"One of these days, some simple soul will pick up the book of God, read it, and believe it. then the rest of us will be embarrassed."
~ Leonard Ravenhill
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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.
Every husband should affirm his wife's great value and worth in the home. It can never be underestimated.
~ Colin Campbell
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A society of law and order begins in the home.
The home is the nation’s first place of government and law and order. This is why the home is so important to a healthy society.
To think that the first place of government is where your capitol city is situated in your state and country is not correct thinking. Respect for law and order begins in the home. It is not in the capitol building, but the home building.
The home is the first place where we teach right from wrong and all the fundamental principles of law and order. The home is the first place where godly parents should teach their children to respect family rules and laws along with the disciplines of refusing to obey family values and ethics.
Even the church you attend is not the first place where your children should be taught law, order, and values. The public school, or even the Christian school, is not the first place of teaching. It’s not kindergarten or preschool. It’s not the military, navy, or boot camp.
ELEVATE YOUR HOME TO A CAPITOL STATUS FOR THIS IS WHERE GOD’S GOVERNMENT BEGINS.
Elevate your home to a capitol status for this is where God’s government begins.
Every child that is born into this world is meant to be nurtured and taught the first principles of right and wrong and justice and judgment in the home.
Genesis 2:17-19: “And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations o the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”
God would not hide from Abraham what He was about to do in Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? Because . . .
1. God knew that Abraham would “command his children and his household after him.” In other words, Abraham and Sarah would be the first to follow God’s commandments and then teach their children and all the servants.
2. God knew that Abraham would “keep the way of the Lord.”
3. God knew that Abraham would execute “justice and judgment.”
This enabled God to bring to pass His prophetic word given to Abraham.
The parental teaching of the way of the Lord, as well as justice and judgment, made Abraham’s home a capitol home.
All the capitol buildings in the world cannot surpass or even equal the importance God has placed upon your family home.
When the mother vacates the home to pursue a career outside of the home, she vacates the most important position of government and learning to be found in all of society.
Abraham’s home was the learning center of justice and judgment and the commandments of the Lord.
Abraham was God’s president and the supreme court judge of his home.
Abraham’s tent was God’s capitol building.
Abraham was God’s pattern father.
The reason our government can make so many wrong decisions is that there was, and is, a big failure in the teaching of God’s ways and commands in the family home.
Justice and judgment were not taught by God-fearing parents in their homes. Foundational truths were not ingrained into their hearts when they were little and growing up. The failure of righteous government can be easily traced back to the failure of law and order and the teaching of justice and judgment in the home.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
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It is important to have a loving, peaceful atmoshere in our homes so that our families will be blessed. Our homes would be places where our children have a strong sense of belonging.
God sets the solitary in families so they can feel secure and at home (Psalm 68:6). Anyone who does not have a sense of belonging to a family can often feel very lonely and insecure. People who do not have a homelife will often feel unwanted, and not needed.
What I am talking about can also apply to a church. There are some churches where the leadership are at odds with each other, fighting amongst themselves. Often in times like this many people will be offended and leave the church. Every church should have a strong atmosphere of love, peace, joy, and a feeling of being at home. If a church does not have an atmosphere of feeling ‘at home,” all I can say is find one that does.
These are days where many young people are leaving their homes because of the pain of not feeling loved and wanted. They can only get their pain of loneliness and hurts satisfied temporarily by drugs and needles containing opioids and dangerous drugs. All of this is because their deepest desires are not being met by families caring for each other.
Ultimately it takes Christian homes where prayer, praise, worship, and God’s word is a high priority.
Children need to know that their Mommy and Daddy truly love each other—by the way they speak and communicate to teach other before their children. Every child needs to daily experience the loving, caring interest and interactions of a loving father and mother.
As parents, we must resist all negative debates, arguments, and all that which creates an atmosphere of tension, stress, and emotional disorders between each other, as well as our children.
We need to train our children in early life through appropriate discipline, as well as constant encouragement, to live peaceably with each other.
Romans 12:18: “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
How can we invite people into our homes if our homes are chaotic and anything but peaceable? I think that tensions are often felt long before they are heard. People who have tensions are really very difficult to live with. We must take a strong stand against tensions in our own lives.
Psalm 144:15: “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.”
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
Illustration by Frances Hook – 1963.
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A Million-Mile Journal of the Arnold Pent Family
By Arnold Pent III
I would encourage EVERY FAMILY to get this inspiring story. Read it yourself and then read it to your family.
One of our favorite stories. The million-mile journey of Arnold Pent, Jr. and his wife and eight children as they traveled through US and Canada together. The father preached along the way. But no matter where they were, or whoever they stayed with, they never gave up their practice of daily Bible reading and memorization.
Challenging and inspiring reading.
WHAT DO PEOPLE SAY?
“TEN P’S IN A POD should be required reading. I still count it among one of the handful of most important books I have ever read.”
~ Andrée Seu Peterson, World Magazine Columnist
“Your book is a breath of fresh air.”
“In a society where the Bible is rarely read, even in Christian homes, this book should be necessary (but enjoyable) reading for EVERY Christian family.”
“How this husband and wife were able to take a family of eight children across both the United States and Canada throughout the 1950s and early 1960s in various old cars is a story worth reading.”
—
“I read this book out loud to my husband while we were on a long trip. Reading it out loud made the Scriptures and stories come alive. I’ve been greatly affected by the book.”
To order now, go to: https://tinyurl.com/10PsBook
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We must all learn the art of peacemaking to avoid chaos from taking over our families and homes.
Matthew 5:9 says: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Fathers, we are peacemakers, and we are raising peacemakers.
I think the family home is the most important of all places to have peace.
This is where we live together as a family.
This is where we eat and fellowship together.
This is where we find rest and a sense of belonging.
We all know Psalm 23:2 which says: “He maketh me to lie down in great pastures: he leadeth ne beside the still waters.”
I looked after sheep in the early days of my life on our farm in New Zealand where my father owned many hundreds of sheep, up to a thousand when the lambs were born. Sheep require a place of tranquility in order to lie down and rest. The pastures must be green and healthy so their stomachs will be full and satisfied. Only then will they cease to be restless and able to lie down and sleep peacefully.
This verse also mentions that they need to be led by “still waters,” not raging chaotic flood waters where we endanger their lives and they cannot drink of those dangerous waters.
As parents, we are in a real sense, shepherds of our families. God calls His people “His flock” and “His sheep” (Psalm 74:1; 79:13; 80:1; 95:7; 100:3; and Zechariah 10:3. Therefore, the whole of Psalm 23 is a shepherd’s manual for both pastors and parents. We are indeed the shepherds of our families.
“Still waters” are peaceful waters. A chaotic environment is not a healthy environment for children. “Still waters” are tranquil waters where your family can rest and be at peace.
Are you a peacemaker in your home? Or are you a troublemaker in your home? Even hidden sins can disturb the peace in your home such as looking at violent movies or watching secret pornography. Entertaining lustful thoughts or angry attitudes (even in secret) can disturb the peace in your home. Secret negative attitudes can be felt by those who walk in the light.
1 John 1:7 says: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
There is nothing worse than trying to hear something important when there is static of some kind or electrical interference (radio or cell phone). Secret, negative attitudes will create static and interference with the atmosphere of your home.
Parents, we have to get to the bottom of these negative attitudes, even when they are not verbally expressed for they will create static or a flickering light. True fellowship can only be enjoyed by those who walk in the light. Those who are peacemakers and light makers will automatically have the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing them from all sin. They are more than willing to confess their sins and faults to one another and to the Lord.
As parents, we must teach our children to confess their faults and sins so that they will forsake the things that hinder the fellowship.
How can we call ourselves the children of God if we do not actively engage in peacemaking?
Does Jesus Christ feel at home in your home?
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
Painting by Ron DiCianni
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alone, through Jesus Christ, is the true and only source of perfect peace.
One of the sevenfold redemptive names of God is Jehovah Shalom meaning, Jehovah is our Peace. We read this name in Judges 6:24. The Lord is our perfect peace. Without a relationship with Jesus Christ, we have no perfect peace.
Where there is righteousness there will be peace. Psalm 85:10: says: “Righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Peace has an intimate relationship with righteousness. It actually kisses righteousness. Kissing someone or something is a tangible expression of heartfelt emotion. The kiss of peace is given to those who seek to live righteous lives through their relationship with Jesus Christ who is the Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 says that He is called “The Prince of Peace.” Until Israel accepts Jesus Christ (Yeshua Hamashiach) as their Prince of Peace they will not know any true lasting peace.
As Christian parents, we must make Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace over our marriages and our homes. As godly fathers, we must teach our children to seek after the things that make for peace. We should pray daily that the peace of God will rule in the hearts and lives of our children. Colossians 3;15 says: “And let the peace of God RULE in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”
We don’t want our homes to be filled with arguments, debates, discord, anxieties, defiance, depressions, fears, and bad attitudes. These things are opposite to the peace of God’s kingdom which consists of righteousness, peace, and joy! Romans 14:17 says: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, a nd joy in the Holy Ghost.” Is this Scripture the testimony of your home?
We are also exhorted to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Psalm 122:6 says: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.” Our Jerusalem, as Christians, is not only the natural city in Israel which we must definitely pray for constantly.
However, in another sense, our Jerusalem can be our homes and families where we live.
It can also be the churches we attend.
It can also be the individual bodies we live in for these bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:15 and 2 Corinthians 6:16-18). Wherever the temple are, that’s where the New Jerusalem is.
To be continued.
Colin Campbell
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Chaos comes when parents do not exercise their sovereign right to exercise discipline and order over their children for wrong behavior. Many parents think that avoiding conflict will enable them to keep the peace. Unfortunately, refusing to exercise discipline, when discipline is in order, often leads to more chaos and “raffety-rule. “
Minor infractions can be addressed with a brief, loving and encouraging correction. However, rebellious, defiant behavior must be addressed and appropriately disciplined. Otherwise, chaos will overtake your home.
Bad moods, the silent treatment, a refusal to be bright and happy, straight-out defiance, dirty looks, and a negative attitude cannot be tolerated if you want to save your home from chaos and a bad atmosphere.
If you do not apply the rod when the rod is appropriate you will create a rod for your own back.
Shouting, anger, and temper tantrums must not be tolerated or allowed to prevail.
Pouting, hateful speech, and cussing must be dealt with quickly by a firm hand of righteous, godly discipline.
If we do not take appropriate action, our homes will quickly become chaotic, unhappy, unloving, and anything but a home of peace and healing.
Christian graces and righteous attitudes must be constantly taught and applied in our homes.
Around the table, both morning and evening, we must unfailingly share the teachings and admonitions of God’s Word and the instructions of righteous behavior that will save us from the chaos and evil that easily destroy homes and families.
As Christian families, we must actively pursue the things which make for peace. Romans 14:19 says: “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.”
There are things we can do, both in our individual lives and families, that make for peace. God’s home is a place of peace, not contention. This is where the rubber meets the road.
What are these things which make for peace? Are we actively finding out these things which make for peace? Is your home and marriage a place of peace? I am not talking about noise, for where children are, noise is inevitable. Happy noise is healthy noise.
To be continued.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
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God said in Genesis 1:26: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion . . . “ God is a governmental God and He wants parents to take dominion over their own homes first.
Your home is to be a place of safety and protection from the storms, rain, snow, cold and heat, both physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The home is a place of protection from those who you do not approve of and who do not hold the same standards as you do.
Your home is a place where you have control over who comes and goes. Your home is not a place where you allow anybody to come in and eat the food they want from your pantry and refrigerator. You don’t allow people to come in and sleep in your bedroom and wear your clothes.
Your home is meant to be a place where the parents rule and not the children, or anyone else who thinks they are entitled to usurp your authority. Your home is a place where you rule and not your invited guests, relatives, or friends. If you let others take control, the home is no longer yours.
To those who think they can just come in and take over, you need to rise up and lay out the basic rules of your home. You need to inform them that if they do not comply, they are no longer welcome in your home. When, out of compassion, you bring folk into your home, it does not mean they have the right to dictate their own terms.
Your home should be HOME SWEET HOME.
Your home should be a place where LOVE AND PEACE REIGN.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
1186 Hits
The Way of Love
1 Corinthians 13 ESV
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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What does home mean to you?
1. Home is the basic foundation of every human culture on earth from the beginning time. Cities and nations are built on the foundations of home.
2. Men have built homes in caves, cliffs, trees and lived in tents, but they have always had homes.
3. Homes are the nesting places of mothers and children. Men like this nest also.
4. Homes are synonymous with mothers and families. It’s almost impossible to be a mother without a home
5. If homes and family are built on solid rock foundations, they will survive the storms of life.
6. Home is the focal point of being a family. It is the gathering place of families.
7. Families live in homes, flats, and apartments. If you don’t have a home, you most likely live on the street and that’s not good at all. Imagine what it would be like to have no home and be homeless.
8. Home is the nurturing place of families.
9. Home is a basic requirement of life.
10. Home is much more than a shelter and a bed. It is a place where we find belonging and we all have a need to belong.
11. Home is a place where we find love. Love is one of the greatest needs of all humanity.
12. Home is a place where we fellowship together and learn the basics of all relationships.
13. Home is a place of security. You are not adrift on an endless sea of humanity.
14. Home is a place of rest and peace and where we are accepted.
15. Home is a place where we have a place at the family table and where we eat healthy, home-made food.
16. Home is a place where we experience the teaching, tenderness, and understanding of a loving mother.
17. Home is the place where we experience the provision, love, security, and instruction of a devoted father.
18. Home is a place of guidance and preparation for life.
Make your home a strong, godly home.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
1396 Hits
