Category: Obeying God

Bible Verse of The Day – 10-13-20

Deuteronomy 32:48-50 (NKJV) 48 Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying: 49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; 50 and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people;

As I read this verse today, my first thought was, “aw…poor Moses.”

I felt so bad that he didn’t get to enter the promised land, but was only able to view it from a distance.

I thought, “boy, he really got in trouble with that little maneuver he pulled, when he hit the rock to get water, instead of obeying God  and simply speaking to the rock”. (Numbers 20:8)

Even though he did get water from the rock by hitting it, it shows us that God does not look at the outcome of a situation. What means the most to Him is our obedience.

This is a very good lesson for us all.

How many of us have not entered into our promised land? And for what reason? Because we didn’t obey and do what He has told us to do.

Maybe God has let us look at what might have been ours if we had obeyed Him. Ouch.

I know this is hard to accept, but maybe it’s time for some of us to move on.

Don’t dwell there. Pick up the pieces, learn from it and keep walking.

God is a good God; He has a plan for us even if we miss it or mess things up at times.

It may not be exactly what we were hoping for but we can assure you that, because He is a loving Father, it will be better than we think.

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 – 10-3-20

Ephesians 5:1 (NKJV) 1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

What does this mean?

It means we do what He says to do in His word.

This is why it is so important for us to know what His word says, so we can follow it. We need to understand that we can’t just pick it up and follow it when we feel like it, or when we are in the right mood.

Maybe we are going through a hard time and we don’t think we have to follow because we are struggling.

No. Even in times of hardship and desperation, we need to put our feelings aside and continue to walk in love, being imitators of Him.

Ephesians 5:2 (NKJV) 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Not walking in love isn’t an option. God expects us to follow His lead.

In today’s society anything seems to go. But in God’s family it doesn’t work that way. Nothing in His word has changed just because we are hurting, struggling, weak, or because we have been through tough situations. The command has not let up or been removed.  It remains the same at all times.

Imitators of God, walk in love. Sometimes it is a tough love and sometimes it is a soft love. Either way, if we follow and listen to Him, the right one will show up at the right time and help the situation greatly.

Follow and imitate Him in all we do dear children of God.

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 – 9-29-20

Proverbs 13:4 (NKJV) 4 The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.

If we want to make the most of our lives while we are here on earth, we must be willing to surrender to God and obey Him.

There is such a reward in obedience.

I had a vision one day and I’d like to share it with you.

I was on top of a very high mountain. The highest in the land.

On one side of me was the devil saying, “I love evil”. He was making a motion to try to grab and kill me.

Over my head was the cross, forming a shield or ring of protection.

In front of me was the Bible, and under my feet was a ladder that led me to the top of that mountain.

On each step of that ladder the word “obey” was written across it.

Most importantly, God showed me my heart. It was huge inside of me!

You see, when we begin to love God with all our heart, it will cause us to want such obedience in our walk.

Every step of obedience I would take would lead me higher, toward the very top of that mountain.

I know with Moses, God would often meet him on the mountain. A lot of things happened with Moses on the mountain.

Symbolically speaking, God wants us all on that mountaintop with Him.

Yes, the enemy will try and fight us, to prevent us from getting there. He may be a big distraction at times.

We may also want and desire things after our flesh that can keep us from getting closer to the top.

But if we listen and follow God instead, how much more blessed will that mountaintop walk with Him be every day? Praise be to God!

We all want to do right by God. And we can, as we obey Him one step up that ladder at a time.

1 Samuel 15:22 (NKJV) 22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

We may have good intentions but not quite what God is looking or asking for. He will pinpoint it, but it’s up to us to nail it.

Maybe today we have not asked God to be our Father, we just took it for granted that He is.

Make it happen. Repent and ask for His Son Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior.

Make it personal and let Him have first place in all we do.

Maybe we have never given to Him from our firstfruits and we say, “I never have been able to and now today I am ready to make that commitment”.

Take that step of obedience and don’t look back. He will provide for your every need.

Maybe our motives, our mouths and actions have not been what we know they should be. We want to turn a new leaf and start taking that step of obedience today.

We don’t’ know where anyone is at on this ladder, but every step we take is so very important.

Be diligent in taking the next one. We shall be made rich in His blessing as we obey.

Amen.

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 – 8-21-20

Numbers 31:14 (NKJV) 14 But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle.

God had spoken to Moses and told him to send Israelite warriors into Midian to slaughter them as vengeance for what some of their women had done.

These women had seduced some of the Israelite men. And once they had seduced them, they had coaxed them into worshiping their idols and false gods.

God’s anger burned against them, and against the men who had allowed themselves to be seduced and led into idolatry.

As punishment for the Israelite men, God had ordered them to be put to death. Later, as punishment for the Midianite women, God had ordered the attack on Midian and the complete destruction of the entire nation.

So, as the soldiers returned home with plunder, including the women of Midian, Moses confronted them with what they had done. He then gave them specific instructions as to how they could remedy the situation and make up for their poor judgment.

It is important that we listen closely when God speaks and follow His instructions and His leading as closely as possible.

Sometimes we will get it 100% right. Other times we may miss the mark. Thankfully, as we grow and mature, we will miss the mark less and less frequently.

But as we go through the growing pains and we learn more of God, His mercy is available to us.

In the days of Moses, many thousands of people were put to death over the years due to making wrong choices. If they failed in their mission due to disobedience, it often meant losing their life for their lack of obeying.

Today, living under grace, we have the opportunity to confess and repent, and then learn from our poor choices.

As I often ponder on these types of situations that I read about in the Old Testament; I am surely glad that we don’t live in those days. But that we live under the blood of Christ, where God’s grace prevails.

Amen.

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 – 8-17-20

Numbers 20:28 (NKJV) 28 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

As I was studying recently, I was reading through this passage and the verses before it.

The preceding verses tell of how God had told Moses to take Aaron and his son to the top of the mountain, remove Aaron’s priestly garments and place them on Aaron’s son, and that Aaron would then die there.

Earlier in this journey, Moses and Aaron had disobeyed God. Because of their disobedience, God had told them that neither of them would enter the land that He had promised the people of Israel. This was the price they would pay for their disobedience.

And on this day, Moses would see God keep His word, as Aaron died there on that summit.

Fast forward to today, we now live under grace. We don’t have to worry about God telling us to go to the top of a mountain and die there as punishment for not obeying Him.

This event, though, shows us the importance of obeying God when He wants us to do something. He takes it seriously.

Living under God’s grace doesn’t give us a perpetual permission slip to take these types of things lightly and do as we please.

On the contrary, as we obey God, it shows Him that we’re serious about our relationship with Him, and serious about pleasing Him.

And as we walk out the things He wants us to do, we’re doing it because we want to, not because we live in fear of being told that today is the day we will die for our disobedience.

Honor God. Put Him first. Do what He asks. And walk in His blessings.

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 – 7-25-20

1 John 2:3 (NKJV) 3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.

What was John referring to when He so often said “if we keep His commandments”?

In reality, He was referring to much more than an itemized list of “you shall” and “you shall not” orders.

He was doing what He always did; pointing to our heart.

Everything about our walk with God boils down to what’s in our heart. If our heart is right, everything else will also be right. Not perfect, but right. There’s a difference.

Perfect means that there is no sin. Right, on the other hand, means that we understand sin and we understand temptation. But we choose to do right, even if we fail sometimes.

Right means that we have God at the forefront of every choice we make, even if we might not hit the target dead-center sometimes.

Right means that we seek God in what we do, before we make choices and decisions.

Right means that we love God enough to consider Him when we are at a crossroads and we are forced to choose which way to go.

Right means that our thoughts are on Him each and every day.

Right means that we long to please Him in everything we endeavor to do. And because we want to please Him, we will listen intently for the Holy Spirit’s leading, giving Him preference over ourselves, even when we might not feel like it in the flesh.

And, lastly, right means that we stay alert every minute of every day, watching and listening for the wiles of the enemy, standing our ground, not by our own strength, but by the power of God’s spirit, ready to thwart his attacks as God has equipped us to do.

We can never, ever be perfect. But we can be right!

Put God first. Spend time in His word. Talk to Him and listen to Him. And then do what He tells us to do.

Do this, and we will get it right!

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 – 7-24-20

1 John 2:4 (NKJV) 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Today’s New Testament commandment-related scripture is a tough one.

John didn’t hold back when He spoke these words. He told it like it was. No fluff. No sugar coating.

Sometimes we need to hear the hard things. We need someone to get in our face and speak truth in a way that might not be easy to hear, but that will give us a little jolt to wake us from our slumber or cause us to face a hard truth.

John was loving and gentle most times, but He also had no problem saying what needed to be said at the right moment. And this verse is one of those things that He said that exposes things that we might not like to look at.

John was emphasizing that we need to be honest and truthful, especially when it comes to our walk with God. We shouldn’t try to fool anyone; especially ourselves.

If we say that we love God, but we fail to keep His commandments, or follow His precepts (as David liked to say), then we absolutely have to question where our heart really is, and where our loyalty lies.

This is not written to question anyone’s salvation. But the actions of our lives speak much more loudly than the words of our mouths. And if those actions don’t align with God’s word (His commandments), then we need to check ourselves.

As hard as it is, we need to be thankful for brutal honesty sometimes because it can help us see ourselves and push us back toward where we should be, rescuing us from whatever we may have fallen into.

Do we say we love Him? If so, do we keep His commandments?

This is a great measuring stick for us to use when gauging our walk with Him.

Does our walk measure up?

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 – 7-23-20

1 John 3:22 (NKJV) 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

As we continue discussing the way Jesus referred to commandments, here’s another good scripture to break down.

Jesus talked a lot about the importance of prayer, as did Paul and other apostles in their New Testament epistles. It’s a key part of our walk with God.

In this verse, John also refers specifically to getting what we ask for in prayer.

Unanswered prayers are a major stumbling block in the lives of many believers. People often question why they pray and those prayers go unanswered.

First off, we need to be sure to understand that we will never have answers for all of our questions about what God does or does not do. Some things we just need to accept and have the faith to know that it is all OK, even if we don’t understand or agree with God’s answer (or apparent lack of an answer).

But, understanding what John was referring to in this verse can be a very big eye opener for all of us.

Look at what He says; “we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight”.

That’s a big deal! We receive our answers because we “keep His commandments” and we do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

So, our motives can’t be selfish, and our walk with Him has to be in its proper place.

This doesn’t mean that we have to be perfect. Not at all. But it does mean that we have to have our priorities in order when it comes to where our relationship with God falls in the grand scheme of things.

James indicated the very same thing in this verse:

James 4:3 (NKJV) 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

So, let’s take what we’ve learned here and begin to apply it to our lives, especially in the area of prayer, and watch what God does with it.

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 – 7-22-20

John 15:10 (NKJV) 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Commandments. They’re not something that we usually associate with the New Testament.

When we think of commandments, we almost always think of The Ten Commandments or other things associated with the Old Testament.

Despite that, though, commandments are discussed in the New Testament. And if you look closely at this, and seriously consider or ponder on the way Jesus presented them, you will begin to see not only the importance of it, but what that infers when it comes to our walk with God.

The commandments that Jesus spoke of were more than The Ten Commandments. Jesus didn’t necessarily give us a new list of things to do or not to do, but rather an indication about the ways we should do things and how that would impact and change the way we live.

So, let’s take a look at the various ways that Jesus spoke of commandments and break that all down to give us a better understanding of what it means to us.

Today we’ll start with the verse above.

Jesus stated that if we keep His commandments, we would abide in His love. What does that mean?

First, it means that our love for Him is deep enough, and that we take our relationship with Him seriously enough, to do what He says to do.

This is a huge statement that clearly tells us that our walk with Him is not to be taken lightly or to be treated as less than what it is; critically important to our eternal destiny. This relationship was, after all, built and established on the fact that He died for us to pay for our sins and give us direct access to the Father.

If we truly understand that, we will be so grateful that we will make this relationship our priority in our lives, putting Him above all else.

Let’s also talk about the word “abide”, since it’s crucial to the overall message of this verse.

Abide, in its most general form, means to accept or act in accordance with something.

In this verse, it means to “remain in”. Another good definition in this context would be to “act in accordance with”.

In other words, we remain in His love or we act in accordance with His love for us.

That would indicate that we would honor Him and His love for us by staying true to the things He expects of us.

This sets a good foundation for us as we dive a bit deeper into the topic of commandments in the New Testament.

Let’s take a look at more of these over the next few days.

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 – 7-2-20

Exodus 4:1 (NKJV) 1 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”

Don’t think we are the only ones, when God wants us to do something, who doubt ourselves.

Moses felt the same way many times. He doubted that he was able. God had to reassure him by doing just a few things to let Moses know it wasn’t going to be an issue.

If we read in Exodus 4:2 –17, we will learn how God first reassured Moses that it would all be OK by having him cast his rod onto the ground, where it became a serpent.

Whoa! If I saw that, I would have been like, “alright, I get what You’re saying”.

But then, secondly, He had Moses put his hand inside his robe, on his bosom. And when he did that and then pulled it out, it was leprous. Then he had him put it back in his bosom, and this time it came out normal.

Boy, that was something! But God still didn’t stop there.

Thirdly, He said, if they still don’t listen, take water from the river, pour it on dry land and it will turn to blood.

So, with the three examples that God laid out before Moses, you’d think “OK, he’s good and he’s ready to approach Pharaoh”.

But Moses wasn’t OK with it. He was trying everything he could to get out of it. He even tried using his speech situation, saying he was slow to speak and slow in tongue.

He tried saying he’s not eloquent in his speech, etc.

Now, this one made God angry. But God took care of even that little concern that Moses had by just saying, “I will give you a spokesperson, Aaron. He will do your talking”.

God did not relieve Moses of his responsibility, but he did provide for him to be able to do what He asked of him in a way that would help him.

You can’t say Moses didn’t try just about everything.

Some of us may feel this way at times when God is asking us to do something. We say, “just skip over me, Lord, and go to the next one. They will be better at it than I”.

I know I’m talking to someone today who is reading this.

Nevertheless, Moses followed through and did what God asked of him.

Obedience is the key.

We may not be perfect, or we may think someone else would be better at what God asks of us. But the important thing is, if God chooses us first, He wants us first and foremost, not someone else!

He will supply us with all that we need, right down to the littlest detail.

Be brave. Don’t let doubt take over. God will provide what we need! Amen.

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 – 6-9-20

Genesis 22:2 (NKJV) 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

The promises of God and answered prayers can be oh so awesome. There is no doubt.

But it’s important for us to remember that they are not for us to hold onto with a tight fist.

When God gives us something that He said He would, we need to know that it is still His, and at any point He may switch it up and ask us to surrender it or let someone else hold it or keep it permanently.

Sometimes this is a test to see if we are willing to let it go.

Now, we are not necessarily talking about God asking us to do the same thing that He asked Abraham. That was for Abraham, and him alone.

We will have our own things that will be dear to us. It could be our finances, our addiction, our home, car, business or career title, etc. Everyone has their thing that means a great deal to them.

Do not hold on to God’s blessing so tightly that if the time comes, we won’t let go, not even for Him.

I remember one person in particular who was going through a financial struggle. They were praying and praying that God would save them from having to sell their home.

One day I felt impressed to ask them a specific question; “are you willing to let go of it if God wants you to?”

I could tell right away by their reaction that they may have been saying yes with their mouth, but their heart told a different story.

It’s our willingness and obedience that takes us on a walk of greatness with God. But if we can’t get there because things mean more to us than He does, it will be very hard for Him to use us to the full extent that He wants to.

We have got to understand that there may come a time when God asks for something that may mean everything to us. But, will it mean more to us than God?

Abraham went all the way, showing God that, as hard as it may have been to give up His promised son, Isaac, He would trust God.

God saw that he did not hold back even his most precious possession, and thus, he was able to keep Isaac. God knew from Abraham’s willingness that he would be trustworthy with all that God had for him.

Our question for everyone today is; is our heart in that place where if God asked for something meaningful, would we be willing to give Him whatever it might be?

Genesis 22:17 (NKJV) 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

May we all get to a place in our hearts where our heavenly Father can say to us, “you were willing and obedient, therefore keep what I have asked for and I will bless you with even more.”

Amen.

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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