Category: Loving People

Bible Verse of The Day – 10-25-17

Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJV) 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

I know what you’re thinking; how in this world do we love our enemies?

This is a big thing and most times we just skim over it, because deep down we all know it’s impossible for man to love his enemy.

So let’s take a look at what an enemy is. An enemy is someone that is antagonistic to another; one seeking to injure, overthrow, or confound an opponent.

You mean to tell me I have to love those who want to antagonize me, injure me or overthrow me, and that’s only one part of this verse?

How do we do this with the right heart and not just go through the motions? How do we keep our heart from not wanting to do the same things back to them that they’ve done to us?

We are human, with feelings, and those feelings sometimes scream really loud to do the opposite of what these verses are saying. How do we win over what our own feelings, mind, heart and our attitude are saying? It’s so hard, and seems impossible.

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.”

The first thing we need to do is get out of our heads. We can’t do this with intellect. We have to get into the Word of God. God’s word has a way of softening the hardest of hearts.

When hurtful things come our way, it can cause our heart to get hard quickly and our minds start to race. There is no room for God when our heart has been hardened and we are operating solely on intellect.

The second thing to do is to try to avoid spending a lot of time with negative people.

We should surround ourselves with people who can find the good things even in hard times. That doesn’t mean finding people who don’t face reality. But people that see things for what they are and choose to give it to God. They spend more time praying, listening and worshiping Him than they do trying to be in control of the situation.

Third, we shouldn’t speak whatever we feel like speaking or saying in that moment of anger, persecution or when we’re being accused. Learn to hold the tongue and wait on God to bring understanding so that when we do speak, if needed, it is well worth saying and good seeds are planted.

Without God it is impossible to live out these verses. But, with Him, we can learn to walk in them and live them out daily. 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 – 5-1-17

Ephesians 5:2 (NKJV) 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Walk in love. What does that mean anyway?

How do we walk in love on a daily basis? How do we emulate Christ and share the love of God with those around us in a way that will draw them to Him?

First, we need to learn to let God love us. We need to draw near to God so He can draw near to us.

Psalm 73:28 (NKJV) 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, I may declare all Your works.

If we are letting God love us and we are drawing near to Him, His love will become a bigger part of who we are.

And as He becomes bigger in our own lives, our passion for Him will grow. And it will become easier for us to let His love flow through us, out to those around us.

Before too long, our outlook on life in general will begin to change. And as that happens, we will be less likely to despise those people who irritate or frustrate us and more likely to see them through His eyes of love, grace, mercy and compassion.

Then, walking in love will come naturally.

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!

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.

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Bible Verse of The Day – 1-11-17

James 4:14 (NKJV) 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that touch the hearts of others.

I was visiting a nursing home a couple of weeks back. I met all kinds of wonderful people. I smiled with them and talked with them. I really enjoyed being around people I didn’t even know. By the time I left I was hugging and kissing them goodbye like they were my own family.

Some of these people were in wheelchairs. Others were able to walk around. Some could not get up at all. Regardless of their condition, I was blessed and honored to be able to spend time with them.

What a joy it was to listen and take it all in.

There was one lady in particular that I had gone to visit. I’ve known her for years. She was always the kindest, nicest lady and she never had a bad word to say about anyone.

How things change. Now she can barely hold a coffee cup in her hand without spilling. She cries for her mother and she can barely remember anything.

I looked at this woman and thought to myself about how well she has done throughout her life. And now it is our time to hold her and help her finish her last days here.

The simple things in life are so beautiful. And spending time with people that are getting older is one of them. We don’t have to have a lot of money or big gifts to bring. Just bring ourselves.

She and all the rest of them gave me a hug as I was getting ready to leave. Even though I didn’t know most of them, I already miss them.

Time goes by quickly. If there is someone we need to love on, we need to go after them and make a way to see them. We don’t know what tomorrow brings.

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 – 7-18-16

Matthew 5:46 (NKJV) 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

To love someone who gives love in return is natural for all of us. It isn’t a challenge at all. It’s easy. Even the ungodly can love those who will love them back.

But to love someone who returns no love, or returns hatred, is difficult, for even the spiritually mature person. This is a challenge that most of us would fail miserably at almost every time.

Many of us will deny that we’re like this. But it’s safe to say that if we were to observe ourselves on a regular basis, and how we interact with others, we would probably not like what we saw at all. We would probably fall to our knees and repent before God for our lack of love, compassion and understanding.

So we challenge you today to love those who give us no love in return; The unlovable, the miserable, the cranky, the spiteful, the cynical and the hateful people around us.

Jesus implored us to do this. He even took it one step further and instructed us to pray for those very same people.

Luke 6:27-28 (NKJV) 27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.

This is our “homework” for the days and weeks ahead, to love everyone we encounter, whether they reciprocate or not. Are we up to the task?

With God’s spirit we can be!

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!

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.

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Bible Verse of The Day – 5-23-16

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

If we let Him teach us how to walk by His Spirit, this fruit will flow out of our inward parts and it will be evident that God is with us.

The flesh wrestles with the Spirit at times because the two don’t always see eye to eye, so to speak. This is especially true if we have been hurt, mistreated or violated in any way.

God’s Spirit moving in us will act with kindness, goodness, etc., despite what we may be feeling from the things we have been through. This is only possible by us emulating the love that God has for us.

God’s love for us has been spoken and shown through His Son’s death on the cross, even though we are a sinful people.

Romans 5:8 (NKJV) 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While our hearts were in rebellion against Him, He acted out in love. He didn’t act in anger, hatred, violence, or in a demeaning, hurtful way.

Let His fruit take precedence in our lives that it becomes a natural way to respond to any given situation. And through it, God may get the Glory! 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 – 4-18-16

Matthew 5:46 (NKJV) 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Loving people can be a challenge. Some people are very hard to love. Some even seem like they don’t want anyone to love them because of things they say and things that they do.

It’s easy to love those who love us back. It takes little or no effort to do this. But Jesus said that loving only the people who love us back isn’t really much of an accomplishment.

Loving the unlovable is a challenge. It’s hard to do consistently. But, it’s something that God wants each and every one of us to learn how to do.

Remember what else Jesus said?

Mark 2:17 (NKJV) 17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

It’s the sick who need a doctor. On the same principle, it’s the unlovable who need the love of God to be displayed to them.

Love is an amazing thing. It can break down barriers that logic and intellect can’t even begin to touch.

Why? Because love touches people in a way that logic can never even begin to do. It melts the hearts that have become hard. It softens people in ways that no other words or works can soften them.

Jesus came and walked among men and women to teach us one thing. Love.

He showed us God’s love in everything He did. And He demonstrated His love by laying His life down for you and for me.

Now that is love like no other.

John 15:13 (NKJV) 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Who will we love?

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!

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.

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Bible Verse of The Day – 3-28-16

Galatians 5:14 (NKJV) 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Loving our neighbors is so important. But it can sometimes be extremely difficult.

Very few of us choose who our neighbors are. Sometimes they move in after us. Other times, we move into a house or apartment and our neighbors are already there. Either way, we have to learn to live with, and love, our neighbors.

The way we treat our neighbors is a reflection of God and our walk with Him. Many times, our neighbors might not know that we are believers, followers of Christ, but that shouldn’t make a difference in how we treat them.

It is our duty as believers to love them and treat them with respect, as God would want us to.

Sometimes our neighbors make it hard to do so by the way they treat us. Sometimes our neighbors gossip about us. Other times they might steal from us. Still other times they might say things directly to us that hurt us.

Regardless, we are told by God’s word to love them.

We’d like to challenge everyone today, including ourselves, to live this out; To walk it out on a daily basis. Let’s shine God’s love to those around us. They may receive it. They may not. What they do with it is up to them. But what we do on our end is up to us.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

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!

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.

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Bible Verse of The Day – 11-19-15

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (NKJV) 1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;

Each one of us has a set time here on earth. We’re born, we live for a time and at some point we will take our last breath and be gone from here.

This is why it’s critical that we learn to make the most of each and every day we have here with our loved ones. We need to be careful that we’re not taking anyone for granted. And we need to give them the time, the love and the respect they deserve.

None of us knows when that day will come, for ourselves or for anyone else.

James 4:14 (NKJV) 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

And yet, most, if not all of us, are guilty of breezing through the days that we live and not loving our families enough.

We’re guilty of not spending time with the people that God has placed in our lives.

And we’re guilty of letting them slip away because we’re too busy with so many things that aren’t as important.

But here’s the thing. Today is a brand new day, and with each new day we have a new opportunity to start over and do our best to get it right.

So let’s let God show us where we’ve been lacking and where we might have been dropping the ball when it comes to loving, caring for and helping the people around us. And let’s make a change where God shows us we need to change.

He’s merciful and willing to give us another try. We just have to want to 🙂

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!

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.

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Bible Verse of The Day – 11-10-15

John 13:35 (NKJV) 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus spent a fair amount of His time here on earth teaching people to love. He didn’t teach warfare. He didn’t teach intolerance. He didn’t teach bigotry. He didn’t teach racism. He didn’t teach sexism.

He taught love.

As His body, we are supposed to exemplify His teachings and live them out. How? By loving others. By showing them God’s mercy and compassion.

John 13:34 (NKJV) 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

How far we have fallen when it comes to following His new commandment.

It’s very sad to see the state of the church today. We have become like the world in so many ways.

And yet we expect to be able to reach out to a dying world and offer them something that will rescue them from the pits of hell, while we are being hateful in our speech and our actions.

1 Corinthians 13:11 (NKJV) 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Church, it’s time for us to put away childish things and walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

The world is a mess. People are dying all around us. Believers in some countries are literally dying for their faith every single day, at the hands of terrorists and tyrants.

And yet, in some areas of the world, we get caught up in silly debates about things that have no bearing on anything eternal, or even anything truly important.

We implore you. Put off the childish things and seek God with your whole heart. And love those He has put in your life.

And show them Christ, each and every day, by showing them His mercy and compassion.

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!

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.

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Bible Verse of The Day – 6-29-15

1 John 4:7 (NKJV) 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Jesus came and lived among us, and He loved those He spent time with.

He ate with and spent time with those who society would consider undesirable; prostitutes, tax collectors, adulterers and more.

These very same people would be looked down upon if they entered many of today’s modern church buildings. Some might even be asked to leave.

If God’s love is ever to be portrayed to the world, how can it happen if we, the body of Christ, shun people and turn them away based on how they look or how we perceive them?

We will admit that some people can be hard to love. They might be obnoxious, boisterous or downright unruly and rebellious. But there was never a moment in our lives when we were the picture of perfection. And yet, God loved us in spite of ourselves.

So who are we not to show that same love to those who we come into contact with?

No, it’s not always easy. In fact, sometimes it can be downright difficult. And those people that we’re trying to love can be the very ones that make it the hardest. But loving people is not an option. It’s a command from Jesus himself.

Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJV) 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

So, as His body, we need to cut through all of the noise, all of the heated debates, all of the propaganda and everything else that would try to get in the way. And we need to love.

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!

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.

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Bible Verse of The Day – 6-5-15

1 John 4:8 (NKJV) 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

I was in a local store this evening and I saw a man walking ahead of me. Something about this man irritated me.

I kept walking and got what I had gone there for, and as I walked toward the front of the store to pay for my things, I saw him again. Once more, I got very irritated and began to think things about him that were contrary to how God would want me to feel.

I heard the Holy Spirit say to me “Jesus died on the cross for him, as much as He died for you. I love him, therefore you need to love him too.”

Needless to say, my thoughts changed immediately and I repented for what I had been thinking.

We are called to love everyone. Even the unlovable. Even those who irritate us. Even those who disagree with us. And even those who do harm to us.

Loving others is probably one of the most difficult things we are called to do. What’s more, we are commanded to love others. It’s not optional.

John 13:34-35 (NKJV) 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

So, today, as you go through your routine and meet others wherever you are, remember that loving them is not something we are asked to do. It’s something we are required to do.

Love one another.

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!

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.

Please Consider Making a Donation.

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