Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

It is heart-warming to be embraced into a welcoming home, isn’t it? It makes you feel good, as if you belong, and how good it feels to belong. But not only should our doors and gates be welcoming to people we invite into our home, but especially to the Lord.

Psalm 24:7-19 says, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.” I am sure this is talking about the triumphant entrance of Jesus back into glory after He conquered death and hell and took captivity captive. But it also relates to our individual lives and our homes.

What kind of welcome do we give to the King of glory? Do we open the door of our heart, and the gates of our home each new day, and welcome Him in? What a wonderful way to start the day, praying, “King of glory, I open the gates of my home to you this morning. Please come and enter every life and every room. I want you to fill our home with your mighty presence. Expose every bit of darkness and deception with the light of your glory.”

Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts! Who is the Lord of hosts? He is the Mighty Warrior, the God of war who will bring all His enemies into subjection. He is the Ruler of the universe, standing ready to intervene on the behalf of His people. Do you have battles raging in your home? He will fight your battles for you. He is the Lord of hosts.

Open your gates and welcome Him with open arms today.

Love from Nancy

Are you weighed down by a heavy burden today? Maybe it is a trauma you are facing. Or perhaps it is the accumulation of many little worries and problems that add up to a big burden? Are you going to keep carrying this load around? It makes you so tired, you can hardly get through the day. You can’t mother effectively when you are weighed down. You are handicapped. God knows this, and therefore tells us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us” (Hebrew 12:1).

Do you notice that this Scripture tells us to lay it aside? “I have to cast it aside?” you ask. Yes, it actually means “to strip it off.” Take some action. Come to Jesus. Come to the foot of the cross and throw down your burden. Don’t hang on to it. Sometimes we are tempted to hang on to it so we have something to groan and complain about. What a delusion.

Let it go and look to Jesus. He showed us the way. He endured the cross and the shame because of the joy set before Him. When you take your eyes off the burden and lift your eyes to Him, He will give you new perspective and show you His eternal plan.

Now you can run your race. Now you’ll have energy. Now you can keep going to the finishing line.

Love from Nancy

A young mother wrote to me recently, “My baby is five months and it seems like yesterday he was born. His smile is what greets me when I wake up in the morning, even if I am dog tired. He makes any mood I have change instantly to joy with one look at his smile. I feel God through the way he smiles and laughs and am so blessed to have him and nurse him.”

How blessed we are to be mothers. We get to smile and laugh more than any other sector of people. What does a woman who has chosen a career in the market place have to smile about? Instead, each time we look at a baby we can’t help but smile. And they make you smile big! When we watch our children, we naturally smile and can’t help but laugh at all their childish antics. And every time we smile and laugh we de-stress! We release endorphins which make us feel help and relieve stress from the body. What a great way to live.

This is just another blessing of all the blessings of motherhood. No wonder the Bible tells us that we are preserved through motherhood (1 Timothy 2:15).

Love from Nancy

Genesis 2:18 says that I was created to be a help-meet to my husband. I can be a helper to him by:

Heaping love and kisses upon him.
Excitedly preparing meals for him.
Lovingly serving him rather than my own pursuits.
Praying for him.
Encouraging him daily.
Reverencing him and submitting to him.

How often I fall short of God’s divine plan for me. May God help me to be the helper he wants me to be to my husband.

Nancy

At the start of the year, I spoke of attempting to establish 12 new habits with the start of each new month. January saw us re-establish morning devotions instead of just evening, as we had fallen into the habit of doing, and February I tried to initiate giving my husband a hug and a kiss each day. Devotions were successful and my initiating hugs was not. So I continue to try to establish that habit, while I dwell on what I can try to also incorporate for April. There is always so much room for improvement, I want to take specific time to work on areas that need it. I already have needed 2 months to try to establish one of my habits, so 2012 at best will only see 11 new and improved habits. For those of you that also tried to establish new habits, how are you doing? Love Michelle

I am continuing to meditate on our powerful and yet tender shepherding role as mothers. I love the description of David from Psalm 78:71-72, “He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: from following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.”

Once again the word “feed” is more than feeding. It means to shepherd and tend to our flock. It means to associate with and have companionship. The shepherd has a personal relationship with each one of his sheep.

And how did David shepherd the nation of Israel? With skillfulness. The word in the Hebrew means “insight, intelligence, prudence, understanding, discretion and wisdom.” Shepherding is not for dummies! We need all the intelligence, understanding, and wisdom that God will give us. And we need it from God, for our resources are not enough.

You mothering role is very powerful. As you shepherd your flock you are revealing the character of God. And you are preparing for whatever God has ahead for you in the future. When God is looking for leadership qualities, He chooses those who look after sheepfolds because shepherding is so close to His heart.

Love from Nancy

As you nurture and mother your little flock, you are walking in the anointing of God’s tender shepherd heart. From Genesis to Revelation God reveals himself a shepherd. What a privilege you have as a mother to reveal this beautiful character of God. Isaiah 40:11 says, “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”

But shepherding is both tender and powerful. The prophetic words concerning Christ, the Messiah say, “And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel” (Matthew 2:6). The Messiah who will rule the nations with a rod of iron is also the tender shepherd (Revelation 2:27).

Although you tenderly shepherd your flock, you are also the governor of your home—leading, guiding, and guarding. You don’t allow your lambs and growing sheep to become unruly and get out of order. Your responsibility is to govern them and keep them folded. This takes hard work and daily sacrifice (sometimes night and day), but shepherding involves laying down your life for your lambs and sheep (John 10:11).

Love from Nancy

Psalm 25:12 says, “What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.” This is one of the many wonderful promises to those who fear the Lord. God will teach in His way. Don’t you long to know God’s ways? It’s only when we know God’s ways that we can teach our children in God’s ways.

However, I notice that God teaches us in the way that He chooses. We have to be willing to do it God’s way, which is often contrary to the way of our culture. As my husband says, “We want God to walk with us, but do we want to walk with God?” There’s a big difference. We want God to fit into our way of doing things, rather than our changing our lifestyle, and may be the way we run our home, to fit in with God’s way.

We have to also be willing to not only be taught, but to obey. We read in our Family Devotions this morning about Cain who became very angry because God did not accept his offering. God spoke to him and gave him a chance to repent. He actually heard the voice of God speaking to him, but it wasn’t enough. Because he did not listen and obey, he gave into his anger and murdered his brother.

Love from Nancy

The ark kept Noah and his family safe from flood. But, although they were safe, they had to go through the storm. We will never be able to avoid the storms and tempests of this life. Consequently, we have to learn how to navigate them. God shows the way through the example of Noah who built a strong home, a home that could withstand the biggest tempest that ever hit this earth.

Each one of has faced our different storms. We may face bigger storms ahead. The most important thing we can do is to continue strengthening our marriage and our home. Ask God to show you any leaks where the destroying enemy can enter in. Our homes constantly need repair. I am glad I married a “Mr. Fix It” as I call my husband. But more than physical wear and tear is spiritual wear and tear.

Constantly check what is going on in your home, what is being watched and read in your home, and what is coming into your home. The enemy hates godly homes and he looks for openings in the walls where he can enter in. He looks for broken down walls. Close up all holes. Take authority over compromise, worldliness and all evil. Plead for God’s protection and cover your home with the power of the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Become such a diligent watchwoman that you scare the devil!

Love from Nancy

Yesterday we talked about Lot who lost most of his family. Noah also lived in a culture of evil, filth and violence. He didn’t have one other person standing with him. His children had no righteous friends. Everyone around them was corrupt! But he saved his family. How did he do it?

He built an ark. He built an Anointed haven to protect his family from the storms of life. He built a Rock of truth from the deceptions of society and a little Kingdom of heaven on earth. He built it according to God’s specifications, not his own ideas (Genesis 6:22). He secured it “within and without with pitch” (Genesis 6:14). He made sure that it was not only water-tight on the outside, but on the inside too.

It is not enough to protect our children from the storms outside our home, but we must watch that we don’t have storms going on inside the home. In-house storms will often do more damage than outside storms! May God give us His wisdom, anointing and strength to seal our homes inside and out.

Love from Nancy

Where is your family headed? Because we live in the midst of a humanist society that rejects God and His infallible truths, we must constantly guard against being subtly assimilated into the culture. Even righteous people can be fooled.

Lot was a righteous man (2 Peter 2:7-8) but the Bible says he “pitched his tent toward Sodom” (Genesis 13:12). He pointed the direction of his home toward this evil place. He could have pitched his home toward the mountains and been drawn towards God. What we look on, read, spend most of our time on, and think about is what we will become. Soon Lot and his family landed up living in Sodom (Genesis 14:12). Then we read of how he is totally entrenched in the city life. He is an elder in the Gate of Sodom (Genesis 19:1).

He was still a righteous man who trusted in God, but he lost most of his family! When he tried to warn his sons in law, sons, and daughters to run from the coming judgment, they thought he was crazy. They were entrenched in the culture—and were destroyed (Genesis 19: 12-28).

What is the passion and direction of your family? The direction you are pointed is where you will end. Keep pointed towards God’s ways.

Love from Nancy

I heard the following words repeated often when I was young.

If you have all Word, you’ll dry up.
If you have all Spirit, you’ll blow up.
But if you have the Word and the Spirit you will grow up.

I think there is a lot of truth in these words. Many people read God’s Word, but it is the letter of the law to them because they read it without faith. God’s Word becomes alive when the Holy Spirit illumines it to us. In the tabernacle in the wilderness, the light from the seven-branched candlestick shone upon the bread on the Table of Shewbread, which represented God’s Word. That’s why the best translation of the Word of God is the Holy Spirit.

As you read the Word individually, and when you come together as a family at Family Devotions, come in faith. Come, believing that God is going to speak to you. Come, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal His truth to you. And what will happen? You will all grow.

Love from Nancy

Convictions don’t come suddenly. They take time to reinforce. We often start off thinking this way or that. We change our mind as we go along. We are influenced by what people say and society around us.

But, we cannot stay “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.” We must become cemented in our convictions. The New Living Translation of Ephesians 14 says, “Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth.”

Convictions become part of us as we seek after truth and search God’s Word for understanding. Truth becomes “flesh and blood.” When Jesus came, He was “made flesh… full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The truth was part of Him. When truth is not only “a bit of head knowledge” but part of who you are, you will not be intimidated by those who do not understand, or who ridicule you for your stand. When truth is cemented in your heart, you will not change your mind when it seems too hard to walk in your conviction.

Godly convictions, rooted in God’s Word, will stand up against all ridicule, debate, criticism, agnosticism, insurmountable difficulties, persecution and “situational ethics.”

Love from Nancy

David confessed in Psalm 16:5, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.” The Living Bible translation says, “The Lord himself is my inheritance, my prize. He is my food and drink, my highest joy! He guards all that is mine.” You do not need to fret. God is watching over your life, your finances, and your home.

You may think that life is going against you at the moment, but God is in control. Even when people falsely speak against you, God will vindicate. You don’t have to strive; trust God to work everything out in His perfect timing.

When we try to maintain out lot in our own wisdom and resources, we usually do a pretty poor job. When we trust God, we can be sure that He, who is the source of all wisdom and the possessor of Heaven and earth, will do the best job. Remember Psalm 127:1 which says, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.”

Love from Nancy

I shared yesterday how God gives mothers an anointing of strength and gentleness. These attributes come from God himself, for we are made in His image and likeness. We see a picture of this in Isaiah 40:10-11, “Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him… He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” God comes to rule with strength and might but He also comes as the personal and tender shepherd who holds the lambs close to His heart.

Tenderly shepherd your little flock day. Speak gently to them. Keep them close to your heart. But, also take authority over all disobedience and rebellion. The shepherdess must have sheep that listen to her voice and are obedient to her. Guard your flock from the enemy who wants to steal their souls. God chose David to be king of Israel because he had a shepherd’s heart (Psalm 78:70-72). He loved his flock and fiercely protected them, sacrificing his life to kill lions and bears that sought to attack his flock. Such was his courage that he would take a lion by his beard and rescue the lamb from its mouth (I Samuel 17:34-36).

You are a caring and courageous mother.

Love from Nancy

Mother, you are a paradox of strength and softness. You reveal the anointing of softness as you nurse your baby and gently tend to your little ones. You reveal your soft spirit as you speak tenderly to your husband and children. Your compassionate and loving spirit fills your home.

But, you are not weak and insipid. You are filled with strength as you stand guard over your marriage, your home, and the souls and minds of your children. You are a dangerous watch dog. You do not give into the deceptions of the enemy who comes to woo you and your children into the culture of our humanistic society. You stand strong against all desensitization. You stand true to your convictions and you will not yield one inch to the adversary.

You do not give in to defeat and despair. You do not give into weariness. You constantly find your strength and sufficiency in the Lord your God.

Embrace your strength and softness today.

Love from Nancy

God’s purpose for our lives is to be “abounding therein with thanksgiving.” That doesn’t mean a “Thank you” every now and then, but a lifestyle of thankfulness. Not just a lifestyle of thankfulness, but abounding thankfulness! Over the top with thankfulness! May we never be like the nine lepers, who after they were healed, went rejoicing on their way without ever bothering to thank the One who healed them (Luke 17:11-19). What are you thankful for today?

T I am thankful for our family Table where we enjoy the presence of God, great laughs and family discussions, and where we make rich memories.
H I am thankful that God blessed me with my Husband and in March 2013 we will have been married for 50 years.
A I am thankful that God is Always available to hear my cry.
N I am thankful for my God-anointed career of Nurturing and Nourishing my family.
K I am thankful for God’s Kindness and mercy to me.
F I am thankful for God’s great Faithfulness to me which is never failing.
U I am thankful for God giving me Understanding of His truth.
L I am thankful to God for Loving me enough to send His only Son to die for my sins and shed His precious blood.

Nancy

1 Thessalonians 5:18 is a daily challenge to me, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I remember the first time I really faced this challenge. I was newly married and pregnant with our first baby. Colin and I were already in full-time work for the Lord and the mission organization we were with sent a team to the Philippines. They felt I should stay back because they did not know what circumstances would await them. It would have been fine if I knew he was coming back in a certain time, but he went out not knowing when he would return! Would it be months or years?

I was devastated. I didn’t weep. I heaved. I wondered when my little baby would see his father! As I cried and wallowed in self-pity, God spoke to my heart, “Do you want to do my will?” “Yes, Lord,” I answered. “Then, thank Me,” I heard God say. Did I want to thank God for taking away my husband? No way. But, I began to thank Him in obedience, against everything I felt inside. As I continued to thank Him in cold-blooded faith, victory came into my soul, and I continued to walk in victory until the day he came home (which was after the baby was born), but sooner than I thought may happen. Obedience to God’s principles always brings victory.

Nancy

I’ve coined a new word—ordinariness. It’s a place where many people live. I’m not talking about the “sameness” of your everyday tasks in the home, for even the most mundane tasks are sacred and therefore extraordinary when you allow God into them. I am talking about living in the state of thinking like the status quo, fitting in with the humanist agenda of our society, and trusting in your own resources and understanding. There is no other word for this state than ordinariness.

To move out of this comfortable state and live in biblical mindset takes you into extraordinariness. It is a challenging life--a realm of faith, hanging on the edge of a limb, adventures of trusting God when you cannot see where His provision is coming from, battles against the adversary, speaking up for truth and God-given convictions in the face of popular opinion, and receiving ridicule from family members and neighbors. We are out of step with the world but in step with God. We are out of sync with public thinking in the media and humanistic education, but we seek to listen to the mind of God. It’s not the easy life, but it’s definitely not ordinary.

Why live in ordinariness when you can live in extraordinariness? If God has anything to do with your life, it will be extraordinary, for God is anything but ordinary. Where do you and your family live?

Love from Nancy

Does your spirit cringe as you see evil encroaching more and more upon the land? My heart grieves, even though God’s Word tells us that “darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.” But my heart is inspired by the rest of the prophecy, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee… the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee” (Isaiah 60:1-2).

It’s time for us to arise and shine and to eradicate all darkness and sin from our lives and homes. A little glimmer of light is not enough to push back the darkness. We have to be a GREAT light. This is what Jesus was. Speaking of Jesus Matthew 4:16 says, “The people which sat in darkness saw GREAT light.” What kind of light do people see in us? A faint glimmer? Or a great light? It won’t just happen. We have to ARISE and shine.

Let’s remember that THE GREAT LIGHT dwells in our hearts and wants to shine His light through us. Let’s make our marriages and homes lighthouses and beacons of God’s truth to point the way to those who are groping in darkness. We know the Way, the Truth and the Life. Why do we hide it? “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Love from Nancy