Tag: Bible verses that warn about idols

Bible Verse of The Day – 7-1-24

John 4:21 (NKJV) 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.

The time Jesus spent speaking with the woman at the well is something we hear a lot about.

It is a well-known sequence of events that is significant in many ways.

As I was recently reading and pondering, something struck me about this event that had not been so obvious to me until now.

While we often speak of Jesus revealing things to the woman about her life that only God could have known, or we speak about the water that keeps us from thirsting again, look what else He said.

In the verse above, Jesus began alluding to things that were going to change and had, in fact, already begun to change.

There was a shift taking place that had gone undetected by most people.

John 4:23-24 (NKJV) 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

You see, Jesus was revealing that the traditional ways of doing things were fading away, and that God wanted the people to understand true worship could only happen in spirit and in truth.

Rituals and traditions were dead and meaningless. The hearts of the people had grown hard and mechanical in their interactions with God. They relied only on their human understanding and routines, leaving their spirit out of the equation.

Jesus had come to open the eyes and the hearts of the people. And as He walked the land sharing truth, the things He taught stirred up anger in the Jewish leadership because those things were contrary to their traditions.

And because of this, many of them hated the One who had come to save them.

God does not want traditions and rituals. He never did.

The guidelines He set for the Jews became idols that they prided themselves in following. The very things designed to point them to the one, true God became their god without them realizing it.

And as Jesus spoke in ways that exposed their true hearts, He was hated, persecuted, and crucified for it.

Let us not be like the Jews of old, falling into habits, routines, and rituals in our walk with God.

We must let Him touch our hearts, transforming them and keeping them soft and pliable, that we not let our practices become our god.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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 Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 3-30-21

1 Kings 3:3 (NKJV) 3 And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.

We need to beware of the “excepts” in our own lives.

We may love the Lord and keep a lot of His commandments, but when there is an, except this or except that, we need to pay attention and deal with it immediately. We need to get to the root of it.

We need to work extra hard to keep those “excepts” out of our walk. Because it’s those very things that have a grip on us and many times keeps distance between us and God.

In Solomon’s day these ”high places” or elevated hilltops were off limits to God’s people. The pagans believed the closer they were to heaven, the greater the chance their prayer and sacrifices would reach their gods.

We need to remember Who our God is, and that we can reach Him at any time and from anywhere.

If we are in the valley or on the mountain, if we are in a hard place or in a happy place, our God will hear our cry and the praises from our lips.

Get rid of the “except” part of our walk, those things that bring distance between us and God, and move forward with Him in a more powerful, tight-knit, and fulfilling relationship than ever before. Amen.

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!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 6-15-20

1 John 5:21 (NKJV) 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

I’ve read this verse many, many times. We have even written devotionals with this verse. It’s a very short verse that says a lot.

This past week, however, it took on new depth for me as I heard it while listening to the Bible as I was preparing for my day.

I usually like to read the New King James translation. It is a solid translation that is free of the old poetic “thees, thous, doest and goest” type of words, making it very easy to read and understand.

I do occasionally use other translations while studying, however, for the sake of comparison and for revealing other possible meanings in the scriptures.

This was the case with the verse above.

As I listened, it was reading from the NLT (New Living Translation), since audio wasn’t available for the NKJV translation. And here is what it said:

1 John 5:21 (NLT) 21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

If the NKJV translation didn’t make it clear enough, this translation certainly does!

What I really like about this is that it defines what an idol is in the lives of a believer; anything that might take God’s place in our hearts.

Straight forward, plain and simple, super easy to understand.

Many times, a simple change of words that brings more clarity can increase our understanding, leading to us actually implementing it in our lives.

It can mean the difference between us growing or not growing. This isn’t so much because we didn’t understand the other translation, but more because the alternate translation makes it so clear than we can’t deny it.

Thus, we are more easily convicted.

So, just as John encouraged believers of that time to keep themselves from idols, we also want to encourage you to do the same; keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

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!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 5-13-19

Exodus 34:12 (NKJV) 12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst.

Whether we realize it or not, the land in which we live can have a big impact on our lives. Every territory is subject to certain types of spiritual powers, activities and principalities.

This is usually evident in the various crimes committed in a town, city, region or province. It can also be seen in many of the cultural activities, whether religiously affiliated or not.

Some examples might be epidemics of high drug use, such as heroin or other opioids. Or it might be sexual activities such as prostitution or human trafficking. It might be corruption of various types.

If we’re not careful, and our discernment isn’t sharp, we can fall prey to some of these things that can cause us to dishonor God and damage our relationship with Him.

Many times, these things can be so entrenched in our area that we may not even recognize them as being bad. Or we may become desensitized to them, causing us to disregard or minimize the evil they represent.

And in worst-case scenarios, we may even participate in them to some degree because of our dulled senses. This is especially true with things like dishonesty and various types of corruption, since they don’t appear to hurt or harm a person directly.

In the verse above, God warned Moses about this. He told him specifically not to make a covenant with the people in the lands where he was going. Doing so would become a snare for Moses and the Israelites.

This warning needs to be passed along to all of us too, so we remain vigilant and alert, being cautious as to what we let influence us.

Some things can be very subtle, and they will sneak their way into our lives. Others, not so much. They are blatant and very easily seen to everyone except those who are spiritually dull.

Let’s be sharp and discerning, being sure to pay attention to God’s warnings, and giving Him the honor He deserves in every area of our lives.

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!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 4-29-19

Exodus 32:9 (NKJV) 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 

As Moses spent time with God on Mt. Sinai, the people of Israel grew impatient, and they exposed what was in their hearts by creating and worshiping a golden idol. 

They had been led out of slavery in Egypt by God’s miraculous hand. They had witnessed things that should have sealed their faith in God for the rest of their lives. 

But somehow, they quickly forgot all of that and began to bow down and worship a golden calf. 

As God saw their behavior, He called them a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people. No matter what He did for them, they always seemed to rebel and stray from Him in their hearts. 

This is a good lesson for us to learn, as we see how the Israelites behaved, to make sure we don’t do the same. 

Now, we might not actually build a physical idol of gold and bow down before it. But we may put something else before God, which is equal to idol worship. 

What might that be? Our career, our family, our hobbies, musicians, celebrities, money, sex, or any other number of things? We can replace God in many, many ways without even realizing that we’re doing it. Most times it’s not intentional. It just kind of happens. 

Let’s not be a stiff-necked people. Let’s learn from the things that God’s word teaches us about the Israelites. And let’s throw away our idols and keep God in His rightful place, on the throne of our hearts. 

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!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 6-26-18

Acts 13:22 (NKJV) 22 And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’

God said that David was a man after His own heart. This is a big deal!

Many may look at David and think that he was a spiritual superhero, a near-perfect man, a man with few or no flaws. Nothing could be further from the truth.

David was a man after God’s own heart. He loved God immensely and would do whatever God asked him to do. But David was also very human, with many flaws and shortcomings.

As a man after God’s heart, he longed to please God and do the right thing. But David made some very poor choices in his lifetime.

He had an adulterous affair and then had the husband of his mistress killed in battle. And if we were to read more about David, we would see that his sins wreaked havoc with his family and with the kingdom of Israel for years to come, trickling down to other generations.

But one thing stays very clear when we look at David’s life. He never strayed from his God. And he never followed or worshiped foreign gods or worthless idols.

Are we like David? Are we a man or woman after God’s own heart? Are we loyal to God through thick and thin? Do we hold fast to Him no matter what comes our way?

Or do we wander and stray from Him, following whatever or whomever blows in with the winds?

Our hearts say a lot about us. What’s in our heart eventually comes out. This makes it very important to surrender our hearts to God and let Him take the wheel, guiding us in the direction He wants us to go.

And even if we make some poor choices along the way, if we stay steadfast in our love for God, He will call us a man or woman after His own heart.

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!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

Please consider making a Donation.

Click the player below listen to today’s devotional.

Get our mobile app here: 

Android: http://goo.gl/oQ6qa7 

Apple: http://apple.co/2lZdgYy

Tagged with: , , , , ,

Bible Verse of The Day – 3-7-16

Leviticus 19:4 (NKJV) 4 ‘Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the Lord your God.

Idols. What are they?

Many things can be idols. People. Hobbies. Cars. Boats. Music. Etc.

And, believe it or not, we can idolize our church and the things that take place there.

Idols don’t have to be something that we physically bow down to. They can also be something that we rely on to lead us into God’s presence, in place of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus died, the veil in the temple, which separated us from God, was torn. This meant that we would now have direct access to the Father. Priests and sacrifices were now no longer needed.

Unfortunately, we humans have a tendency to create habits and dependencies. And before we know it, we are going backwards. Instead of letting God’s spirit lead us to Him, we start relying on routines.

One of those routines is our weekly church service. Church is good. The local church is where many, many believers gather to worship God each week. And this is good!

The danger comes in when we begin to rely on certain things about that weekly gathering to worship God. Maybe it’s the music. Maybe it’s the lights or the sound system. Maybe it’s the stage performance.

God wants us to come to Him and worship Him, humbly, without having to rely on outside factors or influences to make it happen. Yes, music is good. Yes, corporate worship is good. We just need to be careful that we don’t become dependent on these things to lead us into God’s presence.

And, we need to be extra careful that we don’t let any of these things take the place of God’s presence.

John 4:24 (NKJV) 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

So let’s worship God. Let’s worship Him with all our hearts. And let’s be careful not to let anything get between us and Him.

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!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page.

Tagged with: , ,