Tag: Bible verses about God bringing us through trials

Bible Verse of The Day – 1-1-24

James 1:2-4 (NKJV) 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time lately pondering on the irony of trials.

They’re a funny thing, these unexpected events that happen to all of us, tossing our world into a tailspin.

They catch us by surprise and can sometimes hit us with life-changing effects. Sometimes they leave scars that take a lifetime to heal.

But here’s the thing that is so ironic about trials; as much as we despise them, they can teach us a lot if we allow them to.

Some of the most powerful lessons we learn are by way of the tough things that we go through.

We learn about ourselves. We learn new things that we never expected or wanted to learn. We learn about the faithfulness of God.

And in all those things, we learn lessons that we can use to teach and help others around us when they face similar situations and circumstances.

Not one of us welcomes trials with open arms. We despise them. We hope they don’t happen to us. And we may even try to run from them.

Jesus told us in John 16:33 that tribulations will come to each of us.

So, what will we do with them when they come?

That’s the key question we need to ask ourselves.

Will we run from them? Will we deny that they’re happening? Will we be miserable? Will we gather people around us to join us in our own pity party?

Or will we seek God and let Him show us how and what we can learn as we let Him walk us through them?

The way we embrace our trials will tell us a lot about our maturity as a believer and our faith in God, whom we proclaim to others that we trust.

When the rubber meets the road, do our actions prove that we trust Him? Or do they show us struggling with unbelief?

Don’t take that wrong. We all wrestle with unbelief at times. But hanging on to it and never letting God get us beyond it is another story.

So, let us ask ourselves today, will we let our trials dictate how we behave, or will we let God teach us valuable lessons as we walk through them, that we might use those lessons to help others, and to bring glory and honor to Him?

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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Bible Verse of The Day – 7-28-23

James 1:2-3 (NKJV) 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

I don’t care much for surprises of the negative kind; the unexpected event or situation that upends my day and requires me to make adjustments to accommodate unwelcome trouble or trials.

It’s just part of how I am wired.

But as a child of God who is (increasingly) led by the Holy Spirit, I have come to understand, as you probably have too, that trials are part of life.

Believers are not exempt. We have no clause in our salvation that states our lives will be free from trouble.

In fact, sometimes being a Christian invites trials.

Standing up for our faith will sometimes draw unwanted attention that can cause difficulties we would rather not have.

Other times, difficulties arise that have nothing to do with our faith at all; they are just part of life in general.

Regardless of how they come, we must be able to learn to deal with them properly.

If we fail to learn this, we will constantly be miserable, never learning how to be content in any situation.

So, knowing all of this, and learning from God’s word over the years of my life, I have come to understand that I cannot simply ignore trials, try to brush them off or spend my days wallowing in misery as trials arise and play out.

Trials are actually good for us, despite what we might think.

As James states above, trials test our faith. And they produce patience if we let God lead us through them His way.

This does not mean that we will grow to love trials. That is not likely for anyone.

But it does mean that, as we mature, we will address trials differently, allowing God to guide us and teach us, instead of spending our days mired in self-pity and sharing our anguish with everyone who will lend us an ear.

Instead, God will teach us to hold our tongues, go to Him for guidance and walk through our trials one step at a time, as He shows us His way to handle whatever we are facing.

And as we look back at a trial that we have worked our way through, we will do so joyfully rather than with disdain, giving Him the glory and honor for His faithfulness.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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Bible Verse of The Day – 6-27-22

Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) 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.

There are many things humans have a hard time with.

Here are a few of them; waiting, discomfort, humiliation, trials.

Many of us get terribly impatient, hate being uncomfortable, are appalled when we are humiliated and despise trials or hard times.

Because of this, we can never see beyond our disdain for them and see the good that can come from many of these types of things in our lives.

This can be a terrible weakness that has major consequences in our lives. But we may never know or recognize those consequences because we don’t even know that they are, in fact, consequences at all.

We just never connect the dots, so to speak.

Let me explain.

Sometimes we have things happen to us that are the result of choices that we have made. Maybe those choices were made in an effort to avoid something uncomfortable.

But, because we have avoided something uncomfortable, we may miss out on a blessing or a reward that God had for us.

And we never know that we missed out on it as a consequence of not wanting to do the uncomfortable, unpopular or difficult thing.

Look at what Jesus did, referenced in the verse above.

First, He looked beyond what was immediately in front of Him in order to see the joy (reward) that was in the distance; pleasing His Father, taking the place of honor at the Father’s right hand.

Second, He endured the cross; the most brutal, agonizing method of capital punishment that Rome had come up with to execute human beings.

Third, He despised (disregarded, pushed aside, ignored) the shame that came with being crucified. This was due to the stigma that was attached to crucifixion. Jews considered it a curse.

Jesus did all of this because He allowed Himself to see beyond the discomfort and inconvenience of the short term in order to reach His goal and consider the long term.

Oh, what we can learn from Him!

Let us also do the same, looking beyond the short-term inconveniences of life, that we might see the blessings on the other side of them.

Maybe, just maybe we will become more resilient, less likely to complain or give up when we face tough situations, and more likely to walk in the blessings that come from pushing through instead of giving up when things get hard.

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!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 10-26-21

Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV) 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Are we having to start over today?

Maybe we lost everything we had. Maybe we got let go on our job. Or maybe our spouse left us or they passed away.

It can make us feel empty, hopeless and scared. But, we have learned that God can bring good things out of the hardest of times.

Starting over doesn’t have to be scary when we have a God who knows us better then we could ever comprehend.

He’s the One that loves us and cares for us; a God that knows our future. And if we let Him, He will make sure it goes the way it needs to.

In the midst of loss we can sometimes forget how marvelous our Father is toward us all.

Wait on God’s directions.

The first thing we have to do is learn to listen and see with our hearts, as led by God’s spirit. Our fleshly desires will fight us. But if we stand firm against them, and wait on God, He will give us the desires of our heart.

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

The next step we have to take is to adjust our attitude and the way we think, knowing and trusting that God will lead us if we give Him the lead.

Many times, if things aren’t happening quickly enough, we will try to take back the lead.

God will let us have it back. But we are in danger of being on our own at that point.

He will always help us, no matter how far off the path we go, if we realize it and ask Him for His help. The best thing to do is stay the course.

The most important thing to do is guard our attitude about where we are, even if we are at the beginning stages and we haven’t yet seen any changes.

Stay strong. God will come through.

The desires of our heart will come again; just maybe in a different way than we had thought, as we surrender ourselves to Him.

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 – 7-5-21

2 Corinthians 1:8-9 (NKJV) 8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead,

Paul went through some things in his lifetime. As an apostle, he was beaten many times, stoned and left for dead, survived shipwrecks and much more. And he suffered all of this as a result of his work to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

Because Paul knew what it meant to suffer, I tend to pay attention when he says something like what he said above; “we despaired even of life”.

They expected to die as a result of the persecution that they faced in Asia.

Paul calls the intensity in which they were persecuted as being “burdened beyond measure, above strength”. He was so sure he would die for the gospel that he had literally pronounced a death sentence upon himself.

It was that very situation, though, that caused them to stop relying on themselves and to turn fully to the God who raises the dead for their help and their survival.

Isn’t this just like all of us? We get backed into a corner and try with everything in us to fix the problem ourselves. Then, only when we realize that we can’t fix it, we finally hand it over to God for His help.

We know about this too. We have been in situations where we exhausted ourselves and were laying with our backs to the floor. Then we finally gave our situation over to God for His help. Once we did that, we started seeing light at the end of the proverbial tunnel pretty quickly.

Let’s change this up in our lives. Let’s start going to God first, instead of waiting until we are in dire need and on the verge of dying.

If we would do this, most of the struggles we face will be resolved much more quickly, and we will learn to trust God even more as we see Him work on our behalf.

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 – 6-26-20

Psalm 34:19 (NKJV) 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Affliction; Something that causes pain or suffering. Ailment, trouble, indisposition, menace, trouble.

We have all experienced something that falls into at least one of those categories. Maybe we’re even facing something like that right now. They are a part of life that there is honestly no escape from. Stuff just happens, and we all have to deal with it on one level or another.

It’s interesting to note that the Psalmist states that “many are the afflictions of the righteous”. There is an inference here that says righteous people may well face more afflictions than the non-righteous.

This may be quite true, since afflictions sometimes come because of our faith.

Sometimes they may come in the form of persecution for our faith. Other times they may come because we make choices based on our faith and our convictions that put us in precarious situations.

Whatever way they come, the verse above says this about it; “The Lord delivers us out of them all”.

That’s something we can count on.

The thing to remember is that the way out might not always come in the timing we’d like it to, or in the way we’d like it to. That doesn’t mean, however, that it doesn’t come. It just means that it comes in God’s way, not ours.

So, that thing that’s plaguing you right now? That thing that doesn’t seem to want to go away and let your life return to normal anytime soon? Those consequences that came about because of a choice we wish we hadn’t made?

God sees and He knows what’s happening. And if we’re willing to let Him, He is working them out on our behalf, moving things and putting things in place to help us.

All we have to do is to make sure we don’t get in His way and try to “help” Him, derailing the plan He has in place, causing it to take even longer than it already has.

Trust Him. We may not always understand, but He is working on our behalf.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

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 – 6-15-19

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We must understand that having faith does not always stop things from coming against us. We will still have trials and tribulations. However, faith is what will get us through those hard and trying seasons.

If we are going through one now, our faith will get us past it. If someone we know is going through something, then their faith will get them through it.

If they don’t have much faith, and we get behind them with our faith, what does it do? It makes a stronger faith. And with our faith working together, we get to see it through.

Many times, God will use His children to help someone through a trial. Sometimes it takes a while to see any results. Other times it may be quick and painless.

And then there are times when we may be in their lives for a short time and then out again

It’s so important we stand with them for the time needed to help them through.

No matter what we or someone else may be going through, faith WILL get us past this season. If we don’t stop believing, we stand firm and take the steps put in front of us, we will come out on the other side.

We have seen many situations change for people. Some problems were bigger than others. Some seemed like they lasted forever. But, all of these people had things in common, and their faith grew during those times.

Their closeness with God became more evident. They matured in their walk with Him.

When things come against us, we tend to start worrying right away, and we automatically think, “Oh no, we are going to lose something.”

But, if we remember that we have a Mighty God that is for us, then nothing will stop us from moving forward and walking in victory, even in trying seasons.

Faith is our answer today! 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 – 5-15-19

James 1:2-3 (NKJV) 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

If you enjoy trials, please raise your hand.

No, I didn’t think you would raise your hand. I didn’t raise mine either.

Nobody enjoys trials. They are, after all, trials. They are not meant to be fun or enjoyable. Trials can be very, well… trying. It’s just the nature of them.

They test us. They can stress us out. They can cause fear, and maybe even anxiety for some people.

But what does God’s word say about them? It says to “count it all joy when we fall into various trials”.

No, that’s not a typo or a joke. It’s God’s way of saying that trials are good for us, even though we don’t like them much (if at all).

Why are they good for us? Because they teach us patience and they test our faith.

When the pressure of a trial hits us hard, we get to see what we’re really made of. Our faith is put to the test, and we get to see how much we really trust God.

No, God doesn’t expect us to literally laugh about the trials we go through. But He does want us to keep our joy intact, so we don’t become miserable and lose sight of His faithfulness.

And as we learn to trust Him more and more, trials will be less stressful and less apt to cause our faith in Him to falter during tough times.

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 – 7-4-18

Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT) 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Many who read this are experiencing various kinds of trials. These trials may be minor or they may be very major. Some may seem “like a bump in the road”. Others may make us feel like we have had the wind knocked out of us.

Regardless of their intensity, it’s important that we know and understand God’s love for us, and His desires for us.

We need to make sure we understand that God’s desire for us is never evil. Yes, we will face things that are not pleasant. But these are not His things. He is good and full of light. There is no darkness found in Him.

1 John 1:5 (NKJV) 5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

While trials can be very tough for us to understand sometimes, it’s still important that we know that each and every trial we face can actually be good for us. The key to this is to put God first in everything and hold tightly to Him in the midst of our trials.

Doing this helps us to keep things in perspective and to keep us from worrying or stressing as much as we would otherwise.

And in the end, God can use the trials that we face to mold us, shape us and draw us closer to Him, causing us to grow in our faith.

James 1:3-4 (NKJV) 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

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 – 5-19-18

James 1:2-3 (NKJV) 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 

One of the things that many of us do when we’re going through trials is to ask God to remove the trial. We all do this from time to time. 

And while it is understandable that we would ask for this, it’s important that we understand what we’re asking for. 

Nobody likes trials. They hurt. They wear us out. They leave scars. 

But during those times of trial there are so many things we can learn! And during those trying times, God can teach us so many things if we will just allow Him to. 

God can use the bad things that happen and bring good out of them. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that He removes the trial or turns the bad thing into something good. He just teaches us lessons as we walk through them. 

So, whatever trial we might be facing right now, instead of doing what we always do and just asking God to bring the trial to a sudden end, let’s ask God what it is that we can learn from it as we walk through it. 

And while we’re learning, we can watch God move on our behalf. 

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 – 1-24-18

Revelation 2:3 (NKJV) 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.

Hang in there today. Push through. Put one foot in front of the other and don’t look back. It’s a new day, with a new start, and God is for us! Amen.

We are not laboring in vain when we put God first.

When we obey God’s word, rather than doing what we want, we are setting ourselves aside and our hearts are humbled before Him as we carry on with His plan.

We have given up those things that we once considered to be ours, and placed them in the hands of our King, and we press on to serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NKJV) 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

All your hard work, your sacrifices, and efforts are seen. God knows our hearts. Keep moving forward.

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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