{"id":5182,"date":"2020-10-30T19:44:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T19:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpmu.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/?p=5182"},"modified":"2021-12-08T09:18:47","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T09:18:47","slug":"finding-and-living-a-new-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/2020\/10\/30\/finding-and-living-a-new-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding and Living a New Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This means that anyone\nwho belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life\nhas begun!\u201d 2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Raised in a home of drug addicts, Tim Nickels saw getting\nhigh as just part of the daily routine. He remembers the first time he realized\nhis homelife was different from that of other families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was in first grade, my dad got high with my teacher.\nWhen I told my friends, my teacher was fired. My dad told me that I couldn\u2019t\ntalk about it and that our lifestyle was a secret. Even at that young age, I\nstarted to realize that something was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But Tim didn\u2019t heed that warning in his heart. He followed\nin his dad\u2019s footsteps and started living in addiction. But although he was\nchained to drugs and alcohol, he had the desire to break free, and he tried\nnumerous times on his own to get clean and start over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During one fitful night, he had a dream about hell that\nshook him to his core. He woke up sweating and crying. A new craving started to\novertake him\u2014a craving for a relationship with Christ. He desperately wanted to\nknow about him, so he turned to a King James Version Bible that was sitting on\na shelf in his house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got so frustrated that I couldn\u2019t understand it,\u201d remembers Tim. \u201cBut then a woman gave me a Life Application Study Bible<\/em><\/a>, and it blew me away. It was like a whole new world had been opened up to me. A Bible translation I could understand, and then notes, books introductions, commentary\u2014I just devoured it! I couldn\u2019t get enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After pouring over the Bible, he knew that he needed to get\ninvolved in a church. He found a local congregation and attended a service\nwhere an evangelist was preaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tim’s son was dedicated by the pastor who helped him find new life in Christ<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI surrendered right there to Jesus, and he took away my\ndesire for drugs and alcohol. I had tried over and over again on my own, but it\nwas only in Jesus that I found true freedom. Twenty-five years later, I\u2019m still\nfree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim continued to read his Life Application Study Bible<\/a> <\/em>and was drawn to 1 Samuel 16:7: \u201cPeople judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis spoke to me,\u201d Tim recalls. \u201cGod can use anyone if they\nare willing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God was about to make his plan very clear to Tim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy pastor told me that he thought God was calling me to be\na pastor. Me?<\/em> I was so scared. I thought, I can\u2019t do this!<\/em> But I\nfollowed his will for my life, and I am so thankful!\u201d Now Tim has been a pastor\nfor over twenty years, and he currently leads a church in Kentucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim\u2019s love of the Bible has continued to grow. He even has a YouTube channel where he reviews Bibles<\/a>. Though he reads lots of translations, he has a special place in his heart for the New Living Translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is definitely one of my top recommendations for anyone who is struggling to understand the Bible,\u201d says Tim. \u201cAnd yes, I recommend the Life Application Study Bible<\/a><\/em> to many who are trying to understand how to live out what the Bible says. I am an example of how God can use any of us if we submit to him and keep our eyes focused on him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about the Life Application Study Bible <\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!\u201d 2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT Raised in a home of drug addicts, Tim Nickels saw getting high as just part of the daily routine. He remembers the first time he realized his homelife was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,39,42,44,45,55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5595,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5182\/revisions\/5595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu2.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}