Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

We say we believe in the truth, but do we rejoice in the truth enough to make it known? Much of the church is far too passive about the truth. When we rejoice in the truth, we will surely sing to God about it. The greater we rejoice in the truth the higher our praises will be ( Psalm 149:6).

When we rejoice in the truth, we will not be ashamed to declare it. In fact, rejoicing in the truth will motivate us to talk to everyone we can about it. However, as I stated at the beginning of this post, how can we rejoice in the truth if we do not know the truth?

I think it would be fair to say that most Christians do not know their Bibles very well. If fathers and mothers do not take up their priestly duties and read the Scriptures to their families around their morning and evening mealtimes, how will they ever be able to rejoice in the truth they know nothing about?

The truth should be familiar to us; not a strange thing. Hosea 8:12 states: “I have written to him the GREAT things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.”

Daily family devotions will promote the knowledge of the truth. In turn, this causes us to rejoice in the truth.

John 8:32: ”And ye shall KNOW the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” You don’t get the blessing unless you KNOW it. Your children won’t receiving the blessing of the truth unless they KNOW it.

Far too many Christian fathers are passive concerning family devotions which results in a serious failure to rejoice in the truth. We may see ourselves as good average Christian families but if we are not rejoicing in the truth, we won’t make a difference in the world.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

We must remember, at all times, and never forget that our God is a God of truth land He rejoices in the truth.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God declares in in John 14:6: “ I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life.” We who are true followers of should also rejoice in the truth. We never rejoice that we escaped conviction by telling a lie.

We who are old enough will remember the O. J. Simpson trial with the famous line: “If the glove doesn’t fit, you have to acquit.” O. J. Simpson was indeed guilty, and they did not rejoice in the truth.

Exodus 30:16: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”

Exodus 23:1: “Thou shalt not raise a false report.”

Deuteronomy 19:16-21: “If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
And the judges shall make DILIGENT INQUISITION and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;
Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother; so shall thou put the evil away from among you.
And those which remain shall hear, and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you
And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

Wow! If we did to false witnesses what God says in this Scripture, it would result in the fear of God coming upon the people and this sin would be put down.

We remember the false witness that spoke against Brett Kavanagh at the time of his appointment to the Supreme Court. I remember correctly the false witness made a lot of money from a Go Fund Me program. How crazy.

When people raise their hands these days and swear to “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God,” it doesn’t mean a whole lot anymore.

It is a sad day when more people rejoice in a lie rather than rejoicing in the truth.

We must become a nation who will speak the truth, at all times, even if it hurts us.

To be continued.

Be encouraged. Colin Campbell

Is not God enough for thy need, or is his all-sufficiency too narrow for thy wants?

Dost thou want another eye beside that of him who sees every secret thing?

Is his heart faint? Is his arm weary? If so, seek another God; but if he be infinite, omnipotent, faithful, true,

and all-wise, why gladdest thou abroad so much to seek another confidence? Why doest thou rake the earth to find another foundation, when this is strong enough to bear all the weight which thou canst ever build theron?”

~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

When we walk in agape love, we will not rejoice in any form of iniquity that happens amongst our brothers and sisters in the church we belong to. Nor will we pass on negative information relating to members of our own family and close friends.

The only righteous reason for passing on negative concerns is to encourage prayer and desire that the matter will be dealt with in a God-fearing and God-loving way. Therefore, we must be careful about who we talk to. We should not pass information on to people who do not pray.

If we fear God, we will not pass on anything with a motive to gossip or slander.

If we are tempted to pass on to others anything that is based on hearsay and cannot be collaborated or verified, we should check out the facts before we say anything. Otherwise, we are no better than the fake media!

Leviticus 19:16b: “Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I am the LORD.” We stand against the blood of our neighbor when we find some juicy titbit of gossip to say against them. It is a serious thing in the sight of God when we feel glad or even want to share negatives to others. Sometimes we can’t wait to gossip and slander others to spread a negative and evil report.

Some might say that to stand against the blood of your neighbor means to want your neighbor dead! Or you will not defend your neighbor’s blood if he should die or be killed. However, 1 John 3:15 says: “Whosoever hateth his brother (neighbor) is a murderer and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

Tale bearing, gossiping, and slandering goes against the love of the brethren as well as the love of one’s neighbors.

To be continued.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Why is it that we love to hear news of how some Christian celebrity has failed in some form of iniquity? Is it because we believe ourselves to be better than them? Is it because their failure gives us a reason to gossip?

Why do we love to gossip about other people’s failures even if they are not celebrities? We love to say that we would never do anything like that.

Why is it that after we have gossiped about those who have failed that we seek to cover ourselves by offering up a word of prayer for them? We should have been praying for them at the beginning and then we may have delivered ourselves from a gossiping, slanderous spirit.

We set ourselves up for failure when we gossip about other people’s failures.

To be continued.

Be encouraged. Colin Campbell

He knows not all that is before;
He little dreams of hidden snares.
He holds my hand, and o'er and o'er
I find myself beset with fears.

Father, as this boy looks to me
For guidance, and my help implores,
I bring him now in prayer to Thee;
He trusts my strength, and I trust Yours.

Hold Thou my hand as I hold his,
And so guide me that I may guide.
Teach me, Lord, that I may teach,
And keep me free from foolish pride.

Help me to help this boy of mine,
To be to him a father true.
Hold me, Lord, for everything
As fast as I hold my boy for You."

~ N. W. Brapham

And I must illustrate these tales,
Must imitate the northern gales
That toss the Indian’s canoe,
And show the way he paddles, too.
If in the story comes a bear,
I have to pause and sniff the air
And show the way he climbs the trees
To steal the honey from the bees.

And then I buzz like angry bees
And sting him on the nose and knees
And howl in pain, till mother cries;
“That pair will never shut their eyes,
While all that noise up there you make;
You’re simply keeping them awake.”
And then they whisper: “Just one more,”
And once again I’m forced to roar.

New stories every night they ask,
And that is not an easy task;
I have to be so many things;
The frog that croaks, the lard that sings,
The cunning fox, the frightened hen;
But just last night they stumped me, when
They wanted me to twist and squirm
And imitate an angleworm.

At last they tumbled off to sleep,
And softly from their room I creep
And brush and comb the shock of hair
I tossed about to be a bear.
Then mother says: “Well, I should say
You’re just as much a child as they.”
But you can bet I’ll not resign
That story-telling job of mine.

By Edgar A. Guest

Romans 12:17-21: “Recompense to no man evil for evil . . . as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men . . . Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Hebrews 10:30: “Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord.”

The above Scriptures have their basis in Deuteronomy 32:35: “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence.”

1 Samuel, chapter 25 tells the story of how David was on his way to repay vengeance upon a rich and evil man called Nabal who had a very beautiful and virtuous wife called Abigail.

All David requested of Nabal was some food for himself and his men who had worked hard to protect Nabal’s men from robbers and violence. Nabal did not reward David and his men for guarding and protecting his shepherds and stock men in the dangerous wilderness. Instead, he scoffed at David’s help and sent his servants back to David empty-handed.

This got David really riled up and he was ready to take vengeance himself rather than let God do it His way.

Fortunately, Nabal’s wife put together a sizeable gift of food and drink and sent it ahead of her by her servants. When she met David, she softened David concerning his taking vengeance on her evil husband.

She said to him: “When the LORD has done all he promised and has made you leader of Israel, don’t let this be a blemish on your record . then your conscience won’t have to bear the staggering burden of needless bloodshed and vengeance. And when the LORD has done these great things for you, please remember me, your servant.”

If David and his 400 mean had attacked there would have been a lot of bloodshed. Abigail did not want David to have grief of heart over shedding blood causelessly.

David had not sought the Lord about this revenge and when it was all over (if God had not intervened through Abigail) he would have been ashamed for over-reacting in the heat of the moment.

It is interesting to note that David had been very careful about the life of King Saul who had done greater evil to David than Nabal. And it was to David’s credit that he was teachable and humble enough to let go of his own revenge and let God revenge Nabal.

Instead of stubbornly going ahead, David humbly replied to Abigail: “Praise the LORD, the God of Israel who has sent you to meet me today! Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own hands.”

We must never take vengeance into our own hands. We will always do it the wrong way. When we leave it to God, He will do the job in the right time and the right way, which he did with Nabal. Read Verses 35 – 39.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

The Greek word for “thinketh” is “logizomai” meaning “to take an inventory, to occupy oneself with reckonings or calculations, to estimate, impute by number, despise, esteem, reckon, reason, suppose, and think on.” All these words are interpretations of the same Greek word.

It is a difficult temptation when people you know and consider your friends speak against you and falsely accuse you. It’s not so bad if they are casual acquaintances. Sometimes they are members of your own family or even your own spouse.

Immediately we think of some sort of retribution. We may even think of some way we could teach them a lesson or two. By so doing we only harm ourselves and get into a heated and angry state. Or perhaps even feel sorry for ourselves.

We can share the injustice of the way we have been betrayed with others and a root of bitterness springs up whereby many are defiled (Hebrews 12:15).

In Matthew 18:15 Jesus said: “Morever if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.”

We are better to fix our thoughts on ways to bring healing and reconciliation rather than scheming ways to bring our own retribution of evil upon our accusers. We are told in the Scriptures not to pay back evil with evil, but rather to give them a blessing (1 Peter 3:9). God want us to retaliate with blessing.

Psalm 37:1-8: “FRET NOT thyself because of evildoers . . . TRUST IN THE LORD, and do good . . . DELIGHT thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart . . . COMMIT THY WAY unto the LORD; trust also in him . . . REST IN THE LORD, and WAIT PATIENTLY for him: FRET NOT thyself because of who prospereth in his way . . . CEASE FROM ANGER, and forsake wrath: FRET NOT thyself in any wise to do evil.”

To be continued.

Be encouraged Colin Campbell