Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

When you build each day into your marriage, your home, your family, and your children God calls you wise. When you leave your home and children to build into someone else’s business, corporation, or organization the Bible calls you foolish. Are we listening to God’s Word?

It is a powerful place to influence your children and to bind your family together. Food and fellowship are twins. They go together. Think about how you can make every meal special.

Psalm 119:11: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Fathers, we must teach our children what it means to hide God’s Word in their hearts. I believe it is one thing to have God’s Word in your memory, or even your mind (intellect), but it is another thing to hide God’s Word in your heart. You know when God’s Word is hidden in your heart because it becomes your strong conviction, and it affects your deepest feelings.

You know when God’s Word is hidden in your heart because it produces change in your life. You receive understanding and revelation, and it comes alive to you. It also produces the fear of the Lord so that you will not want to displease God in any way.

The way to get God’s Word into your heart is to pray it in for it is a divine happening. Ask God to put it in the hiding place of your heart where the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches will not be able to snatch it away.

How shallow our preaching is when it does not come from our hearts. How shallow our Christian testimony is if it does not come from our heart. Our husbandry and fatherhood should also come from our hearts (Malachi 4:4-6).

To read God’s Word is good,
to study it is better,
but to hide it in your heart is best.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Can you believe it? When I studied the Greek words for food, mealtimes, and tables in the New Testament, I found 31 different words! God certainly loves the subject of eating. Many of these words give the picture of eating together with others. Jesus loved to eat with others.

Our first ministry is to our family of course. But do you also like to invite “others” to your table who are not part of your family? Hospitality is not an optional ministry but the lifestyle of the kingdom of God. It is an extension of our mothering anointing. We have big hearts. We want to invite people. We want to feed people. We can’t stop saying, “Come.”

We read about the lifestyle of the early believers in Acts 2:45: “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.”

Breaking bread was not specifically speaking about communion but sharing meals with one another. They didn’t cook elaborate meals. How could they do that if they were sharing meals with others every day? They ate simple meals and shared them. Hospitality is not trying to cook a three-course meal to impress visitors. It’s sharing our homes, hearts, lives, food, thoughts, and revelations with others.

Do you notice that they ate with “simplicity” of heart? They kept it simple. When you keep it simple you can do it? You cook what you prepare for your own family, except add more to the pot!

I remember one day some folks arrived at our home at lunchtime. All we had in the house was potatoes! I was most embarrassed to invite them in for potatoes only, so nearly refused to offer hospitality. However, I managed to subdue my pride and invited them in. What great fellowship we enjoyed together. This couple always remember our lunchtime of potatoes. In fact, I don’t think they remember the times when I prepared a beautiful menu for them.

And do you notice something else? They ate their food with glad hearts. Food always makes us cheerful, especially if we fellowship together at the same time. Do you have a small family? Do you get bored at mealtimes? Invite another family to join you. At least once a week. It adds spice to your life. And gladness. And joy.

And one more thing. As the early believers ate together DAILY, the Lord added to the church DAILY those who should be saved. I wonder if we would see more people coming to Jesus if we lived this biblical lifestyle.

Love and blessings,

Nancy Campbell

Painting by Harold Anderson

Nehemiah 8:8: “They read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”

Fathers, we must not only read the God’s Word daily to our children but seek to break it open to them.

Luke 24:30-32 tells the wonderful story of the disciples who, unknowingly, walked with Jesus to Emmaus, “And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

It is important that we daily read the Scriptures to our families. It is even more important to “break the bread,” “open the Scriptures,” and “rightly divide the Word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

It takes more than reading the Scriptures to feed the inner man. As we each have an “outer man” that can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste; so we also have an inner man that can also see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. The inner man is often malnourished and starved! Yet, the inner man is far more important to feed than the outer man.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians that God “would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit IN THE INNER MAN” (Ephesians 3:16).

Fathers, when you read God’s Word to your children ask them questions, ask them to finish quoting a Scripture you are reading, ask them to explain what they think it means, illustrate the Word by giving daily examples. Make the Word “alive” to them. Encourage their participation so they don’t sit in their seat bored.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

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

God promises us that He will strengthen us with “His glorious power.” We couldn’t want for a better promise. We need God’s strength moment by moment, don’t we? We need it physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

However, when we read this, we often think of being strengthened to do mighty works and miracles. Let’s look closer and find out How God wants to strengthen us. It’s something very personal for us as mothers in our homes as we raise our children.

Colossians 1:10, 11 says: “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God: strengthened with all mighty, according o his glorious power, UNTO ALL PATIENCE AND LONGSUFFERING with joyfulness.”

Did you get it? He strengthens you with all His glorious power to be patient! And longsuffering!  You don’t have patience in your own flesh, but when you yield to His life in you, His patience, and longsuffering pours from you.

Thank Him for His glorious power filling you with His patience. Thank Him for His longsuffering that fills your heart and consequently pours into our kitchen and your home. One translation calls it “unlimited patience”! Our patience runs out quickly, but God’s patience and longsuffering is unlimited. No matter what is going on in your home, no matter how frustrated you feel. God’s unlimited patience is greater than your fleshly impatience.

And did you notice that we don’t live in God’s patience with resignation and desperation, but with JOYFULNESS?

The works of God are beautiful in us as we yield to Him. James 1:3-4 says: “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” The strange thing is, most of the time we are not patient enough to let patience have its full work! We give up before God has finished working out in our lives what He wants to accomplish.    

I love how The Living Bible puts it: “When the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete”.   

Dear mother, don’t despair when everything is going wrong. Rejoice! Let God work out His patience in you. This is how He will make you strong in character. God doesn’t want to do a half-work in you, but a full-grown work!

Love from Nancy Campbell

Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”

Men, have we purchased the truth when we have only given mental ascent to it? It is possible to consider truth, debate truth, reason truth, and even preach truth, yet still not buy it. Buying truth is much more than mere mental exercise. We must embrace it into the very core of our being.

Truth only changes us when it is received into the inward parts; otherwise it remains a shallow intellectual exercise. It is possible to dress up on the outside to appear religious and yet have next to no change on the inside. This is a dangerous state, for we not only fool others, but ourselves. But God is not fooled.

When truth enters the depths of our being motives will change, the self-nature will be crucified and Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life will reign. Christ will only reign when He sits on the throne in the depths of our hearts. When we receive Christ into our hearts, we must also receive His truth for they are inseparable.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Don’t miss the most important family appointment of the week—taking your children to be with the people of God (Hebrews 10:25).

Keep shining in your home, mother

It is obvious when we read Deuteronomy 6:7-9 that God wants our children to be constantly confronted with the truth of His Word in every aspect of life. There is no separation of church and state here.

Let’s read it again in Deuteronomy 6:7-9: “And thou shalt teach them DILIGENTLY unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

Verse 2 says, “Keep all his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.”

Each father must be involved in applying and teaching God’s Word in a generational sense. While it is a good thing to personally acquaint yourself with truth, you also have the responsibility before God to apply these truths to your children, and their children!

My wife and I find the meal able an excellent opportunity to make this happen. I believe we must not “drag our feet,” but enthusiastically make it interesting by giving the sense of the Word and asking questions.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

1. Finish the Meal

I guess I am from old school, but I hate waste. I hate to see good wholesome food left on plates. It seems to be a current fad for people to take what they feel like, eat a little, and throw the rest out! Help! Such waste.

I think it is a good idea to give children a small amount of each food on their plate. They should eat this first and come back for more if they are still hungry. I’m always happy to dish out seconds. I love to be generous with food, but I certainly don’t like waste.

But there is more! The table is not only a place to feed the body, but the soul and the spirit. Therefore, we never want to leave the table before we feed the most important part of our children—their spirits. They need feeding as much as their bodies. The spirits of some children must be literally starving! Famished. Dying.

Before we leave the table, my husband opens the Bible and reads a portion to the family and then we pray together. We call it Family Devotions in our home. You may have a different name. I love what they used to call it in Holland—Finishing up the Meal! Isn’t that great? These parents would not allow their children to leave the table until they truly finished their meal by feeding and nourishing their spirits from God’s living Word.

The following are a couple of tips for this part of the meal.

2. Bring out the Bible!

Because most men have a one-track mind, they often forget about having devotions with their family. They have their mind on other things, and they don’t get around to it. My husband is entrenched in this habit now, but when the children were growing up and we came to the end of the meal, I would bring the Bible or The Daily Light on the Daily Path (which we mostly use) and place it by his plate. I didn’t have to say anything. Just placing it there jogged his memory and he would pick it up and begin to read.

3. Don’t Clear the Table too Soon!

This is a necessary tip. I have found that if we begin to scrape the dishes, clear the table, and take them to the counter before we have our Family Devotions, that it’s nearly impossible to get everyone back to the table! Once they are up, they’re gone! So, I don’t let them get up!

“Do you mean to say you have Bible reading with all the dirty dishes still on the table?” Yes, we do, and we hardly notice it. It keeps everyone at the table and doesn’t break the atmosphere.

I trust these practical tips will encourage you as you establish the habit of gathering your family to eat around the table.

Many blessings, Nancy Campbell

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1. No iPhones

The purpose of the table is not only to eat, but to communicate together. We gather for “face to face table fellowship,” to dialogue, and converse with one another. From the moment of birth, feeding is face to face. God orchestrated His creation so beautifully that when a mother puts her baby to the breast, they are face to face. The babe not only draws milk from the mother’s breasts but looks and communicates with the mother.

We don’t need the competition of iPhones when we gather at the table. They inhibit family communication. They interrupt—and are very rude.

This is another thing you must make happen. Nor do you give in to whining about the matter. Perhaps you could have a basket where each one drops their iPhones before coming to sit at the table. Place the basket far enough away that no one can hear any “dings.”

You will need to watch carefully. At times I have noticed teens and even adults looking down past their meal plate and I realize they are looking at an iPhone hiding under the table! I beg your pardon! Are they so addicted they cannot put it away even for a meal?

2. Direct the Conversation

Have you noticed that family conversation can be shallow or even turn to nothingness? I believe we as parents should direct the conversation. When I prepare a meal, I not only think of what I will cook, but what we will talk about at the table. I like to bring a subject or a question to the table for discussion so we can enjoy stimulating conversation. It’s a time to learn new things from one another, to hone our ideas, and cement convictions. And this saves the conversation from spiraling down into negativity and complaining. Table time should be positive, enjoyable, and fun. You make it happen, dear mother.

Make wonderful things happen at your meal table,

Nancy Campbell

We read Proverbs 23:23 in my last post. What does it mean to “buy the truth”? The Hebrew for “buy” is qanah and means “to erect, create, purchase, procure.” We buy the truth when we desire it for why would we buy something we do not desire?

Men, it is important for us to create a desire for truth in our children. It stands for reason that fathers must set the highest example possible as men of truth because God has given to children an innate desire to emulate their parents. It is of utmost importance for us fathers to capitalize on this blessing.

What a blessing it must have been for Isaac when God first introduced himself as the God of His Father, Abraham (Genesis 26:24). Isaac had indeed been blessed by having a father who was a friend of God, and being a friend of God, automatically made him a friend of truth.

Sad to say, many a young man would not want God to say to them that He was the God of their father because their father was too mean, too tough, or had run off with another woman. It was by example that Isaac developed a desire to meet the God of his father who had blessed his father and would now bless him.

Remember, fathers, that truth needs to be coupled with grace, or truth can be too severe. Jesus was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Let’s be like Jesus.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Proverbs 23:23 says: “Buy the truth and sell it not.”

Men, we must be wise when we instruct our families about liberty and freedom that we do not put the cart before the horse, as the old saying goes. We can be so taken up with liberty that we fail to put sufficient emphasis on that which goes before it, THE TRUTH. It is the truth that makes us free (John 8:32).

What a revelation it is when we realize that the greatest heritage we can buy for our children is truth. God will only bless that which is built upon the truth. It may be costly to purchase the truth for our families. Homeschool requires personal sacrifice. Sharing the Scriptures and praying together morning and evening comes with the cost of changing one’s schedule and priorities in order to make it work. T

he truth is indeed “the pearl of great price” (Matthew 13:46). It is worth the sale or sacrifice of everything else to get it for your family, for in purchasing the truth you get Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! One expositor says, “This pearl is worth everything, and everything is what it will take to obtain it.”

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

1. Sit at the Table

Sitting at the table is also a Bible principle. I know it takes training to get your children to sit through the meal but keep on training, little by little. 

Not one word is wasted in the Bible. Every word is important. It’s interesting how the Bible takes time to talk about such a practical thing as sitting at the table. First Samuel, chapter 20 tells the story of how David and Jonathan planned David’s escape from the palace. It was mandatory for each person to be present for the evening meal at the palace and they all sat in their assigned places.

David said to Jonathan in verse 5 (ESV): “I should not fail to sit at table with the king.” No one was meant to be missing. All places were to be filled.

Later, down in verses 24 and 25 it says: “And when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. The king sat on his seat, as at other times on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place as empty.” Each person had their own assigned seat.

A mother shared with me that she allows her children to sit where they like when they come to the table. “But,” she complained, “they continually bicker and argue about where they are going to sit.” I suggested she assign seats for each child. It’s biblical, and it stops the arguing.

Let’s go over to the New Testament. There are many Scriptures about sitting at the meal table (not standing around)! However, let’s look at when Jesus’ fed the five thousand plus people. Jesus did not feed the multitude until they were all seated. He didn’t suggest they sit down. He “commanded” them to sit down. We get the same message in each Gospel.

Matthew 14:19 “He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass.”

Mark 6:39, 40: “He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks . . .” Do you notice that they “all” had to sit down, not just those who wanted to. No food unless seated!

Luke 9:14: “And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down . . .”

John 6:10 (NKJV): “Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down . . . So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down.” We certainly get the feeling that there had to be some organization to get them all seated.

This certainly relates to our families, doesn’t it? Have you found that you need to make your children sit down? Unless you train them to learn to sit at the table they will be jumping up and down like a yo-yo!

We must also teach our children how to sit. I can’t believe how many children and teens sit with their knees up at the table! Has no one ever taught them how to sit correctly?

Unless we sit at the table, we will not receive the same nutritional benefit from our food or from fellowship together.

Have a great day,

Nancy Campbell

Do you love to gather your family around your table to eat and fellowship together? The family meal table is one of the foundations of family life. It’s a biblical principle. The picture God gives in the Bible of a blessed family is the wife in the heart of the home and all the children sitting around the table. Read it again in Psalm 128:3.

The first mention of the word table in the Bible is The Table of Shewbread in the tabernacle in the wilderness. On this table there were twelve loaves of bread called The Shewbread. The table was also called The Table of Faces and the bread, The Bread of Faces (Lechem haPanim). The bread upon the table pointed to Christ who is our bread, our life, our sustenance. As we look to Him and feed from Him, we are fed and satisfied.

Do you notice that a plural word is used for bread? Christ is more than one face. He has many attributes and the more we look to Him in His Word the more we come to know Him and all His glorious attributes. Colossians 2:3 says: “In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

The twelve loaves upon the table also pointed to the Israelites. God also wanted the bread upon the table to represent His people. In the loaves, He saw each one of their faces. He wanted them in His presence. Each week the priests would take the week-old bread off the table and replace it with new bread. The priests would then eat the bread (which was still fresh because it had lain in the presence of the Lord) and fellowship together.

The Table and the Shewbread were considered one. They were like twins. Just as mother and home are synonymous, so the table and food are synonymous. They go together. In other words, we eat food at the table! We don’t eat food in front of the TV. We don’t allow each member to grab their food and eat in their rooms or wherever they like. God wants us to sit around the table together.

But the table is not only a biblical principle, it is a heavenly principle. Did you know that God had a table (or tables) in His heavenly kingdom before we ever had them on earth? Yes, tables originated in Heaven! Jesus often talked about His table in the heavenly realm (Matthew 8:11; Luke 14:15; 29:30; and Revelation 19:9).

Therefore, the more you gather at your table, the more of the heavenly atmosphere you will bring to your home! Ooops! “It’s not very heavenly at my table,” I hear you reply. “It’s welcome to the shambles.”

Don’t despair. God gives us principles in His Word about how we should gather at the table. Let me share some of them with you.

Set the Table

If you do not take time to set and prepare the table, your children will not feel it is important. How you prepare your table is how they will perceive the importance of the table. Proverbs 9:2 (RSV) says: “Wisdom has built her house . . . she has also set her table.” I love to set a beautiful table each evening. I love to use a tablecloth. It makes such a difference to the table and to the atmosphere of the meal. Food on a naked table does not have the same welcoming touch.

“Help, do you expect me to add more laundry to my already huge pile?” you scream. Dear lovely mother, you can purchase a lovely tablecloth and put a piece of clear plastic over it which you wipe down after the meal. There are seasons in life. As your children grow, there will come a time when you can eliminate the plastic.

Are you still thinking of the extra work? Teach your children how to set the table correctly. And beautifully and creatively. They love to do it. The children can take turns. They can become very competitive as each one seeks to outdo the other. You can encourage them to add centerpieces, candles, go outside and find wildflowers or leaves, or use their imagination to make something creative.

More ideas tomorrow.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Painting: The Marriage Supper of the Lamb by Lambert Dolphin

Even as the children of Israel feasted on “all the lamb” (Exodus 12:9-10), so we must feast on "all the truth,” to the point that the truth becomes us! In this way we become, in a sense, a living embodiment of the truth to our families. Truth always begets liberty and freedom. Therefore, our wives and families will live in an environment of truth and all its ensuing benefits.

Jesus said, “If ye CONTINUE in my word, then are ye my DISCIPLES INDEED” (John 8:31-32). Sadly, many fathers are far too casual about continuing in the Word of Christ, both for themselves and to their families.

Acts 2:42: “And they CONTINUED steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Acts 2:46: “And they, CONTINUING daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singles of heart.”

A sermon at church once a week is not sufficient to keep us spiritually healthy. This would amount to a starvation diet to our physical bodies, and we could not survive such treatment. It would be physical abuse to our children to deprive them of three square meals each day.

Isn’t it spiritual abuse to deprive them of daily food from God’s Word? And do we regard the physical more important than the spiritual?  I think so. We deserve to be questioned and challenged for we deny our families the privilege of becoming “DISCIPLES INDEED.” To be “disciples indeed” can only happen through the daily continuance of feeding on the manna of heaven.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell