New Life Ministries International Hyannis

09/28/2023

04/26/2020

https://www.gofundme.com/f/new-life-covid19-crisis-funding?utm_source=whatsApp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet

This page has been created to help fund New Life Ministries International’s mission, t… Alicia Lindsay needs your support for New Life COVID-19 crisis funding

03/29/2020

Please remember to stay physically and Just a friendly reminder from

05/20/2019

CHILDREN'S TALENT CONCERT IS RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 1, 2019

03/29/2019

Today's Devotion
Five Ways Jesus Protects and Directs You

“My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:10-11 TLB).

Sheep are essentially defenseless animals, so a shepherd uses a few tools to care for and protect his sheep. He uses a rod for guarding and protecting and a staff with a little crook in it to rescue the sheep.
We are like lost sheep, so Jesus came to Earth to be our Good Shepherd. Just as a shepherd uses the physical tools of the rod and the staff for direction and protection, God wants to protect you and direct you. Here are five ways he does that:

If you bring your hurts to him, Jesus is compassionate.

Jesus has compassion on us, because he knows that we are helpless without him (Matthew 9:36). He doesn’t put you down; he lifts you up. He doesn’t hassle you; he heals you.
“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28 ESV).

If you follow him, Jesus leads you in the right direction.

The Shepherd goes before. He leads from the front and calls you forward. Jesus is not going to push you through life. He’s going to say, “Watch how I do it. Look where I go.”
“When he has led out all of his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice” (John 10:4 CEV).

If you get confused or wander away, Jesus will find you and bring you back.

When God brings you back from wandering away from him, he will not punish you, but he may discipline you. If a shepherd has a sheep that is prone to wander, he will often wrap that sheep’s leg so it can’t move. In the same way, sometimes God gives us a limp to keep us from wandering.
“If a man has a hundred sheep but one of the sheep gets lost, he will leave the other ninety-nine on the hill and go to look for the lost sheep” (Matthew 18:12 NCV).

If you fail or fall, Jesus rescues you and sets you on the road to recovery.

Like all sheep, we not only wander, but we also stumble. When we trust that God is going to restore us and rescue us when we fail, we’ll faithfully run to him every time we mess up.
“If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not rescue it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!” (Matthew 12:11-12 NIV).

If you trust him to save you, Jesus will keep his promise to do just that.

It’s not your job to save yourself. Your job is simply to put your hand in God’s and say, “God, I’m all yours—the good, the bad, the ugly.” God loves you too much to ever let you go.
“My Father gave my sheep to me. He is greater than all, and no person can steal my sheep out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:29 NCV).
The goodness of God means he’s going to guide you, guard you, protect you, direct you, and save you. No one else can offer you those five benefits. They only come from Jesus, our Good Shepherd.
In what direction is Jesus leading you right now? In your work? Your family? Your community? Your church? Your relationships?

What have you learned from God’s discipline?

Do you trust God for his promises never to leave you and to always come after you? Why or why not?

RW

03/22/2019

Today's Devotion
Here’s How God Keeps You on Track

“He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3 NIV).Life is composed of starts and stops.On your journey in life, you’re not always walking. It will always include starts and stops. In fact, there are some things you’ll need to stop doing and some things you’ll need to start doing. When you know what those are, you’ll be prepared to see the signs from God that, in his goodness, he has set all along the way.
If David were writing Psalm 23:3 today, he might say, “God keeps me on track.”The Good Shepherd doesn’t just feed us. He leads us. He doesn’t just correct us. He directs us.
You may wonder then, “Why is it so difficult to figure out what God wants me to do with my life? Why does God’s will often seem hidden? Is God playing games with me? Does God enjoy confusing me?” Of course not.
God has given us a roadmap: the Bible. God has given us a compass: our conscience. God has also given us a personal guidance counselor: the Holy Spirit. Clearly, God wants to lead us in the paths of righteousness. This is important to understand, because God never intended for you to figure out the steps of your journey without him.
How you get on mission and how you succeed at your mission are God’s responsibilities. Your responsibility is to seek his guidance and obey his directions.
In the past, how did you know if a decision you made was in line with God’s will?

How do you view God’s will differently after reading this devotional?

In what ways do you think the Holy Spirit guides you in the paths of righteousness?
RW

03/21/2019

Today's Devotion
You’ve Got to Let Yourself Grieve

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed”(Psalm 34:18 NCV).

Every change we experience in life includes loss, because you give up something old to get something new. And there’s no loss without pain, and there is no pain without grief.
Grief is not bad. It’s the way we get through the transitions of life. What is bad is unprocessed grief. If you don’t grieve, you get stuck emotionally, and you spend the rest of your life reacting to something that happened a long time ago. That’s unhealthy!
Sometimes the only appropriate, logical response to life is grief—the losses, disappointments, sin, and suffering in the world. God doesn’t expect you to be happy all the time. In fact, God wants you to be intentional in your grief. Grief is a choice. Not everything that’s helpful and healthy feels good. You’ve got to let yourself mourn losses so you can receive God’s blessing.
There’s no hurt you can experience that Jesus doesn’t understand. He’s experienced all of the loneliness, all of the betrayal, and all of the rejection that we can possibly experience. And the good news is he came to heal our hearts.
When you are sad, God draws you close to himself. Psalm 34:18 says, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed” (NCV). When you grieve, you may feel like God is a million miles away. But what you feel and what’s real are not always the same. God is not a million miles away. In fact, he’s never been any closer: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3 NIV).
Let God restore your soul by doing three things:

Trust the Good Shepherd to forgive your sins. Romans 3:23-24 says, “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins” (CEV).

Release your offenders, and focus on the future. Your soul cannot be restored until you let go of resentment. “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice . . . forgiving oneanother, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV).

Team up with Jesus to carry your burden.When you’re yoked up with Jesus, you don’t have to bear your burden alone: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT).

Is there a loss that you have failed to grieve? How has it affected you physically, emotionally, and spiritually?

What does it mean to have your soul restored?

Why do you think God often feels far away when we are at our lowest point? What do you think he wants you to do when you feel like that?

RW

03/04/2019

Today's Devotion
Even in the Worst Times, God Is Good

“Protect me, God, because I trust in you. I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord. Every good thing I have comes from you’” (Psalm 16:1-2 NCV).

Although it’s true not everything that happens in your life is good, that doesn’t mean God is not good, and it doesn’t mean God is not pouring his goodness into your life. God can take the bad and bring good out of it. Even in the worst times, God has a good purpose, a good plan, and a good reason.
Psalm 16:1-2 says, “Protect me, God, because I trust in you. I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord. Every good thing I have comes from you’” (NCV).
Would you pray and talk to God about his goodness? Say, “God, you are so good. I could never deserve your goodness. I’m sorry that I have often forgotten or doubted your goodness. Forgive me for ungratefulness and prideful self-centeredness. I am nothing without you. Like David, I would despair if I didn’t know your goodness. Open my eyes to see how good you really are, and let it transform my life.
“God, my soul needs restoring. I don’t always think right. I don’t always choose right. I don’t always feel right. I need you to restore my damaged soul, my mind, my will, and my emotions. As I continue learning about your goodness, I trust that my sins have been forgiven because I’ve come to you and said I need a Savior. I’m going to release the people who have hurt me and pray a prayer of blessing over them. I’m going to team up with you and ask you to help me with the load I’m carrying.”
How have you seen God turn the bad things that happen to you into something good?

When you look back and recognize God’s goodness, how does it affect your perspective right now?

Why is it prideful not to acknowledge God’s goodness?

RW

02/16/2019

Today's Devotion
God Is Always Present, Regardless of How You Feel

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21 NIV).

When you are a baby Christian, God gives you a lot of confirming emotions and often answers the most immature, self-centered prayers so you’ll know he exists. But as you grow in faith, he will wean you of these dependencies.
God’s omnipresence and the manifestation of his presence are two different things. One is a fact; the other is often a feeling. God is always present, even when you are unaware of him, and his presence is too profound to be measured by mere emotion.
Yes, he wants you to sense his presence, but he’s more concerned that you trust him than that you feel him. We live by faith, not by sight or by our feelings.
The situations that will stretch your faith most will be those times when life falls apart and God is nowhere to be found. This happened to Job. On a single day he lost everything—his family, his business, his health, and all his possessions. And then, for 37 chapters, God said nothing!
How do you praise God when you don’t understand what’s happening in your life and God is silent? How do you stay connected in a crisis without communication? How do you keep your eyes on Jesus when they’re full of tears? You do what Job did: “Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised’” (Job 1:20-21 NIV).
Tell God exactly how you feel. Pour out your heart to him. Unload every emotion that you’re feeling. Job did this when he said, “I can’t be quiet! I am angry and bitter. I have to speak” (Job 7:11 GNT).
He cried out when God seemed distant: “Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house”(Job 29:4 NIV).
God can handle your doubt, anger, fear, grief, confusion, and questions.
How is your faith in God on display when you go through a crisis?

RW