(James 5:17-18 NKJV) Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. {18} And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

This is showing God’s faithfulness!! Elijah went to God for help with his needs and God took care of him. For Elijah rain was a problem. Maybe for us, abuse is a problem. Maybe drugs are a problem, sex is a problem, money is a problem, our spouse or children are a problem, etc.

Maybe we think that we can’t ask for help in these areas, but let me tell you this; a problem is a problem, no matter what face it wears. God is there for us! Don’t be afraid to go to Him for help.

Our first instinct many of times is to run to people when we have a problem; we’ve got to tell so and so about this. There may be some people we need to tell about what’s going on but, first and foremost, God needs to hear it and we need to ask Him for help and let Him guide us through it.

If we can’t go to Him, maybe because we feel ashamed or maybe because we think it is something we need to fix on our own, then we really don’t trust Him with all of our being. We only trust Him with selective things.

He wants to be there for us and when He answers our prayers we will see the fruit!!

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

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(Col 3:8 NKJV)  But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

Our words express what’s in our heart. We can do a good job of covering up our true selves most of the time, but sooner or later our mouth will give us away and the real us shows through.

As believers, we need to be sure we let God clean up our mouths and let Him help us get rid of the language that the rest of the world uses. We should not be walking around with R rated language spewing from our mouths. In fact, our language should be more along the lines of G rated… safe for the entire family.

Oh… and that means the G rating of years ago… not the G rating of today, where “certain swear words” are safe for the children.

Let me be blunt. Our standards should not be the same as those of the Hollywood entertainment industry and we should not allow ourselves to become desensitized to foul language, even if it is in just about every TV show and movie these days.

God says we are to put off filthy language from our mouths. We are to stop using it. God didn’t compromise on this and we shouldn’t compromise either.

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

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(Mat 18:12-13 NKJV)  “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? {13} “And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

We live in a time where numbers and quantities seem to take precedence over quality. It runs rampant in our industries and in many other areas of life.

Unfortunately, it also seems to have penetrated the church to a very large degree. We hear a lot about huge churches… congregations with 1,000 people, 5,000 people or even more than 10,000 people.

The perception is that a huge church is more successful than a small church. Sadly, many people, including pastors and evangelists, have bought into this line of thinking.

I am not against big churches, per se, but I believe that Jesus was more concerned with quality than he was with quantity. Jesus would speak to the masses and teach them, but he took the time to spend time with people on a smaller scale. He would minister to people one on one to heal them, deliver them from demons and to correct them if they needed it.

We need to be doing this today, too. The quality of our walk with God depends on how well we’re taught and discipled. Teaching can be done in large numbers, but discipling needs to take place on a smaller scale in order to be effective.

Jesus knew this and He did it, taking His twelve disciples and pouring Himself into them by spending time with them away from the crowds.

If you’re a pastor and you’re reading this today, I urge you to make sure you’re taking the time needed to spend quality time with your flock. It’s not about the numbers… it’s about the souls of the people God has given you the responsibility of pastoring.

If you’re not a pastor and you’re in a church where you feel like you get lost in the shuffle of so many people, and you feel like the pastor is untouchable or unreachable, maybe it’s time to make a change.

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

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(Col 3:14 NKJV)  But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

It’s very easy sometimes to get caught up in rights and wrongs, regulations, systems and many other things that we let guide us or persuade us in our thinking.

This is especially so when it comes to those around us. Sometimes it can take us only a split second to begin verbally berating someone for something, whether it’s their fault or not.

So many times, if we would just stop and think and then act or speak in love, our response would be so much different. And the outcome of so many situations would be very different too.

Love is very powerful when we understand it in its fullest measure. Love will overcome fears. Love will overcome jealousy. Love will overcome racial bias. Love will overcome so many things, but only if we let it.

We all need to do better when it comes to loving the people that God puts in our path. It’s not always the easiest things to do, but it becomes easier as we try harder.

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

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(Eph 6:1-3 NKJV)  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. {2} “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: {3} “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

I’d like to say something today that may come across as meddling if not taken correctly, but I hope we can all receive it in love, as it is intended to be written.

Our children are given to us by God, as a gift. They are entrusted to us to take care of them, nurture them and give them godly guidance.

What I see so much of today is that children aren’t being guided as they need to be. Too many children are in charge of their homes, instead of being subject to the leadership of the parents.

Much of this is due to the demands of society on the parents. Households where both parents work full-time jobs can make it hard for the children to have as much parental care and discipline as there should be.

Regardless, we have been given the responsibility to care for our children and raise them to be respectful and honorable.

Let’s take inventory and be sure that we’re not lacking in the area of caring for our children and giving them the guidance and discipline they need.

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

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(Psa 100:4 NKJV) Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Being thankful everyday with what God wants to do in our lives is the key to growing and becoming all that Christ wants us to be.

Some may say, “well I’m not really where I want to be in life, I’d rather be like so and so and have this and that.” This type of thinking can cause us to enter into a place of being ungrateful.

We need to constantly be thankful for where we are at. God will get us to where He wants us in this life if we wait on Him and His timing and He will open the doors that need to be open in due season.

Our job is to be thankful for where we are at and to praise Him and bless HIM for the AWESOME God that He is!!

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

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(John 13:14-15 NKJV) “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. {15} “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

It’s a funny thing how we go to school to get educated and everything that the teacher teaches us we listen and take it all in. We study the material for when the test comes. Our goal is to pass that test and get an excellent grade so that within ourselves we feel confident that what we were taught, we got!

Jesus is referring to Himself here as Lord and Teacher, and how He has given us an example of how we are to treat others.

There are a lot of ways to serve people and meet their needs. Being willing to do whatever it takes is the key. It may be very humbling to us and to the one that we are helping, but never the less God knows and is faithful to show us what is necessary at that time.

Let’s pass that test not just once or twice…let’s make it a habit to pass it every chance we get!!

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

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(Rom 5:6 NKJV)  For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Sometimes I think we forget that without Christ, we are just sinners… plain and simple.

With Christ, we are still no better than anyone. We are just saved from our sin.

I am very troubled that a vast majority of the body of Christ seems to have forgotten this. Too many of us just blow through life, looking down our noses at those who aren’t Christians.

I remember being in a church service one Sunday morning. A lady came into the church. She had never been there before. She took a seat and before very long she was being asked to leave by some of the church regulars, because they didn’t think she was dressed appropriately.

Thankfully, another man and his wife overheard them asking her to leave and they invited her to sit next to them.

How sad is it that a church can’t look beyond someone’s shortcomings enough to draw them to the one who can fix those shortcomings?

It’s time for our churches to check themselves and ask themselves why they do what they do. Is it because it glorifies God or is it because it’s just what they’re used to doing. Or is it possibly because someone else told them that this is what they’re supposed to do, so they never bothered asking God about it.

I know these are strong statements, but beating around the bush never accomplishes much. We need to be about the business of God’s kingdom, not the business of meeting in a church building just so we can go through the motions again.

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

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(1 Tim 1:14 NKJV) And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Loving others is sometimes a complicated thing. It’s God’s love through us that helps us to love beyond our own capacity.

Keeping our faith strong can also be tough sometimes. It can be very challenging to walk in faith, when we are facing big things.

Could you imagine the faith Noah had to have to build the ark? Or how about the faith and love that Joseph had to have going through his lifetime?

Think about he things that Joseph’s brothers did to him and all the time he spent in prison, and for what? None of it was his fault, but God turned it around and good things came out of it, just as He will turn it around for us as we do what’s right, whether we are being treated right or not.

We need Him, His grace, His love, and His faith!!

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

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(1 Cor 3:2 NKJV)  I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;

As we raise our children and they grow from infants into toddlers, we wean them from milk onto solid food. They need the nutrition of the solid food in order to grow in a way that’s healthy.

When they’re still infants they can’t handle solid food. They can’t digest it. If we tried to feed them solid food at this stage of their lives it could harm them or even kill them.

The same is true with God. He can only give us what we’re ready for. If he gives us something we can’t handle, we won’t know what to do with it and we will probably hurt ourselves or make a big mess of things.

Sometimes we ask God for something and it just doesn’t happen. So we continue to ask Him. Sometimes we even become discouraged and start to lose our faith when it doesn’t happen when we think it should.

There’s usually a good reason why things don’t happen when we think they should. We’re usually not ready for it, and that’s why God hasn’t given it to us. If he gave it to us just because we asked, but we weren’t ready to be able to handle it, we would probably mishandle it or hurt ourselves (or someone else).

So we need to stop repetitively asking God for the thing that we’ve been asking for and start asking Him what it is that’s keeping it from coming to us.

Many times it’s us that is the problem.

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

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(1 Pet 5:6-7 NKJV)  Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, {7} casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Daily we must cast our cares upon Him.

Do we find it hard to let go at times? I do. It is so hard sometimes for me to just give it up. But it’s the weirdest thing, because when I finally let go and give it up, I am like, what took me so long? Why did I have such a hard time? When I finally let God take care of it, what a peace swept over me.

Some of us today struggle with this, but if we could just remember how GREAT God is, how MIGHTY He is, and how He really cares, we wouldn’t think twice!

God cares for us. He wants to help us handle our problems. He wants to help mend that broken relationship. He wants to heal that physical pain we’re having. He wants to pay that bill for us and get us a good job.

What’s stopping Him from doing this? US, because we won’t cast it.

Give it to Him today, and walk in His peace.

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!