not matter how much of Him you have already experienced. There is always more. If you think this moment in history (this humanity reset) is only about those who don’t know Jesus, you are wrong. God is speaking to all of us.

We Jesus people need a reset. We have been so caught up in religious activity that we haven’t had time to be caught up in God. We have been living lives of superficiality and striving instead of lives of wonderment. We have been blind, deaf, and half-dead to the wonder of Jesus. We have been slaves to busyness. Too busy serving God to see Him…really see Him. Too busy with building projects, church meetings, and pursuing blessings to stroll with Him in the cool of the garden.

Beloved, let us seek God again. Let us seek Him like water in the desert. Seek Him in spirit and in truth. Let us seek Him with all our heart and soul and might! Life is short!

If you need help defining what a reset looks like for you, our resident life coach, Tricia, would be happy to help. Contact her at celestintricia@gmail.com

Copyright 2022, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.

If you haven’t yet, check out our FREE Spiritual Growth Foundation Course in which we cover the four foundational principles for spiritual growth and much more! In addition to on-demand videos which you can watch at your leisure, there are downloadable handouts for those who prefer written content.

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How To Achieve Spiritual Growth Part 2

In the first installment of this series, I introduced two foundational principles of spiritual growth:

  1. Only Jesus transforms. Not religion. Only a real face to face relationship with Jesus. Sure, anyone can change their behaviour and manage their sin but only Jesus can change our desires – change us from the inside out. John 15:4-6 (ESV) says: “4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” It is the abiding connection with Jesus that transforms us.
  2. We change more through relationships than through information. We have been fooled into a left-brained approach to spiritual formation. We have been told that if we study our bibles and attend to our church sermons we will grow. These are helpful, but what really transforms us is loving relationships and strong bonds with people and with God. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV) “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Today, I want to continue with three more principles:

  1. Transformation works from the inside out
  2. Fruit not gifts/accomplishments is the evidence of transformation
  3. Jesus is our model of maturity

Transformation

Transformation is one of the core values of Authentic Joy. We are about inside-out transformation. We are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that no lasting change comes through external means such as rule-keeping, sin-management, or behaviour modification. Transformation starts with the Holy Spirit re-connecting our spirit with Christ, progresses through a heart regenerated by His love and a mind renewed by beholding His glory, and finally ends in an incarnated Christ-like life. The imperative for transformation then is not more education, more willpower, more effort, or more external motivation (whether through fear, shame, or the approval of men) but rather more encounters with God (the only one who can truly change us).

Fruit

Giftedness is not a measure of maturity. God gives gifts freely to all men. It does not require maturity to be a gifted soccer player, musician, public speaker, businesswoman, pastor, evangelist, or prophet. This is huge because we often erroneously choose highly-gifted people as our role models, mentors, or worse yet, spiritual advisors. Mature people are those who have put in the inner work of growth in Christlikeness. The result of a life abiding in the vine and submitting to the Master’s pruning is fruitfulness.  According to Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit looks like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Only mature trees bear fruit!

The Model

Our role model for maturity is Christ Himself. He is the standard. While we may emulate different aspects of Christlikeness that we see in people, only Christ is perfect and complete. We like to give a relational perspective of Christ’s maturity:

  • Intimately connected to the Father.
  • Discipling, empowering and unifying our brothers and sisters.
  • Sacrificially and powerfully demonstrating the unconditional love of the Father to the world.

If we keep these principles in mind, we will have a good foundation for the spiritual growth that we all want to see in our lives.

Live long and grow!

Copyright 2022, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.

If you haven’t yet, check out our FREE Spiritual Growth Foundation Course in which we cover the four foundational principles for spiritual growth and much more! In addition to on-demand videos which you can watch at your leisure, there are downloadable handouts for those who prefer written content.