Category: Discernment

Bible Verse of The Day – 3-8-12

(1 Ki 19:11-13 NKJV)  Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; {12} and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. {13} So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

So many times we think of hearing from God and we envision a booming voice or some kind of miraculous display of wonder and power.

There probably isn’t one of us reading this that hasn’t longed to see God move in some kind of very powerful way, inspiring awe in all those who witness it.

But how many of us have missed God because we were waiting to see that massive display of awe-inspiring power, while He was speaking to us in a still, small voice?

Hearing that still, small voice might seem like a tough thing to get used to at first. It can take a bit of getting used to in this noisy world we live in. So many things vie for our time and attention.

But learning how to hear God is worth every bit of the effort associated with it. And once we “get it”, we’ll wonder how we went so long without hearing Him.

Let’s stop looking and longing so much for those big displays of power and learn to listen for His still, small voice. It’s truly awe-inspiring.

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!

Tagged with: , ,

Your Daily Bible Verse – 2-25-12

(Titus 3:9 KJV)  But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

When we find ourselves getting caught up in things that we know are not going to be fruitful, we need to turn away, change the subject or just simply let people know we’d rather not comment or participate. It takes a lot of strength and discipline to do this.

Some of the things we get caught up in are just not healthy conversation and are simply a waste of time. This is when we need God’s discernment; He will show us and help us to avoid certain conversations or people that like to draw others in by statements they make, just to get people going.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

www.MyBibleVerseOfTheDay.com

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

Tagged with: , ,

Your Daily Bible Verse – 2-24-12

(Prov 4:7 NKJV)  Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.

God seems to be making a push lately, encouraging us to drink in His wisdom and His understanding!

It can never be emphasized enough as to how important it is for us to know God and His word.

In addition to learning what His word says about life and how we should live, we also need to learn to discern His spirit and His voice.

Some people may confuse memorizing scripture with knowing His word, but there is a vast difference. Memorizing scripture is commendable, but when it comes to knowing His word, we also need to know how to apply it to our everyday lives and the situations that we encounter.

Then and only then will we begin to truly understand what He’s telling us through His word.

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!

Tagged with: , , ,

Your Daily Bible Verse – 2-22-12

(Hosea 4:6 NKJV)  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…

Ignorance is bliss. Isn’t that what the world will tell us?

This is a lie straight from hell and will cause people to die in their ignorance.

Spiritual ignorance is very dangerous. Not understanding the things that God wants us to know and understand can destroy our destiny and lead to the destruction of our very soul.

I know this may sound dismal, but there is good news! God has given us everything we need to prevent us from being spiritually ignorant.

He has given us His word and He has given us His spirit to guide us and give us direction.

His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. We are not left in darkness! We need to dig into His word and ABSORB it into our beings. If we will do this, we will never be ignorant to the schemes of the enemy.

Be wise and be vigilant!

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!

Tagged with: , ,

Your Daily Bible Verse – 2-20-12

(Heb 5:14 NKJV)  But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

As followers of Christ, we are part of a spiritual realm that so few people know so little about.

There is a world of activity that goes on behind the scenes and the only way we are aware of it is through the discernment that God gives us through His spirit.

As believers, we need to let God sharpen our discernment and teach us what to be aware of in the invisible world around us. Getting this understanding can make a huge difference in the direction of our lives, as we learn to discern and confront the powers of darkness.

This is not optional if we want to be effective as part of God’s army. We are here on this earth for a purpose and if we don’t let God train us and raise us up in the way He needs us to be, we will fall short of His goals for us.

Ask God today to give you sharper discernment and to begin to reveal the spiritual realm to you in a new light.

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!

Tagged with: , ,

Your Daily Bible Verse – 2-10-12

(Prov 12:11 NKJV)  He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread, But he who follows frivolity is devoid of understanding.

Have you ever wondered how some people can fall so easily for scams that offer quick riches and a life of leisure, without having to do any work?

Most times, these people are frivolous with their money and are looking for a quick easy way to get rich. The sad part is that they don’t want to have to work for what they get.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having wealth, but God’s word teaches us over and over again that we are to work for what we have, not gain it by ill means.

If we “till our land”… work hard, diligently, and follow God’s leading, He will lead us to success and we will reap the fruits of our labors.

The world is full of scams promising quick riches. Heed God’s word and pay attention to what He teaches, and you’ll never be a victim.

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!

Tagged with: , ,

Your Daily Bible Verse – 1-28-12

(1 John 4:1 NKJV) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

God warns us to not be so easily persuaded; we need to test the spirits. Bad spirits are so sneaky and conniving that they almost look like the real thing. If we don’t know the Word of God we can be fooled. If we don’t know the difference between the spirits, even if we do know what the Word says, we can be deceived. The key is to test them. If we don’t, we can actually line up with them and think we are doing the right thing, but all along God is nowhere in it.

Look at how satan used scripture to try to trick Jesus into following him. (Mat 4:5-7 NKJV)  Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, {6} and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'” 7} Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'”

Jesus knew what spirit was operating here and He did NOT listen to it. We can see from this that these spirits will not stop at anything. It’s up to us to know God’s word and what He says. It’s up to us to ask God for His discerning of these spirits that try to trick us.

Pray for God to help us test the spirit. Some things may look good on the outside, but not so good on the inside.
Be blessed!!

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!

Tagged with: , ,

Your Daily Bible Verse – 1-4-12

(Phil 4:6-7 NKJV)  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; {7} and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Yesterday we talked about having God’s peace when making decisions. We talked about how having that peace can help us better understand when we’re on the right track, and how not having that peace can tell us that we’re on the wrong track.

Today I’d like to share a little more on this topic, so as to avoid any confusion or misunderstandings. This is very important because it can seriously alter the paths we choose in life and the decisions we might make.

I really feel like I need to clarify a couple of things here. First of all, if you’re married and you are facing a major decision in your life, either as a couple or as individuals within the marriage, if one person is feeling at peace and the other isn’t feeling peace, it’s imperative that you DON’T make any changes at that time.

A lack of unity on the part of the couple is a pretty clear indication that more clarity and understanding is needed. Any and all decisions that will affect a married couple need to be made in 100% unity on the part of that couple. If there is no unity and no peace, simply wait. If no peace comes, move on and put it behind you.

The other area where we see people get into trouble all the time is when someone who is not a part of the decision-making process expresses their opinion and sways someone one way or the other in the decision making process, especially if no opinion was asked for.

There are some well-intentioned people out there, in the church body, who are always more than willing to “share a word from God”, and give people direction in their lives. But these self-proclaimed profits are nowhere near qualified to be doing this. These types of people can lead to very serious problems in the lives of those people to whom they speak.

No decision should ever be made based on input from one of these people. Although they may have good intentions, their guidance can do great harm because they typically don’t operate fully under the spirit and the guidance of God.

When you face any of these types of decisions in your life, make sure that you have that peace that passes understanding. This is God’s peace. You can have this peace even when God has instructed you to do something that you have no earthly idea how to do, but your faith carries you in a way that allows you to be at peace in your spirit when your natural mind might be running in the opposite direction. Once we know and understand this, our lives will be forever changed and we will look at things from a new perspective.

Know Him, and know His peace.

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!

Tagged with: , , ,

Your Daily Bible Verse – 1-3-12

(1 Cor 14:33 NKJV)  For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Do you ever wonder how to tell when God is speaking to you? Do you sometimes have a hard time discerning between your own thoughts and the promptings of God?

Sometimes we need to make important decisions in our lives and we wrestle with which direction to go. We feel one way one minute and then we feel another way later the same day.

Sometimes we may feel complete peace and other times we might feel like we are in complete turmoil.

God’s word tells us that He is not the author of confusion, but of peace. He also tells us (2 Tim 1:7 NKJV)  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

So if you are in a place where fear and confusion seem to be reigning, you can be pretty sure that God isn’t in that place. If you have peace in the midst of a major decision, you can be pretty sure you’re headed in the direction that God wants you to go.

Let me put it one more way that might help us get some clarity; If we are in a place where we need to make a major decision that can change our lives, and we can’t seem to find peace about the choice we’re leaning toward or might have already gone toward, God probably isn’t in favor of the direction we chose.

However, if you are contemplating a major decision or have made a major decision that can or will change your life, and you just seem to have peace about it, despite it being very major, you can be pretty sure that God is in favor of the path you’ve chosen.

Trust God and His leading.

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!

Tagged with: , ,

Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-30-11

(James 5:16 NKJV)  …The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

For many years I thought that this verse meant that in order to be effective, a prayer had to be fervent… repetitive, prayed many times. It’s how we are all taught.

We’ve all heard that we need to prey fervently. But we are led to believe that praying something fervently means praying something over and over again.

A few months back God showed me that this isn’t the case. I had it all wrong. Fervent prayer doesn’t mean repetitive prayer. Fervent, in the way God uses it here, is referring to the person being fervent (consistent), but not that the prayer itself needs to be repeated over and over again for God to hear it and give you results.

We need to be fervent. We need to be consistent. It’s our consistent effort that God sees as being fervent. Take a look at this scripture below for confirmation:

(Mat 6:7 NKJV)  “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Repetition of our prayers is not the key. Consistency in our walk with God is the key. When we’re consistent in our walk with Him we will know Him and discern Him better. This puts us in line with His spirit and His will, allowing us to hear His voice better.

Our prayers are our conversations with God… us talking to Him and Him speaking to us! They are not an opportunity for us to show our eloquence of speech and how well we articulate our words!

Let’s be fervent in our walk, which will lead us to a better relationship with God and prayers that will get results!

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!

Tagged with: , ,

Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-27-11

(John 4:48-51 NKJV) Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” {49} The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” {50} Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. {51} And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”

The question today is; do we believe in Jesus’ Word that He speaks to us about our situation or our need, or do we have to see Him work it out first in order to believe it?

Faith is not about seeing the results first. The Bible clearly tells us what Faith is (Heb 11:1 KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

When we believe God to do something for us, we can’t wait until He does it. The faith comes first. We have to get Him ahead of time, get His word on the situation, knowing what the Bible says He will do and hold onto it, trusting that He will work it all out even if we don’t see the evidence at first.

Very recently, my nephew, John, laid in the intensive care unit after being in a terrible car accident. He looked hopeless. He had tubes everywhere. He couldn’t eat, couldn’t breathe on his own, and they COULD NOT let him regain consciousness, because just being awake could harm him badly.

His brain was so swollen it could have killed him if there was any kind of activity at all. But, God gave me a vision in the midst of the storm and in this vision, my nephew was awake, laying in the hospital bed with a football under his arm, smiling. It was God’s word to me. It was His way of showing me that John would be fine.

After this, I got updates on John each day. They were all very disturbing; nothing like I would have thought. But God gave me His word and in my heart His word stayed strong despite what I was hearing, despite the pressure of the family and what they were saying. Of course they were lining up with death and negativity on all ends. But, God’s Word is much more powerful!!

Today John is doing a lot of the normal things that teens do at his age. He’s home, walking, talking, texting, eating! Praise be to God! If John had died he would have gone to hell, he has not accepted Jesus Christ as of yet. My prayer is that he will soon.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. Your faith in God did not only saved his life on this earth, but your prayers and your faith helped save him from going to hell if he had died. He is not burning today because of your faith, your prayers and you standing strong on God’s word!!

Thank you for your faith in God, and remember trust in the WORD and let God bring it to pass! Your situations will change from hopelessness to a MIRACLE!!

God bless you all!

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!

Tagged with: , ,