Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

 

How did David get the pattern for building the house of the Lord? God gave it to him BY HIS SPIRIT. 1 Chronicles 28:11-13 tells us that he received “the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit . . . for all the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the LORD.” Isn’t that wonderful?

 

God is interested in every detail of your home—everything that is involved in the running of your home. Even the pots and the pans and how you should order your kitchen (1 Chronicles 9:32 and Zechariah 14:20, 21). God will show you how to set everything in order and how to order your days.

 

Ask God to show you and He will give you the plan by His Spirit. Wait on Him for His plan. When He gives it to you, it will work. Sometimes you try to follow the ideas of others. It may work for them, but it doesn’t work for you. The way God shows you will work for you.

 

We are all going to manage our homes differently because each one of us is a unique personality. I think of my three daughters Evangeline, Pearl and Serene. Each one of them manages their home quite differently because they are all distinct personalities and none of them feel they have to copy the others.

 

God will guide you according to the personality that He gave to you.

 

Be blessed,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Painting: Roy de Maistre, Interior with mother and child, Exeter, NSW, 1916.

 

Let’s look at an example in the Bible. Ezekiel 43:12 says: “This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be MOST HOLY. Behold, this is the law of the house.” This is talking about Ezekiel’s temple, the place of God’s dwelling.

God had laws for His house. He established many ordinances to make it run smoothly. In Ezekiel 44:5 it says: “Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning ALL THE ORDINANCES OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, and ALL THE LAWS thereof: and mark well the entering in of the house with every going forth of the sanctuary.”

 

Because I am also building a house to the Lord, a sanctuary for the living God and for my husband and family, I believe I can’t do better than God’s plan. If it was important for God to have ordinances to run His house smoothly, I think I also need laws and ordinances to make my home function effectively.

 

God’s house had order and established daily times for certain functions. I need to make this happen in my home too. I believe in flexibility because every day of every year is different, and we never know what is going to happen. However, I believe it is important to keep a basic plan.

 

How do you work things in your home?

 

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

 

Picture: Heart of the Home by John Sloane

 

Dear older mothers, why do you feel you now have to go back to the work force? Your career hasn't changed. You are just moving into a different gear. God doesn't take away your motherhood career just because your children have grown! You are entering into a greater realm of motherhood. There is a world of afflicted and hurting people waiting for your love and encouragement. Ask God who He wants you to reach out to. Ask Him who He wants you to gather into your home to love and nurture. Now that your children are grown, you have more time to reach the broken-hearted and to uplift and strengthen the downcast and disillusioned.

 

What about the young mothers? As older mothers, we are commanded to teach them and show them the way God wants them to live. We don't show them the way by going out of the home and going into the workforce. That gives them a false picture. You can't do one thing and say another. You must live what you speak. One of the greatest cries of mothers is that they have no one to encourage them. I hear it daily.

 

Rise up, older mothers. You haven't got time to waste your life earning a bit of extra pocket money. You have a world of young mothers who need encouraging and help; single mothers who need uplifting and strengthening; young singles who need inspiring in the ways of God instead of the ways of the world; older people who are lonely and have no one to care for them; those who sick and in prison; and all the hurting, troubled, and brokenhearted all around you (Matthew 25:31-46). Help, I can’t find the time to do one tenth of all I would like to do in ministering to those who need Jesus.

 

And dear older mothers, you have a home! Don't vacate it. Your home is the greatest place to serve God in the entire world. Ask God who He wants you to invite into your home for a meal. Ask a family over to supper who need encouraging. Ask a young mother with her children over to lunch to bless her and encourage her. Open your home in hospitality. Open your doors wide. You will never be bored again.

 

And look out. The grandchildren will soon be coming. How wonderful. Encourage your children to have children. That's what the Bible tells us to do (Jeremiah 29:6) and be ready and waiting for them.

 

God gives the picture of His plan for women in 1 Timothy 5:10 (ESV). It speaks of the young mother embracing motherhood, but as her children grow, we see her growing more and more powerful in her anointing of motherhood as she opens her home in hospitality and reaches out to the needy. She is described as "having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work."

 

Lift up your eyes. A wonderful world of ministry awaits you.

 

Have a great day,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Notice the words in caps.

 

LIGHT: Jesus is the light of the world. Therefore, when He comes into our lives we are filled with LIGHT. Light exposes the darkness and deception. Light brings forth life. Light brings forth revelation and understanding.

 

Filled-with-light mothers will expose any darkness or deception that comes into the home. It won’t be able to hide away secretly.

 

SHINE: Do you notice that we are not only to SHINE but to SO SHINE? The Passion translation says: “Let it SHINE BRIGHTLY before others.”

 

Filled-with-light mothers will not be a little dim light, but a bright shining light in their homes and wherever they go.

 

SEE: People must SEE the light of Jesus in our lives. Who will see it first? Our husbands and children. If we can’t shine the light in our homes, how can we do it outside the home? The GW translation says that we should shine our line “in front of people.”

 

 

GOOD WORKS: We reveal the light of Jesus by our GOOD WORKS. We are not saved by good works, but when we are born again, we show it by our good works (Ephesians 2:10). Where will we show our good works first? In our homes.

 

Filled-with-light mothers delight to do good works. By the way, just to remind you, did you remember that God calls loving your husband, loving your children, and being a keeper of the home, etc., a “good” work? Read Titus 2:3-5 and 1 Timothy 5:10).

 

GLORIFY: We GLORIFY our Father in heaven when those around us see our good works.

 

Filled-with-light mothers glorify God as they mother and nurture their children and diligently manage their homes.

 

May your children exclaim, “Mommy, you are shining, today.”

 

“Mommy, I love your smile.”

 

“Mommy, thank you for being home with me.”

 

“Mommy, you look so happy and you make me happy.”

 

Love from Nancy Campbell

 

Painting by Mark Arian

 

Once a man came upon three rock masons at work. "What are you doing?" he asked of them.

 

"I am carving these stones into the different sizes wanted," answered the first.

 

"I am earning six dollars a day," replied the second.

 

"I am helping to build a great cathedral," commented the last.

 

Only he had caught the vision of the great work that he was helping to do!

 

 

Once a woman came upon three mothers at work. "What are you doing?" she asked of them.

 

"I am doing the weekly washing," answered the first.

 

"I am doing a bit of household drudgery," replied the second.

 

"I am mothering three young children who someday will fill important and useful spheres in life, and wash-day is a part of my grand task in caring for these souls who shall live forever," replied the third.

 

Only she had caught the vision of the great work she was doing!

 

~ Unknown.

 

Have you caught the vision?

 

Love from Nancy Campbell

 

Painting: Laundry Day by Diane Leonard

 

When Solomon dedicated the temple, he prayed a very heartfelt prayer. One of the things he prayed was "that all the people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee . . . and may know that this house which I built is called by thy name" (2 Chronicles 6:33).

 

This house was the temple Solomon built for God. But dear ladies, you are also building a house for God. It is a sanctuary for His holy presence where you raise your children in the ways of God. Your home either belongs to the spirit of this world or it belongs to God. Do your children experience God's name in your home? Do they know that their home is called by the name of the Lord? What about your neighbors? Do they know?

 

I think that Solomon's prayer is a good prayer for us to pray too, don't you?

 

How will folks know your home is truly God's home?

. It will be a house of prayer. Jesus said, "My house will be called a house of prayer." Sadly, not much prayer happens in Christian homes today.

 

However, if our home is called by God's name, it will be filled with prayer.

. It will be filled with love.

. It will be filled with confessing the name of the Lord throughout the day.

. It will be filled with the riches of God's word.

. It will be filled with joy, singing, and God-inspired music.

. It will be filled with the glory of God (2 Chronicles 7:1-3).

. It will be filled with the inspiration of a mother who delights to be in her home, nurturing, feeding, and training her children to be God-seekers and God-lovers.

 

Everything comes back to the family and the home. We can get involved in all kinds of ministry but if God doesn't fill our homes, we miss the boat. There are mothers who serve the Lord in different organizations and yet their families are in disarray.

 

Our true testimony is what goes on in our home.

 

Blessings to you today from Nancy Campbell

 

Painting by Hermann von Kaulbach (Munich, Germany 1846 - 1909).

 

In 2 Chronicles 6:24 Solomon prayed for those who are "put to the worse" by the enemy of their souls. Throughout chapter 24 and also God's promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14 we read God's conditions to get back under the cloud of blessing again.

 

1. Humble ourselves (2 Chronicles 7:14).

2. Return to God with all our hearts and souls (verses 24, 37, 38).

3. Confess our sins, "saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly" (verse 38).

4. Turn from our sin (verse 26 and 2 Chronicles 7:14)).

5. Confess (acknowledge) the name of the Lord (verses 24, 26).

6. Pray (verses 24, 26, 29, 324, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, and 2 Chronicles 7:14).

7. Make supplication (beseech) (verses 24, 29, 35, 39).

8. Seek God's face (2 Chronicles 7:14).

9. Spread forth our hands toward the Lord in our homes (verse 29).

10. Fear the Lord again (verse 31).

 

God always turns His heart toward us when we come before Him in humility and confess our sins. Each one of us fail, even as Solomon reminded God in his prayer, "for there is no man which sinneth not" (verse 36). But we have a forgiving heavenly Father. We have an advocate in Jesus Christ through His blood that flowed from His side upon the cross.

 

When we keep a soft and tender heart toward the Lord and toward one another, when we seek to have humble hearts instead of stubborn and proud hearts, and when we continually pray and seek the Lord in our homes He promises: "Mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually" (2 Chronicles 7:16). Oh, what a wonderful promise.

 

Don't you long for God's eyes and His heart to be continually upon your home?

 

Keep close accounts with God. Don't allow Satan to get a foothold in your home.

 

Amen from Nancy Campbell

 

Painting by Emily Schultz

 

God doesn't want you to leave His beautiful clothes He gave you sitting in your wardrobe. He wants you to wear them. Did you wake up grumpy and irritable this morning? Take off that grumpy dress and put on your "garment of praise" (Isaiah 61:3). Oh yes, you've also got a dress called "Joy" too (Nehemiah 8:10).

 

You also have lovely dresses of love, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23). You have delightful garments of tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, and forgiveness. (Colossians 3:12-17).

 

Don't leave them hanging in your wardrobe. God gives them to you to wear!

 

Read Ephesians 4: 22-24 and Colossians 3:10.

 

The strange thing is that although we have this expensive wardrobe, we don't always bother to wear the clothes. We are so used to our old shabby clothes of the flesh. We feel more comfortable in them. They feel familiar, so we stick with them instead of wearing our new clothes. But these new clothes belong to you! They are yours!

 

The J. B. Phillip's translation of Ephesians 4:22-24 says: "Fling off the dirty clothes of the old way of living . And put on the CLEAN FRESH CLOTHES of the new life.

 

 

Are you starting to shout and yell because everything is getting on top of you? Put on the garment of gentleness. Thank the Lord for His gentle Spirit who lives in you.

 

Wear your beautiful clothes.

 

Blessings to you,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

When Paul wrote to the new believers in Rome he said: “That I may be comforted TOGETHER with you by the MUTUAL FAITH both of YOU AND ME” (Romans 1:12). Paul revealed three things in this Scripture:

 

1. Our Christianity is a “together” lifestyle.

2. Our faith is not only a personal faith, but a “mutual faith.”

3. Our faith is a “you and me” faith.

 

This is why God designed for us to live together as families. God doesn’t want people to live on their own. He sets the solitary in families (Psalm 68:6). This is why God commands that we meet together as believers and “do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25).

 

You will love the Passion translation of Romans 1:11, 12: “I yearn to come and be FACE-TO FACE with you and get to know you. For I long to impart to you some spiritual gift that will empower you to stand strong in your faith. Now, this means that when we come together and are SIDE BY SIDE, something wonderful will be released. We can expect to be co-encouraged and co-comforted by each other’s faith!”

 

Our Christianity is a “face to face and side by side” experience. We cannot grow into full maturity in our walk with God without one another (Ephesians 2:19-22 and 4:15, 16).

 

The Bible also speaks of our “common faith” (Titus 1:4) and our “common salvation” (Jude 1:3). The word “common” is “koinos” and means “sharing by all.” The Passion translation says: “Titus, you are my true son in the FAITH WE SHARE.”

 

Share your faith together as a family. Never neglect meeting with other believers to encourage one another, inspire one another, teach one another, pray for one another, bless one another, bear one another’s burdens, fellowship with one another, help one another, serve one another, and show hospitality to one anoth3er. These are just a few of the 38 “one anothers” God give us to do to one another and they are all the same Greek word as “mutual faith.” And you can’t do these things hiding away on your own.

 

It is togethering.

 

I think of a fire of coals burning brightly. Take one of the coals from off the fire and put it on its own. It is not long before it becomes black and cold with no life in it. Put the coal back in the fire with the other coals and it soon burns brightly again.

 

Many blessings,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

I was very challenged as I read Revelation 15:2, 3. John was looking into heaven and writes: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the

 

We need to confess this Scripture out loud repeatedly to get it into our being. God does not want us to give in but to have the victory OVER all evil and deception, and particularly the beast and the mark which we will face in the coming days.

 

We must also prepare our children for what is coming. We must prepare them to be strong and courageous. We must teach them to NEVER take the mark of the beast. I would encourage you to take this Scripture as a memory verse and memorize it together as a family. I have just memorized these verses myself.

 

You could say them together OUT LOUD each day when you sit at the table together. And put the emphasis on the word OVER or whatever word your translation gives you. Many translations use the word CONQUER. Doing this will prepare you to live in victory and never cave into Satan’s plans for your destruction.

 

The word “victory” means to subdue, to conquer, to overcome, to prevail.” It is the same word used in Revelation 12:11: “And they OVERCAME him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

It is the same word that speaks of Jesus going “forth CONQUERING and to CONQUER” (Revelation 6:2).

 

When God commanded Joshua to take the land God promised to the children of Israel, He not only encouraged him to be strong, but to be “Strong and VERY courageous” (Joshua 1:9). I believe we must learn to exercise courage NOW. Courage is far more than an attribute. It is a muscle that gets stronger with use. If we don’t exercise courage, we atrophy and stay weak and wimpy. It takes courage and effort to do something that is not easy. Even if we only have a little courage, if we exercise it, our muscle courage will grow stronger and we’ll find it easier to do difficult things, to stand up for truth, and to resist evil and tyranny.

 

We must prepare ourselves and our children NOW for that day when we cannot buy or sell if we do not take the mark. We don’t wait until then to be strong. We prepare NOW.

 

I think of the great heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. Verse 34 tells of those “who out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of aliens.” They didn’t start out strong. They were weak in faith and courage. But as they exercised their courage, they became stronger. They “became strong out of weakness, became mighty in war . . .” (Darby).

 

As families, (father sand mothers and our children), let’s cultivate the right attitude now—overcoming, prevailing, conquering, and victorious as we stand strongly against all deception, all evil, and all tyranny.

 

We don’t want to experience what happened in Nehemiah’s time: “They have dominion over our bodies . . . at their pleasure, and we are in great distress” (Nehemiah 9:37).

 

Be encouraged today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

The children of Israel had become servants in the land God had given to them because they gave up warring. After eight years of servitude, they cried out to the Lord, and in His mercy, He gave them a deliverer called Othniel (Caleb's younger brother), a man who loved to face challenges (Judges 1:12-13).

 

Judges 3:10 says: "And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him (Othniel), and he ... went out to war." The Holy Spirit who lives in you is ready to go to war and defeat the enemy!

 

When you face a battle in your home or in your life, call upon the Holy Spirit. In His power you will defeat the enemy. In the name of Jesus, you will have the victory. Through the power of the blood of Jesus you will send the enemy running. Don't despise battles. They are for conquering. Every battle you win is another defeat for the enemy of our souls.

 

1 John 3:8 says: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

 

Revelation 6:2 describes Jesus going “forth conquering, and to conquer.” Jesus Christ lives in you to conquer the enemy. And because the conquering Christ lives in your Romans 8:37 reminds you that you are “MORE THAN A CONQUEROR through him that loved us.”

 

Be encouraged today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

P.S. Look up these Scriptures to remind you that God is with you as you war in the battle (Deuteronomy 9:1-3; Zechariah 4Z:6; Ephesians 6:1; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9; and Revelation 12:11).

Jesus told us to pray: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

 

Colossians 3:1-3 (NLT) states: “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”

 

These words seem so far from our experience, don’t they? And yet this is normal Christianity. The realities of the heavenly realm are the TRUE REALITIES. The eternal realm is the real world. This world is passing away. It is like a vapor that appears for a moment and is gone.

 

When we focus our ordinary, daily life on the eternal, it takes us from the doldrums to delight, from misery to the miraculous, from pre-occupation with self to praising God. Instead of being overwhelmed about all our challenges and problems, we lift our eyes to Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father. We give our difficulties to Him. Nothing is too big for Him to handle.

 

Did you know that God never gets in a state of confusion or tension? And He dwells in your heart by His Spirit? Therefore, you don’t have to get all tied up in knots. Allow Christ to take control. He’ll do a much better job than you!

 

Be encouraged today as you read 2 Corinthians 4:1-18: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a FAR MORE EXCEEDING AND ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY: While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which re not seen are eternal.”

 

Many blessings to you today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

We must bring our thoughts into captivity for we live as we think. We mother according to how we think. The whole atmosphere of our home depends on how we think! That’s why God wants us to think correctly. That’s why He wants us to be transformed by the daily renewing of His living Word (Romans 12:1 ,2).

 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (HCSB) says: “For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments (reasonings) and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ.”

 

Are you ready for some warfare? We can’t hope our negative and unbelieving thoughts will disappear. We must take action against them. Demolish them! That’s right. The word literally means “to demolish, destroy, overthrow, and make extinct.”

 

Speak out: “I refuse these high-minded, deceiving, destructive thoughts in the name of Jesus. They don’t belong to me. I demolish them through the power of the blood of Jesus.”

 

Now, go to God’s Word and speak His living words out loud. This is how Jesus overcame the enemy (Matthew 4: 3-11). Every time the devil put his thoughts into Jesus’ mind, He demolished them by saying, “It is written.”

 

Through the Word of God and the power of the name of Jesus you can have victory over your thought life.

 

Can I get an amen?

 

Be blessed today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

In the Scriptures, the countenance of the Lord speaks of His presence. This is the ultimate vision for every believer—to walk continually in the light of His presence. How can you experience this kind of life in your home? Notice the Scriptures says “walk.” It doesn’t say we are blissfully sitting in the presence of the Lord away from all interruptions! Instead, it talks about your daily walk—whatever you are currently doing in your kitchen and with your children.

 

Are you facing squabbles and constant immaturity of children? Are you overwhelmed with all you must do in your home today? I was just talking to a mother on the phone she quickly said, “Got to go. Children children fighting and even punching!” Does that sound familiar?

 

The wonderful thing is that God’s presence is not limited to church meetings. God’s presence is available to you constantly. And please remember, dear mother, it is not the hassles, the difficulties, or even sorrow that hides God’s face from you. The only thing that hides His face is our sin and rebellion against Him.

 

As we seek to walk in holiness and in the light of His countenance, we also walk in the unspeakable joy of His constant presence. He is near us and with us to strengthen us, give us peace, wisdom, and even rest in the midst of chaos!

 

The Bible commentator, Alexander Maclaren calls it living in “continual sunshine.”

 

Live in the sunshine of His presence today.

 

Love from Nancy Campbell

 

However, there is one area where the Bible tells us we can get “eaten up” inside? Do you know what it is? John 2:17 says of Jesus: “The zeal of thine house hath EATEN ME UP.” In other words, He was consumed with zeal for the honor of God’s house. These words were spoken after Jesus made a whip and cleansed the temple. He drove out all the sheep and oxen, tipped over all the tables and money, and cried out: “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise” (John 2:16).

 

He also cried out: “It is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13).

 

Your home is also God’s house if you have dedicated it to the Lord, which I am sure you have. Therefore, we should have the same zeal Jesus had to protect our homes and families. We are faithful watchwomen who drive all evil out of our homes. Even if we upset everyone! We won’t be tipping over tables and throwing money everywhere, but we’ll be strong enough to take a stand against any evil that seeks to bring darkness into our homes.

 

We passionately keep our homes holy.

 

We have the zeal of the Lord about making our home a House of Prayer! If our homes are not homes of prayer, can we call them God’s homes? We plan our schedules around our daily prayer times with our family. We don’t hope it fits in. We make it fit in to our schedule. Or better still, we make our schedule fit around our highest priority, our daily family times of prayer and Bible reading.

 

Jesus Christ redeemed us to be “zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14). Building your home and family for God is a good work. Do it with zeal. Don’t do it halfheartedly, allowing other things to consume your mind and time. Embrace the great commission God has given to you and pour your heart into it.

 

Sometimes, some wonderful mothers become zealously involved in a specific interest outside their home and it consumes them. Now, instead of continuing to build up their marriage and their home, they pour their life into this vain emptiness that is temporary and has no eternal value. Their home lies destitute. They are building empty castles in the air instead of building their family.

 

May the blessings of God fall upon you, dear anointed, zealous, passionate mother.

 

~ Nancy Campbell

 

Painting by Iduardo Eugenio Zamphighi

 

Is it a story of constancy that makes them feel secure? Do we tell them the story of God’s ways, showing them clearly the different roles God gives to husband and wife, father and mother? Do they see us joyfully embracing our specific roles? Hopefully, they don’t see a blur, or our taking our husband’s role.

 

We also tell a story to everyone around us, either positively or negatively. Let’s show our children and the world a beautiful story of God’s plan for enduring marriage.

 

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor” (Ecclesiastes 4:9).

 

Love from Nancy Campbell

 

This is something that happens to us spiritually. However, everything that happens in the inward man should be revealed in the outward man. Our physical body emanates what goes on in the “hidden man of the heart.” I believe that if we are truly covered with a robe of righteousness inwardly, we will also reveal this work of righteousness within us by covering our physical bodies.

 

A robe is not a scanty dress; it covers the body. It doesn’t have to cover head to foot, but at least a robe usually covers the top to below the knee. I grieve as I observe women who confess they are Christians and yet blatantly display cleavage, some a little, some as much as they can! It has become so normal in the Christians church that some young Christians think it is standard clothing!

 

Why would women want to take that which is sacred to the bedroom out into the public market place? And why would husbands. who are the covering of their wives, allow them to leave their home with so much flesh showing? Why do they want the world to see what belongs to them alone (Proverbs 5:15-19).

 

Revelation 1:6; 5:10; and 20:6 tells us that we have been made “kings and priests unto God.” What kind of clothing does God wants His priests to wear? Exodus 28 tells us all about it. In fact, God is the first clothes designer and He designed glorious clothes for the priests, “FOR GLORY AND FOR BEAUTY” (Exodus 28:2).

 

The High Priest was most gloriously clothed with a breastplate, a shoulder garment, a robe, an embroidered long shirt, a turban, and a girdle all in amazing colors and precious gems! All the other priests had to wear linen trousers with a long shirt of fine linen, once again “for glory and for beauty.” The main thing we notice is that they were CLOTHED and COVERED, not with drab clothing, but beautiful clothing. This typifies a priest of the most High God.

 

Are you covered with the robe of righteousness Jesus gives to you? If so, you will want to cover your physical body.

 

Blessings to you today from Nancy Campbell

 

Painting: “In the Orangery” by Charles Perugini (British Painter 1839-1918).

 

 

He changed the world because he stuck with the job God gave him to do! While others did their own thing, Noah gave his life to obey God’s commandment. He was mocked, ridiculed, and persecuted, but he was the only one who saved his family!

 

Dear mother, as you embrace the lifestyle of mothering and building a godly home, you too maybe mocked and ridiculed by family and friends. Be encouraged. Your daily faithfulness to your motherly duties in the home are not in vain. Your diligence, perseverance, and commitment to your daily duties are godly character traits.

 

As you commit your life to building your ark, you will save your family. And more than that, you will influence generations to come, and help to fill eternity.

 

Hebrews 11:7 says: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things NOT SEEN AS YET, moved with fear, prepared an ark TO THE SAVING OF HIS HOUSE; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

 

I love the Message Bible which says: “His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world.”

 

Today is another building day in your home. Keep at it. Never give up. God is with you.

 

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

 

Painting: Family Traditions by Morgan Weistling

 

Wow! She didn’t even have time to be single. She didn’t have time to find who she really was. She didn’t have time to have her fling before she settled down into marriage. She didn’t have time to have fun before she had children. She didn’t even have time to go to college!

 

Now don’t get me wrong. I know there are some women who will not get married. There are others who do not meet “the right one” until their thirties, or even forties. However, the majority meet when they are relatively young. This is God’s plan. This is the way He has created us. This is the time of life when He puts the desire within us for marriage, and yes, for sexual union.

 

Society today believes in the waiting game. You must wait unto you are more mature. You must wait until you have finished college. You must wait until you are financially settled. You must wait until “you have all your ducks in a row.” You must wait until you have traveled and seen the world! This sounds wise advice, but is it biblical?

 

We read in Malachi 2: 15 about the “wife of his youth” and Joel 1:8 about the “husband of her youth.” We read in Psalm 127:4 about the “children of your youth.” The word “youth” in the Hebrew word “na’uwr” and means “young people, juvenile.” That doesn’t sound like old to me.

 

If Colin and I had waited until we were financially secure before we married, we wouldn’t be married yet! If we waited for the “perfect” time to have children, we’d still be waiting!! It all sounds so plausible, but it’s hot air and the wisdom of this world. The reality is that God intends couples to marry young and have children when they are young.

 

We don’t find who God wants us to be by doing our own thing. We find who we are as women through marriage and motherhood. This is how we mature. This is how a young man matures. There is nothing like marriage to mature a young man. You watch him grow before your eyes (unless he is unteachable and without godly training). Ultimately, God gives parents the responsibility to prepare their children for marriage, from childhood through adolescence. Today, most parents don’t even think of training their children for God’s ultimate purpose for their lives of continuing godly generations.

 

Amazingly, many couples are quite happy with the waiting game. But what happens with all this waiting? Instead of coming to marriage as pure virgins and righteous young men they come violated. God’s plan is for “young men to marry virgins” (Isaiah 62:5). The waiting game does not help God’s plan.

 

Why do we think we know better than God?

 

Blessings,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

He is not content with wooing the mother out of the home. He even comes to homes where mothers have come home to raise their children. He searches for ways to get his foot in the door, bringing in his deception and evil.

 

Mothers, we must be watchwomen, constantly on the alert for his crafty ways. 1 Peter 5:8, 9 says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.”

 

When you notice the devil putting his toe in your door, boot him out before he gets any further. Speak the name of Jesus out loud. Confess the Scriptures out loud. Don’t allow the enemy to become entrenched in your home. Raise up the stand of righteousness. Cast out all worldly practices and entertainment, and “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:15-17). Deal strongly with negative and evil habits.

 

God spoke to His servant, David: “I have cut off all thine enemies OUT OF THY SIGHT” (1 Samuel 7:9). God reveals the way He wants us to also deal with Satan’s temptations. We cast them OUT OF OUR SIGHT! We don’t allow them to linger around. We don’t tolerate them. We send them kicking, OUT OF SIGHT AND OUT OF MIND.

 

James 4:7: “RESIST the devil, and he will flee from you.”

 

Blessings to you today from Nancy Campbell