Tag: putting God first

Bible Verse of The Day – 7-8-13

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

Idol – representation or symbol of an object of worship or a likeness of something.

There are a lot of things in this world we can worship or really like without even realizing that we are doing it. This verse says to keep yourselves from them.

Why? Because it is easy to fall prey to them and end up worshiping them. God wants us for Himself (Deuteronomy 4:24 NKJV)  “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

We can not worship Him and also worship other things/people as well…it doesn’t work that way.

We have to make sure there is nothing in our hearts that we put before God; nothing that we worship.

Worship – extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem.

How can we tell we are worshipping something or someone? By how much time we devote to it or them.  A lot of times we will give it our everything, all of our time, thought, energy and our money.

Every so often it is good that we check ourselves to make sure we are not putting anything before God.

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 – 5-31-13

(Romans 14:7-8 NKJV)  For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. {8} For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

We are not our own. We do not own our lives, nor are we the masters of them!

If you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and have become a child of God, your life is not your own. Your life now belongs to Him.

There is a lot more to this than many people realize. This means that we are now accountable to Him in everything that we do; every choice we make, every plan we devise, everything.

Once we understand this, it should greatly impact our lives and change the way we do things. Before we make a decision about something, especially something major in our lives, we need to seek God and get His feedback on it.

Sometimes this is as simple as opening up the Word and seeing what it says about our situation or circumstance.

Other times it might be something pretty simple and we just “have a knowing” about what we need to, without getting too deep or too involved in seeking an answer.

Other times, we might need to take longer and we may even need to fast and pray to get God’s answer for us.

No matter what the situation, God is faithful and we need to be sure to listen for His input.

So as you go through your day today, be sure to remember who’s you are!

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 – 5-15-13

(John 3:30 NKJV)  “He must increase, but I must decrease.

This single verse is the key to a thriving relationship with our Creator.

We can’t have a strong relationship with God until we learn to put Him first! It isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do, especially at first, but it’s something that we have to learn how to do and then walk it out.

Once we get understanding of this concept and begin putting it into practice, it will begin to come more naturally to us and before we know it, we will put God before everything else in our life.

We will wake in the morning and the first thing we will do is wonder what God will do in our lives today. We will spend our waking hours with God at the forefront of our minds, instead of somewhere there in the background.

Instead of always wondering what God is going to do for us, we will start to ask Him what we can do for Him! And as we grow in Him, we will learn to listen for the answers from Him.

Our lives will truly begin to be transformed as we start to put Him first and ourselves after Him.

Many of our struggles with sin will disappear when we put Him first. Many of our struggles with a bad attitude will disappear when we put Him first. Our struggles with unforgiveness and bitterness will disappear when we put him first. And the list goes on!

So start learning to let Him increase so you can decrease and watch how He transforms your life for the better.

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 – 5-7-13

(Luke 12:23 NKJV)  “Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

If only we could all “get this”, how different would our lives be?

Would we spend less time chasing wealth and status and more time asking God what He wants for us?

Don’t get me wrong. This is not an “anti-wealth” or “anti-prosperity” message. I believe God can and does bless many of His children with material wealth and resources.

But how many of us spend way too many years of our lives chasing after things and trying to impress those around us, instead of seeking His kingdom first?

My prayer today is that each and every one of us will ask these questions of ourselves and seek honest answers from God himself. After all, it’s His opinion that counts!

(Matthew 6:33 NKJV)  “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

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 – 5-3-13

(2 Samuel 22:47 NKJV)  “The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted, The Rock of my salvation!

It breaks my heart when I hear and see people put their trust in their pastor, their minister, etc. instead of putting it in God.

There is no man you can trust to do all the right things. It’s important that we put our trust in God, that we lean on God fully and learn from Him.

Pastors are human beings and they too can fall. So many people put them on a pedestal and then their faith is shaken when something goes wrong.

What happens often in a church setting is that when the man of God falls, if our trust is in him, we get disappointed and it can cause us to fall and backslide and literally turn away from God.

In our early years, we were going to a local church. It was a great church with wonderful pastors that God had blessed us with. They taught us a lot of good things, and we were growing close to God. However, these pastors had trials and tribulations hit them and when these things came upon them, they split and broke up. It was a very sad day.

The thing that was even more sad was that when this all happened, the congregation ended up scattered. Instead of looking to God and asking Him if they should stay in the church or go elsewhere, they decided to take on the Pastor’s problem as if it was their own and  very many ultimately left the church behind.

The man may leave, but God will never leave. He remained sound and strong there. He had a plan even in such devastation. He had the next step already figured out. But the people decided to take their own steps, leaving God behind.

Cling to God. He is our Rock and salvation; ask Him what to do when trouble comes. Wait for His direction!  Amen.

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 – 4-19-13

(Psalm 5:3 NKJV)  My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.

Who does your voice get lifted up to in the morning? What do you first think of when you wake up?

We all have very busy lives. It’s easy to wake up and let our minds begin to race with the activities of the day ahead of us.

It’s even easier for this to happen if we happen to be in a stressful time or season of our life.

But we need to consciously remind ourselves to put God first, even in our waking hour, giving Him time and room to speak to us. If we don’t do this, we’re starting our day without Him and without acknowledging Him.

It’s not that we do this intentionally, but it sneaks up on us over time and before we know it, we reach a point where we’re many hours into our day before we even think of God.

So let’s start right now. Let’s determine within our hearts to make sure we put God first each and every morning when we wake up, giving Him time and space to speak to us before we jump into our busy schedules.

If we will do this, we will see a huge difference in how our attitude and how our day goes for us.

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 – 9-12-12

(1 Sam 15:28 NKJV)  So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

God watches us and how we handle things that He has given to us. Are we following His direction or trying to do things ourselves, in our own way?

Some may think that after they have entered into a position or have gotten what they wanted from God, they are all set and they leave God on the sidelines and do the rest themselves.

Well, that was not the case for Saul and it is not the case for us. If God opens a door for us and gets us into a place or raises us up into a position, or calls us to do something for Him, we should let Him lead even after we have received what it is that we were seeking.

We can’t let ourselves get prideful in thinking that we are the only one for that position. There are others who can do it. God may have preferred us for it but if we don’t follow directions, He may have to step in and change it up.

God knows our hearts, thoughts and motives. Let us keep them pure today and follow Him.

Together, in Him, we will get the job done!

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 – 6-2-12

(John 3:30 NKJV)  “He must increase, but I must decrease.

John the Baptist spoke these words, referring to Jesus.

John had spent his time preparing people for the arrival of the Messiah. Now that Jesus was on the scene, John knew that it was time for him to fade into the background and let Jesus be known to all.

This should be the same in our lives. As we draw closer to Jesus, we should decrease and He should increase.

As He molds us and shapes us, we should become more and more like Him. God’s word tells us that when we become born again, we are a new creation; the old has passed away.

If the old has truly passed away and we are a new creation, then this should show in our lives.

We should decrease, so He can increase. We’ll be better off for it.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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

401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-10-11

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  • Faith

(Gen 22:10-12 NKJV) And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. {11} But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” {12} And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

God is never too late, but always on time. Thank God that Abraham did not slay his son. He would have had some explaining to do for that one. But, God was there on time!!

How often does God ask us to do something and He will take care of the rest? So, we start off doing our part and if He doesn’t show up when we think He should, we get nervous and take matters into our own hands.

God did ask Abraham to do this and Abraham was going all the way through. God saw Abraham’s heart and He saw that nothing came between Him and God; not even his own son.

I have to be careful when it comes to my children because I love them so much that if I’m not careful, I let them take precedence before God and that is wrong. Nothing and NO ONE should come before God. He comes first in all things.

I find it interesting that God wanted Abraham’s son. This was the son that Abraham waited so long for…and this son, I’m sure, meant a lot to him and Sarah. It was the very thing that probably meant the most to them. Abraham did not withhold it from God.

What or who are we holding on to today? Do we love it or them more than God or will we give it up when He asks for it?

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

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