Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Gene is releasing this song for free for you to be blessed. You can pick it up on this link: https://www.collisionpointpublishing.com/standfortheflag

Here are the words:
Verse 1:
She’s stood over battlefields
Wept over soldier’s graves
Been wounded by the cannon fire
Been tattered, torn, and frayed
She’s bowed to weary warriors
For their sacrifices made
She’s sung the song of freedom
When freedom’s voice was stayed
She’s a symbol to the fallen and the brave
A reminder of the freedom won
For president’s and slaves

Chorus:
I’ll stand for the flag that waves proud and free
I’ll stand for the flag that stands strong for me
I will stand for what is true
Of the red (and) white and blue
I will honor all she is with all I have
I will stand for the flag

Verse 2:
As she waves in the stormy winds
She echoes freedom’s cost
Reminds us all to not forget
The heroes that we’ve lost
And she honors those around us
Who still fight for us today
On the streets in our home towns
And in countries far way

She’s been spit upon, and ridiculed, burned, and torn apart
By the angry who’ve cursed her with the freedom she has bought

Chorus:

In Isaiah 63:7-10 Isaiah exalts Gods “lovingkindnesses” (plural!) and His “great goodness” which He bestowed upon Israel.

Verse 9 says: “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”

But verse 10 says: ‘BUT they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and fought against them.”

How sad when God is forced to be the enemy of His own people!

God looked for helpers but there was none to help. He wondered that there was no one to uphold and plead Israel’s cause or to intercede on Israel’s behalf (Isaiah 59:16).

In this great hour of America’s history there is the possibility that we could reach the same plight before God that Israel was in. I hope not.

However, many in the church are indifferent to whole-hearted prayer and standing in the gap to turn this nation back to waiting on God. Who will give time to daily cry out for a breakthrough and a great revival of zeal and strength amongst God’s people?

The question is: if God did not let Israel backslide as a nation without reaping the consequences, why would He let America’s church get away with spiritual apathy and indifference to waiting upon God who alone can save us?

We cannot go very far with a flat tire! We cannot go anywhere at all with a flat battery. We can’t even start the car, let alone go anywhere.

Those of us who sense the great need of this hour must get our spiritual tires pumped up and our spiritual batteries recharged if we want revival and the breakthroughs we long for.

Without God’s Holy Spirit zeal, willingness, fervor, and fire flowing through the veins of the church we will end up in a greater trouble than we could ever dream.

In a short time this coronavirus brought about a lot of death and destruction, not only through the virus, but now through the implications of the lockdown. Many businesses have gone bankrupt. Suicide hotlines have increased 600%. Liquor sales have increased 300 - 600%. The church should earnestly be seeking to stand in the gap lest things get worse than they are right now.

The zeal of God operating in us will not allow us to be indifferent, apathetic, and unmoved to the spiritual needs of this hour. The zeal of God will consume us just as it did Jesus (John 2:17).

Isaiah 40;31: “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

7. WAIT FOR GOD TO LEAD THE WAY THROUGH AND OUT

The children could not possess the promised land without going through the trials of the wilderness. Neither can we be victorious in the trials that befall us, whether they be small or large, if we do not seek God’s direction and His specific strategies.

Waiting upon God often requires a period of patience. This does not mean that we sit around and do nothing and let the enemy destroy us. Waiting on God is an active thing.

Psalm 123:2: “Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God until that he have mercy upon us.”

Those who are involved with the CIA cannot sit around and do nothing. Absolutely not, for the safety of our nation depends heavily on what they learn concerning the activities and plans of our enemies. They must be the best listeners. They must discover the ways our enemies are planning against us. They must learn how to spy and how to decode.

Our God has an answer for every difficulty that comes our way and He calls us to be good waiters and listeners. We must be very active in our waiting and listening. Every trial that befalls us comes with a specific and often different answer from God.

Presumption on our part is something that God detests. The fall in the Garden of Eden was, among many things, the sin of presumption because they did not listen to and obey God’s specific instructions regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Psalm 19:12, 13: “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”

Perhaps “the great transgression” is just doing things our own way because we don’t take the time to wait on God.

History will reveal how much we have presumed to act as a nation during this corona pandemic. Many states have taken actions that have not benefited their people and have caused more deaths.

We the church are God’s CIA agents for the governments of our countries, states, and cities. We are meant to be like Daniel who provided the kings of their captivity with the answers to their dreams and visions.

We should always be waiting, watching, and listening. The church will remain impotent and without answers all the while we do not learn to wait and listen.

Numbers 14:44, 45 tells us how the Israelites who had not listened to God “presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them,”

Saul was not a good waiter, listener, and obeyer. 1 Samuel 13:11, 12 says: “And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.”

This presumption cost him the kingdom. Read the whole story in chapter 13.

The church of Jesus Christ is always meant to be listening for the greatest intelligence of all. We must learn to wait upon God.

Habakkuk 2;1: “I will sand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”

I believe we have a president who is willing to listen to the advice of church leaders. There are many that need to hear from God these days when fear is rampant.

Where are the CIA and the FBI of the church, those who can provide God’s answers and apply His intelligence? Who will enlist?

Be encouraged,

Colin Campbell

Is God proving us? Oh, yes, He is.

Exodus 16:4 says: “That I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.”

Exodus 20;20: “And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.”

Read also Deuteronomy 8:2, 3, and 16.

Trials and difficult times are designed by God to mature us. What is the point of going through trials if we are not teachable enough to learn the valuable lessons that come with each trial?

The only way out of the wilderness of testings and trials is to trust and lean.

Song of Songs 8:5: “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, LEANING upon her beloved?”

It is true that one side does not fit all. There are often many variables that need to be considered in order of priority. Here in the USA there are people who want to use COVID-19 to support their own agenda. There are health scientists of high standing who want to keep the country locked down for months, all the way to the 2020 elections. They say this is the only way to go because of the need of being scientifically cautious. They are not willing to take risks at all.

However, we all know that the economy cannot survive a drawn out shut down. It could also swing the elections away from Donald Trump who would be blamed for a broken economy.

At the same time, the one-world globalists, people who believe in global warming, population control, big government, and who do not believe in God, do not want the church to hinder their tyrannical rule of the masses. These people believe in extreme socialism and do not believe in a democratic election of government. To them, the masses are basically ignorant, rebellious, and upstarts.

They do not want “we the people” to have any say in the way this world is to be governed. These Marxist, socialist, government proponents are extremely bigoted. They are agitators. They are unteachable in the ways of righteousness.

They are heady, proud, and high-minded. They have destroyed the economy of every country they have taken over. They will do all they can to denounce those who stand in their way. They hate our president, Donald Trump, because he promotes nationalism as opposed to globalism.

Donald Trump believes that every government should work hard to make its own country great and successful and not seek world domination. Our president stands with the church and for the church and in his speeches promotes the name of Jesus and Christianity perhaps more than any other president before him.

This pandemic has many lessons to teach us. We must not let our adversaries who have no faith in God (because they have no scientific data to prove that He answers prayer) destroy our freedoms and keep us away from our churches.

Collective prayer is powerful. I trust that all churches will open up again very soon (if not sooner) and will be attended in larger numbers than they were before. It is a big mistake to give away our attendance to church. Whatever freedoms we give away are often difficult to regain. It is quite possible that our great economy was closed down because of the fear of litigation.

Song of Solomon 8:5 teaches us that there is a way to overcome and come forth from the wilderness of trials and temptations. That way is to lose our independence and become totally dependent on God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s be teachable. Honest. Truthful. Wise in God’s wisdom instead of worldly wisdom. Humble. And always be open for more truth from God.

First the trials, then the breakthroughs!

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell