Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Psalm 37:7 says, "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."

Men, the need of the hour in which we live is prayer, and then more prayer. We are being attacked on many fronts, not only in our own country, but also in many nations of the world. Christians are under tremendous attack from antichrist spirits. We must be careful not to be overwhelmed.

I firmly believe that we must draw our families together around us, especially through Family Devotions and Prayer Time and roll the burden of whatever is happening to us on the Lord. God does not want us to be overcome with despair, fear, or stress. He wants us to remember that the battle belongs to the Lord and He will fight for us.

Prayer is the greatest way to be delivered from fretting (verse 4).
Prayer is the greatest way to express our trust in God (verse 3).
Prayer and praise are the greatest way to delight ourselves in the Lord (verse 4).
Prayer is the greatest way to commit our way to Him (verse 5).
Prayer is the greatest way to rest in the Lord (verse 7).
Prayer is the greatest way to cease from anger and forsake wrath (verse 8).
Prayer is the greatest way to enable us to depart from evil and do good (verse 27).
Prayer is the greatest way to wait on the Lord (verse 34).

As we read the Scriptures and pray we realize that God is indeed "a man of war: the Lord is his name" (Exodus 15:3). As the Lord of hosts (the God of the armies of Heaven) took the wheels off the proud and arrogant Pharaoh's chariots and all his army as they pursued God's people across the road He made for them in the Red Sea, even so He is well able to crush all His enemies, and our enemies.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Joel 2:1: "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain."

Men, it is high time for each one of us to blow an alarm amongst all the people of God. We must blow the alarm to urge all Christians everywhere to repent of all that offends the holiness of our God. We must pray that God will have mercy on our country and deliver us from the serious judgments that our own backslidings are bringing upon us.

Is it possible that with all the innocent blood that is being shed through the abortion industry, the growing darkness of the vile porn industry, the mounting tide of child trafficking (stealing children from our streets to be used in the slave brothels of the world), the teaching of homosexuality in our schools, plus one hundred and one other evils that are happening on our streets every day, that we will escape the wrath of Almighty God? I think not. That's for sure. God would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah if He did not judge us.

I, for certain, do not like talking about God's judgment coming upon us. But even as the courts of our lands have to punish law breakers, so God has to judge righteous punishments upon nations who, despite His patient calls to repentance, continue to commit crimes against the Righteous Judge of the Nations. We who say we believe in Him and yet continue to live as if God did not exist or notice, or that He really cares, or that He loves us so much that he would never do anything to hurt us, are simply fooling ourselves.

Hebrews 10:30 says, "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people."

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

P.S. Serious matters for prayer:
More than 2.8 million children run away each year in the US. Within 48 hours of hitting the streets one third of these children are lured into the prostitution or pornography (approximately 800,000 each year).

Over the years, more than 1.6 million American children have become victims of the sex trade.

The FBI estimates as many as 18,000 are trafficked every year in the US.

It takes men of backbone to speak the truth.

Men who are wishbones wish that things were better. They wish they had the prosperity of past years. They wish God would answer their feeble prayers. They wish that someone else would speak up for them. But they themselves will not lift a finger or a toe to make a solid stand for truth.

IT'S HIGH TIME FOR MEN WITH REAL BACKBONE TO SPEAK UP FOR TRUTH.

~ Colin Campbell

Men, I am stirred up. I believe God wants me to call families all over the world and crossing all denominations, to pray that God will intervene against the evil that is increasing in this world. I firmly believe that small or large families crying out to God can accomplish major exploits on many national and international fronts.

God is more moved by humble fathers and mothers praying daily with their children over the great needs of the world than He is by professional, religious, and prideful prayers that lack simplicity, sincerity, and humility.

At the end of the morning and evening meal each day in our home, I read the Scriptures, then we pass around a box of prayer cards. Each person takes a card out of the box on which is written a major need for prayer. When each person has their turn to pray, they pray over the subject they have picked out of the box. This way, we make sure that we don't miss praying for the current and critical needs that are happening in the world.

In a sense, the great God of Heaven limits Himself to act in the matters that concern men by waiting for us to do the asking. Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 speak of God's servants binding on earth first before Heaven binds.

John 16:24 says, "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." Read also James 4:2, 3.

Men, if you have not yet started praying with your family, start now. You will be rewarded.

Be encouraged. Colin Campbell

Numbers 10:9 says, "If you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets: and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies."

Men, the enemy is attacking in many ways, not only in our own land where he is weakening and destroying the morals of our nation and is sowing liberalism and humanism in the hearts and minds of young people, but he is making more and more serious attacks upon the lives of tens of thousands of Christians worldwide.

If we have ears to hear, we will hear that THE WAR TRUMPET IS SOUNDING. We must not fail nor faint in the day of battle.

Psalm 18:3 says, "I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies."

Psalm 78:9 says, "The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle."

Proverbs 24:10 says, "If you faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small."

Jeremiah 48:10 ESV says, "Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed."

Men, we must by all means gather our families around us and GO TO WAR IN PRAYER. It is in prayer that we win or lose our battles. May God help us to raise up strong battle stations of prayer in our families. This IS THE LEAST WE CAN DO, AND YET THE GREATEST THING WE CAN DO!

Thank God for Fox News who is not holding back on sharing the news concerning the brutal atrocities that are happening to Christians by the bloodthirsty terrorists such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Boko Haram, and the Muslim Brotherhood. We need to pray that God will do whatever has to be done to break the back of these and other terrorist groups. Continue to pray that the Islamic people themselves will stand up and speak out against the evil terrorists that want to mass slaughter innocent people.

Also, contact your local state and federal leaders to stand strong to support Christians who are suffering because of these terrorist groups.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

This following prayer/poem written by Rudyard Kipling, although written in 1897, is a prayer we should continue to pray today. It is known as the RECESSIONAL and is also sung as a hymn.

God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle-line,
Beneath whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the Kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding, calls not Thee to guard,
For frantic boast and foolish word—
Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!

Psalm 24:7, 8, 10 says, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle . . . Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah."

Men, as the priests of our homes we must not delay, or make excuses any longer, for our failure to rally the troops (members of our families) to gather morning and evening to hear God's Word and to call upon the Lord for His divine assistance in this day of battle.

If you do not believe that you and your family can make any significant difference, all I can say is that you are sadly mistaken. You and your family can be recorded in heaven as the movers and shakers of the earth. You can be known as those who called upon God and stood in the gaps for not only their own nation, but all the nations of the earth that are desperately in need right now.

How can the cry of persecuted Christians go unheeded? There are currently 400,000 Christians in Iraq who are under serious threat (and even annihilation) from the ISIS. Thousands have fled from the city of Mosul after ISIS gave them an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay protection money, or leave on pain of death.

We must be prepared to take time and sacrifice in whatever way we can in order to pray for them. We must pray that our government will send food and the necessities of life to them. We must pray that our own great nation will deal a crushing blow to these murderers that will stop them in their tracks and send them fleeing. We must pray in Jesus' name that the Islamic people themselves will stand up against these terrorist regimes and groups that glory in murder, rape, and brutality.

Prayers open up the gates and doors to Heaven's abundant resources. We must lift up our prayers and open the gates to invite the King of glory who is the Lord of the heavenly armies to come in. He is MIGHTY IN BATTLE.

Men, it is a slander and shame against our Christian manliness to do nothing to help when women and children and the poor and needy are being raped, beaten, and killed by these murderous, fanatical thugs who call themselves Islamic. We must also pray for Christians receiving persecution from the Buddhists in Burma (Myanmar) and the Communists in North Korea and China.

We must pray that the Lord strong and mighty, they Lord mighty in battle, the King of glory who is the Lord of hosts will give us the strategies on how to defeat these cruel enemies.

Keep up the good work, for you will be rewarded.

Be encouraged. Colin Campbell

Psalm 2:8 says, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."

Men, it is at the humble table when the meal is ended and the dishes are not even cleaned away that we encourage our children, both young and old, to pray. This is where the battle for the nations is drawn and won. It is around the humble table where we pray the prayers of agreement and ask our Heavenly Father, in the name of His beloved Son, for the great needs of the nations.

This is where we teach our children they are soldiers of the cross, and together as an unassuming family, we make a huge difference to the nations that are still bound and imprisoned by spiritual darkness. The humble kitchen table becomes a center point of the war room, for this is where we gather to do battle against the powers of darkness.

We do not need to build a pentagon to write up our battle plans. All God needs is humble Christian families who will learn to fight His battles around their breakfast and supper tables. This is utter foolishness to the wisdom of this world, Who could possibly believe that little, or even large families, praying around their tables morning and evening could make one atom of different to the vast, complex issues and problems of this world? The unbelieving world scoffs at such ludicrous and simplistic thinking.

However, the battle is the Lord's and no pentagon on earth can compete with His strategies. He has legions of warring angels at His disposal who are more than able to conquer any attack that the powers of darkness rage against the nations. All that God requires is that we humbly agree together in prayer.

1 Corinthians 1:27 HCSB says, "God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world--what is viewed as nothing--to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one can boast in His presence."

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

"The scaffold of truth sways the future."
It's good to be reminded again of these great words of James Russell Lowell:

Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light.

Then to side with truth is noble, when we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and ’tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses while the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.

By the light of burning martyrs, Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling up new Calv’ries ever with the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth,
They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.

Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.

Isaiah 25:6-10 (NLT) prophecies: "In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven's Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat. There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. HE WILL REMOVE FOREVER ALL INSULTS AND MOCKERY AGAINST HIS LAND AND HIS PEOPLE. The Lord has spoken! In that day the people will proclaim, 'This is our God! We trust in him, and he saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!' For the Lord's hand of blessing will rest on Jerusalem."

At this point of time Israel is the mockery of the world. But there is a day coming when that will change. God will fulfill all His prophecies, not only for His people but for His land! Do you notice that God calls it "His land." Do those who seek to divide the land know who they are fighting against?

Colin Campbell

The apostle Paul speaks of a glorious future ahead for Israel. He describes it as "life from the dead" and "their fullness." Romans 11:12, 15 says, "Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their FULLNESS? . . . For if the casting away of them (except the election of grace, v.5) be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but LIFE FROM THE DEAD?" .

We are warned in v. 18 to not boast against the natural branches. We are also warned that if we hold an unrighteous attitude toward the natural branches that have been cut off because of their rejection of the Messiah, that we could be in danger of being cut off too (v. 22). And again we are warned to not be "wise in your own conceits" because "blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in" (v. 25).

I can't help but feel that the time period called "the fullness of the Gentiles" is almost complete. We are told in v. 11 that our attitudes and lifestyle as believing Christians should "provoke them to jealousy." I don't believe this is happening as it should be. Instead, Christians nations, in the name of Christ, have been their persecutors and are doing so right now even as we speak. They do this through their rhetoric and embargoes of any products made in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria, which is the heartland of Israel). So-called Christian nations speak out against Israel for retaliating against the thousands of rockets that are daily and constantly rained down upon them.

Would USA go to the assistance of the United Kingdom if it was being attacked by so many thousands of rockets? What is happening to America? Do we think that by sympathizing with the jihadists such as Hamas, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, ISIS, and the Islamic Brotherhood that they will leave us alone? We are sadly mistaken. These terrorist organizations are ruthless, fanatical, and a butchering people who cannot be reasoned with.

A series of videos of ISIS shows the jihadists on the move, telling the world they are not afraid of America or anyone else. A translation of one quote on these videos says, "The Islamic Caliphate has been established and God willing it will not stop until we raise the flag of Prophet Mohammed in the White House."

We must pray, and encourage our children to pray against the anti-Semitic spirit which is once again raising its ugly head in the world and defying all prophetic Scripture.

Psalm 149:6-9 says, "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all his saints. Praise the Lord."

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Never underestimate the power of a praying family!

Men, another great deception that is rearing its ugly head across the whole world is anti-Semitism (hatred of Jews). We must steadfastly resist this satanic-inspired hatred. The best way to resist the evil is though prayer. This is where family prayer time can be a very powerful weapon to destroy and nullify this insidious attack upon the prophetic people of Israel.

Our families become a very powerful influence for good that can literally shake the foundations of hell. Satan hates praying families and will do all he can to hinder us from this privilege of being used by God in such a powerful way. God delights to use what the wisdom of this world regards as insignificant to confound and destroy His enemies.

Satan has sought to destroy the family through contraception, sterilization, and abortion. Through these means he has limited and curtailed the affectivity and potential of Christian praying families. Satan knows and trembles at the powerful impact praying families can have to bring down his strongholds.

Anti-Semitism was high in Europe before World War II, especially in Germany;. The Jewish people suffered terrible hatred by so-called Christianized nations. How sad that this was so, especially in the light of the words of Jesus when He said that Christians should "Love your enemies" and do good to those whom we believe have wronged us (Matthew 5:43-45). The anti-Christ media has once again deceived the nations into believing that the small nation called Israel is the number one enemy of the world.

Many do not know the history surrounding the founding of the new State of Israel on 14 May, 1948, and the prophetic Word concerning Israel and the return of the Messiah. Many Christians have been deceived by what is called Replacement Theology (The Christian church has completely replaced Israel). This deception has weakened the churches' stand against anti-Semitism. Read carefully Romans, chapters 9, 10, and 11.

Romans 11:1, 2 says, "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew." This Scripture plainly states that God has not cast away His people, Israel. Therefore what a deception to believe otherwise.

To be continued.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

We do not have to wait for our churches to decide when or if it would be a good time to have a prayer meeting for the persecuted church. Right now there are thousands being tortured for their faith in Christ around the world. We are receiving news of even women being crucified for their faith in Syria by the evil terrorist group called ISIS. The enemy is ratcheting up his severe torture of Christians in many Islamic and Buddhist nations.

Men, God has called us to be priests and kings, especially to our families. This is not a time to take our privilege of fulfilling this ministry casually. Hebrews 13:3 (NLT) says, "Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies." The best way to remember them is to pray for them. Enlist your wife and family on a daily basis to assist you in your priesthood to pray for the beaten and tortured by sadistic Satan-inspired, deluded people.

We are to "Remember them that suffer adversity as being yourself in the body." We are part of the worldwide body of Christ. When any one member of this body is being beaten, bruised, and killed, you and I are being beaten, bruised, and killed. This is a very serious matter.

By all means make other Christians aware of this great need. Thank God for the demonstrations in both England and France in the last day or so where Christians have rallied in order to arouse the conscience of their countries to do something to help put a stop to these atrocities.

But prayer is one of the greatest things that we as families can and must do, especially at our family worship time at the end of each meal.

Take courage in Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Men, I think it would be shameful of us to not pray with our families every morning and evening (or AT LEAST ONCE per day) in order to attack the demonic strongholds that are torturing and persecuting our fellow Christian brothers and sisters around the world.

The enemy takes swift advantage of us when we do not stand in the gaps to shoot him down through our prayers. You and your wife and family are called to be gap standers. Ezekiel 13:5 says, "Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord."

God has placed a hedge of protection around His people and this hedge is prayer, coupled with angelic protection. Psalm 234:7 says, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." Hebrews 1:7 says, "And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire . . . Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" God has ordained that through our prayers powerful, angelic forces are released to encamp around us, to deliver us, and to be a flame of fire against our enemies. Psalm 97:3 says, "A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about."

These angels are released to serve us as we pray. After Jesus had fasted and prayed for 40 days and nights in the wilderness, angels came and ministered unto Him (Matthew 4:11). We must pray with our families that angels will come and minister to those being tortured in the prison camps of the evil tyrants of this world.

The God we serve is the Lord of hosts (the Lord of the armies of Heaven). Psalm 24:7-10 says, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle . . . Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah."

How tragic when families do not pray, for then God cannot release His angelic hosts. This comes through prayer.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Men, having determined to resist and attack all disobedience in our own minds, it is time to turn our spiritual weapons against the evil mindsets around the world.

I believe that if Christian families would take up the challenge to raise up Family Altars (Family Devotions or Family Worship, or whatever you call it in your home) at the main meal times of each day, we could bring about major havoc against the strong fortifications of destruction and corruption. The devil is the mastermind in many nations of the world.

Recently I have become more deeply concerned about the brutal treatment of Christians in many countries, especially North Korea which is the most evil persecutor of Christians in the world. In this country, anyone found with a Bible is imprisoned and tortured, as well as the members of their family (children and grandparents). They are torturing, maiming, and killing Christians. Like the Nazis in Germany treated the Jews, they are using their body parts for experiments, and without anesthetic.

We must, at all costs, reestablish family prayers. Multitudes of Christian families must cry out to God for the enormous amount of Christian persecution in so many countries of the world. Go to http://www.worldwatchlist.us/ for a list of countries where Christians are receiving the most intense persecution. We should be praying for the downfall of Boko Haram, the Islamic Terrorist group who responsible for the abducting of 300 girls and selling them to Arab slave masters. Apart from that, they boast they have already killed 10,000 people.

Did you know that 2,000 have been killed in Syria in the last two weeks? Did you read of how 3,000 Christians in the town of Mosul, Northern Iraq were commanded by the ISIS to convert to Islam? They had to flee from their homes or lose their heads. How can we carry on with life as usual?

Fathers, why not appoint a certain member of the family to search the Internet and bring to the family each day up-to-date news on what is happening to the persecuted saints around the world so you can pray more effectively as a family. We are doing this in our family. Their are many sites, but here is one for you: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/pray/prayer-updates/

Pray for Israel, too. They need our constant prayers as they seek to defend themselves from Hamas, who are also a terrorist group who use their civilians as human shields while their leader lives in the safety of a hotel in Qatar.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

God wants to bring every thought in our minds into subjection to the mind of Christ. Oppressions, depressions, pessimisms, hardness of heart, unbelief, pride, and high-mindedness are often manifestations of strongholds the enemy has established in our minds. Resentments and offenses can and often become strongholds if we do not use the mighty weapons God has provided for us.

All these negative mindsets are what Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 10:5: "Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God." These are thoughts that are in opposition to the thought life that is in Christ Jesus. God wants us to have the mind of Christ in every situation and circumstance on a daily basis. These weapons are mighty in the spiritual realm to deal with all these fortresses, both in our own lives, as well as in others.

Ephesians 6:10-18 describes the armor as well as the weapons that we are to use daily as we "Pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

Revelation 12:11 tells us how they overcame the devil by the "blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

Men, I firmly believe that this is a most important time in our lives to stand up for truth and go to war with the enemies of the Lord. We must start with our own thought lives and use every weapon provided to defeat the enemy there. Then we turn our eyes on the great needs of the nations.

Be encouraged. Colin Campbell

Men, God has given us weapons that are not carnal (of the flesh or man's ability), but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. Every area of our thought life, if not subjected to obedience to Christ, makes us vulnerable to enemy attack in some way.

If we allow thoughts of fear, impurities, worldly and vain reasonings, anger, retaliation for those who abuse us, plus a hundred and one other thoughts that if put under the searchlight of the Holy Spirit and God's Word would not be accepted as righteous thinking, we will be weakened and defeated in some way. To the degree that we allow thoughts to go unchecked by the test of obedience to Christ, will be the degree whereby the enemy will be able to neutralize and defeat us.

Men, this is an hour in our history we cannot afford a single place for the enemy to build up a stronghold in our lives. This is time for us to be the most spiritually strongest men possible in order for God to be able to use us to the greatest effect to crush and defeat His enemies.

The prince of this world was cast out when Jesus went to the cross. John 12:31-33 says, "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die."

This is the big question. If Jesus went to the cross in order to cast out the enemy, why are we giving the devil any foothold in our life, especially our thought life?

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

There is much more to obeying Jesus Christ than we realize. Many believe that as long as somewhere in their lives they answered an altar call to receive Christ as Savior, were obedient to be baptized, and go to church regularly, that this is all that is required of them as far as obedience is concerned. The truth is that we are exhorted to be obedient to the everyday leading of the Holy Spirit which validates us as true sons of God. Romans 8:14 says "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

There is another area where we need to be very obedient and is in the area of our thought life.

It is in our thought life that the real spiritual battle rages. It is in the thought life where the enemy of our souls builds up his strongholds. These strong places in our minds where the enemy wants to dwell may be places of fear, insecurities, moods that control not only oneself but also others around us, and impure and unclean thoughts which if allowed to continue will destroy the immature and weak Christian and negatively affect others as well.

Anger and an overly-controlling spirit can destroy your marriage and fatherhood. Many marriages suffer destruction because of this. Worldly thinking and being more concerned with self are fortresses that must be brought down by the use of spiritual weapons. Ambition for fame and men's applause, and addiction to money or any other addiction are strongholds that have to be torn down.

Second Corinthians 10:3-6 says, "For thou we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Men, it would be a very good thing, and many of our problems would quickly resolve, if we would be obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit to our conscience as well as the written Word.

How can the Holy Spirit lead us if we have a problem with obedience? The only way the glory of the Lord will fill the whole earth as mentioned in Numbers 14:21 is when all His people will be willingly obedient to whatever He says through whoever or whatever way He is saying it.

We need to pray that God will give us ears tuned in to hear what He wants to tell us at any given moment. God may speak to us through visions, dreams, His living Word (a good reason to read it regularly), friends, circumstances (positive or negative), as well as the preaching and teaching of the Word. The most important thing is that we have ears to hear.

Matthew 11:15 says, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Men, it is true that even though we have ears to hear many things we often fail to hear what God says to us personally. Jesus mentions this word about hearing eight times in Revelation (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 19; 3:6, 22; 13:9).

It is possible for us to hear and obey grudgingly and this is not acceptable to God. Even on the subject of giving God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). Cheerfulness applies to obedient hearing as well. Psalm 110:3 says, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power."

Hebrews 5:8 says that even Jesus "learned obedience by the things that He suffered."

And Psalm 95:7, 8, and Hebrews 3:7, 8, and 15 warn us, "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."

Men, how can we expect our children to be joyfully obedient to us if we are not joyfully obedient to our Heavenly Father?

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Men, we need to be fixed and established in our hearts regarding the doctrine of obedience to Christ. What on earth is the relevance of Scripture knowledge concerning Christ and praying in His name if we are weak on the practice of daily obedience to the voice of His Spirit?

Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Men, this is so very important. When we are led by the Spirit of God we validate our sonship. It is easy for us to hit and miss on this matter of being led by the Spirit. We often do not recognize the promptings of the Spirit because we are so busy listening to our own reasoning and logic.

Obedience is paramount for God's blessings on man. Deuteronomy chapter 28 speaks of the most amazing blessings God pours out on the obedient and the terrible curses that come upon those who are disobedient. Saul, the first king of Israel was rejected and the Spirit of the Lord departed from him because of partial obedience, which God still sees as disobedience (1 Samuel 15:11-23).

1 Samuel 15:22-23 says, "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king."

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell