THE GREATEST MAN in history
had no servants, yet they called him Master.
had no degree, yet they called him Teacher.
had no medicines, yet they called him Healer.
He had no army, yet kings feared him.
He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.
He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.
He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.
He is my Savior and Redeemer.
His name is Jesus Christ, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS!
What’s happening in your home today? Is everything piling on top of you--laundry, dishes, and teaching the children all waiting to be accomplished? Don’t throw in the towel, dear mother. Don’t look at everything waiting to be done. Just tackle one job at a time. Priorities first. But do each task with ALL YOUR MIGHT. Not half-heartedly, grumblingly, or lazily. And teach your children to do their chores with all their might, too. Inspire this attitude in them as they see the way you begin each responsibility.
The Bible always shows us the way:
Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy MIGHT.”
Colossians 3:23, 24: “And whatsoever ye do, do it HEARTILY, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ.”
Colossians 3:17: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the GLORY OF GOD.”
Philippians 2:14: “Do all things WITHOUT MURMURING.”
Matthew 25:21, 23; Luke 16:10: “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much.”
What a great day you will have in your home today as each one does everything with all their might.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I hope you enjoy this beautiful poem about children. I’d love to know what is your favorite line. There are some beauties. ~ Nancy
Come to me, O ye children!
For I hear you at your play,
And the questions that perplexed me
Have vanished quite away.
Ye open the eastern windows,
That look towards the sun,
Where thoughts are singing swallows
And the brooks of morning run.
In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine,
In your thoughts the brooklet's flow,
But in mine is the wind of Autumn
And the first fall of the snow.
Ah! what would the world be to us
If the children were no more?
We should dread the desert behind us
Worse than the dark before.
What the leaves are to the forest,
With light and air for food,
Ere their sweet and tender juices
Have been hardened into wood, --
That to the world are children;
Through them it feels the glow
Of a brighter and sunnier climate
Than reaches the trunks below.
Come to me, O ye children!
And whisper in my ear
What the birds and the winds are singing
In your sunny atmosphere.
For what are all our contrivings,
And the wisdom of our books,
When compared with your caresses,
And the gladness of your looks?
Ye are better than all the ballads
That ever were sung or said;
For ye are living poems,
And all the rest are dead.
The following are a couple of statements (of thousands that we could quote) stating publically and unashamedly the aim of the public education of our children:
“I think that the most important factor moving us toward a secular society has been the educational factor. Our schools may not teach Johnny how to read properly, but the fact that Johnny is in school until he is sixteen tends toward the elimination of religious superstition. The average American child now acquires a high school education, and this militates against Adam and Eve and all other myths of alleged history.” ~ P. Blanchard, “Three Cheers for Our Secular State,” The Humanist
“Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday school’s meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?” ~ Humanism: A New Religion, 1930
It mystifies my brain that godly parents who long for their children to grow up filled with the knowledge of God’s Word and influenced by the power of the Holy Spirit are quite happy to send their children into the public education system which openly states their plan to turn the children away from God and the Bible. And they are becoming more and more blatant.
While the Bible is banned, the teaching of the Muslim religion is more and more being established in our schools. We long for our children to grow up living moral and pure lives, and yet alternative sexuality is proclaimed in our schools The gay lifestyle is becoming more and more entrenched as the homosexual agenda pushes it into the curriculum. And yet this is an abomination against God?
I can understand the ungodly being quite happy for their children to be influenced by this kind of education. But I cannot understand why the godly would do so. Many years ago Marin Luther said these words: “I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.”
Psalm 1:1-3 should be our testimony: “Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD: and in his law doth he mediate day and night.”
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
King David was passionate about building as house for the name of the Lord, although his son, Solomon completed the vision. 1 Kings 8:17-19 says: “And the LORD said unto David my father . . . thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house UNTO MY NAME.”
God wants us to also build a house unto His name. A home that honors and lifts up the name of the Lord. A home where God delights to dwell. Solomon acknowledged in 1 Kings 8:13: “I have surely built thee a house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in forever.” And when He dedicated the house to the Lord, he prayed: “Now therefore arise, O LORD God into thy resting place” (2 Chronicles 6:41). Is your home a resting place for God, where He feels comfortable, and is not continually grieved?
And to what name are you building your home? Is it for the glory of your own name? Is it to the name of your own agenda? Or are you building it to God’s name?
To answer this question, we have to ask another question: Do we know the name of the Lord? This is a huge challenge to me. How can we build a home to the name of the Lord if we don’t truly know the name of our God? We often think we know God, but sadly, it is often a name we have conjured up in our own imagination. We so easily bring God down to our level, to fit into our lives. or into the “box” we make for Him.
The greatest challenge and pursuit of my life is to know more and more of the character, the attributes, and the name of God. It is only as I know His name and His attributes that I really know Him. And I can only know His character as I see it revealed in His Word.
We will never ever fully know God. It is impossible, for He is God. He is incomprehensible! But in His mercy He chooses to reveal to us what He wants us to know of Him. Therefore, here is a good idea for you. I did this when raising our children as I not only wanted to know God for myself but to reveal Him to my children.
When I read in God’s Word of an attribute of God or one of His names (for He has many names), I wrote it in a notebook at the top of the page. Underneath I wrote the reference. As I read the Word each day, I continued to write attributes I discovered. As I found more Scriptures about that name or attribute I wrote them under the heading. Eventually, I had my own book, filled with Scriptures about the character of God.
Gradually, one at a time, you can read the Scriptures regarding a certain attribute of God to your children in your Bible reading time and discuss it together. This is the way we get a true understanding of God.
And the more and more we know of Him the more we can build our home to His name, not a false name of our imagination, but the true image of God.
Hope you take up the idea.
Love from Nancy Campbell
P.S. Go to this link to read more about building a home to the name of the Lord:
http://tinyurl.com/BuildHomeHonorGod
Here some wonderful books to read about the character of God:
“The Knowledge of the Holy” by A. W. Tozer
“The Attributes of God” by A. W. Tozer
“The Attributes of God” by Arthur W. Pink
“The Names of God” by Andrew Jukes
“The Names of God” by Lester Sumrall
“Names of God” by Nathan Stone
We talked yesterday about living in the true reality, the reality of the heavenly world. How on earth do we do this?
We come to the understanding that when Christ dwells in our hearts everything is sacred. No matter how mundane the task at hand, it cannot be anything less than holy if God dwells in us, for He is doing the task with us. You have to just acknowledge this truth and believe it!
When you clean toilets, you can sing for joy because Christ sings with you and over you (Zephaniah 3:17). When you wash the dishes, you are aware of the presence of Christ with you. When you prepare yet another meal for your family, you do it with joy and excitement because Christ is with you. He doesn’t leave you when you do the commonplace duties. He is not apart from you in the humdrum of life. He is with you.
He promises: “I will NEVER leave you, or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). No matter what you are doing (unless you are sinning and grieving His Holy Spirit), He is with you.
I love Zechariah 14:20, 21 (NET): “On that day the bells of the horses will bear the inscription “HOLY TO THE LORD.” The cooking pots in the LORD’S temple will be as holy as the bowls in front of the altar. Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will become holy in the sight of the LORD who rules over all.” Every saucepan you pick up is holy because you, and everything in your home, is sanctified by the power of the living Christ who abides in you. To prepare a meal for your family is as sacred as a minister who prepares a spiritual meal for the church!
Therefore, enjoy every moment and every task in your home today.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
To us mothers, the reality of life is the day to day responsibility to manage our homes; feed, nurture, and train our children; and everything else that clamors for our attention. But there is another reality, a reality that has the power to affect our daily life in our home. It is the reality of the heavenly.
Colossians 3:1-3 (NLT) states: “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” These words seem so far from our experience, don’t they? And yet this is normal Christianity. The realities of the heavenly realm are the TRUE REALITIES. The eternal realm is the real world. This world is passing away. It is like a vapor that appears for a moment and is gone.
When we focus our ordinary, daily life on the eternal, it takes us from the doldrums to delight, from misery to the miraculous, from pre-occupation with self to praising God. Instead of being overwhelmed about all we have to do and all our problems, we lift our eyes to Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father. We give our difficulties to Him. Nothing is too big for Him to handle. He never gets in a state of confusion or tension.
Instead of being conditioned by the delusionary mindset of this world, we train our children in the light of eternity and for the eternal realm. We lives as “strangers and pilgrims on this earth” (Hebrews 11:13).
Moses gave us an example. In the midst of impossible circumstances He kept right on going, keeping His eyes on God, the one who is INVISIBLE! Hebrews 11:27 (NLT) says: “It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing he king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.”
Live in the true reality today. The invisible world is more powerful than the earthly world.
Love from Nancy Campbell
The greatest blessing, stability, and power of the nation are godly homes--homes where the husband and wife love one another and together seek to raise godly children to influence the world. Satan also knows the power of the home and therefore tries to woo women away from their greatest place of influence.
However, he is not content with eliminating the mother from the home. He even comes to homes where mothers have come home to raise their children. He searches for ways to get his foot in the door, bringing in his deception and evil.
Mothers, we must be watchwomen, constantly on the alert for his crafty ways. 1 Peter 5:8, 9 says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.”
When you notice him putting his toe in your door, boot him out before he gets any further. Speak the name of Jesus out loud. Confess the Scriptures out loud. Don’t allow the enemy to get entrenched in your home. Raise up the stand of righteousness. Cast out all worldly practices and entertainment, and “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:15-17). Deal strongly with negative and evil habits.
God spoke to His servant, David: “I have cut off all thine enemies OUT OF THY SIGHT” (1 Samuel 7:9). God reveals the way He wants us to also deal with Satan’s temptations. We cast them OUT OF OUR SIGHT! We don’t allow them to linger around. We don’t tolerate them. We send them kicking, OUT OF SIGHT AND OUT OF MIND.
James 4:7 says: “RESIST the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Blessings to you today from Nancy Campbell
For 100 years, Noah did the same old thing-- hammered, nailed, and kept on building his ark. He did not have time to do all the things that everyone else was doing. He just kept on slogging and being faithful, doing the same thing every day for all those years. In doing so he condemned the world.
He changed the world because he stuck with the job he was given to do! While others did their own thing, Noah gave his life to building his ark. He was mocked, ridiculed, and persecuted, but he was the only one who saved his family!
Dear mother, your daily faithfulness in the home is not in vain. As you commit your life to building your ark, you will save your family. Also the generations to come, and for eternity.
Hebrews 11:7 says: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark TO THE SAVING OF HIS HOUSE; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”
It’s another building day. Keep at it.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Peter encouraged the believers in Asia: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.” The NLT says: “Don’t be surprised.”
Do you wonder why you have to endure the trial you are experiencing? Your world is falling apart. Family relationships are estranged. You are ridiculed for your godly convictions. Dear mother, please don’t lose heart. This is not something strange. It is part of living in this fallen, hurting, and deceived society. We are in a fight against evil and it will not stop until Christ comes to bring vengeance upon His enemies and all evil into subjection to His sovereignty.
Every day we face the fight. But we don’t face it in defeat. We have the power of Christ living within us to overcome. The rewards are for the overcomers. Peter continues to tell the believers how to react to their reproaches and sufferings. His words are a little different to what we would expect.
1. REJOICE (verse 13). It is joy that comes as a result of God’s grace in our lives. We don’t rejoice because we feel like it, but because we know that God is in control. He has the bigger picture. He is working everything out for final good.
2. EXCEEDING JOY (verse 13). These words are “agalliao” in the Greek which comes from two roots words: “agan” meaning VERY MUCH; and “aliomai” meaning TO LEAP. It is the same word used in Matthew 5:11, 12: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be EXCEEDING GLAD: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
When going through trials and persecution we are to leap for joy. Not only a little skip. We are to leap VERY MUCH. Or in others words, “to leap and skip about with excessive or ecstatic joy and delight.” My, I sure have to change my attitude. What about you?
3. HAPPY (verse 14). This word means more than a superficial ”happy.” It is to be fully satisfied in whatever situation I am in (favorable or not), because Christ lives in me. Because Christ indwells me-- and nothing takes Him by surprise or gets Him in a state of tension--I do not have to cave in. And God says that when we are reproached for the name of Christ His glorious spirit rests upon us.
Keep your chin up. Look up to the Lord and trust in Him. He has everything that is happening to you in His control, even when it looks impossible.
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
Most of us have more clothes in our wardrobe than we need. Did you know that you also have an amazing spiritual wardrobe? And it’s free. It has been given to you by Jesus Christ, paid for by His death upon the cross and His precious blood which He poured out for you.
God doesn’t want you to leave your beautiful clothes sitting in your wardrobe. He wants you to wear them. Did you wake up grumpy and irritable this morning? Take off that grumpy dress and put on your “garment of praise” (Isaiah 61:3). Oh yes, you’ve also got a dress called “Joy” (Nehemiah 8:10).
You also have lovely dresses of love, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23). You have delightful garments of tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, and forgiveness. (Colossians 3:12-17).
Don’t leave them hanging in your wardrobe. God gives them to you, but you have to actually put them on! Read Ephesians 4: 22-24 and Colossians 3:10). The strange thing is that although we have this expensive wardrobe, we don’t always bother to wear the clothes. We are so used to our old shabby clothes of the flesh. We feel more comfortable in them. They feel familiar, so we stick with them instead of wearing our new clothes. But they belong to you! They are yours!
The J. B. Phillip’s translation says: “Fling off the dirty clothes of the old way of living … And put on the clean fresh clothes of the new life.
Let me tell you a secret. You won’t feel like putting it on these new clothes. You’d much rather put on your dirty old dress of grumbling and complaining. But do it by faith. Don’t worry about your feelings. Put on your praise garment. Start praising and thanking the Lord.
You can even change garments as you need them throughout the day. Are the children driving you crazy? Your anger is rising. Quick! Change into your garment of long-suffering or patience. Put it on by faith. Thank the Lord for His patience which is in you because He lives in you.
Are you starting to shout and yell because everything is getting on top of you? Put on the garment of gentleness. Thank the Lord for His gentle Spirit which lives in you.
These are your new clothes. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Blessings to you,
Nancy Campbell
A little while ago I sent out a post about living for Christ. One mother wrote back and said that she felt condemned because she couldn’t fulfill all the Scriptures about daily living for Christ. As I continued to think about her, it dawned upon me that no wonder she felt like that. I omitted to give the very first principle about how to live for Christ. Without this principle none of the others work.
What is the first principle? To live for Christ you have to die! How could I forget to remind you of this basic Scriptural truth? To daily experience the new and abundant life of Christ who lives within us we have to first die. Too many people think they can live for Christ while they allow their “old man” to stay very much alive. I am guilty of this too.
Galatians 2:20 says: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself or me.” When Jesus died, positionally I died with Him. When He was buried, I was buried and finished. When He arose, I also rose with Him to walk a new life.
We have to “put off” the old man and “put on” the new man, which is Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:22-24). Every day we come to the cross and die to the “old man”--our flesh, our own way, our selfishness, self-pity and so on. As we leave it at the cross, we put on the “new man.” We yield to the life of Jesus Christ who lives within us.
The wonderful news is that Jesus died to save us, not only from the power of this evil world, but from living to ourselves. 2 Corinthians 5:15 says: “And that he (Jesus Christ) died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”
When you are dead, you’ll really begin to live.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
P.S. I will therefore send to you my amended copy of HOW DO I LIVE FOR CHRIST?
http://tinyurl.com/HowLiveForChrist
In my post below, I LOVE IT, DON’T YOU? I wrote how David loved the habitation of God’s house (Psalm 26:8). He was speaking of the tabernacle or the temple where the Shekinah glory of God resided. It was not the building David sought after; it was the presence of God. If God did not dwell there, it had nothing for him.
David’s son, Solomon build the temple for God to come and rest (2 Chronicles 6:41 and Psalm 132:13, 14). We as mothers, are also building a house for the living God, a home for His glory and honor. This should be our greatest vision--to create a home where God can dwell and be at rest. And if God dwells in our home, we will love to be in our home, for we love the presence of God. We love the place where His glory and honor dwells.
Do you love being in your home? He created you to love being in your home. The Creator of the first home called it the “Garden of Delight.” He came to this home every day and walked and talked with Adam and Eve. He wants to walk and talk with you in your home. He wants to be part of happenings of your home.
Does He delight to be in your home? Do you delight to have Him in your home? And therefore, do you delight to be IN YOUR HOME?
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
David confessed in Psalm 28:6 (ESV): “I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” In the very next psalm he says he would like to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life (Psalm 127:3). Do you also love to go to the house of the Lord, to gather with God’s people, to worship and praise the Lord, and feed on HIs Word? This should be the natural desire of all believers.
If we love God, we’ll love His people and want to be with them (Psalm 16:2, 3). We’ll want to run to the house of the Lord, just as David again exclaimed: “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1). The word “glad” in the Hebrew is not a half-hearted gladness. It means “to brighten up, to cheer up, to rejoice, and be joyful. This should be our attitude about meeting with God and His people.
There are many families who are not happy with church and therefore no longer attend. This does not adhere to God’s plan. Of course we’ll never find a perfect church. Even if we miraculously could find a perfect church, it sure wouldn’t be perfect the moment we stepped foot in it.
Although saved by God’s wondrous grace, many of God’s people are flawed, hurting, and still learning day by day to walk in God’s ways. We haven’t made it yet, so we blow it, we offend one another, and we often don’t agree. However, we have to put these things aside. We have to forgive. We’ve got to be bigger than all these flaws and failings. We’ve got to commit ourselves because God wants us to do this. It’s not about us personally. It’s all about blessing and encouraging God’s people. To stay home because we can’t find a church fellowship good enough reveals pride and selfishness. Why do we think we are better than everyone else?
If you don’t think you’ll be blessed personally, go to bless others. Go with a smile. Go with the presence of the Lord, richly filled with God’s Word to “brighten up” and “cheer up” some hurting soul who is discouraged.
Hebrews 10:24, 25 (ESV) reminds us again that it is not about us, but about others: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, NOT NEGLECTING to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
Instead of dragging our feet, let’s get excited about going into the house of God. Let’s discipline and organize ourselves to get their on time. Let’s go with a smile on our face, joy in our hearts, and ready to encourage whoever we get to talk to.
Let’s go for the front seats. Yes, even with children! You’ll be amazed. When you sit at the back with children, they are much more difficult to manage. They get distracted by what everyone is doing in front of them. Take them up to the front seats, right under the eye of the preacher, closer to the anointing, and see what happens.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Today, upon a bus
I saw a girl with golden hair.
And wished I was as fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave,
I saw her hobble down the aisle,
She had one leg and wore a crutch,
But as she passed, she gave a smile.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine,
I have two legs, the world is mine.
I stopped to buy some candy,
The lad who sold it had such charm.
I talked with him, he seemed so glad,
If I were late, it'd do no harm.
And as I left, he said to me,
"I thank you, you've been so kind.
It's nice to talk with folks like you.
You see," he said, "I'm blind."
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine,
I have two eyes, the world is mine.
Later while walking down the street
I saw a child with eyes of blue.
He stood and watched the others play,
He did not know what to do.
I stopped a moment and then I said,
"Why don't you join the others, dear?"
He looked ahead without a word,
And then I knew, he couldn't hear.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have two ears, the world is mine.
With feet to take me where I'd go,
With eyes to see the sunset's glow,
With ears to hear what I'd know,
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I've been blessed indeed, the world is mine.
~ Red Foley
I want to share another thought with you from our post below, DAY BY DAY. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 talks about the afflictions each one of us face, some more than others. I have to say that, for although we all feel that we face difficult times, none of us here in this nation face the torture, beatings, killing of husbands and children, heartache, and suffering that is happening right now to Christians in many countries. Christians are being persecuted in sixty different countries of the world, and we complain about the few problems we have to face.
However, whether our problem is small or it is huge, it always seems big to us, doesn’t it? But God tells us that in the light of eternity, they are “light” afflictions. Oh they seem so heavy and overwhelming to us, but we have to learn to look beyond the temporal to the eternal.
The trial you are going through may seem as though you will never see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is endless. It keeps getting worse. But God says that in the light of eternity it is “but for a moment.” Who do we believe?
Dear precious ladies, we have to learn to look at our problems like God, who lives in eternity, sees them. We have to stop looking at them from our earthly point of view and see them from an eternal point of view.
And there’s more yet. God says that our trials are working for us a “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Wow, can you get that? God doesn’t waste words. And yet He uses five adjectives to describe the glory that we will one day receive--FAR--MORE--EXCCEEDING--ETERNAL--WEIGHT of glory!
We’ve got to change our thinking. We’ve got to change our perspective. We’ve got to think eternally! Our thinking changes our behavior. Our thinking changes our attitude. Let’s side with what God says rather than our selfish thoughts.
Be encouraged, dear nation builder, your trials are working the glory of Gold in you, now and for eternity.
Love from Nancy Campbell
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!
The dishes and laundry are piled up high,
When I look ‘round the house I have to sigh,
And for supper my husband’s expecting a pie!
Don’t look around – LOOK UP!
We can’t pay the mortgage; bills are overdue,
I’m tired and have headaches, not a few,
These children are driving me crazy too!
Don’t look around – LOOK UP!
My husband comes home late; he doesn’t care,
He doesn’t help with the children; it’s not fair!
I don’t want to smile; I just want to glare!
Don’t look around – LOOK UP!
Take your eyes off your problems, look up to Him,
God’s presence is with you, even in the din!
Confess your bad mood and He’ll cleanse your sin.
He is your God – LOOK UP!
He will show you how to order your place,
He will give you direction as you seek His face,
He wants to pour upon you His anointing of grace.
He is your God – LOOK UP!
Keep your eyes fixed on Him; He is your Stay,
He is your Wisdom for problems each day,
He’ll bring His presence right into your fray.
He is your God – LOOK UP!
Each morning He comes as the refreshing Dew
To revive your body, and your spirit too,
He is your Deliverer and He’ll make you new,
He is your God – LOOK UP!
Love from NANCY CAMPBELL
The other morning Colin read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 in our daily devotion: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed year by year.”
“No,” we responded, “that’s not correct!” Colin often does this to trick us to see if we are really listening. Sometimes we may not pick up his ploy, which means we’re not listening!
This Scripture does not say “year by year,” or even “month by month.” It says “day by day”! Take hold of this, dear mother. It’s DAY BY DAY. The Holy Spirit who dwells within you is alive and constantly working in you. He wants to refresh, revitalize, and renew you each new day.
How does it happen? Paul goes on to say, “While we look not at the things which are seen: but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal: but the things which are not seen are eternal.” When you put all your energy and focus on the problems you face at hand they wear you out and grind you down. When you concentrate on how tired or how sick you feel, the more tired and sick you feel. There’s nothing like being depressed, despondent, and full of worry and self-pity to wipe you out and make you feel lousy.
However, when you look up to the Lord and see beyond the temporal, to understand that your problem is only a light affliction compared with eternity, to believe that God is bigger than your problem, and that you can totally trust Him, you will be carried along by the strength and anointing of the Holy Spirit who indwells you. Your problem may not be fixed immediately, but you are no longer bogged down by it. You are renewed and lifted up in your spirit as you trust in God.
Don’t look past today. Jesus said in Matthew 6:34 (HCSB): “Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Instead, trust in the “day by day” renewing of the Holy Spirit. He wants to come to you like the dew that waters and refreshes the grass each new day.
Live in His anointing today,
Nancy Campbell
The blood of Jesus Christ is the central theme of the Bible. This scarlet thread begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. The Old Testament lamb sacrifices pointed to the THE LAMB OF GOD who sacrificed His life and shed HIs blood to atone for our sins. The New Testament looks back to that greatest moment in history. Jesus was chosen before the foundation of the world for this very purpose (1 Peter 1:19, 20).
In Revelation 5:1-7, we read that because He was THE LAMB slain from the foundation of the world, He was the only one worthy to open the seals of the book. Revelation 9:11-16 (ESV) pictures Jesus, “called Faithful and True . . . His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems . . . He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word if God.”
Our faith in the blood of Jesus atones for our sins, cleanses us, washes us, redeems us and reconciles us to God, justifies us, brings us near to God, purifies us, sanctifies us, saves us from the wrath to come, gives us peace, gives us eternal life, protects and covers us, and enables us to enter into the presence of God.
We cannot have salvation without faith in the blood of Jesus that was poured out for us. Hebrews 9:22 states: “Without shedding of blood is no remission.” Every blessing we have is through the blood of Jesus. It is also the power through which we overcome the enemy, the accuser of our souls. Revelation 12:11 says: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
That’s why I believe it is very important to praise the honor the blood of Jesus. If it is the central theme of the Bible, how much preeminence does it have in our lives and our homes? Do we consistently thank Him for His eternal salvation through His blood? It is my own personal conviction to thank the Lord Jesus Christ each new day at our Family Devotion time for His wondrous salvation and pouring out His blood for me. I don’t want to let a day go by without giving Him my grateful thanks, love, and praise.
It is also such a blessing to sing about the blood of Jesus. In the midst of our beautiful worship songs it is often hard to find many written about the blood and the cross. That’s why it’s good to also sing some of the good old hymns of the faith that lift up the blood of Jesus. Here’s a few you can sing together at your Family Devotions:
Are you Washed in the Blood?
Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
There is Power in the Blood
There is a Fountain Filled with Blood
Lead me to Calvary
Redeemed
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
He Hideth my Soul
Blessings to you today from Nancy Campbell
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
CHORUS:
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Now by this I’ll overcome—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
Now by this I’ll reach my home—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
AboveRubies
Email Nancy
PO Box 681687
Franklin, TN 37068-1687
Phone : 931-729-9861
Office Hrs 9am - 5pm, M - F, CTZ
