(Mark 13:5 NKJV)  And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you.

Deception is a powerful thing, whether in ordinary, everyday life or in the church.

God’s word teaches us to be on our guard and not to let ourselves be deceived by anyone.

Life has a way of teaching us this the hard way sometimes, but God has given us His Spirit and His discernment to help us avoid deception.

Every single one of us has been deceived at one time or another, and to varying degrees, but the important thing is that we can learn from those times when it has happened to us and ask God to remind us when we’re in a situation where we might be deceived again.

God is faithful and He will protect us if we let Him. We just need to be sure to let Him!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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(Luke 18:35-43 NKJV)  Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. {36} And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. {37} So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. {38} And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” {39} Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” {40} So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, {41} saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” {42} Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” {43} And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

I absolutely love this group of verses!

As the blind man became aware that Jesus was approaching, he determined that he would call out to Jesus and seek to be healed. Those around him tried to hush him up and stop him from calling out to Jesus, but this made him even more determined, so he yelled even louder!

Ultimately, Jesus heard him and healed his eyes, restoring his sight.

What if we were that blind man? Would we have kept calling to Jesus until He heard us, or would we have given up and gone home, still blind and disappointed?

How much do you want Jesus? What do you need Him to do for you? Do you want it badly enough to truly go after it?

It’s easy to say you want something, but it’s another story to actually go after it.

I dare you to pursue Jesus with the determination that the blind man had.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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(Deu 11:13-14 NKJV) ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, {14} ‘then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.

I love this! In this scripture God is showing us that if we listen to Him and do things the way that He shows us and teaches, His way, He will take care of us.

Isn’t it funny how things can be so simple, yet so complicated at times. Sometimes I say to myself, “Ellie, if you would just STOP for a moment and think about what you are getting ready to do or to say…you would most likely walk away, not saying or not doing what you’re about to say or do”.

Today, I had just left the hospital after visiting someone. On my way home, there was a shopping plaza calling my name. Now, for me this is a season to buckle down and not spend frivolously. I know it and my husband knows it. Knowing this, I found myself pulling into this shopping plaza anyway, ignoring that gnawing feeling inside of me. Can anyone relate?

I thought “well, I would like to get a little something for the person in the hospital  and maybe a little something for my house and who knows what other little something will be calling my name”.

How convenient… there was a great parking spot too, right in front of the store!! Oh boy, this must be a SIGN that it’s OK! So, I pulled into the spot and gave myself a few seconds to think about what I was about to do.

Very gently, I was reminded of the season I was in; the season that my husband and I together knew what we could do and what we couldn’t do, what we were allowed and what we were not allowed to do. As I sat there for a few moments, I realized I needed to leave. So starting up my car and backing out, I saw people going in to the store, all around me, but it was not for me… NOT TODAY anyway!

I was so happy that I could pull away and not feel yucky about it, but happy that it didn’t have control over me and I could listen and do what was right at that moment.

Let God bless you today!!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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(Gen 26:13 NKJV)  The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous;

I want to make a declaration to you today. I want you to know that God does not want you to live in poverty.

God never destined you to be lacking or scraping by each day, each week or each month. God has made a way for you and I to prosper. We just need to claim it and believe for it.

I know that might sound too easy or far fetched, but there is a lot of truth in those words. So many of us have our minds stuck in the way we have always done things. God wants to do new things for us, but we have a hard time grasping it.

There is nothing wrong with prospering. The devil would have you believe that prosperity is evil and poverty is godly. This is a lie. Poverty never helped anyone accomplish a single thing, except to become stressed and hopeless. Show me the people who are doing the most to help others and it will be the people who have the financial means to reach out and help.

We are not all destined to be millionaires, but not a single one of us is destined, according to God, to live our lives out in poverty either.

I challenge you today to change the way you think about abundant finances and about your own situation. Your situation can be changed if you let God take you out of the box that the enemy has put you in.

So rise up, get the mind of God and then give Him the glory!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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(Heb 13:15 NKJV)  Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

In these modern times there seems to have developed certain ways of doing things that are now accepted as “normal” in the church.

During the past 10 – 15 years we have adopted a specific way of entering into worship that involves “praising” God to music. This has become the norm in tens of thousands of services each week.

I’d like to state that though there is nothing wrong with using music to worship God, it doesn’t have to be that way to please God. Let me explain.

I love music. I listen to it constantly. But I think that modern Christians have reached a mistaken conclusion that music and a specific way of doing things is necessary for entering into worship.

This is misleading thinking, at best. We can worship God and praise Him perfectly fine with or without music. Music is good, but if we get to the point where we rely on it to be able to worship God, we’re off track.

In the scripture quoted above, we are told that we are to continually offer the sacrifice of praise… the fruit of our lips.

The fruit of our lips is the praise that He desires. Not fancy musical arrangements or orchestrations. We are to praise Him with our words; our words of adoration and thanksgiving.

Again, let me stress that music isn’t bad or unacceptable at all, but if we’re relying on it to the point where we don’t know how to praise God without it, we need to make some adjustments.

God deserves our very best, so let’s be sure we’re giving it to Him!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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(Heb 4:12 NKJV)  For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

It’s so important that we read the Word of God daily. It’s what brings life and power into our daily walk. We can say “well, I’m working hard to make a living and by the time I get home, make dinner, exercise and clean up, I’m too tired.” We can say, “I have to spend time with my kids, help them with homework, take them to their sports, make sure they get their chores done and when I’m done, it’s so late”, etc. We can make all kinds of excuses as to why we don’t have time, but when it comes right down to it, we need God and all that He has for us.

His Word will cause us to mature, to grow up, and to get closer to Him. It will cause us to be sharp and we will be able discern things more quickly and we won’t waste a lot of time getting caught up in things or people that pull our time away from Him.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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(Heb 12:7 NKJV)  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

Sometimes we have to endure things that aren’t so pleasant. The first thing that comes to our minds is to think of a way out of our trouble. We always seem to want the easy way out.

Sometimes, though, the easy way isn’t the best way. So many times there are things for us to learn and if we take the easy way out we can’t learn what God wants us to learn.

Please never make the mistake of thinking that God puts bad things on us. Wickedness and evil come from the enemy of our souls, not from the Creator of our souls.

But when bad things do come our way, God can use them to bring correction and maturity in our lives… if we let Him.

If you’re going through something unpleasant right now, be sure to seek God and ask Him what there is for you to learn.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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(Heb 9:27-28 NKJV)  And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, {28} so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation…

We only live this life once. There is no second chance. There is no second time around.

Jesus Christ came and died for our sins. He did it once. That’s all that was needed. The rest is up to us.

It’s up to us to accept what He’s offered to us. It’s up to us to accept the sacrifice He made. He died once, for everyone, but not everyone receives Him.

Have you received Him? Have you accepted the offer of salvation that He died to give us?

It’s not hard to do, but some people think it is. I’m here to tell you today that accepting Jesus and the sacrifice He made for you is the best thing you will ever do. It is truly life-changing.

He’s reaching out to you today. Reach back to Him. Ask Him to forgive your sins and He will.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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(1 John 4:10-11 NKJV) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. {11} Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

My husband and I were faced with a situation that was very disturbing to us. About 8 months ago, we had someone that we cared about, whom we spent a lot of time with, took out to dinner, and invited over for all the holidays. We took this person in like one of our family members because we knew that this person had nobody else, only to find out that during this time this person stole from us, cheated us, and lied to us. Sometimes it’s so hard to learn the truth about a situation.

When this happened to us it was like a hard blow. We felt like we were in the ring and just got knocked out and everything in us was hurting.

We knew that we were not to hold bitterness or anger in our hearts and we fought this time after time, because it was trying so hard to creep in. The hardest part was that everyday we could see this person and it would remind us of what happened and we had to make a choice everyday to forgive or get angry.

We had evidence to show that things were stolen from us and we could have very easily set things motion to get it all back. But nonetheless, things are things and when it came right down to it we’d rather see this person experience love and give their heart to Christ..

Sometimes we have to sacrifice our pain for someone else’s gain. God did it for us.
Love someone today like you mean it!!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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(2 Sam 22:31 NKJV)  As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Who’s scared today? Who has questions about what’s going on in the world today? Probably all of us at one time or another. I’m sure we all have good days and bad days as we look around us and see all the crazy things happening.

It’s normal to be paying attention to the things going on around us. We just need to be careful we don’t get too caught up in it and let it take over our minds and hearts. Knowing is good, but we need to have balance in it; too much of anything is not good for us.

Just a little reminder that even though hard times are around us, God is with us. His way is perfect and He is our shield. Trust in Him today!!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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(Heb 3:4 NKJV)  For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.

Everything we see around us, whether man-made or otherwise, has a builder or a creator. There’s nothing that has just happened and there is nothing that has created itself.

During the summer months I like to spend a lot of time outdoors at night. While I’m out there I am always in awe at the stars in the sky. They are an incredible example of God’s creative work.

Sunrises and sunsets are one of my favorite things to see because they are never the same twice in a row and they can be truly breathtaking.

A large majority of the world seems to have forgotten who created all of this wonder around us, but we should not.

Today, no matter where you are, make it a point to watch the sunrise or the sunset. Or step outside tonight and gaze at the stars for a few minutes. And then think about the One who created it all. And give Him glory.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!