In a society that largely pursues convenience and freedom at all costs, how should we, the Body of Christ and the Church, respond to abortion in a democratic society? Debates and protests at clinics have seldom transformed lives. Rather, Christians should do this.
Read our ministry founder’s Gospel Today article “Abortion: Promote Deliverance, Not Debate” to learn what is “this.”
Nicole D. Hayes, Founder, Voices Against the Grain
For the past four to five months I’ve been in transition and transformation. Still undergoing both, joyfully and in God’s perfect peace, in spite of changes. Leaving the familiar behind and entering the unfamiliar. I’ve considered this time a luxury and privilege as I daily experience God’s unending grace, mercies and unmerited favor as He continues to shape and shed me. I began undergoing the process even before this period. Spending more time in God’s Presence, I thought I’d already shed things unnecessary and a distraction to the journey. Changes in what music I listen to. Changes in what I choose to watch on television and let enter my environment. Changes to relationships, profession and things previously familiar, mastered and comfortable.
God is shedding and shifting, and my thoughts have transformed because of. While I certainly wasn’t a conformist with society before, I am truly a stranger to it now. Simply leading a ministry named “Voices Against the Grain” pits me against a world that desires to conform with the norms. Indeed, this factor alone has placed me in some isolated spaces, but I’m good with that.
My thinking on another level is causing a separation from the familiar and the tolerable.
Seldom are transitions cut and dry. The process can be messy and not a straight line. While the journey has presented some discomfort, I am excited and expectant for the next step. I asked God for the transition because I desire to be the highest representation of who He has called me to be. I would never become this staying in the old space. The previous space was becoming too small, too tight. Frankly, I’ve outgrown it.
Being birthed from the old and into the new space, that could be messy too. Therefore, you may not recognize me. What I’ve learned is that people are uncomfortable with the “you” they don’t recognize because it is contrary to how they’ve always seen you. But in fact, we should all hope to evolve, to be transformed and transitioned, when God has planted greatness inside us that is yet to be unpackaged. Heaven forbid if the caterpillar remained unchanged and never transformed into a butterfly; never becoming a pollinator of flowers and vegetation, helping them grow and bear fruit.
In the birthing into this new space, I am grateful for the midwives God has provided me along the way. Prayers and the wise counsel of select brothers and sisters in Christ have benefited me greatly. Their value is immense.
The transition and transformation doesn’t make me better than you. I’ll still have flaws. I’ll still tell you the truth, but prayerfully with more compassion and kindness. I’ll exercise greater patience toward those who drag their feet/don’t get on board as quickly as I’d prefer.
Are you in a familiar space that is becoming too tight, too confined? Do you have the same thoughts, same ideas, revert to the same patterns with the same, tired results? To truly experience the highest representation of who God has called you to be, are you willing to be transformed and transitioned—even if it means your temporary discomfort, entering the unfamiliar, shedding old thoughts, old places and some people—and becoming unrecognizable before some?
The good news: should you embrace this journey, God is there with you! God bless you.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” -Romans 12:2, New International Version
-Nicole
Nicole D. Hayes is the founder of Voices Against the Grain, a bold teaching ministry launched in May 2013. Nicole’s purpose in creating Voices Against the Grain is to be light in darkness, to boldly instruct truth amid confusion so as to bring clarity and restoration.
Learn more about Nicole D. Hayes here.
Nicole D. Hayes, Founder, Voices Against the Grain
“Exit stage left.” I like saying that phrase. You can say it with a smile or with all seriousness. Wikitionary defines the theater phrase in these ways: “to exit or disappear in a quiet, non-dramatic fashion, making way for more interesting events,” or “leave the scene and don’t make a fuss,” and last, “the disappearance of a character.”
I particularly think of “exit stage left” when you’re a single Christian and the person who wants to date you is only pretending to be interested in your “Jesus talk.” In truth, they wish you’d keep your “Jesus talk” to yourself, particularly in public spaces. Shhh! In fact, your mere enthusiasm for the Lord, sharing what He has done for you, makes them want to change the subject or dismiss it by saying something like, “Golly gee, that’s great. Can you pass the bread, please?” This same person also can’t wait to draw you into their carnal desires and dirty jokes hoping you’ll be more enticed by putting a toe in darkness rather than walking in holiness and light. You know the type.
Here’s where “exit stage left” comes in. For my single people, particularly my ladies, if the person who wants to court you/date you views you as a crazy or radical for joyously sharing about your love for the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, your Savior, Redeemer, Jesus Christ, then kindly tell them to “exit stage left.” You are giving permission for this character to “disappear.” You’re also giving way for the right godly mate to come into your life.
Before you venture too far down this dating path, 2 Corinthians 6:14 reminds us to “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (King James Version)
This is not the time to continue dating this person, hoping they will change and “see the light.” Pray for them, show them God’s love and bid them well. “Exit stage left.”
-Nicole
Nicole D. Hayes is the founder of Voices Against the Grain, a bold teaching ministry launched in May 2013. Nicole’s purpose in creating Voices Against the Grain is to be light in darkness, to boldly instruct truth amid confusion so as to bring clarity and restoration.
Learn more about Nicole D. Hayes here.
Nicole D. Hayes, Founder, Voices Against the Grain
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. -2 Corinthians 4:17 (New International Version)
Would you want a promotion if it meant your absolute discomfort and breaking away from the familiar?
At this moment, I’m in a stretching, transitional, deeper trusting, more in His Presence, wilderness period with the Lord. Things God did before in my life, is not what He’s doing today. He’s doing something new which requires my daily, minute-by-minute trust in Him. As God told the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19, New International Version)
Yes, I do perceive this new thing coming! I’ve perceived it for some time. I asked Him for it. I asked Him for the adventure, the journey, no matter how uncomfortable. My desire to always know the next steps, I wanted to break away from that. That’s exactly what He’s doing! UGH! I knew the temporary discomfort would increase my faith, draw me nearer to Him, further conform me into the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ, shake off whatever is not beneficial to the journey, build endurance and fearlessness, and produce fruit that I could use to further bless and equip the Body of Christ. I’m preparing for promotion/progress in God.
Yesterday, I came across notes I wrote in late May while watching Joel Olsteen’s program. The subject is on the threshing floor. A threshing floor is a hard, level surface in which grain is threshed/beaten so the edible parts of the grain are separated from the chaff, or the worthless part of the grain. The threshing floor was/is usually located outdoors and exposed to wind to blow away the chaff.
Here are the notes I jotted then, forgot about and upon finding, are an encouragement. Hopefully, the words will encourage you to view life’s threshing floor as a necessary process in your promotion/progress:
“The threshing floor…God will use to separate me from what is limiting me. It was never designed to be permanent. There is a great harvest in front of me. Don’t let the enemy take what belongs to me. All of us go through these ‘threshing floor’ experiences because God is preparing me for the good opportunities ahead. I’ll have a greater confidence in God because of. The threshing floor is not defeating me…it is promoting me. The bumps in the road are not random. God will use the situation to refine me. Will come out more refined. Less chaff, more wheat. The threshing floor is where things die so new things can be birthed and live! God has to close a door to open a new door. God, cut me back so I can bear much fruit. Pruning in the uncomfortable times so I can bloom to new growth.”
Praise! This is why I have joy in the journey because I am expectant; I believe in the vision.
I know right now there are several of you on life’s threshing floor. Certainly, Satan will seek to convince you that God has abandoned you or is punishing you. Don’t believe the lies. Deuteronomy 31:6 tells us that, “For the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Jeremiah 29:11 assures His People that God’s plans are to “prosper us, not to harm us; to give us hope and a future.” Some people, because of their love for you, would rather pull you off of the threshing floor to ease your discomfort. I say, let’s go through it!
If you find yourself on the threshing floor, it is for your PROMOTION not destruction. Stay strong, have joy in the journey and get ready to bear more fruit! God bless you!
-Nicole
Nicole D. Hayes is the founder of Voices Against the Grain, a bold teaching ministry launched in May 2013. Nicole’s purpose in creating Voices Against the Grain is to be light in darkness, to boldly instruct truth amid confusion so as to bring clarity and restoration.
Learn more about Nicole D. Hayes here.
Nicole D. Hayes, Founder, Voices Against the Grain
Abortion. Evolution. Homosexuality. These are three of several hot-button issues that people approach with varying beliefs and opinions. Convinced in their minds of these beliefs and opinions, many have suppressed God’s truth/exchanged His Truth on these issues for a lie. But believing in a lie doesn’t make the truth any less true. Consequently, because of those who have suppressed the truth, we are seeing God’s wrath poured out in our communities, nation and world. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1:18 (English Standard Version)
What happens when we push for such beliefs, freedoms and opinions and God lets us have it our way? When God turns us over to our own hearts, it’s like He is saying to us, “Is this what you really want?”
Charles Holmes, researcher and writer, FreedomSquared.org
Proud of my friend, VATG radio show guest, a prayer partner and brother-in-Christ, Charles Holmes, Jr., researcher and writer for Christian think tank FreedomSquared.org. I am pleased to share with you his excellent article “Consequentialism in Romans,” as the Book of Romans lays out the consequences to these issues. His article outlines the many ways that we suppress the truth and the real reasons behind the accelerated deterioration happening in our nation.
I pray the message speaks to your heart in those places where you may have suppressed the truth. Thank you Chuck, for sharing this powerful message with us. God bless you.
-Nicole
Nicole D. Hayes, Founder, Voices Against the Grain
Gratefully, God created us to fellowship with one another. Whether family, friends, spouses, children, colleagues, neighbors, classmates, customers or others, we can enjoy relationships based on shared interests or pursuits. Yet, I’ve experienced through the years (and perhaps you have too) a deeper, unexplainable joy shared among Believers when in fellowship with other Believers. What’s most striking is when such unity is felt across miles, time zones, geographical boundaries, through phone calls, emails and social media—perhaps never having met one another face to face. Such joy! Sometimes when speaking with my brothers and sisters in Christ I’ve said, “Can we do this all day, every day?!” While here on Earth, we’re experiencing a snippet of that joy of which we’ll taste fully and eternally one day.
Such joy was experienced during a recent surprise trip from her home in California to Washington, D.C. made by my/our dear sister in Christ and Voices Against the Grain ministry team member, Ana Martinez. A quick, 12-hour stopover with her family allowed Ana and I to meet for the first time in person since Ana joined our ministry team in August 2013!! A blessing to fellowship face to face! We’ve shared many phone calls and emails encouraging, sharing words of wisdom, praying with each other. We’ve hosted radio shows together separated by West Coast/East Coast time zones but joined by technology and united in Spirit.
Thank you Lord for the joyful fellowship you have created within the Body of Christ! Separated by miles but united in Spirit, I look forward to when all six of us ministry team members can fellowship face to face! I also look forward to meeting other brothers and sisters in Christ who God has connected us to since launching the ministry in May 2013. I hope in reading this, you too have enjoyed that special and joyful fellowship experienced among Believers. Christ Jesus truly is our joy!
Photos below!
-Nicole
Ana Martinez (left) and Nicole D. Hayes (right) enjoy time at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Ana caught up with Nicole in D.C. (where Nicole resides) during a quick trip. (Photo courtesy: Ana’s sister “Milli.” Thank you Milli for capturing our moment!)
More smiles! A great time in fellowship! (Photo courtesy: Ana’s sister “Milli”)
Fashionably fabulous ladies in the cold! VATG Digital Media Coordinator Destiney Bishop (left) and Nicole D. Hayes (right) enjoy a time of fellowship in November 2014 prior to Destiney’s move from Maryland to New York. So much fun!
More VATG team member photos here.
Do you strive to be “in” with society? From the latest gadgets, designer brands, relationship statuses, higher social statuses, they want what you have and you want what they have. But if you’re not spirit-led, society will happily compel you to become a product of this age. Temptations always deliver a poor substitute for the real thing. God desires to foster self-control within His People which is a prerequisite for receiving many of His blessings.
Read our ministry founder’s Gospel Today article “Don’t Be a Product of Your Time.”
Nicole D. Hayes, Founder, Voices Against the Grain
As a Christian, have you felt pressure to cave to a world view? Are you silent at the water cooler on controversial issues, afraid to rock the boat?
If you answered “yes,” you’re not alone. Whether the church massacre in Charleston, the injustices of Ferguson, the national push for marriage equality or the identity confusion of Bruce/Caitlin Jenner, somewhere along the way, we in the Body of Christ became too polite. We allowed prayer to be removed from school. We’ve allowed folks of all backgrounds with diminished mental capacities and prejudices to carry guns. We’ve allowed people’s confusion about their identities and sexual orientation to prompt businesses, educational institutions and others to remove “female” and “male” from their vocabulary and replace with more ambiguous terms so as not to offend gender-confused populations. We’ve thought it impolite to say anything to the contrary and have resigned to a “live and let live” mentality. We’ve accepted that there are some degenerate, “bad apples” in this world who inflict horrific violence upon others.
Now, the chickens of our complacency, politeness, political correctness and silence have come home to roost. This is our state of emergency.
While we strive to be considerate, genteel and well-mannered toward others, forces of darkness could care less about our manners. As described in John 10:10, our enemy intends to “steal, kill and destroy” and he doesn’t play fair. While Christ Jesus came to bring us abundant life, true freedom, love, joy, hope and peace, Satan presents counterfeit schemes that suggest people can have freedom, love and joy with quicker rewards—and without relationship with God. The world in its ignorance, has settled for counterfeit paths that will ultimately destroy them.
Our politeness is dearly costing our communities, nation and world. Politeness has made us shrink back from territories in which we should have greater presence. Politeness has dulled our fervency and zeal required when addressing immorality. Instead of fervently sharing God’s Truth on any terms, we’ve politely embraced the world’s terms for fear of being hated. Who else should a confused and perishing world look to lead them in the right way if not a Christian? Are we snatching anyone from the fire, as stated in Jude 23?
The mute church has created a dangerous vacuum that has positioned Christians alongside hate groups. Furthermore, the congregation returns to work on Monday virtually indistinguishable from non-believers. We are warned not to talk about politics and religion by people who are pushing their own politics and religion. It is one made of man by man and it only offers bondage and chaos. It poses as light but degrades into shades of grey and eventually darkness.
The problem is not that we don’t have spirit-filled believers attempting to respond to these issues. It’s that we have fewer Christians speaking at the water cooler to defend the faith and keep Christians in view as people who love, give and suffer. The tragedy of our silence is that we’ve allowed ourselves to be mischaracterized to where we are dangerously close to being dehumanized.
How do we revive our collective Christian voice? How do we boldly and lovingly disperse light in darkness? How do we overcome fear and indifference and render aid in our state of emergency? Love toward others must continue to guide our thoughts, words and actions—but this doesn’t mean we shirk from entering the battle, where the Holy Spirit leads us.
Per God’s words to Joshua as the newly installed leader of the Israelites after Moses’ death: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous…for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:1-9) Let us not be concerned about who we might offend. By sharing God’s light, we help bring clarity to confusion and hope to darkness in our fallen world.
Still want to be polite or are you ready to fight?
-Nicole
Nicole D. Hayes is the founder of Voices Against the Grain, a bold teaching ministry launched in May 2013. Nicole’s purpose in creating Voices Against the Grain is to be light in darkness, to boldly instruct truth amid confusion so as to bring clarity and restoration.
Learn more about Nicole D. Hayes here.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” -Isaiah 55:8-9 (New International Version)
Nicole D. Hayes, Founder, Voices Against the Grain
Shock. Anger. Despair. We hurt. We grieve. Tragedies, injustices and lives taken by illnesses of any kind leave many of us asking God, “Why?” and “Where were you?!” We’re perplexed by how a loving God who is all knowing, all seeing, and everywhere can allow such events as the June 17 massacre of nine Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church members of Charleston, S.C., participating in bible study, to perish on His watch.
The aforementioned words captured in Isaiah 55:8-9 give us the answer. It’s not the answer our natural mind desires or is able to reconcile. Tragedies that befall wrongdoers are easier to reconcile in our minds because we inherently believe justice was rendered. But what solace can be found in the death(s) of those who selflessly serve others? Those who love and trust others? Those who gather for bible study on a Wednesday night, welcoming members and strangers alike?
Answer: God is and always will be sovereign (in control, giving allowance for situations to occur). We weren’t there when God hung the stars in the sky, or when He formed the Earth’s foundations and positioned our planet in perfect distance from the sun. In our limited abilities, intellect and understanding we are in no position to dictate what God should and shouldn’t do. In Romans 11:33 the apostle Paul writes, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?” (Romans 11:33, 34).
Good and evil are always at war in this fallen world. Evil is on an uptick and is not taking a backseat. God works through Believers, unbelievers and events to bring light to darkness. To accomplish His purposes, God will be God without requiring our understanding. What IS required of us if we so choose: to have faith in Who He is, faith in His good plans for us, to believe that He is drawing people and transforming hearts even in tragedies, trust His love for us, believe His promise to always be with us and to believe in the One He sent in Who we are to place our hope: His Son Jesus Christ.
A Charleston community member comforts a man mourning news learned of nine Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church members shot and killed during bible study on Wednesday night, June 17, 2015 in Charleston, S.C. Photo courtesy: Associated Press
We will encounter troubles in this life. To seek solace in this world will not garner peace that lasts. In Christ Jesus alone will we find true peace, as He tells us in John 16:33- “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Those who have passed on have run their race in victory. The Voices Against the Grain ministry team unites in spirit with our brothers and sisters in Christ and others to extend prayers of comfort, hope and love to the family members of those killed, to the members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Charleston, S.C., community.
-Nicole
Nicole D. Hayes is the founder of Voices Against the Grain, a bold teaching ministry launched in May 2013. Nicole’s purpose in creating Voices Against the Grain is to be light in darkness, to boldly instruct truth amid confusion so as to bring clarity and restoration.
Learn more about Nicole D. Hayes here.
Nicole D. Hayes, Founder, Voices Against the Grain
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. -Romans 7:21, New International Version, Paul said
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.– Romans 8:13, New International Version
“Since it is impossible to count on enough moral goodwill among those who possess irresponsible power to sacrifice it for the good of the whole, it must be destroyed by coercive methods and these will always run the peril of introducing new forms of injustice in place of those abolished.” -Reinhold Niebuhr, author of Moral Man & Immoral Society, theologian and political philosopher
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.”– Romans 3:10, New International Version
Ugh. That last scripture in Romans 3:10 is sobering. Not even one is righteous.
All of the aforementioned quotes and scriptures boil down to one, crude fact: As human beings, much of what we do is driven by self-interest. Always thinking how we’re gonna get over, even if it risks another’s demise. Because we’re dependent upon various needs to preserve our physical life (ex: food, money, clothing, shelter, relationships, community, status) if left to our own devices, we may carry out unspeakable acts to secure these items should one or more be threatened. God knew this in creating us, even with the fall of Adam and Eve and mankind’s sinful nature revealed. A cunning serpent enticed the two that they could know more than God by eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. Though God had instructed them to not eat from the tree, to think God might be keeping something good from them, stirred their self-interests to be all-knowing like God.
God sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ to live and die as the Savior of mankind. We are driven to satisfy the thirsts and urges of the flesh and physical needs. Such appetites not under control have driven many to kill, steal from others, oppress others and inflict injustices upon others. Without a heart transformed by Jesus Christ, even the most naturally goodwill-intentioned people would be corrupted by others’ untamed self-interests. Seeing their rights infringed on in such scenarios, even the most altruistic person void of a relationship with Christ would say, “the heck with it,” and seek measures at all costs to preserve their interests. Peace nor justice will ever be obtained in this manner.
In short, Jesus as our Savior, protects us from ourselves. As Savior, He replaces our propensity for evil with the desire to love and serve others above ourselves. He promises that in HIM we will have peace. In HIM we will have justice. In HIM we will have life and have it to the full. In HIM will our needs be met. He atoned for the inevitable evil in which we’re capable of committing, taking on the punishment we deserved. By inviting HIM into our hearts and lives, thankfully, in HIM, we are made righteous.
-Nicole
Nicole D. Hayes is the founder of Voices Against the Grain, a bold teaching ministry launched in May 2013. Nicole’s purpose in creating Voices Against the Grain is to be light in darkness, to boldly instruct truth amid confusion so as to bring clarity and restoration.
Learn more about Nicole D. Hayes here.
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