Category: Loving People

Bible Verse of The Day – 9-19-13

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.

Love your enemies. Hmmm. What does that really mean?

We had a reader write to ask us about this. Here’s what they wrote:

“I find it difficult to love everyone but I definitely don’t hate them. I dislike them!! Is that OK?”

This is something that every single one of us has thought about or asked about at one point or another. How can I love someone that I really don’t like?

Well, here’s the answer that we gave:

“As believers, we are taught to love our enemies. So what does that mean? Does it mean that we are to fall all over them and give them huge hugs, even though we don’t really like a person? Not necessarily.

We are to love people, not with a mushy, human kind of love, but with the love that God shows us all. This means that we care for that person as God does, and we have their best interests in mind at all times, but it doesn’t mean we have to hang out with them or spend time with them just for the sake of it.

As we draw closer to God and become more of who He wants us to become, this will become easier.

So if you’re having trouble liking people because of something they did to you, if they have a bad attitude, or even if they just irritate you, just remember to love them with the same love that God has for us, and that might make it a bit easier.”

We never know what makes people act the way they do. But if we see them with God’s love, we will see things differently!

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 – 9-16-13

(Matthew 5:44 NKJV)  “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…

One of the things I had to learn and am still working on every day is learning how to love the person when I don’t like their actions.

Seriously… how many times do we look at a person, watch their actions, and look at their outward appearance before making our decision to accept them?

God does not tell us to love someone just because they look good, dress nice or act the same as us. He tells us to love our enemy…OUCH!

This kind of love takes a changing of our heart. It takes learning, discipline and action on our part to love and accept people for the person they are. We can’t do this on our own, but we can do this with God’s help!

If they are our enemy, if they curse us, if they hate us, if they spitefully use us and persecute us, we STILL need to love them. Not after they apologize or change their behavior, but in the state that they are in. It doesn’t mean we love the things they do, but we love the person.

As God’s children, we need to look beyond one’s errors, mistakes and disadvantages and love the person. How do we learn to love the person and look beyond their actions?

We have to surrender our feelings toward the person and let God’s Word change our heart. We have to follow His example. He loved us first and sent His Son for us in spite of our terrible, sinful nature. We too must love in this way.

We can’t just say we love someone; we have to show them we love them. It is by our actions that love conquers all!

Is there someone in your life today that you struggle with? Do you love them deeply but have a hard time showing them, because you’re afraid of the hurt you feel when you’re around them?

Let God teach us how to show our love for others without getting hurt by their actions.

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 – 8-14-13

Matthew 5:43-44 (NKJV) 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 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.

Bless those who curse you. Love your enemies. Pray for those who spitefully use you.

That is a tough pill for some of us to swallow! It’s a tall order that many of us have a hard time fulfilling.

It’s easy to curse someone when they curse you. You know… an eye for en eye? But Jesus taught us a new and different way. We are no longer to take an eye for an eye.

Luke 6:31 (NKJV) And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

So if someone cusses us out and gives us a piece of their mind, it isn’t OK if we do the same back to them, even when we really, really want to!

If you’re in your car and someone lays on their horn and starts waving their hands at you, it’s NOT OK to do the same thing back!

Like I said, this isn’t always easy to walk out, but it is a necessity. We need to learn to “turn the other cheek”, walk away and ask God to bless that person. We need to pray that God will bless them, prosper them and shine His light in their life.

There will be days when this is harder than at other times and there will be times when we will have harsh words right on the tip of our tongue to hurl back at someone who insults us or speaks evil of us, but we need to restrain those words and be kind to that person, even when it hurts.

If we will commit to doing this, and then start to walk it out, God will help make it easier for us and before we know it, it will become second nature.

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 – 6-3-13

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

This was the very first commandment Jesus gave to the disciples after He sent Judas away, giving Judas permission to go and betray Him.

Jesus knew He would only be around for a little while longer. His time had come.

He spent His entire time here loving all those that were around Him and those that He came in contact with. This commandment can make all the difference in the world as we follow His example.

As we go to work or school, care for our children, etc., wherever we go… take time to really love those around us. No matter how they may treat us, let us love them and do what Jesus commanded.

Have a great week!

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 – 4-15-13

(1 John 3:18 NKJV)  My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

This verse reminds us that action means more than just words themselves.

If we are going to share the love of God, we need to take action. How many of us today are so full of wanting to do something for God, but when we think of doing something, we think of the “mission field” as being in some other country where there is no water or food, or where there are lots of sick and lost people.

We need to take a look around right where we are at today. There are sick and hungry people, and there are lost and dying people everywhere. We don’t have to leave our country to find them…but start right where we are at.

Let us not waste one more day. Reach out today with actions of love and truth and may God’s love move through us MIGHTILY to help that ONE!! Amen!

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 – 3-28-13

(2 Corinthians 5:10 NKJV)  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

In these days of heated political battles and the escalating fight between good and evil, it can be very easy to get caught in the middle of debates regarding moral issues and other hot buttons that abound in the world we live in.

These can be such topics as homosexuality, same-sex marriage, abortion, etc. Everyone seems to have an opinion on these and most people are very passionate about their opinion.

In the end, God is our judge; not the courts, the Supreme Court justices, the politicians, the church leaders or any other outspoken leaders or people who just want to be heard.

If God says something is so, then it is so. It doesn’t matter what anyone’s opinion is. Period.

And in the end, we will all stand before Him and answer for those things that we have said and done. This is what matters.

In the meantime, we need to stand firm in our Biblical convictions but we also need to love those around us while doing so. Constant arguments and heated debates will not show God’s love.

If we find ourselves in situations where things are getting heated, it’s best to speak our piece and walk away. We don’t need to feel like we should always have the last word.

So stand firm for what God has taught you and love those around you, even if you might not necessarily agree with how they live or what they stand for.

Remember… Love Always Wins!!

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 – 3-22-13

(1 Corinthians 16:14 NKJV)  Let all that you do be done with love.

When I read this verse the other day it really caught my attention.

I said to myself, “wow, in all that I do I should do it with love”. That day I took some time and paid close attention to myself and the way I handled certain things. I watched and listened carefully, making sure that when I did something, it didn’t matter what it was, I did it with the right attitude.

I caught myself at times and had to adjust my attitude. It was good for me to be aware of it and address it right then and there, while I was in the moment.

Why should we do all that we do with love? Because this is how God’s light shines through us. This is when people see Christ working through us.

It’s love the changes the heart.

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 – 2-15-13

(1 Peter 4:8 NKJV)  And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”

Have fervent love for one another. Is this a cheesy Valentine ‘s Day message? Absolutely not.

Valentine’s day is man-made and has nothing to do with the love that God wants us to share with one another. But God tells us to love one another with “fervent love”. Fervent means “having great intensity”.

This isn’t always easy, is it? Oh, we can “like” people, but how do we learn to love them fervently?

There’s only one way; to see them as God sees them and to love them with God’s love, not ours.

This takes a lot of practice and a lifetime to get right. But this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.

God has commanded us in His word. That’s enough reason for me to want to do it. How about you?

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 – 2-2-13

(John 13:34-35 NKJV)  “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.”

By our love they will know us.

How well do we live this one out? Just reading this verse convicts me. How about you?

Can we honestly say that someone might know that we are a follower of Christ by the love we show to others?

It’s so easy to say that we will love others, but quite a different thing to carry it out. People have a way of getting to us… irritating us and getting under our skin.

Some people just know how to “push our buttons”, so to speak and get us wound up with little effort on their part.

But we are to LOVE them, just as much as we are to love the one who loves us back!

If we are to truly win other to Christ, we need to learn how to love those that God has placed around us, even when it’s not easy!

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 – 11-20-12

(Proverbs 10:12 NKJV)  Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins.

I want to touch base on something that God has really been driving home in my life over the past year or more. And He has been teaching me how to really put it into practice each day.

Love conquers all. This is a fact and I am seeing it more and more, and I’m truly beginning to understand the truth end depth of this statement.

Love disarms angry people. Love brings peace into stressful situations. Love forgives when people might not think forgiveness is merited.

You see, we all sin… each and every one of us. There are some who choose to hang onto the sins of others and wave them like flags for everyone to see. There’s something satisfying in this for some people.

These types of people thrive on tearing people down to make themselves look good, and it breaks the heart of God.

And then there are those who choose to love and to forgive, and this pleases God!

(1 Peter 4:8 NKJV)  And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”

Do you know someone who has sinned? Maybe they even sinned against you.

Love them. It won’t necessarily be easy to do, but God has commanded us to love.

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 – 9-10-12

(Mat 5:14 NKJV)  “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

You are the light of the world!

Do you know who this is referring to? You!

Do you know who said this? Jesus did!

Let me tell you right now that Jesus meant this when he said it. We, followers of Christ, are the light of the world because we have God’s spirit in us.

He has given us His spirit and made us His light so we can share His light and His love with those around us.

This is not the time to be downtrodden. This is not the time to be afraid or depressed. This is the time to be a light to this world that is so full of darkness.

Let us draw so close to God that we emanate His presence wherever we go.

Press into Him. Let Him take your fears and turn them into faith, and as your faith grows let His light in you shine on those all around you.

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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