 Dear Friend,
What has God done in your life this past year? What has He done through your prayer group, your Sunday School class...or Passionate Pursuit?
Take a moment to reflect...If Passionate Pursuit had not existed this past year, what would you have missed? What encouragement, what Biblical truth, what "now" word, what spiritual experience would be missing from your life? If there had not been a Concert of Prayer, a 21-day fast through Pursuit 21, or any Passionate Pursuit events, how would your life be different right now?
Or, what if there were no Passionate Pursuit next year? No Concert of Prayer or 21-day fast? What would you miss and why?
Take the flip side of that thought - the positive element of what God DID do for you this past year - and share it publicly. God has done too much in our
lives this year for us not
to stop and take a moment to publicly thank Him.
As mentioned previously, at the last Passionate Pursuit I had hoped to have a share time in which we publicly thanked God for His goodness over the past year.
In our churches today -- with our perfectly programmed, precisely scheduled, polished, televised services -- the time of publicly testifying and giving God praise is practically extinct!
Yet God instructs us to, "give out
the voice of praise, and make public all the wonders which [He has] done" (Psalm 26:7, emphasis added.)
Throughout the 2009/2010 season of Passionate Pursuit, at least 100 people have told me how God touched them, taught them and ministered to them through Passionate Pursuit, Pursuit 21 and the Concert of Prayer. Some of you wrote notes on your prayer requests, others emailed...and many told me in person. I have been personally encouraged by hearing your stories. But these are private declarations...not public.
I have published a few of these statements in our E-zines, but have included initials only, no names. This is equivalent to testifying in church with your identity concealed -- like the people who share stories on investigative TV, but their face is blacked out and their voice is disguised, something akin to the witness protection program. This is not the same as publicly standing up and openly declaring with a LOUD VOICE the greatness of our God!!
Having our testimony - our witness of what God has done - protected from others is not what God desires.
I don't know about you, but I don't want my witness in the protection program!! It's important that we declare aloud and make public God's wonders in our
lives. I believe God wants us to take the opportunity through the website and the computer keyboard to testify and praise God passionately for
what He has done.
"That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving,
and tell of all thy wondrous works"(Psalm 26:7, KJV, emphasis added).
Take a moment to "publish" with a voice of
thanksgiving what God has done in your life.
Simply enter your testimony in the comment box on the Passionate Praise web page.
It doesn't matter if it's one sentence or one hundred!
If your praise is longer than the comment box allows, feel free to share
multiple comments. It doesn't matter how long or how brief, just tell aloud what God
has done! Give Him praise!! I have entered my testimony on the web page, proclaiming aloud what God has
done!
"...You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will
give thanks to You forever" (Psalm 30:11-12, NASB, emphasis added.)
What God has done in our lives, He has done that we might not be silent! That we might sing praise to him and give him thanks!!
Don't feel that your praise has to be about Passionate Pursuit only. If God has moved in your life this past year, give him public praise!! If you are like me, His workings in your life are intertwined. For me, what He began through the Concert of Prayer spilled over into all-night prayer and so many other blessings in my life.
Sadly, we have vacated public praise in our churches today as much as we have vacated waiting before God in prayer.
It's as if the Church forgot that God loves public declarations of what He has done.
God told Habakkuk, "Write my answer..."
Write my answer where? On a secret ballot? On a piece of paper no one can see? In an email intended for just one reader? No!
"Write my answer on a billboard..."
What? A gigantic billboard? Write it on a billboard how? Small and tiny and hope that no one can read it? No!
"Write my answer on a billboard, large an clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell the others" (Hab. 2:2).
Has God answered you in some form this past year? Did He hear your cry for a fresh word? Did He answer your desire for more of Him? Write it on a billboard...the Shades of Grace web billboard!!
, God loves public declaration, public praise, public thanksgiving. How have you publicly given Him praise? Is your witness in the protection program?
Click here to give God public, passionate praise!
"Oh, that men would
give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the
children of men!" (Psalm 107:8)Your Sister in Christ, Natalie Nichols
President,
Shades of Grace Ministries www.shadesofgrace.orgP.S. Have you written on the Shades of Grace web billboard, praising God for His answer to you? Click here to share your story and
"make public all the wonders which God has done!" God is worthy of our praise! Pursuing God can occasionally be motivated by self-interest -- we want something in return. It can be about us. But giving God Passionate Praise? Well, that's all for Him! He's done so much for us all year long. Let's do something just for Him!
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 | Passionate Praise
 Passionate Pursuit on the Beach was incredible - sweet friends, an
island buffet, an inspiring drama, beautiful music and an encouraging
word. But the best part was the presence of the Holy Spirit during the Moment in Concert! The schedule ended up slightly different than what I had planned for
the evening. There was one special segment that we were not able to
incorporate...so I thought we would do it here now! God has done too much in our lives through the 2009/2010 season of
Passionate Pursuit for us not to stop and take a moment to publicly
thank Him. How ungrateful we would be if we went along our way without
acknowledging and thanking God for all that He has done - especially
after He has displayed His greatness in the details of our lives,
entered our struggles, carried our burdens, taken us to new depths of
truth, performed miracles, met our needs and turned our lives around! Scripture instructs us to proclaim aloud our praise and tell of all God's wonderful deeds (Psalm 26:7).
"That I may give out the voice of praise, and make public all the wonders which you have done" (Psalm 26:7, Bible in Basic English, emphasis added.)
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| The Problem of Pain:
 Is God a Cosmic Sadist?Last night I spoke with a woman who is in deep despair. Years of
endless suffering, chronic illness and abandonment by her family have
left her completely disillusioned. "God could change all of this," she
said. "Why doesn't He? I don't understand..." If we are completely honest, we might admit there is a circumstance
in our lives causing us to ask the same question. It may be a minor
frustration...or something that causes us to cry out in total despair
like Job,
"My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart" (Job 17:11).
Like Job, we may feel that life is hopeless. We may wonder why we
should even continue on. Because Job was in a similar situation, the
answer he found to the "why" question is enormously instructive. Before God restored anything back to him, Job made two key statements...
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| Overcoming 
Adversity 101:
The Sovereignty
of God, Part 1The first step to overcoming adversity is accepting and resting in
God's sovereign rule. Adversity got the best of me until I grasped
this scriptural reality. It is a concept that can only be understood
through the parameter a relationship with Jesus Christ. Knowing Jesus
Christ is vital to overcoming adversity. You might call it "Overcoming
Adversity 100." Overcoming adversity is impossible apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you don't know Jesus personally, stop and read How to Know God. What does it mean to say that God is sovereign? When it comes to the
uncontrollable details of life, we either shrug them off declaring, "Oh
well, God is in control"- or we fume, "God, You are in control. You
could have done something!" There are two sides to this theological coin...and I have lived on
both. The thought of God being in control either brings great peace and
assurance...or it fosters immeasurable anger.
MeaningWhat does God's "sovereignty" mean? What effect should it have upon us?
"The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom [his sovereignty] rules over all." Palm 103:19
The Biblical definition of God's sovereignty simply means that His
kingdom rules over everything. Sometimes the broad, sweeping concepts
are the hardest for my finite mind to comprehend. A simple dictionary
definition sheds helpful light on this deep subject. "Sovereign" means:
1. the supreme ruler; king or queen...monarch
2. having supreme control
3. greatest in rank, authority, power
4. independent of the control of another; freedom from outside control
God is the supreme ruler of the universe. He has ultimate control
over all details. No one outranks Him. He rules independent of the
control of any other being, even Satan. Absolutely no one has more
control over the events of this world-over the events in your life-than
God. In other words, the buck stops with Him. The Supreme Ruler, In Ceaseless Control God is the ruler of the universe. Nothing is outside His authority. No one outranks or overrules Him, not even temporarily.
"His dominion is an everlasting dominion. And His
kingdom endures from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants
of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His
will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no
one can ward off His hand or say to Him, 'What hast Thou done?'"
(Daniel 4:34-35, NASB).
Notice that Scripture says God "does according to His will in the host of heaven." He has authority over all powers. Christ..."is the head over every power and authority" (Colossians 2:9, emphasis added). Permitting and Limiting TrialsNo trial reaches us without God's absolute appointment and specific
permission. Satan was not allowed to touch Job's life without God first
allowing it - and limiting it. (See Job 1:6-12; 2:2-6.) Satan had to
ask permission to sift Peter "as wheat" (see Luke 22:31). Perhaps it seems that God is too loving, too powerful and too good
to allow terrible things to enter our lives. God's omniscience,
omnipresence and omnipotence seem to contradict each other when it
comes to suffering. After all, God couldn't know beforehand that a
trial was going to occur and still permit it. Either He is so loving
that He longs to stop it, but can't because but He lacks the power to
do something about it - or He has the power, but lacks the love to care. As Kay Arthur says in As Silver Refined [ affiliate link], let's follow that line of thinking. Let's see where it goes...
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 Support God's work financially...without
ever giving a dime!
While you are searching and
shopping the internet, your searches and purchases could be earning donations
for Shades of Grace. Learn how to support Passionate Pursuit through your every
day online activities.
What if Shades of Grace received a contribution every time you
searched the Internet? What if a percentage of every purchase you made
online went to bring God's comfort for life's trials to lost and hurting people
who need Christ? Well, now it can!
GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates about a
penny per search to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would
any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the
donations add up!
GoodShop.com is an online shopping mall which donates up to 30 percent
of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including
Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed
up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting Shades
of Grace.
Simply go to www.GoodSearch.com - enter "Shades of Grace Ministries" as
the organization you Goodsearch for...and watch your donations increase!
Get the Shades of Grace Toolbar:
Above: Shades of Grace - GoodSearch toolbar
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Above: How the toolbar works
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And if you download the GoodSearch / Shades of Grace Ministries toolbar, you can contribute to Shades of Grace
every time you shop and search online - even if you forget to go to GoodShop or
GoodSearch first!
Simply download the toolbar and as you visit supporting
merchant websites, a bar will pop down telling you what percentage of your
purchase will go to support Shades of Grace.
So how much could this help Shades of Grace share the love of Christ? Here's an example:
Web Searches
Online Purchases
As you can see, your online searches and purchases could quickly add up! And we want them to benefit others who desperately need a touch from God.
Use GoodSearch.com and give men and women a new chance at hope and life - as they receive God's powerful Word!
May God bless you in return for taking this extra step to reach out with
the love of God and the truth of His Word to change lives and transform
hearts!
Click here to download the Shades of Grace toolbar
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 Discover Natalie Nichols
& Shades of Grace Ministries
In the midst of severe
illness caused by undiagnosed Lyme Disease, Natalie Nichols came to rely
on God's Word to comfort and sustain her. Now through Shades of Grace
Ministries, she shares how you and your loved ones can experience God's comfort
and grace through life's trials.
Our
Mission
The core mission of Shades
of Grace Ministries is to lead others to seek and apply the Word of God in
every circumstance of life.
Our Vision
Shades of Grace Ministries
desires to see a world where every Christian walks by faith and stands
upon God's promises as found in His Word.
Watch Natalie's Journey
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God's Comfort for Life's Trials
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Shades of Grace now on YouTube!
Visit our channel
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Visit Passionate
Visit Natalie
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TESTIMONIES
I have been blessed once more with the message ["Cash it.Don't Trash it."] I am much encouraged to persevere even when the "fig tree does not have fruit."
I am still seeing fruits from the fasting period early this year. God is faithful!"
- A.E.
"'Cash it. Don't Trash It' was a message for me. God spoke a word to me regarding my exact situation and need."
- J.P.
"This word was for me. God gave me those specific verses in the beginning [regarding my circumstance] and reaffirmed them in the message tonight."
- J.R.
"I prayed the Prayer of Salvation...I finished the 21 day fast then started the Daniel fast till Easter. I'm doing Bible study every night. I know God sent me to you. Just those 3 words have changed my life:
"Miracle of Prayer"
- L.P.
"There's no way I could adequately express my thanks to you and praise to God for the awesome experience we had tonight and for your leadership in this fast. It is something I have felt led to do, but as I said before it never "worked" for me. You and God showed me what it really means to fast and what a powerful tool fasting is in our walk with God. I am definitely "in" and plan to make fasting a way of life from now on. How blessed I have been these last 21 days. I can only imagine what lies ahead! I'll never be the same!!
- J.M
"Thank you so very much for the message that you shared
with us tonight. In all my nearly 32 years of being in...church, I have
NEVER heard the message that I heard tonight. I never realized the
importance and the need of fasting, what it REALLY means, and how to
apply it in my life. Thank you for sharing these truths with us. I
was so excited that I came home and "talked my husband's ear off"
telling him of all the things I learned tonight. I can't wait until we
all meet again...and learn of the things God is doing and going to do in
our lives. What an awesome thing God has allowed for us to experience
with Him!!!"
- D.S.
"I went tonight not being convicted about fasting. I left there VERY
convicted.....I'm in! It was a great night in the Lord, thanks Natalie! I
am truly refreshed."
- L.H.
"The service last Thursday was 'Powerful, dynamic and so anointed'. I
realize that I definitely was lead by God to be there at that meeting. I was suppose to work that day...God had other
plans. Praise Him. I definitely was convicted that
night to start the fast. And, HE has been so faithful and has given me
the strength and power to 'stick with it'. Praise the Lord. So thank
you Natalie and I can hardly wait to 'see the results'. I KNOW THEY
WILL HAPPEN. PRAISE GOD.
- B.M
We belong to a new, small church. Our pastor is teaching on fasting.
Your insights have been helpful to me in explaining [fasting] to so many in our
group who find this idea a whole new concept. Thanks for the teaching!
- T.L.
"I cannot even tell you enough.. how much [your blog] has spoken to me - even
the timing is perfect...and the Lord knew
exactly what I needed to hear. God has confirmed some things even
through some of the scripture that was in this blog!"
- A.M.
"I have been following your blogs about fasting
and wanted you to know they are so wonderful and encouraging through this fast."
- J.P.
"I saw your post (Isa
iah 58:1, "Like a Trumpet"). It is my desire that God would
develop me into that kind of man. Thanks for your boldness..."
- K.W.
"The
day I heard your testimony was a life-changing day for me. I have never been
the same since! We Christians are in and out of the Word. We don't know
its value. Your testimony
showed me
that the
Word is our only hope."
- M.N.
I have appreciated what you have shared on fasting and
the different resources you have mentioned. About a month ago, I began feeling
like in addition to the 'extra' praying I was doing for my dad concerning his
cancer and treatments, that God was urging me to fast 2 days a week as part of
my prayer time for Dad....As I read your experiences and
encouragement, I felt the Father ask me again to do this for my dad as a act of
love and obedience. So for a couple of weeks now, I have added this to my
weekly routine. Whether it affects God answering my prayers for my dad's
physical needs or not, I feel a renewing of my peace and joy from my obedience.
In addition, my dad says he has had no side effects from his radiation
treatments so far and he claims that as an answer to prayer--as do I.
Thanks
for your encouragement and willingness to speak to us from what the Father has
given you.
- M.B.
"Although life is still a
struggle for me and my family, I know God is faithful...and your life is living
testimony to that! Thanks for the encouragement - revealed through your life -
that brings endless hope to hurting people. I praise God and know He is behind
it all!!"
- P.F.
"I watched the concert of
prayer tonight -- powerful praise and worship! I worshiped God in my living
room along with you...God is calling me to a higher place with him; I must
share the gospel with others -- in the places he gives me, no matter the
cost...Thanks for leading us into his presence."
- C.C.
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