Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

How are you training your children? Are you training them to be grown up babies or mature sons and daughters in the Lord? Sadly, too many adults are still babies in the Lord, even though they may have been Christians for years. They haven’t yet learned to feed from God’s Words daily. They still rely on their pastor or minister to give them a meal once a week when they go to church? But during the week they starve. They never open their Bible and don’t know how to feed from the Living Word each day.

Is this the habit of your children? Or are you training them, as soon as they are old enough, to spend some time each day to read God’s Word for themselves? Are you training them how to hear from God as they read this living Word? It’s not enough for them to read, they must know how to HEAR from God.

To begin this training you may like to try this idea. Start your homeschooling day this way. Teach them to look for treasures in the Bible. Purchase for yourself and each one of your reading children a hard-covered diary with a page for every day of the year. Begin with opening your Bibles and journals at the appropriate date. Decide which book of the Bible you will go through, reading a chapter each day.

Pray first and then encourage them to silently read the chapter, LOOKING AND EXPECTING GOD TO SPEAK TO THEM PERSONALLY. Do it together. You, along with your children. We all look for the Scripture that speaks to us most powerfully in the chapter.

We write the Scripture at the top of the page and then write what God says to us. It is amazing how that even writing the Scripture brings more understanding. As you write the revelation, more understanding comes. We then write a prayer of response to the Lord. This makes the Word of God personal and real, rather than a reading chore.

After we have all finished, I read out loud the Scripture and what God has revealed to me. The children then read their Scripture and what God spoke to them. We are blessed not only by reading, but also by writing and sharing.

Of course, everyone has their own ways that suit their lifestyle and family life. You may prefer to encourage your children to find a special spot on their own where they can have their Quiet Time with the Lord. Whatever you encourage, inspire them to listen carefully to the Holy Spirit and to write down what God speaks to them. Writing daily what God speaks to me has been the greatest blessing of my Christian walk.

I remember reading about a wonderful father who as he came to say goodnight to each of his eleven children lay a Bible on their pillows so they would remember to feed from the Word of God before they arose for the day.

Also, when you have Family Devotions together each day, remind your children to listen to what the Holy Spirit says to them as they hear His words. Then, of course, ask them to share when you have finished reading. You will be amazed at what God speaks to your children. And they will get into the habit of hearing from God.

Mothers, don’t raise handicapped spiritual babies. Raise your children to be young men and women who are tall and strong in the Lord because they know how to daily feed for themselves?

Have a blessed day, Nancy Campbell

To read more, go to DON’T STAY A BABY. Link: http://aboverubies.org/…/916-bible-in-the-home-dont-stay-a-…

P.S. In the next few days I will post further articles that will help you and your children how to make your Bible reading exciting and how to really hear from God as you open the Word.

What is your relationship with God? Moses had a “face to face” relationship with Him. Exodus 33:11 says: “And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend.”

Sadly, the rest of the children of Israel had a “afar off” relationship. When Moses went out to the tabernacle, “the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshipped, each man in his tent door.” They saw the glory of God and worshipped from afar, but Moses went in and spoke with God face to face.

Are you going through a difficult patch in your marriage? Do you feel like your love is petering out? Perhaps you are even estranged from one another. I would encourage you to go to the following link on the Above Rubies website. There you will find over 30 testimonies of marriages that have been healed and articles about marriage that will encourage, strengthen, and inspire you. There is always hope. Check these amazing testimonies out now: http://aboverubies.org/index.php/2013-11-12-17-55-51/english-language/marriage

Is your husband one who does not know how to take the lead in your home? Perhaps he is not even a Christian. You will be blessed by this testimony where the husband always said to his wife: "Please yourself! You usually do!"
http://aboverubies.org/index.php/2013-11-12-17-55-51/english-language/marriage/256-marriage-please-yourself-you-usually-do

We all know that our thinking determines who we are and how we live. It determines the atmosphere of our home. It determines how we relate to our husbands and children.

Left to ourselves, we are prone to low thoughts. Self-pitying, discouraging, despairing, doubting, and negative thoughts. It’s unbelievable how we gravitate to these kind of thoughts. But there is good news. When Jesus Christ died upon the cross, He died to not only save us from our sins, but from our debilitating thought life. If Christ dwells in our hearts, we have His mind.

Dear Mother, you are not only mothering for today, but for generations to come!

~ Love from Nancy

God, who touches earth with beauty
Make me lovely too,
With thy Spirit recreate me,
Make my life anew.

Does anyone remember singing the old chorus, “Trust in the Lord and don’t despair”! We used to sing it as children. We’d sing it everywhere we went with all our hearts and as loud as we could.

Trust in the Lord and don’t despair,
He is a friend so true!
No matter what your troubles are,
Jesus will see you through.
Sing, when the day is bright;
Sing, through the darkest night
Everyday, all the way,
Let us sing, sing, sing!

This is God’s daily admonition to us and our children. It’s not easy to take advice, but it’s a wonderful habit. Keep a soft spirit and always be open to correction and advice. As we cultivate this kind of spirit, it is easier for our children to pick it up.

By the way, have you taught your children this nursery rhyme?

This is what it is meant to be if your home is dedicated to God. How many times a day do you pray in your home? How many times a day do you pray together as a family? We can’t really confess that our home belongs to God unless we are a praying family (Jeremiah 10:25).

May each one of us be encouraged to fill our homes with prayer. Whenever your children nave a need, pray for them. If someone calls on the phone with a need, pray for them right then. When you face serious or urgent matters for payer in your family, set the timer every hour to stop and pray.

The devil wants to keep everything about God in a little box. He does not want us to spread the truth and light of the gospel. He does not want us to have more children because each new babe is a fresh revelation of the image of God.

Do you remember when Peter and John prayed for the man who was lame from his mother’s womb and he was immediately healed? He began walking, leaping, and praising God. All the people saw it and began to praise God. In fact, about 5,000 people believed on Jesus. This was too much for the devil.

Deception is such a subtle thing, isn’t it? It is so subtle that we usually don’t know we are deceived. We can not only be deceived by the encroachment of out humanistic society, but we can be self-deceived. William Barclay’s translation of James 1:22 says: “You must not only listen to the word, you must act on it. Otherwise, you indulge in self-deception.” This is very challenging to me. To daily read God’s Word and yet not put it into action is self-deception. The more I do this, the more I deceive myself. I pray that the power of the Holy Spirit working within me will keep me from this deception.

And though this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God has willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.

Home based upon Christian marriage is so evidently an institution of God, that a man must become profane before he can deny it . . . Of this realm woman is queen. It takes its cue and its hue from her. If she is in the best sense womanly--if she is true and tender, loving and heroic, patient and self-devoted--she consciously or unconsciously organizes and puts in operation a set of influences that do more to mould the destiny of the nation than any man, uncrowned by power or eloquence, can possibly effect.

~ Dr. J. G. Holland

Mothers, you determine the destiny of the nation and future generations! Don't leg anyone rob you of the enormity of your God-given career of motherhood.
~ Nancy

How can I do it? I have too much to do,

I’m overwhelmed and feeling real blue,
I’m stuck in this house like super glue.
Don’t look around – LOOK UP!

A young man recently shared this testimony with us. He was driving to our home, came to the lights which were red, and obediently followed the car in front of him. All of a sudden he realized he was going through a red light! Why? Instead of looking up at the lights, he followed the person in front of him. This could have got him into a lot of trouble.

How easy it is to do this in life. We subconsciously follow people around us. We assimilate into the ways of our humanistic society. Unless we diligently keep our eyes on Jesus and follow Him, we follow the crowd around us without realizing it.

Have you read the words to the Newsboys song, “Guilty.” They wrote this song for the new movie, GOD’S NOT DEAD 2. However, they have received flack for the words of this song. There are some Christian radio stations who will not play it because they don’t want to offend! I beg your pardon! If we cannot stand up for Christ and for the truth, we should not use the name “Christian.”

May we never be ashamed to own Christ and to lift up His name. May we be Christ up-lifting families, never compromising with the spirit of this world.

Do you remember when Jesus walked with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus? The two disciples were totally dejected and disheartened because the One who they thought would save them from the Romans was dead! But Jesus came along and began to speak to them from the Scriptures “the things concerning himself.” Oh how their hearts rejoiced and “burned within them” as He spoke to them.

But they still didn’t know it was Jesus. They came to Emmaus and although Jesus would have walked on, they begged him to come and eat with him. Then what happened? It was as they SAT AT THE TABLE and Jesus broke the bread, blessed it and gave it to them, that THEIR EYES WERE OPENED! Now, this was not communion. This was a daily Israeli meal where they broke the flat bread and dipped in their dishes to eat.

The amazing thing we see here is that it was when they were sitting together at the table that their eyes were opened. Did you know, dear ladies, that the table is a place of revelation? God loves to come and sit at our tables with us each day. He wants to be present. And He wants to bring understanding and revelation of Himself.

The table is not only a place to feed the body, but to feed the soul and the spirit. God comes to feed our spirit and open our eyes to Him and all that He wants to tell us. I believe the table is the most powerful place in our home.

But what happens instead? Do you think the devil wants us to come together as families? Do you think he wants us to strengthen our family ties as we eat and fellowship together? And do you think He wants our children to feel the presence of God at our tables as fathers read from God’s Word and we pray together? No. The devil knows the power of the table, the power of God’s Word, and the power of praying families. He will do everything in his power to keep you from these daily sacred moments.

He won’t use bad things. He knows he could never tempt you that way. He just gets you busy. He gets your children involved in all the curricular activities that take you away from the family meal table and the opportunity for God to visit with you and speak to you and your children.

Dear mother. Take a stand. Rise up against everything that would hinder this time with your family. Make it happen. Put aside anything and everything that interferes with this time.

You are the one that can make it happen in your home.

Love and blessings from Nancy Campbell

P.S. Read the story in Luke 24:1-35.

A cheerful heart will make such a different to your home today. But you don’t FEEL cheerful? That’s not the point. I hope you don’t live by your feelings. That’s a miserable way to live. In fact, it is a false way to live. Feelings are deceiving. They come and go. But truth is real. And the truth is that if you have received Jesus Christ into your life, you have living joy bubbling up within you. Jesus, who lives in you, is JOY. Hebrews 1:9 tells us that Jesus has more joy than anyone else in the world--and He lives in you!

May you have a blessed Sunday as you fellowship as a family with the people of God today. We all need to be encouraged and we all need to encourage one another, don't we?