Author Profile
Matthew & Shera Dahlitz
Matt and Shera Dahlitz live in Brisbane, Australia. Together with their three children, and their wider church family, they are on an adventure to discover what it is to live on this side of the cross.
Always believing 'there must be more than this' in their walk with the Lord, Shera and Matt have been pursuing the reality of the Kingdom of God for 14 years as a couple. If there is one thing they have learned it's that there is a lot to learn. Not just in academic knowledge, but in practical experience, the learning that comes out of the 'School of the Spirit'. It is the release of the practical 'how to's' of the spiritual walk that they aspire to impart to the wider body of Christ.
Matt and Shera are the co-directors and founders of ThisSideOfTheCross.com as part of their mandate to help equip the Body of Christ.
Contact:
This Side Of The Cross
PO Box 1030
Park Ridge
Queensland 4125
AUSTRALIA
info@thissideofthecross.com
Article Archive here
New Music
We just want to let you know of some new music coming out by friends and contributors to This Side of the Cross. We encourage you to support these ministers of music who are blessing the Body of Christ with their creative gifts.
SAILING SEAS OF DESTINY - Matthew Dahlitz
Matthew has released another single in his typical orchestral style. Sailing the Seas of Destiny is a 9min soaking piece composed to take you places as you dream about the call and destiny God has over your life. Much of Matthew's music is based on what he calls "Musical Transliteration"; taking the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures and transform the matrix of letters into musical expressions. If you are interested in what Matthew is composing you can visit his site at www.matthewdahlitz.com and check out his offerings on iTunes
RENOVARE: Music to Renew and Restore the Soul - Marty Mitchell
Marty is a worship leader from Queensland, Australia and has produced this soaking CD of solo guitar to "renew and restore the soul". If you are after some calming, relaxing music then check out this CD available on iTunes.
You can find out more about Marty at http://martymitchellonline.com/
REST - Rob Packer
Rob and his wife Lyn head up Extreme Prophetic New Zealand.
Rob's New instrumental soaking CD is out -its great for kids to go to sleep to or adults to relax to. You can get a pre-release copy just in time for Christmas. Rob is doing a Christmas special of $20 (usually $25). You can either ring 09 833 6873 (New Zealand) or email nz@xpmedia.com to order a copy.
Check out more about Extreme Prophetic here http://www.extremepropheticnz.com
Soaking and Uprooting - Shera Dahlitz
Where we live, for the last couple of weeks, we have had continual rain. Usually at this time, it is hot, steamy, with the occasional storm to end the day. But this year it has been very different! It has been cooler – and wetter!!! This is not particularly good when you have active children who are bursting with energy, and wanting to enjoy at least some of the outdoors during their Christmas summer break! But, our land, which is your typical Australian bush setting (usually extremely dry ground and prone to bushfires this time of year), has been enjoying a very deep soak!
Today, for the first time in approximately two weeks, the rain stopped. Even though the clouds were still lingering, we could all get outside! Bikes and scooters were flying! And, I found myself in the garden. I used to enjoy gardening. I used to find it extremely refreshing. I guess with children, spare time seems to have become scarcer. But as I was pacing the driveway whilst the children played, I noticed something horrible in my garden. Not that I haven’t noticed it before, mind you. In fact, I noticed it months ago. My son, who loves birds, brought it to my attention. He warned me of its strangling nature. But alas, I did not pay heed to his warning, and I just didn’t do anything about it. And unfortunately, as oftentimes we do, I let it sink to the dark recesses of my mind, never to be remembered again – or so I thought!
It was not a venomous snake, or poisonous spider. It was in actual fact a vine. This vine is pernicious, to the surrounding plants and wildlife, extremely harmful. It is the kind of vine that, if left to itself, will climb and spread very quickly over ground and up into the trees, completely engulfing and eventually smothering the tree. It seems to grow in almost any sort of conditions, as long as it is left to itself.
As I was about to jump in and attempt to wrestle with this vine, I thought of how negative things in our hearts and minds, if left to themselves (without intervention), can be like this vine. If anger, pride, jealousy, selfishness, negativity, criticism, etc … or whatever the “thing” might be, is exposed (just as my son exposed the vine a few months back), and it is not uprooted, it will grow and become a hindrance in our lives. My son had exposed the vine to me months before. I decided to “leave it till another day”. Even my response was half hearted, as the job seemed a bigger task than it probably was. (Sometimes these things look bigger than they really are, especially in the light of all that Jesus has won for us.) Are there times when the Spirit has exposed “vines” in my life, that if not pulled up by His amazing grace, can become a hindrance bringing bondage to me?
As my husband and I stepped into the garden, ready to wrestle the insidious vine, something pleasant caught me by surprise. As I mentioned earlier, usually our land is quite dry and hard. That’s makes any weeds extremely difficult to pull up (which is one of the reasons why I left the vine in the first place)! But, we had just experienced two weeks of almost continual rain! As I took that first pull of the vine, I noticed that the soil was SOFT! The now rich, soft soil fell away as we pulled on the vine, and the roots lifted much easier than normal. I was so surprised! All of the soaking made for a much easier “pulling up”.
I was immediately reminded of a message I had heard a few years back. The speaker was Graham Cooke. One of the things he spoke about was soaking in the presence of God. (There is also a great article by Steve and Wendy Backlund on “Soaking Prayer” if you haven’t yet read it). One of the analogies Graham had used in his message was soaking pots and pans after someone has used them to cook with. Now the majority of you out there would be able to relate to this. When you have cooked a beautiful meal in those pots and pans, and it comes to cleaning them, you sometimes are left with food and residue that just won’t lift or budge. So what do you do? One of the best solutions is to soak the pots and pans in warm soapy water. Usually after a couple of hours (sometimes longer), the food and residue lifts easily.
The same applies to our lives. Taking the time to “soak” in Gods presence when the Father exposes issues in our lives is like that warm soapy water in the pots and pans. It allows the Lord to get into those “hard to reach” places, and lift those things up out of our lives that often seem so ‘stickable’ and hard to get rid of (for us alone). And like the vine, it makes way for the roots to be lifted easily where otherwise they would be hard and difficult to remove.
If you are struggling with a “vine” in your life, take time to stop and soak in Gods presence. Allow His Spirit to penetrate into the deep parts of your being, and bring freedom, healing and release. Not only will you enjoy the amazing presence of your awesome, loving, and restorative Father, but your focus will shift – from condemnation and weakness, to the awesome greatness and faithfulness of a good God, the true “vine remover”.
Continuing to soak in His presence as often as you can is of immeasurable value. I understand the busyness of life. Sometimes finding time is hard. But lets steward our time well, in taking even 15mins a day just to relax, thinking on and thanking Him for His goodness, His greatness, and just allow Him to love on you. Enjoy those times, resting assured that the rain of His presence is bringing you freedom and release, and that you are in the most amazing position to experience an encounter with Almighty God!
Combating the fear of man - Matt & Shera Dahlitz
We all have a deep desire to be accepted, to have a place, to be understood and valued. Our cues to validate our place, our worth, come mostly from other people. If we are not solidly grounded in a knowledge of who we are according to God’s word, then the opinions of others can send us on an emotional rollercoaster ride of self-doubt, confusion, anger, and fear. It’s the ‘fear of man’, or specifically the worry about what people are thinking and saying about you, their perception of you, that can derail you from being all you can be in this life.
The fear of what people think about us, what they are saying about us, if they like us or not, are very strong, very real forces that can turn our lives in dramatic ways. If you are on a mission, and we are all on one, you have to become ‘deaf and dumb’ to these fears. Not that you disregard what any and everyone says, that’s arrogance, rather that you are not moved by fear of how they perceive you. Someone may have a negative remark about something you believe, and they may be right, and be giving you guidance – so how do you respond in the security of who you are rather than reacting out of fear that they are attacking you?
Much of what we have learned about our true identity will combat the fear of man as we become confident in who we are. From a platform of security in the knowledge that we are significant, powerful, loved, and free, we can process the opinions and reactions of others in a healthy way. Take a significant public figure like the President of the United States of America, and think of the interest and differing opinions about him as a person. When someone on a talk show or in a newspaper expresses strongly negative sentiments about the President, what does the President do? Does he get anxious or angry? Does he start to wonder if he really should be in office? Does he jump on the talk show the next week to defend himself? No, he doesn’t get moved by those remarks (at least he shouldn't), he knows who he is, his power and position, and that he is on a mission that can’t be distracted by such things. But if we are not sure who we are, what our place is and what power and freedom we have, then we can easily be tossed this way and that by the opinions of others.
To be “rooted and grounded in love” is the sure foundation we stand on to combat the fear of man. If we know the love of our Father God, if we know that He will never leave us or forsake us, that He only has good for us, then we can approach the opinions of others from a strong emotional stance. Not just knowing it intellectually, but knowing the love of God on a deep emotional level. The fear of man will strike at the deeper emotional core of your identity. Someone may make a cutting and untrue remark about you, and in your intellect you assess it as a completely false remark. But deeper, on an emotional level, you may be reacting with pain, and anger. That’s the place that needs to be so grounded in the knowledge of the Father’s love that it doesn’t flinch at anything that says you are a misfit, unacceptable, and of no value. If you don’t know the love of the Father you need to cry out to Him, press into Him, pursue Him with everything you have for a revelation of that love. Until you do, you are in a vulnerable place when it comes to the fear of man and will be hampered from reaching your fullest potential.
Wether you have a revelation of the love of the Father, or are in a process of pursuing Him for it, you can always tell yourself who you are. Self-talk can be very powerful if you get over the idea that it’s ‘vanity’ or worldly ‘positive thinking’. Speak the truth to yourself and ground yourself on something solid!
Continual Pursuit - Matthew & Shera Dahlitz
Sometimes things just don’t fall into place. Actually you may think most things don’t fall into place for you! Tenacity of spirit, the spirit that believes in something and never gives up, is what you need to develop, because there are a lot of voices and forces out there that would want you to shut-up, give-up, and get back in your box.
When things are not working out like you expected it seems to be a default stance for the carnal nature to get depressed and blame self, or get angry and blame others, or both. What we need to do with these circumstances is turn them into an opportunity to gain strength of spirit; we can actually turn the situation around in our mind and emotions and let them work for us.
We had been in a position of waiting for a move of God in our local fellowship for a long time. Granted there were seasons where the Holy Spirit was moving and doing more tangible things than at other times, but nothing like the move we were expecting. Each Sunday morning we would turn up early to pray, with a heightened expectation that ‘today’ something will break out in this little gathering. Each meeting, prayer night, dream, word, visiting speaker, podcast, heightened the expectation even further. And yes there were ups and downs from week to week just because life happens at a million miles an hour with family, work, bills, school, and so on. But the expectation was still there. Just when we thought we couldn’t go on any longer without a tangible move of God in our midst, there would be an encouraging word or simply an optimism rising in our spirits.
Along comes the itinerant speaker to be a catalyst in brining that move of God we have been longing for. He says ‘If you just come with an expectation that God will move in this place, He will move! You just need a greater expectation.’
Now what are we to do with that? Get depressed because our expectation has been as high as we could muster, for as long as we could sustain it and it’s still not good enough? Maybe get angry with the speaker because he doesn’t know how expectant we have been? Or we could be angry with God because He hasn’t noticed our great expectation? How about none of these? How about bedding down with a tenacity of sprit and say to yourself ‘I have been waiting and expecting a move of God for years now, that expectation of mine must be accumulating like a mighty rain cloud. The weight of that expectation can’t be suspended in the sky forever, there is going to be a downpour!’ With that kind of spirit you are applying pressure on circumstances around you to come into line with what you have been expecting and what God desires to pour out. He wants to bless us and we are aligning ourselves for the blessing, if the blessing is not happening then something is going to break so the blessing flows.
In placing yourself in a position of optimism and tenacity it doesn’t necessarily follow that you are going to have any greater insight into why something is not falling into place. You have to make space for the mystery of God rather than getting completely frustrated with Him or yourself. We are not saying that we shouldn’t seek for answers. We should be seeking answers, but until the answer comes we have to maintain optimism based on what we already know about the nature of God and His desire toward us.
Endurance is not a common quality in people today, and maybe it has never been in an abundant supply. Sure, there are many examples of endurance in the sporting realm, extreme adventurers, people caught in harsh circumstance where it’s endure or die. But what about endurance in our own lives? Do we display endurance to ‘run the race set before us’ in our everyday struggles? Do we endure in relationships, our marriages, with our kids, our job, our church, the in-laws, God’s call on our lives? To endure in these things through the difficult times, rather than ‘throwing in the towel’ will prove ourselves faithful and trustworthy. We are talking about closing up the gap between what is on offer on this side of the cross and what our experience has been to this point in time. Continual pursuit is a key element of our character.
To help us stay in pursuit of the life we are called to live is to focus on the promises God has given us and not on the problems before us. We don’t mean that you pretend there are no problems, that would be denial and foolish. We mean give focused attention to the answers, which are found in God’s word over you. What you focus on you empower. We want to empower the prophetic statements God has spoken over you, both from the Bible and from the specific words you have received form Him. We know the problem, or the ‘gap’ is there, but we are empowering the answer to overcome the problem by giving it our full attention.
Call on the grace of God, that is the God empowering ability, to stay in continual pursuit of the reality of this side of the cross. We have been given the Holy Spirit, Who is the eternal optimist in any and every situation. When we feel like giving up pray with faith that His optimism will rise up within you and that you continue to run the race with endurance.
Encouragement from other believers is also important for us to maintain stamina as we seek to close the gap. Find an encouraging environment, encouraging people to be around. If you don’t find your circle of friends particularly encouraging, look to make connection with people you know are encouragers. Don’t know any people like that? Then find messages, podcasts, music, books that are encouraging and uplifting and let them stimulate and strengthen you. If your environment is not particularly encouraging then you need to create a positive and optimistic atmosphere yourself. You be the one who expresses the optimism of the One Who resides inside you!
Take some risk – stepping out of the boat - Matt & Shera Dahlitz
You know the theory; your spirit is leading and you’ve changed your mind about who you are and what age you have entered into. Now armed with an identity and destiny you have to ‘step out of the boat’ to see the supernatural manifest in your life. But you are not without help. The Holy Spirit is the One Who brings courage to the surface when you need it. Consider what happened to the believers who were first baptised in the Holy Spirit.
When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God courageously. (Act 4:31)
This word courageously is the Greek word parrh?sia, meaning to speak with boldness, no holding back. In all we are called to be and to do in the Kingdom of God, we have to have boldness. If we are not filled with boldness we will be compromised with fear. What was the main point God was driving home to Joshua before he lead his people into the promised land?
I repeat, be strong and brave! Don't be afraid and don't panic, for I, the LORD your God, am with you in all you do." (Jos 1:9)
“Be strong and brave!”, as if it were a choice Joshua could make – and indeed it was. So too is it a choice for us today; we can choose to be very courageous by having our eyes fixed firmly on an unbeatable God, or we can look at all the negatives around that can so naturally fuel a fear within. Isn’t that what we see when the disciple Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on the water. At first he had his eyes firmly set on Jesus as he walked out toward him, but once he started taking notice of the wind and waves, fear gripped him and down he started to sink. It was King David who said “I set the Lord always before me…”, and for very good reason; the courage to overcome all fills out being as we fill our vision with God Who can not fail.
But isn’t there a danger of becoming arrogant? Just as Jesus was courageous and bold in his dealings with men and demons, there must be humility in the midst of your boldness. If you are looking to Jesus as your source of courage there’s little likelihood that you would become arrogant, because your source of boldness is not yourself, or your own resources, it’s the overcoming power of God and His resources. We are to exercise authority and display the power of the Kingdom of God while maintaining a consciousness of our dependence upon God.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me — and I in him — bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. (Joh 15:5)
In talking about risk taking we must not forget that we are part of a Body, a team, and are in dependence upon one another. Yes there will be times when we have to be bold in situations, and step out of our comfort zones, all alone. But for the majority of the time we are operating in the fellowship of the Body. Our risk taking steps of faith is in the context of loving support and backup by a community of believers who are also ‘stepping out of the boat’ with you, albeit in their own realms of influence.
…always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph 5:20-21)
So what happens if we don’t take some risk and ‘step out of the boat’? Probably not much will happen. You may be able to maintain where you are in your job, in your circle of friends and family, in what you already know and have proven in your walk with God. But there probably won’t be much advancement in any area of your life if you don’t step out in faith. The false sense of security mediocrity brings, creeps in and convinces you that risk is to be avoided at all cost.
We have heard the stories of so many healing evangelists who by pure tenacity of spirit prayed for countless people before getting any consistent results. We admire these ministers now, and the amazing results they are seeing, but are we willing to take the risk and start praying for people and keep praying for them in the face of no apparent healing? Or would we falter, feel embarrassed, be afraid of people’s negative reactions, fear that the risk is too great? Remember God's command to Joshua...
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