Category: Marriage

Bible Verse of The Day – 9-9-14

1 Corinthians 7:3 (NKJV) 3 Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

In the verse above, Paul is specifically addressing married couples. He is also speaking specifically about physical (sexual) affection. But today I want to speak about more than just sexual intimacy.

There are many, many married couples who’s relationships are way out of balance due to a lack of attention on the part of one or both of the members of the relationship.

This can be in both the emotional and the physical (non-sexual) aspects of your relationship. Sometimes couples just get too busy with their lives and their routines each day to remember to stop and take the time to show their spouse how much they love them and how much they mean to them.

Other times, a person may be irritated or annoyed with their spouse about something, and instead of discussing it and resolving a problem, they withhold their attention and affection from them. Sometimes this is done inadvertently, whereas other times some people may do this as a sort of punishment.

Either way, this needs to be fixed!

If we are married, our relationship with our spouse should be second only to our relationship with God. After God, our marriage comes first, before anything else, even before our children (if we have any). And especially before our jobs or our hobbies.

So I urge you today, if you’re married, obey God. Honor your spouse by giving them the attention they deserve. Don’t put it off. Don’t wait for tomorrow. We are not promised a tomorrow.

Love them. Hug them. Hold them. Show them and tell them how much they mean to you. Your relationship can only get better if you follow God’s leading!

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 – 8-7-14

Ephesians 5:33 (NKJV) 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Love and respect are the two things we need to focus on in our marriage. We have to stay balanced in this, being reminded that these are the secrets to a strong marriage.
If the husband is slipping up in loving his wife as himself, then the wife is going to struggle in having respect for him.  We are not giving any excuses for either one to not do their part, but it will make it complicated if these two things are not at work in a marriage.

There are days when we need to give our spouse some slack if they are having a bad day, etc. Everyone has a bad day now and then.

As the husband works at loving his wife in such a way, it will bring great pleasure to the wife to have love and respect for him.

No one marriage is perfect and we will have our bumps in the road, but if we remember and hold fast to this scripture, through the good and the bad times, we will make it through, causing our love for each other to grow even deeper.

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 – 5-29-14

Philippians 2:3 (NKJV) Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

This is huge. If we could all live like this, there would be far less problems in our lives.

There are so many angles that this can be looked at from, but today let’s look at it from a marriage point of view.

We hear from a lot of people who are going through marital problems of varying degrees. They are caused by a lot of different things, but there is almost always one root to all of these problems; selfish ambition (self-centered thoughts and actions).

Sometimes these self-centered actions are unintentional and well-intentioned, but other times there is no consideration whatsoever for the other party in the marriage.

One of the things that we always tell couples who come to us for counsel is that they need to take their eyes off of what their spouse has done wrong and ask God what it is that they need to change about themselves. Where have they fallen short in the relationship?

It’s always important to know where we stand when it comes to how we are carrying out God’s commands in our own life. And if both people in a marriage (or any relationship) would live this way, there would be no divorces, ever.

But humanity being what it is, some people just can’t seem to get an understanding of this. And, sadly, there are some that just plain don’t want to.

So if you’re in a marital crisis today, start asking God where you can change, where you may have fallen short and what you can do to help fix the relationship. Start walking out what He shows you. Start living it sincerely because you truly want to change, not just because you want to win your spouse back.

Your spouse may or may not respond to these changes. That’s entirely their choice. But know in your heart that when you follow God’s leading and walk in His ways, you are pleasing Him.

We pray for God’s blessings over your marriage, in the name of Jesus Christ.

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 – 4-26-14

Ephesians 5:25 (NKJV) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her…

Husbands, Love Your Wives.

This is so simple, yet so profound.

Love Your Wife. It is a command from God’s word. It is something that we have to learn how to do if we are to do it right.

And how do we learn it? We learn by example. And who is our example? Jesus Himself.

Jesus loved His bride so much that He gave His life for her. He loved His bride so much, He laid His life down as a sacrifice for her.

This means that anything less than giving His life would have been easy for Him to do. Any other kind of sacrifice would have been a simple thing for Him to do, with no tough decision required.

So where do we, as husbands, stand when it comes to this kind of unselfish love? Do we love our wives the way Christ loved His bride?

Do we pass the test with flying colors, or do we maybe just squeak by? Or do we miss it by a longshot?

No matter how well or how poor a job we do when it comes to loving our wife, we can always do better. We will never be perfect, but we need to give our wife a 100% effort, nothing less.

So, husbands, ask yourself today if you’re loving your wife the way Christ loved His bride.

Husbands, love your wives.

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 – 3-13-14

Genesis 2:24 (NKJV) Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman. It’s ordained by God to be a lifetime commitment to each other.

Sadly, today’s society has been quite successful at trying to tear marriage apart and destroy the sanctity of it. It has become just as common for people to get divorced as it has for people to stay together. Maybe even more common…

There are so many factors that play into a happy, successful marriage. It’s safe to say that it’s way too deep to cover in this email message.

Anyone reading this who has been through a divorce can attest to the devastation that takes place when a divorce happens. It’s a deep thing that nobody can fully explain. And that’s because it’s a spiritual bond that’s being torn apart when a couple separates permanently.

But let us just say that, regardless what people say, marriages today can still work and they can still last. It just takes work and it takes a 100% commitment from both, the husband and the wife. If either person gives less than 100%, the marriage is going to be fighting an uphill battle.

Yesterday, March 12, Pastor Ellie and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary. We thank God for our lasting relationship and the fact that we can be a living testimony, showing the world that marriages can still work!

Has it always been easy? Heck, no! Our relationship has always been strong, but as a couple we have faced some tremendous battles in our lives. Whether it has been financial battles or anything else, God has brought us through them all with victory. And we give Him all the glory and honor.

So take heart, children of God! There is still hope for a strong and successful marriage, even in these dark times that we’re living in.

Trust God and put Him first in everything, and He will lead you every step of the way.

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 – 8-27-13

Ephesians 5:28 (NKJV) So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.

As today wore on, I pondered what to write about for the Bible Verse of The Day. We always want to be timely and relevant. And we always want to share what God leads us to say.

Today we want to reinforce the responsibility of husbands to their wives.

If you’re a husband and you’re reading this, can you honestly say that you love and care for your wife as you should be doing?

Do you follow God’s direction, given in this verse below?

Ephesians 5:25 (NKJV) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her…

As husbands, men are responsible for loving and protecting their wives, all the time, no matter what kind of a mood you’re in, no matter how the day went at the office or how frustrated you might be with the family budget, or anything else.

As men, it is our duty and obligation to never let our guard down when it comes to how we treat our wives.

The world and the enemy will pull on us in an effort to get us to drop our guard and treat our wives in a less-than-Christ-like way. But we need to stand strong and never back down to the lies and the deception.

Men, stand strong for who you are meant to be and love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave His life for her.

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 – 4-3-13

(Colossians 3:18-19 NKJV)  Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. {19} Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.

We wanted to take a minute today to address something that is so very critical in the body of Christ.

Over the past couple of years we have received so very many emails from both husbands and wives, telling us of the unfaithfulness of their spouse or the abusive behavior of their spouse.

We have spent a lot of time counseling some of these people and walking them through the repair and healing process for their marriage and for their own emotional condition.

It has been heartbreaking and rewarding at the same time. It has been fulfilling to know that we can share God’s words with couples and watch their marriages become healed and whole again. But it has also been so very sad to see how Christian couples can fall into such terrible states of disrepair in their relationships.

We urge you today to make the time and take the time that is needed to treat your relationship with your spouse the way it deserves to be treated, and to treat your spouse with love and respect.

There is not a single one of us who is perfect in our relationships. We all fall so terribly short sometimes. But it’s nothing that we can’t fix in ourselves, if we truly want to, with God’s help.

So take some time today, right now, and examine your relationship with your spouse. Be brutally honest with yourself and ask yourself if you’re giving your marriage 100%.

If you can’t honestly answer that question with a solid “yes”, please take the steps necessary to make it right. You can do this, with God’s help and wisdom.

We are here for you if you need our counsel. You are loved.

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 – 12-21-12

(Mark 10:7-9 NKJV)  ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, {8} ‘and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.

Becoming one with our spouse is what God has intended for a marriage. He does not want the husband and wife in disagreement or apart in any way.

One of the things that we have settled on as a couple is that if we don’t agree on something, we don’t do it.

We have learned in our 29+ years of marriage that this works great for us. We simply wait until we come together in agreement on whether to do something or not to do it. Either way, we have to be together.

There have been many times we have discussed something, and one of us says “I’m not sure. I’m feeling uncomfortable with that”. When that happens, we will not make a move in that direction. We don’t get mad at each other for voicing our opinion or expressing how we feel. We just know we need to wait.

We need to be together as one, we should not pull away from each other when we don’t agree on something but, rather, listen to the other’s concern.

This has saved us from making some really bad decisions in our lives.

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 – 12-15-12

(Ephesians 5:24 NKJV)  Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Some of the problems we have today in many homes are because we don’t understand the order which God gives us as husband and wife. God has called the husband to be the leader of the home. All men… know that you are the leader. There are no questions nor excuses about this; it is what God wants for the home.

What happens sometimes is that a man that is not aggressive, a little slow moving or with a tendency to be relaxed marries a woman that is more forward and aggressive, with a take-charge personality. The woman ends up taking on the leadership role in the home and in the relationship.

This still does not give men the right to sit back and let the wife do everything, even if she doesn’t mind it. This is out of God’s order and problems will occur.

It’s not meant for the woman to do it all and to carry the load. It is meant for the man to do his part and lead, and the woman should follow his leading and help, as needed, in a balanced way.

Remember… God does not make mistakes. It is important we are diligent in what God gives us. Men are responsible for their position and women are responsible for theirs. If the Woman is playing the man’s role what happens to her role? It get’s neglected. Something will be neglected.

Men, today you need to stand in your position and lead. Women, you need to take your position and both need to be supporting and helping each other to stay in the order which God has set for each one.

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 – 9-26-12

(Eph 5:25 NKJV)  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her…

We must understand that the behavior of mistreating women is not coming from God. It is pure evil.

Women, you are precious in God’s sight and you need not be abused. Your husband is to love you the way God has ordered him to do, not beat you or talk down to you, not look at you like you are a piece of property. Take a stand today and in the name of Jesus, rebuke and bind the evil spirit that is trying to belittle and abuse you.

Let us stand together and pray today for the women in this world that suffer from abusive situations and for those that are in the midst of it.

Let us pray for the men that think it is OK to abuse their wives. May God help them to see their wrong, and in doing so allow God to change them.

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 – 4-12-12

(Eph 5:33 NKJV)  Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Love and respect are the key words in this verse to keeping a good marriage.

Marriage is a beautiful thing that God has blessed us with. There is nothing like spending your life with someone that you love and respect. Growing together, learning each others likes and dislikes, spending time helping each other and learning from each other; these are all wonderful things as we look at them with the right heart.

Don’t ever go into a marriage thinking you are going to change that person that you want to marry. We can’t change anyone if they don’t see the need or the want to change.

Men; go into a marriage knowing that you are going to love that person no matter what.

Women; you go into that marriage with respect toward your man.

There are times I’m sure, in any marriage, when you will have your ups and downs, but you WORK it out. Marriage takes work on both ends.

Keep it balanced. If one person is doing all the work trying to hold things together and the other is not doing his/her part the marriage will be unbalanced and problems will come. Stay balanced; work together as a husband and wife should, loving and respecting…you will have a wonderful time together.

Marriage is a blessing!!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

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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