Category: God’s Sovereignty

Bible Verse of The Day – 1-28-21

John 9:1 (NKJV) 1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.

He saw a man who was blind from birth.

His disciples were curious to know why he was born like this. They asked was it his sin that caused this or the sins of his parents?

John 9:2 (NKJV) 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered them and told them neither. He was born like this that the works of God may be revealed in him.

John 9:3 (NKJV) 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

Some may say, “that poor man. He had to be blind so that others could see the works of God?”.

No. You see, that’s the problem with our thinking.

We think God is obligated to give us a certain lifestyle when we become His child. We think our lives are about us.

Wrong!

This is a misconception for those who want to walk around living a fake, presumptuous lifestyle.

We need to understand that our walk with God is not always going to be a beautiful fairy tale dream come true, where we’re constantly walking in His blessings, with no problems whatsoever.

Some walks are very difficult. That is why we must be prepared and ready for whatever cross we need to carry.

Our life, our walk here, is not about us as the world tries to ingrain into us. It is always about God and what He wants to do through us.

This man’s purpose was being blind for a time.

Wow! That just hit something!

That can sure change things up a bit in today’s prosperity “bless me” teachings.

Did a man’s blindness have a purpose? Absolutely!

His purpose was being just that; born blind so God could be glorified.

Did he get healed? Let’s take a look.

John 9:7 (NKJV) 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Yes, praise God, he was healed!

And boy did that stir up some things and bring to light how the intellect can be way off at times.

You will have to tune in to tomorrow’s devotional as we take it a step further.

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 – 1-22-21

Job 38:4 (NKJV) 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.

“Where were you?”

These are the words that God spoke to Job after he had spent many days questioning Him about the recent events in his life.

Job had been stricken with physical ailments, as well as suffering the loss of his children and all of his material possessions.

During many days of debates with his friends, Job had vehemently attested to his own innocence, and that it was unfair for him to have been subjected to this kind of treatment by God.

He wished to stand before God and plead his case, proving his innocence.

After a time, God spoke to Job. And when he did, it wasn’t anything close to being what Job had hoped for.

He started off with this:

Job 38:2-3 (NKJV) 2 “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? 3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

And then God promptly put Job in his place, asking him, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”.

Needless to say, this trimmed Job down to size in a hurry, humbling him, to say the least.

Over the years, these words spoken by God have always kept me on my toes, as the Holy Spirit reminds me of God’s sovereignty in all things.

And I have learned to never question God about anything, no matter how little I understand about it.

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 – 1-11-21

Isaiah 54:17 (NKJV) 17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.

Sometimes in life it can feel like evil has an upper hand. It feels like it is winning, completely unchecked.

And the truth is that sometimes it does win. Sometimes it does defeat those who stand against it, at least for the short term.

But here’s what we need to remember when that happens. God will ultimately prevail.

We don’t always know the timing. We don’t always see, know or understand God’s methodology. Sometimes we don’t even see the victory itself, either because it happens in the spirit realm or it happens after our lifetime.

But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

We need to hold fast to God’s promises and trust Him in all things, despite what we see with our natural eyes.

Yes, that can be difficult to do sometimes. It can wreak havoc with our minds, and it can toy our emotions. But that’s OK. That still doesn’t mean that God isn’t in control.

He is.

So, if you’re feeling frustrated because it looks like evil is winning, press in to God. Hold to Him tightly. Dig in to His word. Talk to Him. And then listen for His voice.

Listen to Him. Let Him reassure you and bring understanding.

Our minds don’t get the final say. His Spirit does.

And what He says is far more important than what we think or perceive.

Trust 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 – 8-3-20

Exodus 3:14 (NKJV) 14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

If there is one thing that I have learned about God, it is this; He is who He is, and what we think about it doesn’t really matter.

Whether or not we like some of the things He does doesn’t sway or change Him. He has His ways, and, most importantly, He has His reasons for doing what He does the way He does it.

We would probably all like to see Him do some things differently. But if we truly understand who He is, we will stop questioning what He does, why He does it and how He does it. And we will also stop questioning His timing.

We know in part. We have limited understanding of who He is and why He does certain things. But His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

Isaiah 55:9 (NKJV) 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

So, it’s safe to say that we won’t always understand Him completely.

But that’s OK. He doesn’t expect us to understand everything. He just wants us to trust Him and follow Him as He leads us.

And when we can start doing that, letting Him be God, while we work on the trusting and obeying Him, we will all be much better off. And our walk with Him will flourish.

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 – 7-17-20

Exodus 4:11 (NKJV) 11 So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?

As we talked about last week in one of our recent devotionals, God was explaining to Moses that He wanted him to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the people of Israel go.

Moses was less than excited about the prospect of this. He was, as he kept explaining to God, “slow of speech” and could not talk very well (as if God didn’t already know this!).

But God replied with the words above, assuring Moses that He was well aware of who He had chosen. He had, after all, created him!

This is something that comes across as pretty comical, since many of us are guilty of the same thing. We question God’s choices or His ways of doing things, as though He might need our counsel or our help with the decisions He makes.

We need to rest assured that if, or when, God chooses someone to do something, He has specific reasons for doing so. And His reasons are never wrong. Nor are they lacking in judgment.

We may think we lack what it takes, but it’s important to understand that if we do lack, God will supply us with whatever we lack.

Sometimes it might even be because we lack that He chooses us, so we don’t get haughty, thinking that our own skills or talents were the key to our success.

Whenever I think of this, I am reminded of Job being very strongly assured of the very same thing by God Himself, as God made sure that Job remembered who He answered to!

Job 38:4 (NKJV) 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.

It’s safe to say that if God chooses us, we’re better off not to try to argue with Him. He’s never, ever wrong.

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 – 7-3-20

Exodus 3:13-14 (NKJV) 13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

Moses was spending time watching over the flocks of his father-in-law when he was met by God, who spoke to him from a burning bush.

God told Moses that He had some things that He wanted him to do. And then He detailed what those tasks were.

Moses was pretty intimidated by what he heard, but he said he would do his best to carry these things out. And God promised that He would be with Moses every step of the way.

Before Moses left, he asked God who he should say had sent him to be the deliverer of the Israelite people. He needed a name to give them.

God simply replied with, “I AM WHO I AM”.

I’ve always loved the fact that God didn’t feel the need to explain Himself or expound on who He was. He simply was.

When Moses pressed Him for a further explanation, God said to tell them that “I AM has sent me to you”.

Then, to further ease the mind of Moses, God said “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.”

This made Moses feel a little better, since the Israelites would surely know this God.

The Hebrew word for I AM was YHWH. It didn’t have a pronunciation as a single word in the Hebrew language. We pronounce it as Yahweh, in English.

YHWH is the only “name” of God that isn’t descriptive. It was given to Moses directly by God Himself. It is considered to be too sacred to speak, according to Jewish traditions.

Regardless of the traditions or the aura surrounding it, YHWH is who God is. And it is used over 6,500 times in the Old Testament.

YHWH alludes to His omnipresence, everywhere at all times.

Most importantly, YHWH says it all; I AM.

He simply is. He need not explain Himself or justify anything that He does. He is Who He is.

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 – 6-19-20

Hebrews 6:17-18 (NKJV) 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

At first glance, these verses might seem very complicated, and tough to decipher or make sense of.

But they are very important for us to understand, so let’s break them down and see what we can get out of them.

The very first word, “thus”, indicates a condition, or something that it is referring to.

That something is a promise that God had made to Abraham, which we discussed a couple days ago, when we talked about Abraham waiting patiently for that promise to be fulfilled.

Now, when man makes a promise, he will swear to it as a way of guaranteeing that it will be done. But because man can offer no guarantee based solely on his word, he will usually swear by someone greater than himself, namely God.

When God made a promise to Abraham, He had nobody greater than Himself to swear by, so He bound Himself to an oath, guaranteeing to fulfill the promise He had made.

In other words, He swore by Himself that He would do what He said He would do. This assured the heirs of that promise that God would not change His mind.

Verse 18 mentions “two immutable things”. What were those two things? God’s promise, and His oath. He made a promise. And then He swore an oath to keep the promise.

You can’t get any better than that!

These two things, His promise and His oath, are unchangeable. Why? Because it is impossible for God to lie.

So, what is the result of all of this? What does it mean for us, as children of God?

It means that we can have great confidence in the fact that promises God has made will be carried out and completed!

There is no greater guarantor that God Himself. If He says something, He means it. And if He promises something, He will do it.

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 – 6-16-20

1 Chronicles 29:11 (NKJV) 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all.

All we can say is Amen to this!

Thank God it all belongs to Him. No one can ever claim it as theirs. No King, no Queen, no President, no political party, and no governor.

Everything belongs to Him and He is exalted as HEAD over all. That is something to shout about. Praise be to our Lord!

People may think they’ve got it all in the bag, so to speak. But that’s not truth.

God has it all in His hands, and whatever we think is ours belongs to Him. For all that is in Heaven and all that is in the Earth belongs to Him.

Our questions today is, “what are we all doing with what He has placed in our hands?”. Are we being good stewards and faithful with all that He has let us oversee?

1 Corinthians 4:2 (NKJV) 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

It will take discipline, and accountability to Him, to walk in such integrity. But it is very fulfilling when we find that sweet spot, that place where we are doing what God wants us to be doing, being faithful with the things He has given to us to watch over for a time.

What an honor it is to live for Him.

Psalm 100:2 (NKJV) 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

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 – 5-15-20

1 Corinthians 1:26 (NKJV) 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

As Paul was addressing the Corinthians, he drew attention to the fact that when God calls a man or a woman, He does so, not based on their earthly wisdom, their physical strength or their nobility, but for reasons He chooses.

God operates in ways that confound the minds of man. His ways of doing things will, many times, make no sense to human logic. His ways fly in the face of conventional wisdom, making fools of so-called wise people.

God sometimes chooses to use people who lack formal education in areas where He chooses to use them mightily. God doesn’t require degrees from fancy universities. He doesn’t need man’s stamp of approval upon His laborers.

And He doesn’t need to ask for man’s permission to accomplish things in the way He chooses to accomplish them.

As He moves in His own unique ways, He may choose you or me to do something that we have no clue how to do. The cool part about God, though, is that He will not only give us the understanding that we need, but He will also provide us with the tools that we need in order to complete the job.

And what’s more than that? He will often lead us into these things without us even knowing that He’s doing it, until we begin to look back and see where He has brought us!

This is the God we serve. He is more than sufficient for us in every possible way, for every step we take in this walk called life.

Isaiah 55:9 (NKJV) 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

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 – 9-3-16

Romans 14:11 (NKJV) 11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.”

There are so many things in the world that claim to be “it”.

There are philosophies and philosophers. There are political leaders and political parties. There are organizations that claim to represent the interests of a specific race or ethnicity. There are religions and denominations. The list is endless.

And many of these will tell you that they have the answers to life’s dilemmas. Many will even boast that they are the ultimate authority: the end all, be all.

But there is One who is the Truth, the Life and the Way.

He knows all. He created all. He is the only true authority. He is the author and finisher of our faith. Without Him there would be nothing. End of story.

So we challenge everyone who may read this; check yourselves. Weigh your words carefully. Test what you think is true in your philosophies, your religious traditions and your political ways.

Humble yourselves in the sight of God. Bow before Him today and repent of your prideful ways.

Do it now while there is still time. We all have to choose while we’re still here, alive on earth. For even if we fail to bow before Him now, we will bow before Him at some point in the future.

And it is much better to bow now, and call Him Lord than to bow before Him later and regret not doing it sooner.

Today is the day!

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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