New Life Ministries Worldwide

09/02/2022

The Vital Sign of Prayer

One of the truest indicators of whether an individual's spiritual life is progressing or declining is prayer.

And if your prayer life is declining, it is a sure sign your spiritual life is in need of reviving.

Psalm 80:18 puts it this way,
Then we will not turn back from You; revive us, and we will call upon Your name.

Prayer is to the spiritual life what breathing is to the physical life. If your breathing is shallow and intermittent, something is wrong. It is a sign that there is a lack of health. If your breathing is deep and regular, it is a sign of health

Where are you when it comes to prayer? Is it deep and regular? Or is it shallow, sporadic, and intermittent? If it is shallow, it is a sign that your heart needs to be revived.

16/12/2021

19/11/2021

Where Have You Pitched Your Tent?

Genesis 13:12 (KJV) says,
Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward S***m.

Notice that Lot pitched his tent toward S***m. Every day his attention was placed on that city. Here is what the Bible says about those that lived there.

But the men of S***m were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly (Genesis 13:13, KJV).

What we focus our attention on will influence us. It will try to draw us in like a magnet. The next time we read about Lot he is living in S***m.

And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in S***m, and his goods, and departed (Genesis 14:12, KJV).
Next we find him even further entrenched among the people of S***m.

Genesis 19:1 declares that Lot was sitting in the gate of S***m.
In Eastern cities, the "gate" was a place devoted to business transactions, the administration of justice, and the enjoyment of social discourse and amusement. Lot was right "in the thick of things"—but it happened by degrees. It was a process.

What you view and listen to, and the company you keep, will influence you—sometimes in very subtle ways—and will play a role in shaping your values and character.

So be careful where you pitch your tent!

20/10/2021

Our Success Is In God

Matthew 26:33 'Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.'
MATTHEW 26:33

Just like Peter, we are often more confident of ourselves than God is.

The Lord has never had anyone who was qualified working for Him. Peter wasn't qualified, and even at our best, neither are we. If we realize that we are nothing and have nothing, then we are prime candidates to be used by God.

Peter went on to become probably the best known of the twelve apostles. The Lord used him mightily. But He didn't want him, or us, to forget that it was Christ in Peter and not Peter himself who was great.

This also illustrates the extent of our Father's love and forgiveness. If God not only forgave Peter for his sin, but also reinstated and advanced him, then surely we have not pushed God's grace beyond its limit.

Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more.

God doesn't see us as a failure - just a learner. God can redeem the worst 'failure' and work it together for good (Rom 8:28). We need to think like God.

18/10/2021

A New Revelation Of Love

John 13:34
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.'
JOHN 13:34

Jesus previously stated that all the law and the prophets were dependent on loving God first, and then loving your neighbor as yourself. These truths were already in the law but people missed them. So, this commandment was not new in the sense that it had never been given before, but it was brought to the forefront and given new meaning through the example of Jesus.
Jesus not only loved His neighbor as Himself, He loved us more than Himself.

John, the apostle who wrote this gospel, later wrote about the new commandment of love. No doubt, he received his inspiration from this teaching of Jesus.

John wrote, 'Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth' (1 Jn. 2:7-8). He then goes on to speak of loving one another.

This commandment, or the revelation that God gave to man through His Word, wasn't new, but was never clearly seen by men because of the darkness that separated them from God. In the light of Jesus' life, the darkness was removed and the old commandment of love became new through the example of
Jesus in a way that mere words could never express.

23/09/2021

Prescription
for Depression

Isaiah 58:10-11 gives you and me a powerful prescription for depression.

It says,
If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Take a moment to think about what God is saying. Think about the promise: If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, God will satisfy your soul in drought.
If you are a person who is given to depression and you feel like you have this big empty void in your life, I have a prescription for you based on this passage.

Are you ready?
Go help somebody else. In fact, find a place in your church, local rescue mission, or The Salvation Army where you can minister to folks who are going through a rough patch. Donate a couple of days a week, and help other folks who are going through a rough time.

God promises that if you will draw out your soul to the hungry and if you will minister to the afflicted soul, He will satisfy your soul in drought.

Rather than being so inwardly focused…"my problems, and I'm so depressed, and why aren't things going right for me?", go help somebody else. Get things in perspective.

There are a lot of people who are a lot worse off than you are, and you will find that God will bring the rain into your life when you change your focus.

If your soul is dry, the way to get it watered is to go help someone else. The sooner the better.

21/09/2021

The Blessing of God's Spiritual Influence

Perhaps today you are honestly doing all you know to do, but it seems like you are in this season of drought. God's blessing has seemingly dried up in your life.

P2 Samuel 21:1-3,
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, "It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites." So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah. Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?"
There was a famine in the land because there had been no rain for three years. So David inquired of the Lord, and God spoke to him.

If you read to the end of the story, you see the rain finally did fall, the drought was broken, and the famine was over.
But here is the point. It says, David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him.

If there is a drought in your life, ask God why. God will talk to you. Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice." If you in earnestness will seek God and ask Him why, God will speak to you.
Be willing to take responsibility for whatever He shows you. There just may be something in the past that needs to be corrected.

Just ask. Then act on what He reveals.