Category: Being Thankful

Bible Verse of The Day – 11-21-13

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV) in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

As each one of us faces the tests and trials that come our way in life, we have to make choices.

First, we have to make choices as to how to handle situations that we’re faced with. Sometimes the choices are easy and other times they can be pretty difficult.

Next, we have to make another choice. We have to choose between being thankful and joyful or being ungrateful and miserable.

Many times we make the choices in the order mentioned above… deciding how to handle a situation first, and then deciding whether we want to be miserable or joyful.

But today I want to suggest that we choose to be thankful first. Then, and only then should we make decisions about how to handle the situation at hand. Because once we have pushed our misery aside and decided to be thankful we are more likely to make wise choices when it comes to finding solutions to the problems we’re facing.

Things look so much better and way less bleak when we give thanks first and then pursue a solution to our problems.

God can bless a thankful person, but will not bless someone who is miserable and ungrateful.

And remember… when we think we have it bad, there is always someone else who has it worse, no matter how big of a pity party we throw for ourselves!

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 – 9-21-13

Numbers 11:5-6 (NKJV) 5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”

While the Israelites were in the desert, God provided for their every need, including their food.

He caused something to rain down onto the ground each night, which they gathered in the morning and made meals from. This substance was called manna.

Every day the Israelites had plenty to eat. They had no worries whatsoever when it came to what they would eat each day.

After some time, though, they began to murmur and complain. They wire tired of eating manna, the food that God chose to provide them with.

Our question for everyone today is this “are we like the Israelites? Do we complain about what we have been blessed with, because we’re tired of it or bored with it?”

Whether we have been blessed with a lot or with a little, there isn’t a single person reading this who hasn’t complained about what they have or what they think they lack. We are as guilty as the Israelites.

As God’s people, we need to seek God’s forgiveness for our selfish ways and self-centeredness. It’s easy to fall into the trap of dissatisfaction, but it’s shameful in the eyes of God, and we all need to repent.

Take some time, right now, while you’re reading this, and thank God for what you have been blessed with.

It’s not wrong to want to better yourself, but it is wrong for us to be ungrateful for the things that we already have.

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 – 9-20-13

(Psalm 92:4 NKJV)  For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.

When we awake each morning, we should think of Jesus and the life we have because of His death and resurrection. And think about how He has given us His Spirit, to live in each one of us, as we believed and received Him as our personal Savior.

Remember that we don’t have to face a single day alone.

Thank Him that we can conquer some of the hardest tasks and learn so many new things, as we walk close with Him throughout our day.

I love the fact that no matter what we go through in this life, He will stand with us; He is there to help us through and bring good out of it!

Our Lord is for us! Let’s give Him a big “shout out” today and tell Him how glad we are for the marvelous works He has done and for causing us to triumph over many situations!

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 – 8-1-13

Philippians 4:11 (NKJV) Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content…

To be content… this is something almost every one of us needs to learn, to one degree or another.

No matter what our situation is, we all seem to long for something else… something more, something bigger or something better.

It is not wrong to want to improve our situation, to make a little more money or to have some nice things.

It is wrong, though, to constantly be dissatisfied. We all need to learn to be content with what we have and where God has us.

Sometimes this might mean doing without some things that we’d like to have. Other times it might mean giving up some things that we already have!

Our own experience has taught us over the years that until we learn to be content with what God has already blessed us with (even when it seems like it’s only a little), He is very unlikely to bless us with anything more.

So let’s count our blessings and be content and learn to appreciate what we have, before we ask for something more.

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 – 5-1-13

(Genesis 39:2 NKJV)  The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

Success is something that we all pursue and desire, in one form or another. The funny thing is that each us has a slightly different definition of what success is.

One thing I can guarantee you is that not a single one of us would include being a slave in that definition.

But take a look at the verse above. Notice that Joseph was a successful man, all while being in the house of his master!

Joseph was sold into slavery. He was forced to be a servant… first for Potiphar and then directly under Pharaoh. Never in his days in Egypt did Joseph live independently of his Egyptian masters.

And yet the Bible says repeatedly that Joseph found favor with God and that everything he put his hand to prospered.

You see, God can still show us His favor, even if we’re not in what we feel like are the best circumstances. We just need to let Him! We need to shake off the world’s definitions of success and take on God’s definitions.

And most importantly, we need to learn to be content where God has us. Only when we learn to be content and thankful for where we are at and what we have will God see fit to prosper us.

This is not an easy thing to do, but it’s what God desires for us.

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!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 4-24-13

(Colossians 3:15 NKJV)  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

This verse jumped out at me when I saw it, so I knew I had to share it with everyone!

As we have talked about so many times recently, we live in times of great turmoil and high stress. Regardless of what country we live in, there is unrest and constant change.

Peace is something that seems to be hard to find, outside of knowing God. With Him we can have peace, but without Him it’s pretty difficult to find peace in anything at all.

But did you notice how this verse ended? It tells us to be thankful. So God wants us to have peace and He also wants us to be thankful.

Sometimes learning to be thankful is what it takes to have peace. Because once we learn to be thankful and content, the peace comes naturally. But if we are never content or thankful for what we have, we will always be in a state of unrest, never having peace.

We need to let God teach us how to be content, thankful and full of His peace, no matter what we’re facing. For when we become content with what we have been given, then we are ready for what He has next for us.

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!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 4-1-13

(Luke 17:12-17 NKJV)  Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. {13} And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” {14} So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. {15} And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, {16} and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. {17} So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

I remember many years ago writing and preaching a sermon called “Where are the Nine?”

This is such an important question for each and every one of us. But it’s not so much about looking at others, to see who does or doesn’t thank God for their blessings.

It’s solely about us and how we react toward God in various situations in our lives. So many times we ask God to do something for us and yet, when we receive His blessings, we quickly forget where we came from and how much God did for us.

Let us ask God today to make us a people with grateful hearts… hearts of thankfulness. And then let’s determine within ourselves to do what’s required on our end to follow through with it.

(Colossians 3:15 NKJV)  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

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!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please enter your email address in the box near the upper right corner of this page!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 12-7-12

(Jonah 4:6 NKJV)  And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

God provides so much for each of us. Are we grateful for what we have and for what He has provided us with?

Sometimes it can be very easy to forget what we have been blessed with and become caught up in what we don’t have. We can become frustrated and dissatisfied. Sometimes we even grumble about what we don’t have.

One of the things we have learned over the years is that when we are lacking in an area we need to be careful to continue to be grateful for what we have and stay thankful and appreciative. And not get focused on what we lack.

If we get negative and start to get a bad attitude it just seems to take much longer for things to turn around. Our words and our attitudes can play a big part in how our lives go.

If we take each day for what it is, being careful to thank God for what He has given us, it will make the tough times much easier and will many times help us to get through to the next season more easily.

Be grateful today and let God know it.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Bible Verse of The Day – 11-5-12

(Phil 2:14 NKJV)  Do all things without complaining and disputing…

Are you a grumbler or a complainer? I know I used to be. I would grumble about lots of little things!

And then God got ahold of me. He showed me that my grumbling was affecting my outlook on life. It was also a terrible witness to those around me.

My personality made it very easy for me to fall into the trap of grumbling because I like everything to be just so. But God had to teach me to lighten up and find the good in things, not just what was wrong.

I am still a work in progress and I need to be reminded sometimes to watch what I think and what I say, but it sure is better not to always be looking at the wrong and not seeing the right!

Watch yourself today. Let God show you if you’re being a grumbler or if you’re ungrateful for what you have. You’ll be surprised at how many times you catch yourself complaining about even the littlest things, instead of being thankful.

God wants us to be His light and we can’t be a light if we’re full of negativity!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Bible Verse of The Day – 8-23-12

(Psa 7:17 NKJV)  I will praise the LORD according to His righteousness, And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

(Psa 146:2 NKJV)  While I live I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

We will praise the Lord!

We don’t need to wait for a special occasion to praise Him! He is worth to be praised regardless of what we are going through.

If we are going through trials, we need to praise Him! If we are celebrating a victory, we need to praise Him!

Whether we praise Him or not should not be based on how we feel or what our life circumstances are like. We need to learn to praise Him in the storm and in the calm, in the valley or on the mountain top!

Let’s stop hanging our heads and begin praising God for who He is, not for what we have or don’t have!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Bible Verse of The Day – 8-3-12

(Psa 105:1 NKJV)  Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!

Today many may say, “oh it’s Friday, finally Friday, whew! The weekend has come and we shout and get excited and we are happy. We stop and get a coffee on our way to work. We tip the person at the window, and we smile, saying nice things along the way to all those we run into, wherever we may be going. It’s Friday; our attitude is the attitude of relief and thankfulness…all because it is Friday!

If we could walk around everyday like it is Friday, well then maybe we’d be more the way Jesus would want us to be everyday; Happy, smiling, full of joy, saying hi to people!

Let us be thankful today…not just for Friday. But let us be thankful and give God praise for the day is a good day, not just because it’s Friday. Every day is a good day…for God has sent His precious Son to save us all from our sins.

Sins. That’s right, whether a big sin, or a small sin, He saved us from them all. Ask Jesus, to come into your heart today if you haven’t already, and be Your Savoir. Repent and sin no more. If He is Your Savior already…ask Him to forgive you for your sins today, big ones or small ones, in between ones and be free.

Have a great attitude today. Because it’s Friday? NO! Why? Because we have a Savoir that has saved us from our sins. He has given us eternal life and  a testimony to share with others about His goodness and the freedom He brings!

Give Him Thanks for being our Savoir!!

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!

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