Category: Our Heart

Bible Verse of The Day – 11-11-23

Matthew 13:15 (NKJV) 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’

Jesus said that the hearts of the people had grown dull.

Another way of saying this would be that their hearts had become calloused.

If something is callous, it is hardened and thickened. It is tough to penetrate.

So it can be with the heart.

In an effort to protect ourselves, we try to turn off our feelings. If we are not careful, not only do we shield ourselves from those who irritate, hurt or stress us out, but also from those we care about the most.

Sometimes we don’t even realize it; we can’t see it or feel it.

But we can recognize it if we are aware that it happens and we pay attention. It will show up in how we hear and see things.

Our actions will prove the state of our heart.

Having a dull heart will keep us blinded toward seeing the things God may be showing us, and deaf from the things God would be speaking to us.

It will keep us from receiving His understanding when we need it most.

We can develop such a heart if we don’t get in God’s word and stay open to His teachings or chastening at times.

We need to develop a heart that is sensitive to Him and calloused to the tactics of the enemy.

It’s His word speaking to us that will keep us sensitive to hear and see and have understanding. But we have to read it in order for it to be effective in getting rid of the dull, calloused and hardened heart.

Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV) 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Are we walking around today with a hard, calloused and dull heart? His Word will fix it, provided we listen and make the necessary changes.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries 
49 N Lamplighters Walk 
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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Bible Verse of The Day – 6-10-23

Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV) 9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Most of us have heard the saying, ”follow your heart”.

But according to this verse, if we don’t let God change our heart, mind and spirit, we are in deep trouble.

We definitely should not be following our heart unless it has been changed by the power of God.

It’s only when He changes our heart, transforms our mind and gives us a new spirit that we can begin to make sound decisions.

Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV) 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Once the heart of stone is removed, and He gives us that heart of flesh, we still need the renewed mind and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us make sound decisions.

The three working together, our new heart, transformed mind, and new spirit, will bring victory to our everyday life right here on earth!

We will glorify God with power, love and a sound mind!

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV) 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Our heart will now be guided in such a way that people will notice a complete change in our lifestyle.

Romans 12:2 (NKJV) 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Amen.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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Bible Verse of The Day – 7-16-22

Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV) 9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all dealing with wicked and deceitful hearts that need transformation.

No one is perfect, even after getting saved. It takes time to turn this heart of ours around.

We will always have something we are working on. But, if we know it is there and causing us to fail, we’d better be working on it and not letting it drag us into bad situations.

The key here is to know what our heart is about without Christ, and to be willing to make the necessary changes after we learn of Him and become His child.

Don’t just say, “well, I’ve always had a problem with this. It’s my weakness”. No, when we realize it, we have to shut it down, and Jesus Christ will show us how.

He will show us how to change that old heart and transform it into a new one.

James 4:7 (NKJV) 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

The biggest and most important way is to resist temptation. Build up that resistance muscle.

How? Through prayer and the Word we will be made strong.

Amen.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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Bible Verse of The Day – 5-30-22

Matthew 15:1-3 (NKJV) 1 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?

As Jesus spent more time in public, He drew more and more criticism from the religious leaders of that day.

The things He taught bothered them, so they sought to discredit Him.

At that same time, Jesus began to tear down many of the old traditions that they clung to in their ritualistic worship of God.

So, as they questioned Him as to why His disciples didn’t (ceremonially) wash their hands before eating bread, Jesus turned the tables on them and put them on the spot.

His intention wasn’t to persecute them, but to try to get them to see their own hypocrisy in the fact that while they followed their traditions rigorously (mechanically), they failed to honor God by following His commandments.

Later, when His disciples questioned Him about this, He explained that it’s not what we put into our mouth that defiles us, but what comes out of it. For what comes out is driven by what’s in our heart.

And that’s what really matters.

Let us not be like the religious leaders who were more concerned with tradition than they were with their relationship with God.

We need to let God cleanse us from the inside, out, that our hearts may be purified and guarded against the evil things that corrupt us.

Matthew 15:18-20 (NKJV) 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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Bible Verse of The Day – 6-9-21

Romans 2:28-29 (NKJV) 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

At first glance, these two verses might seem a bit odd when you read them. The way they are worded may come across as being difficult to understand.

But once you look a little closer, they start to make perfect sense.

If we think of the word, “Jew”, as a believer or a Christian, we will begin to make some sense of it.

A person isn’t necessarily a Christian because they profess outwardly to be one. Our mouths can say many things. But that doesn’t make those things so.

What counts is what’s in our hearts.

Circumcision, as referred to here, is not something physical. It is a matter of the heart.

What is in our heart, and what we do are much more important than what we say.

Our actions speak much more loudly than our words.

Even more importantly, what’s in our hearts is more important than what we do or say.

For what is in our hearts will drive what we say and what we do.

It is when our hearts are right with God and, therefore, pure in motive, that we will begin to walk out the things that show that our faith is genuine and that our intentions are of Spirit-led origins.

This kind of faith is the only thing that will convince people that God is real, as they witness Him being portrayed in our everyday lives through actions that emulate His truth, love, grace and mercy.

Are we Christians only in name? Or does what’s in our heart, and carried out in our actions, portray Him in a way that reveals Him to those around us?

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 – 11-9-20

Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV) 9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

It’s not uncommon for people to ask God to change them, make them a different person, with less faults and shortcomings.

This is usually a sincere request on their part. They want to live differently, in a way that’s more pleasing to Him.

There is a flaw in this, though, that is usually overlooked. And this flaw causes people to ask God over and over again to change them because they see themselves continuing to do those same things and being disappointed with themselves.

It can be fixed, though, And here’s how.

We need to stop asking God to change us, and ask Him to change our heart.

You see, the heart of a person is where things emanate from. It’s the source of our thoughts which lead to our actions.

So, if we’re asking God to change us, but our heart stays the same, we will be stuck in an endless loop, like a hamster on a wheel; doing a lot of work, but going nowhere.

Let’s dig a bit deeper and see what is meant by this verse.

The word “deceitful” is the foundation of this one.

Deceitful: guilty of deceiving or misleading others. Dishonest, untruthful, lying, perverse, untrustworthy.

Not very pretty, is it?

Now, not only are we told that it is deceitful, but that it is more deceitful than anything else (above all things). That’s about as bad as it can get.

The next phrase used to describe our heart is this one; desperately wicked.

The original Hebrew for this means “incurably sick”.

Various translations use the following phrases; exceedingly perverse and corrupt. Severely, mortally sick. Extremely sick. Beyond cure.

This makes it pretty easy to see why our heart needs to be changed if we want our person to change.

This sounds pretty dismal, doesn’t it?

But here’s the deal. God, the Creator of all we see, and the One who breathed life into us, offers us hope!

How?

You see, David got this. He understood it.

He saw his own depravity after committing a terrible sin (several of them, actually). And he knew that the only way he could change was to ask God to change his heart.

Psalm 51:10 (NKJV) 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

So, David spoke these words and then endeavored to walk uprightly from that day, forward, keeping God above all else.

And if we look back at history, we see that God held David up higher than all other kings for that very reason; he never worshiped other gods, and was a man after God’s own heart, unlike just about every other king after him.

So, if we are longing for change, and we’re tired of asking God to change us, maybe it’s time that we do it right!

Ask Him to change our heart. And then give Him permission to do it, setting Him free to lead and guide us through the process.

Then we will see our lives change, a little at a time as we follow His leading.

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 – 9-8-20

Deuteronomy 10:16 (NKJV) 16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.

An uncircumcised heart is a hard heart. And with anything that is hard, nothing can penetrate it. Our hearts are closed to whatever God may suggest.

That layer of hardness has to come off if we ever want to fully follow God. It is a circumcision that must take place if we want to grow and walk in obedience, living out the life God so desires for us.

How do we get that layer of skin off our heart? We surrender our ideas and plans to Him. Pick up His word and apply it to our everyday life.

Circumcision takes time, and some of us may have many layers, depending on what we have been involved with or what kinds of things we have been through.

So, it won’t just happen overnight.

There may be bumps on the road to healing, as well. But like most surgeries, we will get through it in time.

The surgery will begin when we give authorization by saying, “I surrender to You, Lord.”

It’s time to get rid of the hard heart and enter into a relationship with a brand new heart and spirit.

Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV) 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

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 – 7-15-20

Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV) 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

This verse in the Old Testament is very symbolic of the new birth, made available to us through the blood of Jesus Christ.

As we recognize our lost and sinful condition, and we ask God to forgive us and make us new through Jesus, He makes us a new creation in Christ.

Part of that new creation is a new heart. A heart that is soft and pliable. God takes our heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh.

Most of us think of this as a one-time event. It happens as we become a child of God, and then that’s it. We move on.

This isn’t necessarily true, though. Because once our heart is replaced, soft and new, hardness will try to creep in again over time.

Sometimes things we face, situations that are difficult or hard to bear, can cause us to become hard or angry. And before we know it, that soft heart that we were given starts to become hard again.

But, as we are diligent to go to God and seek His counsel, repent and ask for His forgiveness, He softens it for us in whatever areas where it might have started to become hard again.

It’s up to us to make sure we recognize when it might be getting hard, so we can let Him touch it and restore it for us.

So, as we “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”, let’s be sure to keep tabs on the condition of our heart.

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 – 2-9-20 – The Heart of Solomon

Please click to watch the video now.Greetings! 

King Solomon had some big shoes to fill when he inherited the throne of King David. 

As Solomon contemplated being the King of Israel, God came before Him and asked him what he wanted. 

In today’s video, The Heart of Solomon, we discuss what Solomon asked God for, and how we can apply that to our own lives. 

We hope you will watch this and let God speak to your heart. 

Please click here to watch the video now. 

Let’s keep our hearts close to God and constantly seeking after Him. 

Sincerely, 

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 – 1-1-20

Psalm 37:4 (NKJV) 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

What are the desires of our hearts?

That’s a pretty major question that we each need to ask ourselves.

Why should we be asking that question?

Because it will tell us a lot about our walk with God. It will show us where our hearts lie.

Our hearts will focus on the things that mean the most to us. We will spend our time and our efforts putting energy into those things. They will dominate our thoughts and our conversations.

Matthew 6:21 (NKJV) 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The funny thing is that we can think our heart is in the right place, but our actions will sometimes show us otherwise. It’s only when we take an honest look at ourselves that we will recognize this. And when we do recognize it, whether we then see the need to change or not will also tell us a lot.

Sometimes God will show us something, but we turn a blind eye, saying “Not me, God. I don’t do that!”. But if God is tapping us on the shoulder, we need to be sure to take heed.

Our honesty with God and ourselves is the key to fixing any problems as quickly as possible. And if we’re still not sure about it, we just need to listen to ourselves as we speak.

Matthew 15:18 (NKJV) 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.

Are we wondering why God doesn’t seem to be giving us the desires of our hearts? Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing. We need to wait on Him.

Other times it’s because our desires don’t align with His desires.

As we press in to Him, and we learn to line our desires up with God’s heart, we will begin to see our desires answered and fulfilled.

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 – 12-27-19

Romans 2:28-29 (NKJV) 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

The book of Romans is generally regarded as a theologically-deep book. Much of what is written is extremely thought-provoking and can require a great deal of thought, prayer, studying, cross-referencing and pondering to understand.

It’s not a book that we can simply read through casually and expect to gain much insight from.

The topics themselves aren’t necessarily all deep. But they all allude to much deeper insights in one way or another.

The two verses above are the last two in chapter 2. They basically sum up the whole of chapter 2, in just two sentences.

Although it mentions Judaism specifically, the principle Paul is discussing also applies to our walk as Christians.

We can place the label on ourselves and wear it like a banner. But wearing that banner doesn’t make us a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes us a car or swimming in the water makes us a fish.

Our walk with God is a matter of the heart. It is never about how we appear to others or how we present ourselves. Our words can say one thing, but our actions can say something quite different.

The flag we wave can scream “I am a Christian”, but our actions can say nothing to that effect.

We may paint a pretty picture with our words, but our heart may be storing up poison, in danger of spewing it out onto the first person who crosses us or looks at us the wrong way.

Paul said that circumcision is “of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter”. And so it is with the lordship of Christ in our lives.

It is never about the title, appearances, what others think, how many Bible verses we can quote, or how enthusiastically we wave the banner of Christianity in front of men.

It’s about the heart, plain and simple.

Jeremiah 17:10 (NKJV) 10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

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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