We are David & Nikita, welcome to Bayton Harvey Ministries
David & Nikita Bayton-Harvey
Resources
It's our hearts desire that you come
to know God as your Father
Neither of us knew of Christ as children. There was much religiousness but nothing of life. We both experienced trauma and carried deep father wounds. We believed many lies about ourselves and God. We made very poor choices and we know that neither of us would be here today if God had not intervened. The devil did not succeed in his strategy of lies but God prevailed in His plan for us and He brought us together, we're here to testify of His mercy and grace.
We've created this website to encourage and build you up in your faith in Christ. Read the Kingdom Basics below where we have discussed a few important points that form the foundation of faith in Christ. There are others, but this is a start.
And, move on further to our Exploring Kingdom Principles page.
Get in touch with us if you have any questions about anything we have shared.
Equipping believers for Kingdom purpose
I have been crucified with Christ;
it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
We believe that Christ did not just die for us but as us. If we are risen with Him, it means we first died with Him.
Embracing the death of Christ as our death too opens up the door to eternal life in the risen Christ. This is the life that God our Father always intended for us to have and enjoy.
We are not called to be 'like' Jesus, we are called to release the life of the risen Christ.
We believe this is a fundamental truth to entering into the newness of life in the Kingdom of God.
This abundant life is available and waiting within us as believers, are we ready and willing to release it?
We believe that is our purpose as sons and daughters of God: to release the risen Christ into the earth.
Exploring Kingdom basics
Let's look at a few basic yet helpful things to help us as we get to know God.
We do believe that deeper teaching and revelation are necessary to bring us to a place of understanding and transformation.
Sin separates us, Christ reconciles us
We are all born into a sinful nature. You do not have to teach little children how to be selfish or lie, eventually it will come out of them.
This sin nature is also called the nature of Adam (the first Adam who disobeyed God in the garden of Eden). All humankind comes from his seed and therefore has the same rebellious nature.
We believe God created us to be His sons and daughters, His family. We carry a deep longing to be connected to God and to be known by Him.
To be able to relate to God as our Father, we as sinners need a new nature because sin prevents us from a relationship with a holy Father. So, God in His mercy, made a way for us to access a new nature through Christ. And, through Christ paying the price once for all sin - we through Christ - can now enter into relationship with our true Father.
A Saviour
If you were in deep waters and in danger of drowning, you would need a saviour.
In the same way, we are flooded with negative thoughts, heavy with life's burdens, depressed and often in fear. We can be hurt, abused and abandoned. Selfishness is never far away from us, we want our way and do all we can to have it so. These are all evidences of the sin nature working in us and in others.
Christ saves us from our sin nature. He crucified the flesh (sin nature) on the cross. He put it to death. When we cry out to Him, He draws us out of that darkness and into the light with Him. Simply put, He saves us from ourselves. When we believe in Him, we are saying to Christ, I am a sinner, I am separated from God, I believe You paid the penalty for my sins and through You I can now have a clear conscience and a relationship with my true Father.
Follow Me
Jesus simply invited His disciples, "Follow Me".
God has created each of us with a will which means we need to make choices. God does not coerce or persuade, He does not make grand speeches, He simply invites us to follow Him.
To follow means to keep your eyes on the One that is leading, stay close to Him, watch and learn from Him. We no longer have to look for Jesus of Nazareth, we now can look to the risen Christ in the Spirit. Christ Himself said, "I am the good Shepherd." We are His sheep and it is wonderful to have such a Shepherd as Christ to depend on.
He also sent us the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God our Father. In Him, we have truth, comfort and leading. We can ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit daily.
Christ in us
No man comes to God unless God draws him. We may not know it but God is drawing us to Himself in various ways. It might be a conversation with a believer, a book we read or a testimony we listen to.
Once we begin to think on God and ask questions, we need to turn to the Bible to find truth. Here we see, God has put all that we need in Christ. Then God puts Christ in us when we believe in Him. God is Spirit and we have to learn to locate Christ in us, in the spirit, then look to Him to live through us.
Colossians 1:26-27: The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Emphasis ours)
The Word
The Bible is called the Word of God and Jesus is also called the Word of God.
In the gospel of John we read, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him...
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us... (John 1:14)
The very words Jesus spoke are spirit and life. His words came from the Father. The Father's words through Christ are extremely important because they bring peace, they anchor us in a storm, they transform us, give us His perspective, wisdom and life.
If you don't eat for a time, you will start to feel weak. In the same way, our spirit needs nourishment. We need to feed ourselves with His word so we are built up in the spirit.
Becoming a Son
Many of us carry wounds from our childhood. It could be words that broke our heart, violence, emotional, mental, sexual or spiritual abuse. In many instances, this could be our own parents that have caused deep pain in us.
Once we begin our journey of getting to know God, we will begin to learn what He is like, His nature and His character. As our true Father, He is nothing like an abusive parent or adult. He is entirely different.
There will be temptations to not trust Him or believe in Him because of our wounds but He is the only One who can and will heal us. We approach God as a son or daughter, not as an outsider. Because of Jesus, we can draw close to our Father, accept Him for who He is and be healed.
Jesus said, the Father has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound...(Isaiah 61:1)
Overcoming Sin
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)
It is critical that we receive this truth and believe it, God receives us as His children when we receive Christ.
Christ is a seed of eternal life and God plants Him into us. This is how we are conceived as children of God. Having the seed does not mean we will never sin again. It does however give us a new choice! We can now choose to agree with Christ in us and release His life or agree with our flesh (Adamic nature) and release sin.
The power to overcome the flesh lies only in Christ, who has crucified our Adamic nature at the cross. That is why we thank Him that we are crucified with Him. Now we can also live with Him in resurrection life.
Prayer
Making time to talk to God in prayer is vitally important in keeping a strong connection with the Father.
Because God in His nature is a Father and Jesus taught us to pray to the Father, this tells us that we are to approach God as a child to a Father. We come to Him for help, for wisdom, for strength, for each and every need that presents itself in life - even to help us to pray.
As we read the Bible, we will find many promises from God that help us to know His perspective on different life circumstances. These promises are important in prayer, as they help us to stay sober minded about things that could easily trouble us, depress us or cause us to fear. We bring those promises before Him, speak them out over ourselves and circumstances and thank Him for peace.
Part of prayers is being still in God's presence is a precious way to just listen for His voice and allow Him to minister comfort and love to us.
Contact us
Contact us if you have any questions or would like to simply get in touch.
To invite David and Nikita at Bayton-Harvey to speak, please contact us through this contact form. Provide as much information as possible about your group, church or organization and tell us what you are seeking in terms of teaching and ministry.
We look forward to receiving your email, and if needed, we will reply as soon as possible.