Category: Discernment

Bible Verse of The Day – 3-16-16

Philippians 1:9 (NKJV) 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment…

There are going to be things that look good on the surface; people that have just the right lingo, situations that are so tempting.

But the motive which is behind these things may be hidden and harmful to us. We need to be able to discern the danger, even if it has a “pretty face” and sounds good.

We don’t always sense the danger in things. Maybe we are just that type of person who always wants to keep a positive outlook until something happens or goes wrong.

Maybe we are easily agreeable with people and certain situations. We don’t want to be looked at as a stick in the mud or the one always questioning everything new that comes our way. Maybe we don’t like controversies; it’s too uncomfortable to us, etc.

God gives us discernment for a reason; to discern things! It doesn’t matter who we are around, how pretty things look and how good things feel. He wants us to be discerning. He wants to save us from getting involved in things or situations that can hurt us, bring us down or simply get us off track.

We don’t need to be paranoid, but we need to be alert and discerning. Getting too relaxed can cause problems. Big or little problems, it doesn’t matter; it all will affect us.

We need to ask God to help us walk in His discernment each day and teach us how to avoid things that may try to get us off track.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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Bible Verse of The Day – 1-4-16

Luke 9:54-55 (NKJV) 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.

The disciples spent lots of time with Jesus so He could teach them and raise them up.

As He spent more and more time with them, they began to understand some things very well, but their humanity would show itself sometimes, as with the example in the verses above.

They had visited a Samaritan village, but the people there didn’t receive Jesus. Seeing this, 2 of the disciples asked Jesus if He wanted them to call down fire from heaven.

Jesus immediately rebuked them and told them that they didn’t understand which spirit they were speaking by when they said this.

You see, sometimes we can honestly believe we’re speaking by the Holy Spirit, but in fact we are speaking by a spirit of the enemy. Such was the case with James and John, above.

We need to be constantly checking ourselves and letting God show us whether we’re speaking by His spirit or not, when we say things.

It’s imperative that we do this because great harm can be done if we speak to people by the wrong spirit, while thinking we’re speaking by the spirit of God.

The same goes for those who we allow to speak into our lives. It’s important that we measure what we’re told against the word of God so we will know if what we’re hearing is really of God or not.

There is a lot of stuff floating around the airwaves, written in books and published on the internet that sounds good on the surface, but it is really not of God’s spirit when we start looking closely at it.

So remember; if the disciples, who spent 3 years with Jesus, could get it wrong, so can we and many others.

Be diligent and seek God in everything we say and everything we hear, to make sure it’s His spirit that’s speaking through us and to us.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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Bible Verse of The Day – 11-30-15

Galatians 4:9-10 (NKJV) 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years.

The world will offer us many things that it will claim are Godly or spiritual.

Traditions, rituals, lifestyles and much more will present themselves as subtle substitutes for God’s spirit and God’s presence. Many of them will even claim to draw us closer to God Himself.

Sadly, though, they will ultimately do the opposite. They will pull us away from the one, true God, and down a path that may run somewhat parallel to His path, but is not the same.

As followers of Christ, we need to pay attention to what we celebrate and participate in. Some things are fun and harmless, while other things can have deep roots in pagan rituals and traditions.

Many things are indeed spiritual, but it’s up to us to discern and investigate those things, to make sure we steer clear of things that operate under the wrong spirit.

Colossians 2:8 (NKJV) 8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

As always, let God’s word be the measuring stick to which all things are compared and “sized up”. And if we aren’t able to find that specific something that we’re looking for in the Word, we should always seek seasoned, wise counsel and err on the side of caution.

And, no, we are not alarmists. We’re not claiming that everything around us or everything that we see is evil or detrimental to our spiritual health. But using wisdom and making wise choices is always better than diving in with our eyes closed and wishing later that we had moved a bit more slowly.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 12-8-14

Proverbs 15:21 (NKJV) 21 Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, but a man of understanding walks uprightly.

Discernment is so very critical in our walk with God.

Discernment will help us to understand the things of God.

Discernment will help us to make sound choices in our lives.

Discernment will help us to better distinguish between right and wrong.

Discernment will help us see people’s motives and show us who someone really is, beyond their facades and their flowery words.

The church needs discernment! We have pushed it aside because we have become desensitized over the years. We have traded discernment for politeness and political correctness.

Without discernment, our judgment is impaired and our ability to make sound decisions and wise choices is weak, at best.

Without discernment, black and white become gray. Right and wrong become nothing more than personal preferences, instead of absolutes.

Proverbs 2:3-5 (NKJV) 3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, 4 If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

Having razor-sharp discernment isn’t just for leaders, but for every child of God, so that we can make the right choices and our lives will be blessed because of it.

So, people of God, don’t take discernment lightly. Ask God for sharper discernment in your life and He will be faithful to give it.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 11-24-14

2 John 1:7 (NKJV) 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

There are many deceivers in the world.

We don’t have to look far to find them. They’re on TV. They’re on the Internet. They’re in magazines. They write books.

They’re in churches. Many will speak words that sound very close to the truth. But they have lying tongues and a deceptive message that ultimately lures people away from the truth.

We encourage you to listen closely and use God’s discernment to anyone who claims to speak the word of God.

Galatians 1:8 (NKJV) 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

This is not a “glom and doom” message, so please don’t take it as that. Neither are we accusing a particular person. We just want to be sure that everyone dissects what they hear and see very carefully.

God’s word is our measuring stick, so be sure to take what you hear and compare it to God’s word. If it lines up with His word, take it and digest it. It is good!

If it doesn’t line up with His word, dispose of it and leave it behind.

The good news is that God gives us His spirit to help us discern good from evil!

With His help, we will prosper and bring forth good fruit by the words that we hear.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 11-5-14

Proverbs 2:3-5 (NKJV) 3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, 4 If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

Discernment.

With it, we make sound choices and follow the straight and narrow path.

Without it, we make poor choices and our feet stray from the path that God set them on.

A question we get asked frequently is “how do I get better discernment and know when God is speaking to me?”.

Our answer is always this: “Spend time with God, in His word, talking to Him and then listening for Him to speak to you. Draw close to Him. Create a clean atmosphere in your home where God’s spirit can dwell and is not grieved. And press in to Him, putting Him first in everything.”

As you do these things, your ability to hear God’s voice will increase, which results in much sharper discernment.

It’s not something that happens overnight. It takes time and it doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because you pursue it on purpose.

And what’s even better is that God gives discernment to anyone willing to submit themselves to Him. It’s not something that’s only for “special” people or people in leadership positions.

So cry out and ask God for discernment and find the knowledge of God.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 8-8-14

Proverbs 2:3-5 (NKJV) 3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, 4 If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

Discernment. It’s something every believer needs to have to live a godly life, but also something that so few of us really understand the importance of.

Probably the most common question people ask when it comes to discernment is “how do I get better discernment?”.

The answer is simple, but not necessarily easy. But here it is in a nutshell.

Spend time with God and in His word.

There you have it. We need to spend time in God’s word each and every day.

This doesn’t mean that we have to spend 2 or 3 hours studying every day, learning Greek and Hebrew and understanding every single thing there is to understand in His word. But we need to spend at least some time in it each day, even if it’s just 10-15 minutes, taking it in and letting it become a part of who we are.

As we do this, we will naturally spend more time communicating with God because we will hear Him more clearly. And we will get a clearer understanding of who He is and who He wants us to be.

And in this, we will develop razor-sharp discernment. Why? Because we will no longer be guessing about things. We will know what’s right for us in God’s eyes.

So take the time and make the effort, and reap the benefits of having sharper discernment.

It’s right there for us. We just have to want it badly enough to reach out and grab hold of it.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 11-13-13

Acts 18:6 (NKJV) But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

As the apostle Paul spoke to the Jews and tried to convince them that Jesus was the messiah, they opposed him and spoke blasphemously.

God’s spirit told Paul it was time to move on, and so he did just that. There’s a lesson to be learned here for many of us.

Many times we go to someone and speak to them or try to teach them, only to find them resisting us very strongly. When this happens, we need to know what God wants us to do.

There will be times when He will prompt us to stay and continue to teach and preach. But there will definitely be times when He will prompt us to move on and leave them to their own devices.

It isn’t always easy to know when to stay and when to move on, but if we can learn this and hear God’s voice when He speaks to us regarding these things, we will save ourselves a lot of unfruitful labor and spend more time among those people who actually want to hear what we have to say!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 10-23-13

Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV) There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we just can’t understand why God does things the way He does them!

This can be true in happy things and in not-so-happy things.

Here’s the deal. God is so far above us in His ways that our heads just can’t wrap around a large percentage of what He does! But that’s OK, because we are not God. He is.

Now, one thing we need to understand is that we can still walk out what God wants of us. We just need to move by faith and learn to operate by the spirit, not by our flesh or our natural understanding.

This takes some work and lots of practice! Once we begin to get spiritual understanding, we won’t waste our time trying to make sense of what God does or what He asks us to do. We will just accept it, do it and move forward.

Does this sound like blind faith? Well, I guess some people might call it that. But if you have spiritual eyes and ears, and sharp discernment, there’s nothing blind about it at all.

Revelation 2:29 (NKJV) “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 7-23-13

Matthew 18:18 (NKJV) “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

As believers… followers of Christ, we have been given spiritual authority here on earth.

We have the ability to bind (to arrest) and the ability to loose (to set free). This is not a small matter or something to be taken lightly.

Sadly, the vast majority of the church, Christ’s body, knows little or nothing about this. Many people have been convinced that spiritual gifts no longer exist, therefore anything related to deliverance from demonic spirits or anything remotely related to the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives is non-existent.

But Jesus told us that what we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (meaning, in the spiritual realm) and what we bind on earth will be bound in heaven. And we need to take this seriously!

So as we go through each day, if we let God sharpen our discernment, He will show us where demonic influences are in operation, and we will be able to bind those spirits and loose God’s freedom, His Joy, His peace, etc.

Church, we seriously need to get this. In the times we’re living in, it is not optional. It’s a necessity!

So ask God to open your eyes to these things and give you razor-sharp discernment to know when to bind and when to loose something or someone. He is faithful to give us what we need.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 4-27-13

(1 Corinthians 6:20 NKJV)  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Jesus paid a price for us; it cost Him everything, just so we could become His. It seems like living in these days, everything is allowed… there is so much immorality all around and it is looked upon so lightly.

What can we do about this? Is there anything we can do to help stop the desensitizing of this world?

The first and foremost thing to do is to read and stay close to God on a personal level. Seek Him for answers and stability on a day to day basis.

The Second thing to do is pray. God has given us authority through Jesus Christ to trample on snakes and scorpions, (Luke 10:19 NKJV). So don’t hold back. We do this through prayer, rebuking the enemy and His schemes.

The third thing is to trust in God for His victory all around this world, even when things don’t look so victorious. In our own homes, in our state, towns and villages. Everywhere that there is breath, believe that He rules and reigns forever!

Give Him glory today, for He is good!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-377-5400

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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