Tag: trials and tribulations

Bible Verse of The Day – 10-15-14

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV) 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

We need faith to face tribulations or hard times in this world, because they will come.

Sometimes tribulations can seem unbearable and it’s hard to have the faith to get us through. Maybe we have been in it for awhile and we are simply drained and discouraged.

We need to ask God today to increase our faith so that we can make it through this battle.

Luke 17:5 (NKJV) 5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

Jesus instructed us as to how to handle tribulations and trials.

John 16:33 (NKJV) 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

The Word clearly states that He has overcome the world. In order for us to overcome our hard times, tribulations or battles, our faith has to be in Him, not in what we see happening around us, not in what we hear people saying, and not by listening to someone we put on a pedestal. We will overcome our battle by having faith in The One who has overcome the world.

If this is where we are at today, we’re having a hard time keeping our faith, everything around us is falling apart, and we are tired and confused, we need help. We need faith in God to overcome this.

Take one day at a time and ask God to increase your faith. This thing may be staring us in the face, but as we look to God, we need to remember that He has overcome and He knows just what to do. Follow Him.

Dear God,

We come to You in the name of Jesus Christ, and ask You, Father, to intervene in our situation. It is more than I can handle and I need You. I ask You to increase my faith and help me to trust in You, God, to get me through this trial today.

Lord God, if I have had a part in getting myself into this mess, I ask You to forgive me and help me to see where I went wrong and to help me to not make the same mistake again.

God, thank You today for Your help, for Your increase in faith, for caring, and for Your continued love for me. I give You all the glory, honor and praise for what You are about to do. I pray in the Mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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 – 3-25-14

Matthew 7:24-25 (NKJV) 24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

So many times we have people ask us “why did God do this to me?”. They tell us about how God has done good things for them and they felt like they were headed in the right direction, and then they encounter a trial or rough time.

And suddenly they are asking why God would “do this to them”. “Why did God pick me up and make me think everything was going to be OK, just to do this to me and crush me again?”

Well, we can’t speak for every single situation, but we can say this. God has never, ever promised us that we won’t go through stuff. He never told us “follow me and I will make your path trouble-free and full of miracles for the rest of your life”.

On the contrary, God has told us that we will go through trials and storms. And there will be times in our life when we feel like everything is crashing down around us. And there will be days when we wonder how we can go on.

But it’s in these times when God has promised to hold us up. It’s in these times when He has promised to be that rock that we need in order to be able to weather the storm and come through it still standing.

Facing adverse times doesn’t mean that God has abandoned us or picked us up only to crush us again. Adversity comes. It’s just part of life, and we need to accept that fact.

But what God does offer us is strength to endure the storm. He offers us hope to see past the storm. And He becomes our rock, our foundation, if we let Him.

“the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.”

Are our lives founded on the Rock? They should be! And if they’re not, it’s never too late to do the right thing and start fresh, building our new life on that Rock.

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 – 3-8-14

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Tests and trials come our way constantly.

Sometimes they make us feel like our guts are being ripped out, and we begin to question whether we will make it through or not.

Well, we are here to tell you that you can make it through.

You can’t do it on your own, but with Christ, you can.

Christ is our rock, our foundation and our fortress. He is our source of strength, no matter what we’re going through.

It doesn’t matter if it’s financial struggles, relationship trials, health problems or any other battle that might come our way.

If we try to face it on our own, we will surely fall. But if we lean on Him and trust Him for the answers, victory will come.

Let go today. As hard as it is, let go. Hand it over to God and cling to the hand of Jesus. He has already won the victory for 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 – 1-23-14

Psalm 86:10 (NKJV) For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.

As I was doing some things today, sorting out my thoughts and contemplating my life in general right now, in light of everything we’re going through, one thing came to mind.

You alone are God.

Life can throw some pretty harsh stuff at us. We all have different things to deal with and nobody really ever knows what we’re dealing with, except ourselves and God.

And I don’t mean “we” or “us” as Pastor Ellie and I. I’m referring to everyone who is reading this. We all have things that come our way and we have to sort through it all, make the right choices, hear God’s voice in the middle of the storms and keep moving forward with our lives.

Our flesh and our minds can have a hard time dealing with everything, but in the midst of our storms, He alone is God.

He alone can calm the seas. He alone can bring peace when the waves are crashing all around us.

And He alone can reach out, take our hand and pluck us out of the terrifying, storm-ravaged sea when we’re just about to go under.

So in the midst of your own personal trials and tribulations, look to Him and tell Him; “You alone are 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 – 11-14-13

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV) But as it is written:”eye has not seen, nor ear heard,nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

There are times when I get so frustrated with the things of this world.

Whether it’s corrupt government, ridiculous taxes, human ignorance, human wickedness, corruption and idolatry in the church or anything else that we could all think of. Some days just seem like the bad outweighs the good by such a huge margin. It makes it truly hard to keep our attitude right and keep our eyes on the good things.

But I always have a knowing deep down inside that none of what we do for God while we’re on this earth is in vain. And this is one of those verses that just drives that point home.

No matter what we have to battle here and no matter how hard it can sometimes seem or how frustrating it can get dealing with human bureaucracy, know-it-all spirits or outright miserable people, nobody can ever take away the promises of God.

And he has promised us that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, and no human mind has ever even imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.

And for me, that’s enough.

Press into Him, people of God. And never stop looking upward or moving forward in His name.

Amen

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 – 8-17-13

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NKJV) 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

In keeping with yesterday’s teaching, let’s look just a little more at trials.

As mentioned yesterday, trials, in reality, are usually nothing more than an inconvenience… a problem that we have to overcome.

Today’s scripture backs this up by teaching us that our afflictions (trials) are indeed light and temporary when compared to eternity.

This is not to take away from anyone’s tough situations or circumstances, because there are some people reading this who may be going through some very tough times and things that you never, ever thought you would have to face.

But when we take our troubles and we hold them up and compare them to the BIG picture and the grand scheme of things, they are, in fact, very small and “but for a moment”.

As believers, children of The King, followers of Christ, we need to make sure our perspective is right; that we are looking at things through eternal eyes, not temporal eyes. This is something that takes a lot of practice and there is not a single one of us who will get it right 100% of the time.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try! We can all let God work in us and change our perspective. We just have to want to.

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 – 8-16-13

James 1:2-4 (NKJV) 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

None of us likes trials. In fact, not only do we not like them, most of us detest them.

Whether we realize it or not, trials show us what we’re made of. Trials can put pressure on us and squeeze us. And when things get squeezed hard enough, what’s inside of them eventually comes out!

Trials can be a major inconvenience, but most of them never really hurt us or cause us harm. The problem is that there isn’t a single one of us who likes inconveniences.

But as we grow in our faith, we should start to see and understand that many trials can benefit us, if we let them! You’re probably wondering what I’m talking about, so let’s look a little more closely.

When we’re babes in Christ and our faith is young, tender and still very small, we only look at trials through human, natural eyes. We seldom see things beyond that. Trials are messy, a nuisance and an all-around bother to deal with.

But as we grow in Christ, we begin to look beyond the surface of things and start to see that there is usually more to many things than meets the eye. Then, as our understanding in this grows, we will start to see God’s hand at work in the trials that we face.

So if you’re going through a trial today, step back and try to look at it through spiritual eyes… the eyes of a believer, not through natural eyes. Because somewhere in all of the mess and confusion, God is offering you His peace and understanding. And whether we can see it right now or not, there is probably a blessing wrapped in that trial.

So count it all joy, not just those things that are pleasant and easy to take.

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 – 7-9-13

(Psalm 107:29 NKJV)  He calms the storm, So that its waves are still.

Are you in a storm today? Are you stuck in a place where you don’t want to be? Do you feel like you are in prison, and you are holding the key to get out but are afraid to make the move?

God’s Peace is amazing! When going through a trial or tribulation (a storm), remember that no matter how big of a wave it is, He will calm that thing down. How does this happen? As we follow His direction, we will feel His peace and that peace will help us to make the right moves.

Not long ago, we were in a trial. We were praying and seeking God and His answer came. It came, but we overlooked it, it was so plain and clear, but not what we were looking for.

Time went on and we tried doing everything we knew to do by our  own understanding…the storm was getting worse and worse, those big nasty waves kept beating on us, the pressure was getting heavier and we were getting weak and tired from the constant beating.

We finally sat back down and asked God, “What are we missing?”, only to hear the same thing He had told us the first time we asked.

He showed us again and we began to take the steps, like He said to do, and His peace was there instantly and things began to work out. The storm was calmed!!

Sometimes we can miss what God is saying to us to do because we feel so strong that it should be done another way. But if we miss it the first time, just get back with Him and repent and ask Him if it’s too late or can we try again to get it right?

There are times we will miss the timing for something, and it doesn’t come back around again. But there are also those times we do get another chance.

We learned that no matter what storm we go through in life, we can still have peace in it as long as we follow God, because He is the “Calmer of the STORM!”

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 – 4-26-13

(Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV)  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; {6} In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

During the last several months we have been reminded over and over again that we need to be trusting in Him with all our hearts and not trying to figure things out based solely on our own understanding.

Today that was confirmed to us in a very big way. We have been facing some very major trials in our lives and we received some news today that, if we looked at it solely from our own understanding, could be very, very negative and discouraging.

But we are trusting God and acknowledging Him in everything that we do. Things might not be going the way we would want them to, but it will all work for the good because we love God

For those of you who have prayed for us recently, thank you so much. We truly appreciate it.

If you’re going through a trial right now, trust God with it. Let Him lead you. It’s not always easy, but His ways are best, even when we don’t understand them.

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 – 3-13-13

(Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV)  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; {6} In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Trust in the Lord. These are words that we are learning to live by more and more each day.

We have been going through some trials the past several months and they are causing us to really check ourselves and see where our trust really lies.

We have been in a period of waiting that seems endless. If we were not trusting in God, we just might lose all hope.

But I stand today and proclaim boldly that we will trust in the Lord with all of our heart, and we will seek His understanding in all things.

We will shout from the mountaintops and from the valley, “God, we praise you in the midst of this storm and we worship you no matter what comes our way”.

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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