Just a bud
Of a blossom,
And yet-
What a promise
Of beauty,
Full-blown
And free!
Just a bit
Of a child,
But, oh,
What a vision
Of things
That are
To be!
~ Phyllis Michael
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Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.
Strengthening Families Across the World through the encouragement of women in their high calling from God as wives, mothers and homemakers.
Cedars resist decay and repel Pests! This is another wonderful feature of the cedar. This quality is an important part of our marriage, too. Perhaps you are having a self-pity trip and dreaming that you deserve someone better than your husband. Resist this evil thought in the name of Jesus!
Perhaps you think you could do better on your own. Repel this deceiving thought in Jesus name! Resist and repel all resentment and all negative thoughts about your marriage union. The devil roams about seeking to devour your marriage. He wants to destroy. Don’t be deceived by his seducing temptations.
A true marriage will also resist all evil. Hebrews 13:4 (NET) says: “Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled.” Refuse all flirtations with other men. Do not even think you can have a platonic relationship with another man while you are married. It is dangerous and always leads downhill. You covenant on your wedding day that, forsaking all others, you will be faithful only to your husband.
Refuse all kinky sex. God has made it beautiful without doing things that are unholy which in the end only lead to frustration and bitterness. Keep the marriage bed pure and holy.
Cedars are also fragrant. The cedar exudes a gum, which gives off fragrance. Does your marriage exude fragrance like the cedar?
Do something to make your marriage beautiful and special today.
Love from Nancy Campbell
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Today we continue our thoughts of likening our marriages to the cedars of Lebanon.
CEDARS ARE DURABLE AND LASTING
Cedars have remarkable lasting qualities and are noted for their durability. In fact, there are some cedar trees that are estimated to be two thousand years old! This is how God sees marriage--durable and lasting. When we make the covenant of marriage before God and witnesses, we are in for the long haul! It is “forsaking all others.” It is “until death do us part.”
We live in an unprecedented hour in history when divorce is as rampart in the church as it is in the world. How God’s heart must grieve as the beautiful institution of marriage, which He ordained, is attacked and torn apart by the devil. This is not the vision of “lovely homes” which God designed.
How can our marriages last? Only by doing it God’s way. Our selfish flesh continually puts a spanner in the works! “Self” and “selfishness” are the root of all problems in marriage. We need to lay down our own rights and embrace the same attitude of Jesus who did not cling to His rights as God. Instead, He made himself of no reputation, He became a servant, and He humbled Himself and was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:6-8). The outworking of this truth in our lives is sufficient to keep a marriage to the end.
Too many people think that love is a feeling. When the feeling dies, they think love has finished. Love is a commitment. It goes beyond feeling. It goes beyond circumstances. Even when we have no vestige of love left within us, God’s inexhaustible love is still available to us. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes the kind of love we need to survive marriage. It is agape love, which starts with: “Love endures long” and ends with “love endures without limit.”
King Solomon used cedar timber to build God’s temple, and his own palace, because of the durability of the wood. God wants our marriages to be built of cedar too, not poplar or untreated pine that will not stand the tests of time.
May you have a marriage like the cedar tree.
More tomorrow.
Be blessed, Nancy Campbell
Picture: Unspoken Love by Sam Sidders
Enjoy looking at pictures of older couples who are still in love at: https://www.pinterest.com/aboverubiesmag/i-love-older-couples-who-are-still-in-love/
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The public needs to know what the University of Tennessee in Knoxville is promoting:
“It’s that time of year again! Are you a LGBTQQIA-identified student or ally at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville? Are you graduating in May or December of 2018? Sign up to take part in our FREE graduation ceremony honoring your achievements and success as a queer student at UTK! Lavender is open to ALL graduating students, no matter your degree or age!”
They are planning events such as “queer history,” “queer theory,” “trans sex positivity,” “art gallery – send nudes” and many more that cannot even be mentioned!
Please email your concerns and outrage to Chancellor Beverly Davenport at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
To read more go to:
http://www.wnd.com/…/franklin-graham-slams-university-for-…/
Thank you for standing up for righteousness.
Nancy
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Here, in my humble kitchen,
Christ dwells.
And oh, what joy and peace
That spells.
For He, the King of Kings,
Brings hope
As bread brings bodily strength
To cope
With ev'ry daily task.
He makes
Just baking common pies
And cakes
Seem sort of special, an art
Which excels.
For where Christ is,
There, too, love dwells.
~ Phyllis Michael
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In Numbers 24:5-7 we read a beautiful description of the homes of the Israelites. One of the descriptions is that they will be “like cedar trees beside the waters” In the Bible cedar trees speak of majesty, beauty, and faithfulness. They are called “excellent” trees in Song of Solomon 5:15. I believe we can liken our marriage relationship to the cedar. Let’s look at some of the qualities of the cedar:
CEDARS ARE STRONG AND ROOTED
Cedars are strong and firmly rooted. In Psalm 80:10 (TLB) God likens His people to the “mighty” cedar trees. The word “mighty” is “el” in the Hebrew and means “strong,” a word that is also used of God. Psalm 92:12 (MLB) tells us that the “righteous . . . shall become mighty like the cedar of Lebanon.”
The Hebrew word for “cedar” is “ere”z and means “from the tenacity of its roots.” God wants our marriages to be strong. He wants them to be strongly rooted in God’s principles and the covenant we made on our wedding day. He wants them to be strongly knitted together in commitment, faithfulness, morality, unity, and love.
However, they don’t become strong without our putting in an effort to strengthen them. We must do something to build and strengthen our marriage each new day. With our words and our actions.
CEDARS GROW TALL
Because the cedars are strongly rooted they can grow to 120 feet high and 30 to 40 feet in girth. We can either stunt our marriage or make it grow. Which are you doing? We stunt our marriage by curbing each other.
We need to release each other into God’s wondrous plan. We as wives must learn to let our husbands be men. It is so easy to expect them to be like us or even think like us. But they don’t think like us. Forget it! They are different to us. Let your husband be who he is. Let him take the responsibility of his role seriously to provide, protect, and lead you in God’s ways. Don’t take that from him. Many women think they help their husbands by going out to work. That doesn’t help them. It weakens the home and the husband’s mandate from God.
Let’s get it straight. When we embrace our high calling of motherhood and homemaking and release our husbands to their calling, our marriage can grow tall. Neither of us were created to do the job of the other. God made male and female with their own specific purpose. We accomplish far more for God and this world when we do it God’s way.
Don’t forget to do something today to strengthen your marriage!
More thoughts tomorrow.
Love from Nancy Campbell
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It's important to be reminded of who we are, isn't it? God gives us an amazing description of how He sees us in 1 Peter 2:9. This Scripture is written to all those who believe in Jesus Christ, collectively and personally: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
Who are you? You are chosen! Chosen by God before the foundation of the world. How can you live in a depressed state, filled with self-pity, and struggling with inferiority when God specifically chose you? Surely this makes a difference to how we live.
You are royal. Royalty sets you apart. You cannot live an ordinary life. You have greater privileges and greater responsibilities because you belong to a royal kingdom. You belong to the King of kings and Lord of lords. You belong to a kingdom that is everlasting and that will never be destroyed. A kingdom that will one day rule over every other kingdom.
You are holy. You have no holiness of your own, but the HOLY Spirit dwells in you. Jesus Christ wants to live His holy life through you. The word holy is "haggios" and means "sacred, physically pure, morally blameless, and consecrated to God."
You are God's special and purchased possession. He loves you so much He died for you. He shed His holy, precious blood to redeem you. No matter what you are going through He will never leave you or forsake you.
Why are we so blessed? Let's read the answer from the Amplified version: "So that you may proclaim the excellencies (the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections) of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
Every day you are to show forth through your life and proclaim the excellencies and virtues of the life of Jesus. You are to reveal His life through your life. You do this as you live a holy life. You do this as you live like one who belongs to God's royal kingdom. You walk, talk, and live like royalty.
You are no longer an ordinary person. How can you be ordinary when you have Jesus Christ living in you? He is filled with joy. He overflows in love. He is all patience and longsuffering. He dwells in peace and nothing takes Him by surprise. He doesn't get in a state of turmoil or stress. And He lives in you.
Proclaim who He is, firstly to your husband and children. Yes, everything starts in the family. This is where you first proclaim the excellencies of the life of Jesus. Do you proclaim the virtues of Jesus in your life to your husband? What about your children? Do they see the beautiful life of Jesus shining from you?
Love from Nancy Campbell
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We want this for ourselves. We want it for each one of our children.
So, how do we get it? The Bible tells us it comes through chastening and discipline! Ouch. We don’t like that answer very much, do we? And many children don’t like it at all.
Hebrews 12:11 (TPT) says: “Now all discipline seems to be more pain than pleasure at the time, yet later it will produce a transformation of character, bringing a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who yield to it.”
However, it is more than discipline. It is yielding to the discipline. Do you notice that? The blessing comes to those who yield to it. Often our first reaction is to resist correction and discipline, but we must learn to yield to it. When we yield do the disciplines of life that are necessary for us, we are changed and formed into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). If we resist, we stay in our same old rut. Are you yielding to God’s discipline in your life?
We must also teach our children to yield to our training and discipline. God blesses them when they do this and their character will be transformed. If they rebel and resist the discipline while they are young, they will keep facing the same problems all their lives until they yield to God.
If we truly love our children, we will train and discipline them. We will not tolerate disobedience and rebellious behavior. We are not content for them to grow up pretty good citizens. We long for them to be formed into the image of Christ. We long for them to be transformed by the Word of God and training and instruction. We do not want them to be ordinary saints, but men and women who are passionate for Jesus Christ where everything else in life is subordinate to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives.
This will only happen as they yield to your correction and discipline. Pray that God will give your children soft hearts. Pray that they will have yielding hearts to your training and the moving of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
Romans 12:2: “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”
Let’s be families where each one of us (mom, dad, and all the children) daily yield to God’s correction and instruction in our lives.
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
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God tells us many things about His kingdom in His Word. One of the characteristics of God’s kingdom is that it embraces children. If you don’t like to be around children, you may have to question whether you are really in the kingdom.
We read in Mark 10:13, 14: “And they brought young children to him (Jesus), that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was MUCH DISPLEASED and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” Read also Matthew 19:13-15 and Luke 18:15-17.
The disciples were following Jesus, but they didn’t yet understand their Master. They thought that children would be a nuisance to His ministry. They would get in the way. Spoil the anointing.
But when Jesus saw what they were doing, He was “much displeased.” The word in the Greek is “aganakteo” and means to grieve, to be greatly afflicted, to be moved with indignation.” He didn’t gloss over it. He got really upset. In fact, He was indignant! How dare they shoo the children away. How dare they stop the children coming. This was opposite to the heart of Jesus. Immediately he gathered the children to Him for babies and children are at the very heart of His kingdom.
Let’s get the message straight. When we embrace children to our womb, our hearts, our home, and our family we in the very heart of God’s kingdom. As you nurture, teach, and train your children each day, you are in the very center of the kingdom of God. You don’t need to go to some faraway mission field. You serve in God’s kingdom in your kitchen with your children all around you.
Jesus said in Matthew 18:3-5: “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.”
Jesus looks upon the way we receive children into our lives as the same way we receive Him? The word “receive” is dechomai and means “to accept deliberately and readily, to welcome, to accept with open arms, minds, and hearts.” What is our attitude to receive children? Do we try to stop having children? Do we push them away? Do we try to stop life coming to our womb? Often when someone finds out they are pregnant, they say, “Well, it was a mistake, but I guess we’ll somehow survive.” How many precious children are called “mistakes”?
How does God want us to receive His children? The same way we welcome Jesus to our hearts and lives. Willingly! Deliberately! “Yes, Lord, I am yielded and willing to receive the precious children You have planned for me to raise for you.” “Yes, Lord, I open my heart, my mind, and my arms to the children You want to give me.”
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
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Is the light in your soul dim? Or perhaps nearly out? What about your home? Does the light of Jesus burn brightly in your home, or is it fading?
Do you remember the story Jesus told of the five wise and the five foolish virgins? Because the bridegroom delayed his coming, they all grew drowsy and went to sleep. At midnight the cry came, “Behold, the bridegroom comes; go ye out to meet him.”
Awaking, they began to top up the oil in their lamps to go out to meet the bridegroom. Desperately, the five foolish exclaimed: “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” Did you notice, they didn’t say, “Our lamps have gone out”? No, they still had some light, but it was fading. They had got used to their dim light, but that dim light was not enough to meet the bridegroom. Because they were not diligent, they missed out on the wedding feast. Read the whole story in Matthew 25.
It’s so easy for our light to go out if we don’t keep refueling. We can get used to a dim light. We must constantly and daily replenish the light in our soul with the oil of the Holy Spirit. We must abide in Christ. We must feed on the Word daily. Unless we feed and refuel, our light fades.
Dear mothers, we have the responsibility to not only keep the light of God burning in our hearts, but also burning in our homes. That’s why the Jewish mother lights the candles on the eve of Shabbat because it is her responsibility to keep the light of God burning in the home. To do this, we must keep our own light constantly topped up with the infilling of the Holy Spirit. And keep filling our children’s hearts with God’s Word which is a lamp to their feet and a light to their paths (Psalm 119:105).
Don’t let the light of Jesus grow dim in your home.
Be blessed,
Nancy Campbell
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We may not like to acknowledge the truth that our body does not belong to us. We are not free to do what we like. Well, we can if we want, but only to our detriment. God is the creator of our body. He created it perfectly. Gloriously. Wondrously, Amazingly. Honorably. Powerfully. And He wants us to use our bodies the way He created them to function.
Sadly, we live in a distorted society where women are educated beyond their intelligence. They don’t seem to understand they are female. They reject their womb and female functions as if they were something foreign. To be done away with. To be rejected and scorned. They want to live life without their femaleness.
How ridiculous to try and be someone you are not! To miss out on your purpose for life!
There were women who rejected their femaleness back in Roman times too. Romans 1:26 tells us that “God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women (a word which means a suckling mother) did change the natural function into that which is against nature.”
But we need to get back to the Scriptures and see what God says. He says it more powerfully than I can say.
1 Corinthians 6:19: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and YE ARE NOT YOUR OWN? For ye are brought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s."
Isaiah 29:16 (ESV): “You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, ‘He did not make me’: or the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?”
Isaiah 45:9 (ESV): “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
Isaiah 64:8: “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”
Jeremiah 18:6: “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? Saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.”
Romans 9:20 (CJB): “Who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me this way?’”
Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Romans 14:7: “For none of us liveth to himself.”
God’s way is the best way. It is the only way.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Painting by Mary Cassatt * Mother and Child (1889).
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Did you read the testimony by Pitana and Nadia Mutana on page 27 of the current Above Rubies, #94? They wrote about the power of naming their children.
Their darling baby girl was born in January. They named her Grace. Little did they know the grace of God they would need. Little Grace was born with Cloves disease. It is a very rare disease and only about 50 people in the whole world have been diagnosed with it. It is a serious disease and we have been praying along with Pitana and Nadia for a miracle for their baby. And I know many of you have been praying too.
Pitana and Nadia and their children are people of faith. They are raising their children to be people of prayer and faith. Every week they fast and pray along with their children. And they have been continually pressing into God for a miracle for Grace.
Because of the Cloves disease, Grace was born with a divider on her forehead. The left side of her face and body were perfect. The right side was growing the tumors. Praise the Lord, this morning Nadia messaged me with wonderful news. “It is clearing up. The divider was so thick, it went through the skin. It wasn’t just on the surface. But God is clearing it up. Even in the back. So, in faith, we know He has healed her of all! We shall soon see it all.
“Our baby Grace would only turn her head to the left. She would always lay her head facing to the left. Her eyes would also only see through the corner to the left. As of Saturday, praise God, she lays her head facing to the right and her eyes move around, and she can actually see us now!
“Now, instead of going for twelve days without a bowel movement, she went six days! She has had two bowel movements in a row which she hasn’t since her first week of being born. Praise God, He heals and has already healed her. ‘By His stripes Grace was healed.’ Hallelujah!
“Thank you for praying with us. Soon, we will write telling you that the tumor is gone, her feet, legs, and toes are perfect. Her hips are in place. That her mouth is perfect, and her left side is the same size as the right side. That her kidneys are perfect and the same size. And her skin beautiful and same color! Our God is faithful.
“A month ago, we had to contend for her life as the enemy was really attacking her., She would do almost bell crunches in great pain and her eyes would roll. It happened one after the other and left her completely exhausted. At times she couldn’t cry. This lasted for a couple of weeks while getting worse. One night we included the children and stayed up praying as we sensed her life was at risk. Praise God, He has set her free! We give Him all the glory!
“Thank you for praying for us.”
Keep believing and praying for Grace for the great miracle of her total healing.
Love from Nancy Campbell
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What is pouring out of your mouth today, dear wife and mother? We build our marriages and homes with our words. It is one of our most powerful building tools. Many marriages have fallen apart and are broken today because of negative words.
Our words have power to build or destroy.
But we have the anointing of the life of Jesus Christ dwelling within us to speak positive words into our marriages and into the lives of each one of our children. Life-giving words. Healing words. Encouraging words. Sweet words. Affirming words. Uplifting words.
Proverbs 10:11 says: ‘The mouth of the righteous is a WELL OF LIFE.” Most other translations say: “The mouth of the righteous is a FOUNTAIN OF LIFE.” Life-giving water pouring out on your husband and children.
I love Proverbs 10:32 (TPT): “Words that bring delight pour from the lips of the godly.”
What power you have as a mother to fill your home with life and vitality. Light and joy. Laughter and happiness. Love and goodness. All through the words that come out of your mouth.
Be a life-giving fountain today.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Although I am an American citizen, I am still a British subject, belonging to the Commonwealth. Therefore, I hope you don’t mind my posting a picture of our lovely queen. She will be 92 years on 21 April.
I loved what she said in her Christmas speech this last year. “We think of our homes as places of warmth, familiarity and love; of shared stories and memories, which is perhaps why at this time of the year so many return to where they grew up. There is a timeless simplicity to the pull of the home.”
Home should be the greatest drawing place on earth. God is the originator of the Home. Homes are His idea.
Embrace and love your home today.
Nancy Campbell
2567 Hits
The disciples of Jesus came to Him and asked him why he spoke in parables. Jesus answered: “Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matthew 13:11). The wonderful news of God’s great salvation is called “the mystery of the gospel.” The truths of God’s kingdom are called “the mysteries of the kingdom.”
One of the reasons is that they are so opposite to the natural man. They don’t even make sense to the carnal man!
Therefore, if you are born again and have entered the kingdom of God, you may as well get used to the fact that God’s eternal truths are at loggerheads with human wisdom. Why are you so concerned that you think differently to our culture? You’re not meant to think like our humanistic culture today. Your thinking should be transformed! We are meant to think like God thinks, not like the world thinks (Isaiah 55:8, 9).
Jesus went on to explain to his disciples the meaning of the parable of the sower where people hear “the word of the kingdom.” Verses 20, 21 say: “But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has not root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises BECAUSE OF THE WORD (the truths of the kingdom of God which are opposite to the thinking of the natural man), immediately he stumbles.”
If we believe and receive God’s Word from beginning to end. If we obey the words of His kingdom, we will receive reaction from family and people around us. We may face ridicule. Be scoffed at. We may even face persecution.
The question is: will we be offended? Will we turn away because kingdom truths are opposite to man’s ideas? Or will we stick fast?
We belong to a kingdom that is not of this world. It is an everlasting kingdom. A kingdom that will never be shaken. A kingdom that will one day rule every other kingdom. Because our kingdom is not of this world, the natural man cannot understand it.
In a society where marriages are breaking up, you build and strengthen your marriage. You are sticking to your sacred vows. In a culture where people do not understand the value of children, you embrace the children God planned to give to you. Even though you receive pressure to leave your children and get out of the home, you stand your ground. You will not give the children God has given you to someone else to raise. You know who God created you to be. You embrace motherhood, home, and family. You are out of step with culture, but you are in step with God.
People can’t understand you, but you are coming to understand the “mysteries of the kingdom.” You know they are God’s eternal truths. They are God’s blueprint. They bring peace, joy, and rest.
“Blessed are your eyes, for they SEE: and your ears, for they HEAR” (Matthew 13:16).
Be blessed today.
Nancy Campbell
2850 Hits
What is the most important thing you want to teach your children? I know you have great aspirations for your children. You want them to be successful, that’s for sure. And therefore, you spend much time on their education and taking them to all the different extra-curricular activities.
But have we missed it? I find that even among wonderful homeschooling families that most children come forth from their homes knowing very little of God’s Word. Yes, they had a Christian education, but they don’t know the Word. It’s not inside them. It’s not coming out their mouths.
God makes His plan for raising our children very plain. Let’s remind ourselves of just a few Scriptures, among hundreds:
Deuteronomy 6:6, 7 (AMP): “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be (written) on your heart and mind. You shall teach them diligently to your children (impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths) and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.”
Isaiah 59:21 (ESV): “’As for me, this is my covenant with them,’ says the LORD: ‘My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your MOUTH, shall not depart out of your MOUTH, or out of the MOUTH of your offspring, or out of the MOUTH of your children’s offspring,’ says the LORD ‘from this time forth and forevermore.’”
The above Scriptures command us to get God’s Word, not only into the hearts of our children, but into their mouths. God is very concerned about making sure our children constantly speak His words. They should be coming out their mouths!
We need to also remind ourselves of the Scriptures which promise that if we get God’s Words into our children and they daily walk in obedience to them that they will prosper and be successful:
Joshua 1:8: “The Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way PROSPEROUS, AND THEN YOU WILL HAVE GOOD SUCCESS.”
Psalm 1:1-3: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and WHATEVER HE DOES SHALL PROSPER.”
Let’s take notice, dear parents. If we want our children to be successful, we’ve got to get God’s Words into their hearts and MOUTHS! It’s more important than all the rest of their education. It’s more important that all their extra activities. It’s the most important part of every day.
So what are we doing about it? What plans do we have? Do we plan our children’s days with this purpose in mind? Deuteronomy 6:7 tells us to be ready to talk of His commands and ways at any moment of the day. But I believe we also need to make specific times. The biblical pattern is the morning and evening principle—to gather the family together every morning and every evening to read God’s Word to them and to pray together. This is the very least we can do.
Make sure that you plan your day around making this happen for the blessing and success of your children.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Do you embrace your womb as a gift from God? Part of who you are as a woman? A sacred place? Or do you see it as something that does not fit in with your lifestyle? An organ that you would rather not function?It’s normal that if we have anything wrong with any organ in our body, we are desperate for healing. Some people go to God for healing. Others run to the doctor. Whatever way, we want our body to function correctly. In fact, when one part of our body is sick or hurt, it affects the rest of our body.
And yet when it comes to the womb, the part of us that more than anything else distinguishes us as a woman, we don’t want it to work! What is wrong with that? It is the deception of the devil who hates the womb and hates life! Genesis 3:15 tells us that there is enmity between the devil and the woman. One translation says: “There will be war.” Satan is at war against the womb because it is the place of life. It is the place where life is conceived, grows, and comes forth into this world. An eternal soul from conception. A life that will live forever. A life that is destined from the foundation of the world. A life that can be filled with God and bring the revelation of God into this world.
Dearest mothers, let’s not be deceived by the devil, the hater of life (John 10:10). Let’s embrace the way God created us. All His works are perfect. They are wonderful, marvelous, and amazing (Psalm 139:14).
When we embrace the function of who God created us to be we live in His blessing 1 Timothy 2:15 tells us that we are saved through childbearing and the embracing of our maternal anointing. The full meaning of the word “saved” means you will be “protected, healed, preserved, delivered and made whole.”
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
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God has given us so many treasures in family life. We must protect them and watch that we don’t give them away.In 2 Chronicles 12:9 we read how the King of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and “took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made.”
King Rehoboam was not on guard. He allowed the treasures of God’s house and his house to be taken away. These were not little treasures. They were treasures of gold. Everything in the house of God was made of pure gold. Even the shields were made of gold.
We must also guard that we don’t allow our treasures of gold to be taken away. This is just want the enemy wants to do. He comes to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). He comes to rob us of all that God wants us to enjoy.
When we let him rob us, we end up with second best. The King of Egypt took the shields of gold, “Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass” (2 Chronicles 12:10). Counterfeit! Second best! Which do you want? Gold or brass? You have to choose.
God is the author of marriage. Because it is God’s plan, the devil wants to destroy it. Don’t let him steal your marriage. Keep a soft and forgiving heart. Don’t let hardness take hold of your heart. Hardness leads to divorce (Matthew 19:8). Instead, build your marriage. Every day, find some way to build into your marriage and make it stronger. When you strengthen your marriage, you are a threat against Satan, the Destroyer.
Guard your children. Don’t allow the enemy to rob and deceive them with lies and deception. Don’t give them away each day to the public education system to drill their humanistic and alternative propaganda into their brains.
Micah 2:9 says: “The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away their glory forever.” The Amplified Version translates this verse: “From her children you take away my splendor and blessing forever (by putting them among pagans, away from Me).” God says that the glory of children is for them to be raised in the home.
Guard your fertility. Our fertility is a very precious gift from God. And it doesn’t last forever. It is only for a window of time in the seasons of our whole life. We can’t determine when we will have children. It is ultimately in God’s hands. To walk in God’s perfect plan for our lives, we should yield our wombs to God, for His glory. He will give the children He has planned from the foundation of the world.
If you are having problems conceiving, ask your husband to lay his hands upon your womb and pray over you every day. Make a specific time every day. Your husband is your covering and God will hear his cries for you.
Guard your family life. Once again, family is God’s idea. It’s the way He has planned for us to live in their world. He has no other plan. He specifically states that He wants the solitary to live in families. It’s the healthiest way to live. But because It is God’s plan, the devil hates it. We know he is bent on destroying family life.
He won’t always tempt you with blatant, sinful things to destroy your family, He uses little things. He subtly deceives you. Watch for his deceptions. Watch that your family doesn’t become fragmented, everyone constantly going their various ways. This is the testimony of most families today, but it’s not God’s way.
He wants us to build our families. To make things happen in our homes that keep the family together. That build relationships. That encourage interaction and family life. Determine to sit together for your family meals, especially for your evening. Don’t only eat food at your table. Feed the soul and encourage family discussion and participation. And feed the spirit. Never leave the table without reading God’s living Word and praying together. Guard this precious time. Don’t give it away.
“Drive your pegs deep” (Isaiah 54:2). Guard your treasures, dear mothers. Don’t let them filter through your fingers. It can happen so easily. You must PURPOSEFULLY, DELIBERATELY, and INTENTIONALLY build into your marriage and family life. It doesn’t just happen. You must make it happen.
Constantly think and dream of how you are going to build your home and family. That’s what a builder does. He dreams. He gets a vision. And then he takes action and builds according to the plan.
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
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If we truly know God is holy, we will walk in the fear of God. We will fear to displease Him and sin against Him. It surprises me when people who say they are Christians commit sinful and lustful deeds, often without conscience. They watch movies with fornication and adultery and think nothing of it. I know several couples who confess Christ as their Savior and yet live together without being married. Is their conscience hardened, or do they not understand what sin is?We live in a culture where every sinful thing is tolerated. Even if the Bible states that it is sin, or an abomination, we are still expected to tolerate it. Obviously, this generation does not know the Bible. They don’t know what God says. They don’t know that He is a holy God. And they don’t know that “Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
If we do not walk in reverential fear of our Holy God, we do not know the God of the Bible. God does not tolerate sin. Yes, He has patience toward the sinner as He waits for them to come to repentance. Yes, He forgives and cleanses sin. No sin is too great for Him to pardon. But because He is holy, he has no fellowship with sin. If we believe in a God who tolerates sin, it is a god of our own imagination.
However, as with everything, it starts in the home. We as parents have a responsibility to show what sin is to our children. If we tolerate sin in our children and allow them to get away with disobedience, deceit, rebellion, lying, and so on, we could be keeping them from salvation and the promise of eternal life with God forever. Unless they are convicted of sin, they will not realize they need of a Savior. The understanding of sin comes first!
Let’s raise our children to understand the true nature of God—that He is a HOLY God who hates sin. That why He sent His Beloved Son to die and shed His blood to save us from our sin.
Let’s lead our children on the way of holiness. Isaiah 35:8 says: “And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called THE WAY OF HOLINESS; the unclean shall not pass over it.”
On which way are we walking? On which way are we leading our children? The way of holiness? Or the worldly way?
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
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