Category: Discernment

Your Daily Bible Verse – 1-4-12

(Phil 4:6-7 NKJV)  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; {7} and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Yesterday we talked about having God’s peace when making decisions. We talked about how having that peace can help us better understand when we’re on the right track, and how not having that peace can tell us that we’re on the wrong track.

Today I’d like to share a little more on this topic, so as to avoid any confusion or misunderstandings. This is very important because it can seriously alter the paths we choose in life and the decisions we might make.

I really feel like I need to clarify a couple of things here. First of all, if you’re married and you are facing a major decision in your life, either as a couple or as individuals within the marriage, if one person is feeling at peace and the other isn’t feeling peace, it’s imperative that you DON’T make any changes at that time.

A lack of unity on the part of the couple is a pretty clear indication that more clarity and understanding is needed. Any and all decisions that will affect a married couple need to be made in 100% unity on the part of that couple. If there is no unity and no peace, simply wait. If no peace comes, move on and put it behind you.

The other area where we see people get into trouble all the time is when someone who is not a part of the decision-making process expresses their opinion and sways someone one way or the other in the decision making process, especially if no opinion was asked for.

There are some well-intentioned people out there, in the church body, who are always more than willing to “share a word from God”, and give people direction in their lives. But these self-proclaimed profits are nowhere near qualified to be doing this. These types of people can lead to very serious problems in the lives of those people to whom they speak.

No decision should ever be made based on input from one of these people. Although they may have good intentions, their guidance can do great harm because they typically don’t operate fully under the spirit and the guidance of God.

When you face any of these types of decisions in your life, make sure that you have that peace that passes understanding. This is God’s peace. You can have this peace even when God has instructed you to do something that you have no earthly idea how to do, but your faith carries you in a way that allows you to be at peace in your spirit when your natural mind might be running in the opposite direction. Once we know and understand this, our lives will be forever changed and we will look at things from a new perspective.

Know Him, and know His peace.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 1-3-12

(1 Cor 14:33 NKJV)  For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Do you ever wonder how to tell when God is speaking to you? Do you sometimes have a hard time discerning between your own thoughts and the promptings of God?

Sometimes we need to make important decisions in our lives and we wrestle with which direction to go. We feel one way one minute and then we feel another way later the same day.

Sometimes we may feel complete peace and other times we might feel like we are in complete turmoil.

God’s word tells us that He is not the author of confusion, but of peace. He also tells us (2 Tim 1:7 NKJV)  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

So if you are in a place where fear and confusion seem to be reigning, you can be pretty sure that God isn’t in that place. If you have peace in the midst of a major decision, you can be pretty sure you’re headed in the direction that God wants you to go.

Let me put it one more way that might help us get some clarity; If we are in a place where we need to make a major decision that can change our lives, and we can’t seem to find peace about the choice we’re leaning toward or might have already gone toward, God probably isn’t in favor of the direction we chose.

However, if you are contemplating a major decision or have made a major decision that can or will change your life, and you just seem to have peace about it, despite it being very major, you can be pretty sure that God is in favor of the path you’ve chosen.

Trust God and His leading.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-30-11

(James 5:16 NKJV)  …The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

For many years I thought that this verse meant that in order to be effective, a prayer had to be fervent… repetitive, prayed many times. It’s how we are all taught.

We’ve all heard that we need to prey fervently. But we are led to believe that praying something fervently means praying something over and over again.

A few months back God showed me that this isn’t the case. I had it all wrong. Fervent prayer doesn’t mean repetitive prayer. Fervent, in the way God uses it here, is referring to the person being fervent (consistent), but not that the prayer itself needs to be repeated over and over again for God to hear it and give you results.

We need to be fervent. We need to be consistent. It’s our consistent effort that God sees as being fervent. Take a look at this scripture below for confirmation:

(Mat 6:7 NKJV)  “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Repetition of our prayers is not the key. Consistency in our walk with God is the key. When we’re consistent in our walk with Him we will know Him and discern Him better. This puts us in line with His spirit and His will, allowing us to hear His voice better.

Our prayers are our conversations with God… us talking to Him and Him speaking to us! They are not an opportunity for us to show our eloquence of speech and how well we articulate our words!

Let’s be fervent in our walk, which will lead us to a better relationship with God and prayers that will get results!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-27-11

(John 4:48-51 NKJV) Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” {49} The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” {50} Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. {51} And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”

The question today is; do we believe in Jesus’ Word that He speaks to us about our situation or our need, or do we have to see Him work it out first in order to believe it?

Faith is not about seeing the results first. The Bible clearly tells us what Faith is (Heb 11:1 KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

When we believe God to do something for us, we can’t wait until He does it. The faith comes first. We have to get Him ahead of time, get His word on the situation, knowing what the Bible says He will do and hold onto it, trusting that He will work it all out even if we don’t see the evidence at first.

Very recently, my nephew, John, laid in the intensive care unit after being in a terrible car accident. He looked hopeless. He had tubes everywhere. He couldn’t eat, couldn’t breathe on his own, and they COULD NOT let him regain consciousness, because just being awake could harm him badly.

His brain was so swollen it could have killed him if there was any kind of activity at all. But, God gave me a vision in the midst of the storm and in this vision, my nephew was awake, laying in the hospital bed with a football under his arm, smiling. It was God’s word to me. It was His way of showing me that John would be fine.

After this, I got updates on John each day. They were all very disturbing; nothing like I would have thought. But God gave me His word and in my heart His word stayed strong despite what I was hearing, despite the pressure of the family and what they were saying. Of course they were lining up with death and negativity on all ends. But, God’s Word is much more powerful!!

Today John is doing a lot of the normal things that teens do at his age. He’s home, walking, talking, texting, eating! Praise be to God! If John had died he would have gone to hell, he has not accepted Jesus Christ as of yet. My prayer is that he will soon.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. Your faith in God did not only saved his life on this earth, but your prayers and your faith helped save him from going to hell if he had died. He is not burning today because of your faith, your prayers and you standing strong on God’s word!!

Thank you for your faith in God, and remember trust in the WORD and let God bring it to pass! Your situations will change from hopelessness to a MIRACLE!!

God bless you all!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-22-11

(Prov 3:5-6 NKJV)  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.

Sometimes it can seem very hard to know what choices to make and what direction to take, when it comes time to make important decisions in our lives.

There are so many different things that can influence us or try to sway us. Everyone has their opinions and their point of view, and most of the time they’re more than willing to give it to us, even when we didn’t ask for it.

When we need to make a decision about something, whether it’s a big decision or a little one, we need to get God on it and hear what He has to say.

We may not always understand things… why we’re in a certain situation or why we’re supposed to do something a certain way, but that’s OK. God’s ways don’t always make sense to our carnal minds.

But if we trust in Him and acknowledge Him in everything, He will work it all out, in His timing.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-17-11

(Prov 1:10 NKJV)  My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.

These are awesome words of wisdom for us and for our children.

It’s so easy sometimes for us to be swayed and talked into doing something that is less than what God wants us to do.

Over the years, I’ve learned that when sin comes our way, no matter how big the temptation might seem, we can simply refuse to give in and take part in it, whatever it might happen to be.

Much of what people go through is due to bad decisions and poor choices that are made. Giving in to temptation is just one area where we can make changes and see incredible changes in our lives if we stand firm and stay strong.

God equips us and gives us what we need to resist. He has taught us in His word that if we resist evil, it will flee from us.

Resist temptation today and shed the effects of darkness from your life!
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-15-11

(Prov 3:5-6 NKJV)  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.

One of the most frequent questions we get asked is “How do I hear God?”

As believers, it’s important that we learn how to discern and hear God’s voice. We hear so much around us that it sometimes becomes hard to know which voice is God’s and which ones aren’t.

The best way for any of us to hear God is to know Him. The closer we are to Him and the better we know Him, the easier it becomes to know when He’s speaking to us and what He’s saying.

(John 10:27 NKJV)  “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

As we know Him better, it becomes much easier to block out all of the other noise around us and tune Him in. Drawing closer to Him will take away the desire in us to do things that are contrary to His word, thereby eliminating things that would be likely to make our spirits dull.

There are many, many things that will push us away from God, even when we don’t realize it’s happening.

As we immerse ourselves in His word and we press into Him, we will begin to hear His voice clearly.

People of God, press into Him today. The rewards far outweigh the efforts.
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-12-11

(Exo 20:15 NKJV)  “You shall not steal.

Steal: to take the property of another wrongfully and especially as a habitual or regular practice

How many of us steal and maybe we don’t even give it a second thought?

We can steal from our neighbors. We can steal from our employer. We can steal from God.

There are many different ways we can steal. It’s not always about walking into a store and leaving with something that we didn’t pay for. Most times it’s more subtle than that.

Some of us may do it without even thinking that it’s stealing. Are we using company time to take care of personal business? Are we taking company property home with us? Paper, tape, paper clips, pens, pencils, postage stamps… these are all items that can easily be taken home and used for our personal stuff.

How about our time? Are we spending company time on the phone doing personal things? Are we surfing the web for personal reasons, on company time?

How about our neighbors? Are we encroaching on the property line between our neighbor’s home and ours? Are we intentionally planting shrubs too close to the property boundary, hoping that they won’t notice?

Are we robbing God? Are we not honoring God in all we do? Are we putting God 2nd, 3rd or lower on our list of priorities? Are we not honoring God with our finances? Are we not tithing and trusting Him with our money?

Just a friendly reminder that we always need to be alert and keep ourselves sharp, not falling into any of the snares of the enemy, even in some of the subtle areas of our lives.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-9-11

(1 Th 5:21-22 NKJV)  Test all things; hold fast what is good. {22} Abstain from every form of evil.

Some of the biggest mistakes and the worst decisions we make is because we fail to “test” things when we’re making a decision.

God gives us His spirit to help us when it comes to knowing what to do and what not to do.

The hard part for us is letting God speak to us and show us His way when we’re so used to doing everything based on what we know.

Sometimes what God shows us will go against human logic. That’s because He is God and His ways don’t have to line up with our ways. He doesn’t operate based on logic.

God wants us to learn how to listen for His voice and know when He’s speaking to us. In (John 10:27 NKJV) Jesus said:  “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

As we draw closer to Him, we will learn to discern His voice and distinguish it from all of the other noise clutter around us.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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