Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
A good man doesn't love a million girls, he loves one girl in a million ways.
A beautiful picture of the mother in the home.
Not easy to do, especially in our marriages, but it works miracles. Let’s keep soft and humble hearts. Matthew 19:8 tells us that a hard heart leads to divorce.
A dear friend shared with me today a beautiful understanding of God who is our El Shaddai which means "The Breasted One."
When a baby is born the mother instinctively longs to nurse and nourish her baby. Where does this instinct come from? Of course, it comes from God who is El Shaddai, "the Breasted One." The understanding of this name of God also means, "The God who is Enough." He longs to supply our every need and His wells are inexhaustible. He waits for us to come and feed from Him so we can grow and mature.
1 Peter 2:2 says: "As newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby."
Thinking of this I thought of the FAILURE TO THRIVE syndrome where a child has very low weight gain or low increase in weight gain. This is a serious condition for a baby. And yet so many are living in SPIRITUAL Failure to Thrive syndrome. Our El Shaddai waits and longs to pour out of His inexhaustible riches to satisfy and feed us. But often He waits in vain.
We do not come to Him. We do not come to His precious Word to feed. We take a little sip on Sunday when we go to church but starve during the week! We eat three meals a day to satisfy our physical body but except for a tiny crumb here and there, we starve our spirit!
What about our children? We wouldn't think of not feeding them three nutritious meals a day but how often do we feed their spirits? This is the most important part of our children. We must feed them God's Word at least every morning and evening, as we start and end the day. They can't grow "strong in spirit" on anything less (Luke 1:80).
May God save us from the "Failure to Thrive" diagnosis over our lives. And please, may God save mothers from being guilty of putting their children in a position of "Failure to Thrive" because we starve their spiritual beings.
As mothers, we are the feeders of the whole man-body, soul, and spirit.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
It is a very important aspect of parenting to build a hedge around our family and home. Truthfully, it is God who builds the hedge, but we have to do our part. God built a hedge around Job's home. Satan was not able to touch Job until God removed the protective hedge He put around him. Satan tells God in Job 1:10: "Hast not Thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?"
God was able to build a hedge around Job, his family, and everything he owned because:
1) He was blameless and upright (a man of integrity).
2) He feared the Lord.
3) He turned away from all evil. Even allowing a little compromise of sin in our home gives an opening for enemy to come through the hedge.
4) He rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings for his children. In other words, he interceded before God for his children.
Job 1:5 says he did this CONTINUALLY! He was most concerned that his children could have sinned and cursed God in their hearts and therefore He interceded continually on their behalf.
I believe that you can build a hedge around your family as you and your husband pray daily and earnestly for your children. We can't afford not to. If we don't pray for our home and children, who else will? There are so many areas where Satan can subtly creep into our homes.
Sadly, in many homes today, there is such a spirit of worldliness that the devil fits right in. In fact, he feels quite comfortable. There's not much chance for God to build a protective hedge around the home because the devil has already come in!
May you and your husband be protecting parents who daily pray the hedge of protection around your family.
Love from Nancy Campbell
I love the different words God uses to describe our children. God loves to reveal His plans to us by pictures. Psalm 128:3 tells us that our children are like "olive plants" sitting all around our table. The Hebrew word for "olive" is "zayith" and means "an olive (as yielding illuminating oil)." Among many other uses the olive was used as oil for the lamps to light up their homes. It was also used to light the golden candlestick in the holy place of the tabernacle.
Think about it. God gives you your children to light up your home. John 1:9 says that Christ lights each one who comes into this world. As we feed this light with God's Word, our children will become more and more filled with light, not only to bring more light into our home, but to one day take the light of God to a dark and deceived world.
Every child you embrace from the loving hand of God is another illuminating light to light up this world. In fact, the only way God can bring His light into this world is through His people (Matthew 5:14-16). The more children we bring into the world, the more light of God we bring in to push back the darkness an deception of this world system. Don't deprive the world of God's light by saying No to His children.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Proverbs 26:8 tells us that to bind a stone in a sling is as bad as giving honor to a fool! A stone in a sling is not meant to be bound up but to go forth to hit the target. It goes forth to slay the enemy. In the same way, we are foolish to bind up God's truth and hide it. God intends His words to go out from our mouths to accomplish God's plans and purposes (Isaiah 55:11). The spoken word has great power. God created the world with His Word. Many times, we hold back divine miracles from happening in our lives because we are too shy, too afraid, or too lazy to speak out the word of the Lord.
Let's not hide the precious stones of God's truths in our slings of ignorance, intimidation, fear, and shyness. Read God's Words to your family daily. Speak the words God puts on your heart to your children and to those you come in contact with. Open your mouth and pray for your children and others when they are hurting, either emotionally or physically. Speak the powerful name of Jesus to resist the devil. Never hold back. Never keep these stones in your sling. Shoot them forth.
Psalm 107:20: "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." He didn't hide His word but SENT IT FORTH! Miracles happened when He sent forth His word. Miracles will happen to your family and to others when you open your mouth too!
God works in verbs, not nouns. Here are some of the things Psalm 147:2-20 tells us that God does:
He builds up Jerusalem,
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel,
He heals the broken-hearted,
He binds up their wounds,
He lifts up the meek,
He strengthens the bars of your gates,
He blesses your children in your home,
He makes peace in your home,
He sends forth His commandments upon the earth,
He sends out His word, and He declares His word to Israel.
He wants to do these beautiful healing works through you in your family too. He wants you to get out these God-given stones and send them out to bind up, strengthen, bless, make peace, and declare the words of the Lord.
Don't hold back divine miracles. Our children are also like stones to send forth from the sling to defeat the enemy. We must not bind them up but sharpen and polish them to prepare them for the day they will go forth from our home.
Many blessings, Nancy Campbell