Category: Putting God First

Bible Verse of The Day – 2-3-24

Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV) 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

With any relationship, we get out what we put in.

Our relationship with God is no different. It will grow on the same scale as the effort we put into it.

If we truly desire to know Him and serve Him wholeheartedly, we will intentionally make the time needed to grow and mature as a believer.

This isn’t something that we always think of or understand when we first become a child of God.

In fact, it is something that is not taught nearly enough.

While the forgiveness of our sins is monumental, if we do not feed our spirit with the word of God, it will be in danger of withering and dying.

Jesus taught about this when He shared the parable of the sower and the seeds.

Matthew 13:20-21 (NLT) 20 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. 21 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.

This is why we need to be sure to put forth the required effort to keep ourselves fed and growing.

It is something that no one can do for us. Yes, we can have people help us, lead us and guide us, especially in the beginning of our new walk with God. But in the end, we are the ones who are responsible for whether we grow or not.

Think of it like a newborn baby. When the baby is small, it requires constant help and nurturing. But as it grows older and older it must learn to take what it has been taught and use that knowledge to grow and mature on its own.

This is why it is paramount for each of us to do whatever is necessary to feed ourselves with the word of God.

God tells us that as we make the effort to seek Him, we will find Him if we seek Him with all our heart.

The key lies in the phrase, “with all your heart”, since God spells it out for us right there.

Suffice it to say that effort on our part is required. And that effort is something that we must be willing to put forth.

It may not always be easy or comfortable, but we need to keep in mind the incredible sacrifice that Christ made for us on the cross. This will usually put things into perspective and help motivate us to do what it takes to mature and grow as a believer.

And as we do this, let us liken ourselves to a runner in a race, disciplining ourselves, shaking off all that tries to hold us back, and doing all that is necessary to claim the prize at the finish line.

For the prize we race toward is eternal.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV) 1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Amen

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 1-6-24

Psalm 121:1-2 (NKJV) 1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

Being careful not to idolize the one whom God uses to be there for us can be hard.

When someone helps us out of a devastating season or situation in our lives, it is hard not to want to lift them up in some way. It’s hard not to put them on a pedestal and praise them for what they did.

Because of the help they brought us, and the way it touched our hearts, it’s easy for us to take our eyes off the Lord, our Source, and put them on the messenger.

God uses people all the time to do certain things. That’s how He answers so many of our prayers and gets things done. He uses people in specific places.

No matter who the messenger is, the one who delivers it, God is our source. The one that He uses is only His instrument, and He will reward them accordingly.

We need to be grateful they obeyed, but not look at them as our rescuer.

This can also be a problem in the church today. If we are not careful, we can actually miss out on what God calls us to do simply because we don’t want to separate ourselves from the place or the person that God used to help us.

Don’t worship the messenger, but keep our eyes squarely on the One who created him or her to be used by Him. Don’t miss out on our calling because we are idolizing God’s messenger.

Remember, it’s the Lord that orchestrates it all, and He is worthy of our praise and loyalty!

Romans 11:36 (NKJV) 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 12-26-23

John 10:10 (NKJV) 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

The devil is a thief.

He will steal. He will try to bring death and completely destroy whatever he can.

But praise the Lord, Jesus came that we may have life!

It seems like we often concern ourselves with the wrong things; our careers, our home, our friends, our appearance, our food, our finances, etc.

We can stress and wear ourselves out over these things.

What if we told you that a lot of what concerns us is not anything we need to worry about? Would you believe it?

Let’s look at what Jesus has to say about these things.

Matthew 6:25 (NKJV) 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

There is more to life than these things. But we find ourselves worried about them more than anything else. The enemy wants them to consume us.

When these things concern us greatly, we are not trusting God. Our life is passing us by and we are missing out on great opportunities.

Colossians 3:2-3 (NKJV) 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

We need to ask ourselves how much time we spend thinking and concerned about our walk with God.

If we were half as concerned about our relationship with Him as we are with our earthly cares, and we made the necessary changes in our hearts, we wouldn’t be so quick to worry or be concerned about these things.

Wait. Do you mean He will just take care of them for us?

I’ll let Him speak to you Himself.

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

This doesn’t mean that we simply sit back, do nothing, and wait for Him to drop everything in our laps.

The key is to concern ourselves with, and seek after Him, more than anything else. In that we will find our answers.

Our true happiness and stability will come as we follow Him. That’s when our life will come together!  Amen.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 12-6-23

Psalm 37:4 (NKJV) 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

He will give you the desires of your heart. That sounds like a great proposition, doesn’t it?

And it is a great proposition!

Like everything, though, we need to understand exactly what is being said, not just what we think is being said.

To get that understanding, we need to look closely at what is said in the first part of the verse. This will help us better understand the last part.

So, if we are being promised that “He shall give you the desires of your heart, in the first part of the verse, what do we have to do for that to happen?

We must delight ourselves in the Lord.

What does it mean to be delighted, or to delight ourselves in someone?

Delighted: captivated, excited, thrilled, elated, euphoric, joyful, etc.

If we are delighting ourselves in Him, everything we do is based on pleasing and satisfying Him.

We put Him first in everything we do. We make choices based on what we know is right according to His word, and what pleases Him, not by what pleases us.

We learn of Him and build a strong relationship with Him, gaining a better understanding of who He wants us to be and what He desires of us.

It is then, when we have learned to put ourselves aside and put Him first, that we will begin to see our desires coming to pass.

Why?

Well, to be honest, it is because our desires have largely changed, lining up more closely with His desires.

As we have allowed our old self to die, and be raised up new in Christ, our desires change. The old desires fall away and begin to align more closely with His desires.

And it is then that we begin to see our desires being fulfilled.

Now, this doesn’t mean that God never gives us desires that are our own. He does.

But when we allow Him to change us, shape us, and mold us, allowing the righteousness of Christ to transform us, we will less frequently desire the things of the world, or the things that are self-gratifying, and we will look more toward the things that glorify Him.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 10-31-23

Genesis 11:4 (NKJV) 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

Come let us build ourselves a city.

Many societies have reached a point where everything is about us and ourselves.

People do not even consider God any longer. There are very few people who will even talk about God and the good things He has done.

But they will talk up a storm about me, myself and I. Just give them the microphone.

What were the people in this verse trying to do?

They wanted to build a big city with a tall tower.

To do what? To reach the heavens!

Why? Because they wanted a “name” for themselves.

God shut their plan down by giving them a language barrier.

He confused their language so they could not understand one another’s speech.

He scattered them abroad over the face of the earth, and they ceased building the city.

When we get full of ourselves, focusing only on what we can do, it causes two problems; pride and self-rule.

This incident is very likely why there are so many languages on the earth. It was pride that caused it.

We need to understand that God wants us to rely on Him, to lean on Him, and to hold fast to Him in all that we do. We need to get our wisdom from Him, and our support from Him.

He wants us to seek after Him and His kingdom.

The world loves big names and important titles. God loves humility, meekness, and a heart after Him.

1 Samuel 13:14 (NKJV) 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

Who did the Lord seek for Himself? A man after His own heart.

Where is our heart today? Are we seeking a name for ourselves?

God is happy with our name as it is, whether it has a title attached to it or not.

He wants our heart to be after Him! Amen.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries 
49 N Lamplighters Walk 
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 8-16-23

Proverbs 14:34 (NKJV) 34 Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.

A nation who honors God in everything they do will always prosper.

If we were to look back through history, we would see a pattern where nations who put God first, and honored Him in how that nation was governed, became great.

Conversely, nations who were/are Godless tend not to last long, or they are in constant turmoil, with governments that are repeatedly changing, being overthrown, etc.

Without God at the forefront, there is no stability.

If we were to look at current events, and back through history, we would also see nations that started out on the right foot, putting God first. But as they strayed from their faith and left God behind, they began to falter, morally, economically, and socially. And they eventually crumbled.

Many such nations end up being invaded by outside neighboring countries, with their governments being taken down and replaced by ruthless leaders.

Other countries in this situation simply erode into a weak, pitiful mess where chaos and confusion reign, with evil completely unrestricted.

A sure sign that a nation is in decline is a marked increase in corruption.

God will be eliminated from every facet of that government and that nation.

He becomes nothing more than a distant memory. And with that mindset, evil increases rapidly.

Wickedness and sin no longer hide in the shadows. They become brazen and blatant; in your face and wide open for the world to see.

There is no longer any shame.

Lawlessness increases drastically. And the ensuing chaos will become more than many people can understand or bear.

Soon, that nation will become divided, as the remaining righteous men and women desperately hold onto what they know is right, and those who have abandoned God continue their downward spiral. And that nation plunges into darkness.

Please join us tomorrow for the continuation of this teaching.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 4-29-23

Genesis 22:2 (NKJV) 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

Our most important goal in this world should be to please God.

Whatever He asks of us, as long as we know it’s Him, we need to find it in ourselves to take the first step and say, “I will do it”.

How many of us are ready, willing and open to make many sacrifices to do His will?

A lot of people will not let go of the things that they need to let go of in order to reach this point.

As a couple, Pastor Curt and I are in agreement when it comes to putting God first!

And we are both aware of the fact we can’t have our say in some matters regarding God’s plan. We just have to agree with what He is asking of us.

We definitely cannot have any emotional attachments, or it will only make it that much harder when we have to let them go.

This is a heart condition. And it takes time, sometimes years, to reach this place.

But, as God changes us a little here and a little there, we will reach a point to where we will give up just about anything to please and obey Him.

Abraham would never have been willing to sacrifice his only son if his heart had been attached to anything more than it was to God.

God knows where each one of us are at in this process. If He is asking us to do something and it’s very hard to let go, remember that He wouldn’t ask it of us if He thought it would hurt us in any way.

He has nothing but good intentions for each one of us.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 4-1-23

Revelation 2:4 (NKJV) 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

As I was having my devotional time this morning, I felt God speaking to me regarding this verse; that the church on a large scale has left Him, their first love.

It has simply allowed things to come in and take our time and loyalty away from Him. These things have gripped us enough to put us in a place of rebellion.

Isn’t it just like the enemy to tempt us with all kinds of little things we may love, just to distract us and take away the time we’ve devoted to God?

As Jesus speaks these words to John regarding the church, He is definitely bringing correction, stating that they have completely left Him.

This is not a little thing. It affects us all. As we can see, it happened to the church then and it is happening to the church now.

He is calling His children into repentance. He is chastening us and drawing us close. Thank God for that!

Hebrews 12:6 (NKJV) 6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens And scourges every son whom He receives.”

Stay focused. Embrace His correction in our personal lives. Know that He will chasten those He loves.

Revelation 2:7 (NKJV) 7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”.

Amen.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 3-26-23 – Your First Love

Please click to watch the video now.Greetings in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth! 

In the book of Revelation, Jesus spoke specifically to 7 different churches. 

In our new video, “Your First Love”, we teach about one of the messages that He had for one of the churches, and how that message impacts our own walk with God. 

We hope you’ll join us for this one! 

Please click here to watch the video now.

We pray that you are walking closer with God each day. 

We love you all! 

Sincerely, 

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie 

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443 

401-439-3780 

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 12-21-22

James 4:8 (NKJV) 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

As we ended yesterday’s devotional, we were discussing the interpretation of a dream that a reader had shared with us.

To recap quickly, the interpretation of his dream indicated that he wanted to draw close to God, but his fixation on the evil that he is seeing happen in the world was creating a divide between him and God.

Let’s talk about that a bit.

What he is experiencing is an easy problem for any of us to fall into, especially if we are acutely aware of all that is happening and we have a strong desire to see justice.

This can also happen if we immerse ourselves in these types of events, spending a lot of our time watching and reading about it. Social media can be a huge culprit for this.

But we need to turn our eyes toward God and focus on Him, and let go of the things of this world (the weeds that the reader was clinging to in his dream).

We need to trust God enough to put Him first and loosen our grip on the things of the natural world that we wrestle with; those things that will put space between us and Him.

This is not always easy. Sometimes, for some, it can be downright difficult.

But this is why it’s so critically important to diligently seek God daily, praying and spending time in His word. This is where we will find answers, and where we will build our faith and trust in Him.

And it’s where we will see our fears laid to rest as that faith grows.

Consider Joseph; beaten up by his brothers and then sold into slavery. On top of all that, he was ultimately put in prison for crimes he did not commit.

But he stayed faithful to God, using the talents that God had given him to run Potiphar’s household faithfully.

Even in prison, he was exemplary in his behavior, leading to him being placed in charge over all the prisoners.

And God ultimately rewarded him for it.

Also consider Daniel, who was exiled to a foreign land and forced to work for a king in that land.

Daniel submitted to God and served that king well. Again, God rewarded him for it.

Let us seek God diligently and let the Holy Spirit lead our actions, that we may also honor God in them.

We encourage everyone to press into God like you’ve never done before. The times in which we are living demand it.

We love you all.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 12-20-22

Psalm 73:28 (NKJV) 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all Your works.

When we left off yesterday, we were discussing the current state of the world and how the things we’re seeing can impact us.

We recently had a reader write to us to share his heart and tell us how he has been struggling with what he’s seeing unfold. He also wanted to ask a question or two.

He has also written to us in the past, expressing his sadness and frustration with what we are witnessing; the rise and the expansion of evil.

Like many of us, he has grown increasingly disheartened with it all.

In his heart, he wants to see something done to correct it.

He can’t fathom that evil at these levels has gone unchecked and unpunished by each nation’s justice systems. This is natural. None of us likes to see evil thrive.

In a recent email to us, he shared a little piece of a dream that he’d had.

He didn’t ask us for an interpretation. He didn’t really even ask if we had any feedback for him about the dream. He just told us about it as part of the email that he had sent.

After reading it, it stayed in the back of my mind. And one day not too long ago, God showed me what it meant.

First, here is the part of the dream that he shared; “I have had a dream in which I just want to hold onto the gate or the weeds outside of heaven”.

Now, here is what God showed me that it meant.

Him holding onto the gate, or the weeds outside of the gates of heaven, shows that he wants to trust God and enter in to His presence. This is indicated in the fact that he is immediately outside of heaven. He is at the “entrance”.

He’s close to where God is, but hesitant to let go of the weeds and enter in.

His heart’s desire is to be close to God, hence being right outside of the gates.

But he has a strong desire to see justice in the natural world. This is represented by him holding onto the weeds.

God is beckoning him to come in, but he struggles with letting go of the natural and entering in to God’s presence.

That strong desire to see justice has trapped him and created a divide between him and God.

So, ultimately, he will need to choose which he will cling to; the weeds (the natural world) or God.

Please join us tomorrow as we wrap this up.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , , , ,