Tag: What the Bible says about following God’s leading

Psalm 4:1 (NKJV) 1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

Are we praying and asking God to do things the way we have seen them done before?

Are we getting our answer? Or do we keep having to ask over and over again, and nothing is happening?

Maybe it’s time we stop telling God how to bring in our answer and ask God to bring the answer in the way He would like to, and in His timing.

If we want God’s will to be done in our situation, we must let Him answer us in the way He knows is best.

Trust Him in this.

I’ve learned that most times when we pray, we ask God to answer us in the way that we’ve seen Him answer in the past.

But God doesn’t always do things the same way. He is Creative!!

Give Him the freedom to answer our prayers the way He chooses. We will be astonished!

Amen.

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. 

Acts 20:3 (LSB) 3 And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

This verse is a great example of Paul using natural wisdom and understanding to protect himself from a plot that was in place to take his life.

As believers, it is important for us to understand that God moves in more ways than just miracles.

His word frequently encourages us to get wisdom and understanding.

And though seeing God work miracles is astounding beyond words, sometimes He simply warns us of danger by natural means, such as this example of Paul being made aware of a plot to take his life.

Did he ignore the plot and push ahead, expecting God to protect him from the evil that was set to befall him?

No! He changed his plans to keep himself from encountering those who were plotting to kill him.

We see this in the life of Jesus as well.

Even while Jesus was an infant, there were many plans and schemes to take His life. But his father, Joseph, was warned to “take the child and His mother and flee to Egypt” (Matthew 2:13).

Did Joseph simply assume that because Jesus was the Messiah that God would protect Him from these attacks?

No. He paid attention to the warnings, and he moved when God told him to move.

So it is with us.

We must learn and understand that God doesn’t always use miracles to rescue us. Sometimes He uses natural means that may not seem so spectacular. But they do what God intends them to do to protect us as we pay attention and obey.

Miracles are incredible. But let us not get fixated on them to the point where we push God away when what He wants to do comes in a form other than a miracle.

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. 

Matthew 18:12 (NKJV) 12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?

This verse is a fitting description for how My Bible Verse of The Day began!

We were contacted by a woman many years ago who asked if we could write and send a devotional to her each day via email.

She had been receiving recordings of our home church meetings each week by mail on a CD, but wanted something that would feed her during the week as well.

She had a situation that made it impossible for her to attend church or any kind of church events and outings.

This is how we began, with just the one request; a single person receiving our emails each day.

God blessed the work we were doing, and He multiplied it!

You see, if we have the right heart toward what we are doing, and we start with the one that we know needs help, we just never know what God may do with it.

Don’t let your mind talk you out of doing something you know you need to do just because it may seem insignificant at that moment.

Maybe you think it won’t make a difference.

But that one that you help is significant to God. Jesus gave His life for them.

Step out for the one! And see what God does from there.

We will never know until we take that first step 😊

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. 

Matthew 14:29 (NKJV) 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

Life is full of surprises.

We know this because we have all had them at one time or another. Things are going great and then, bam, a storm hits!

During such storms we may be called out to take bigger steps of faith.

Think about Peter. The sea was raging when Jesus called Him out of the boat. It was boisterous!

It wasn’t in the calm waters when He said, “come.”

Peter stepped out of that boat onto that rough sea and He walked on that water.

Maybe you are in a place right now where the storm is strong in your life, and you are very scared.

Have you cried out for Jesus to help you? And when you did, did He say, “Come!”?

Matthew 14:30 (NKJV) 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

Yes, those steps He has us take can be scary; steps we never thought we would have to take, and in places we never thought we would touch down on.

Brother and sister, just as He extended His hand to Peter when his faith grew weak, He will extend it to us. Latch onto it tightly. He will catch us.

Matthew 14:31 (NKJV) 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

No more doubting; keep walking.

Dear God,

I am in a storm today and I need your hand to catch me. I’m trying to take the steps You want for me, but I’m tired and I need Your help.

Forgive me, Lord, and give me strength to keep walking.

My spirit is willing, buy my flesh is weak.

Matthew 26:41 (NKJV) 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

In Jesus’ name. Amen

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. 

John 15:9-10 (NJKV) 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 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.

As we obey the word of God and keep His commandments in our lives, our lives will abide in His love.

Now, we know that only Jesus Christ is perfect in doing this.

But as we allow the Holy Spirit, our Helper, to lead us each day, we too can keep His commandments.

It’s not easy living in a world full of sin, prancing its stuff right in front of us every day. But no one said it would be easy to do what is right.

His word says, “if you keep My commandments”. That’s a big if. We need our Helper to do what is undoable by human standards!

As we obey God and the things He says to do, He promises us that we will abide in His love.

The most important thing we can do is ask Him to help us by filling us with the Holy Spirit. He will teach us all things and remind us of things in His word.

John 14:26 (NKJV) 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Thank you, Lord. Amen.

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. 

2 Samuel 11:26-27 (LSB) 26 Then the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband had died, so she lamented over her husband. 27 Then the time of mourning passed by, and David sent and gathered her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

The events surrounding David’s initial interactions with Bathsheba are the most shameful of his life.

David was a man after God’s own heart. His life overall was pleasing to God.

But what David did when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then had her husband killed in battle, was evil in the eyes of God.

As punishment for his sin, God told David through the prophet Nathan that He would require the life of the son whom Bathsheba would bore.

2 Samuel 12:13-14 (NKJV) 13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”

And as foretold by Nathan, the child was born and was struck with sickness.

2 Samuel 12:15 (NKJV) 15 Then Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill.

David fasted, wept, and laid on the ground day and night for seven days, hoping God would spare his son. But on the seventh day, the child died.

Upon learning of the child’s death, David immediately arose, washed, and ate.

His servants were astonished that he immediately arose and ate after fasting for so long, showing no signs of mourning for the death of his son.

They questioned him, asking him how he could have fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but upon hearing of his death he immediately arose and ate.

David explained that once the child was gone, it was clear that God had spoken, and mourning would change nothing.

2 Samuel 12:22-23 (NKJV) 22 And he said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

Let us learn from David’s example.

There is a time to fast and pray for a situation. But when God’s will has been made clear, there comes the time to arise, wash, eat, and accept what has taken place, recognizing His sovereignty in all things, and giving Him the glory and honor He is due.

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. 

Psalm 16:11 NKJV) 11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

How many times do we ask ourselves, “am I doing the right thing? Am I where I’m supposed to be? Am I on Your path, Lord?”

Life is funny. We all have these questions; even those that we might think have it all together. They have the same concerns.

Being sure is not a bad thing. And if we need to ask from time to time, that’s perfectly fine. We always want to make sure we are on the right path in our walk with God.

So, what do we do if we realize we are not?

The best thing is to not panic but, ask God to help us get there.

Don’t make any sudden moves or changes. Just pray first, and let Him help guide our steps. Wait for Him to open doors.

Some people make the mistake of abruptly stopping everything when they realize, “this isn’t it”. But that’s not always the thing to do.

Sometimes we need to let God get us there little by little, one small step at a time.

Most importantly, though, we need to start off by asking Him and then moving forward at His pace. He will show us His way.

Psalm 25:4 (NKJV) 4 Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.

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. 

John 13:37 (NKJV) 37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.”

Peter was sincere in what he said. He really did want to do the right thing. He loved the Lord dearly.

Sometimes we say something with all sincerity, but when the time comes for what we said to be put to the test, and the circumstances are different, the results may be different than what we said would happen.

I’m speaking from experience today. Sometimes the very thing I want to get right, I still find myself slipping. Why is this?

Because we aren’t perfect and we know the right way, but our imperfected flesh will fail.

Peter had every intention in his heart to be true to Jesus, but the rest of him needed to line up. He ended up denying Jesus, not just once, but 3 times.

John 13:38 (NKJV) 38 Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.

We, too, may make statements at times as to how we will do this or do that, and really want to hold true to our words. But we will find our imperfect flesh overriding our heart if we don’t take the time and align them with the Holy Spirit.

Maybe today we are feeling terrible about some things we have promised to the Lord and failed to follow through on.

For instance, “I’ll never do that again if you get me out of this mess. I’ll give you everything if you save my marriage. I’ll give you my full attention if you save my child. I’ll tithe from my check if you get me this job”.

These are probably sincere promises, and maybe at first we did start to do what we promised. But over time we stopped and went back to the way things were.

Today is a new day, and we can repent. And those promises we spoke to the Lord, we can still carry them out.

We can start over and ask Him to help us and our flesh to walk out the things we know we need to do.

We can’t just give up if we did the opposite of what we said we would do.

Make it right. Tell God we are sorry, and try again. With His help, we can do all things that we purpose in our heart.

Matthew 19:26 (NKJV) 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Amen.

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.