Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

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

Men, we have to pioneer the breaking through of prayer with our families as promised by Jesus, "If two of you shall agree as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:19-20).

What a wonderful thing it is for us to provide for our families, two times per day, the opportunity for the presence of God to be known and felt in our midst. The presence of Christ is a blessing we cannot afford to do without. It will do much more for the development of our children's godly character than anything else we can provide for them.

Men, we have to ask ourselves honestly: why do we not see more breaking through prayers where we see the answers coming forth more frequently? I believe one of the answers is very plain. It is simple obedience to what He tells us to do. Jesus tells us in John 15:7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." We should not only read God's Word for the purpose of gaining godly knowledge. This is not wrong in itself, but it's even more important to read and hear the Word of God. We must do it and apply it quickly to our lives. We will then find we can open our mouths wide , ask great things, and God will give us the breakthrough.

Psalm 81;8-10 says, "Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me: there shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.. I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, OBEYED; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:8-10).

"Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4). If we don't walk with God as the true sons of God, we will soon gravitate to imitating the sons and daughters of men. The world's mindset becomes our mindset. The world soon becomes our friend."

~ Colin Campbell

Pioneering is breaking through barriers. Pioneering families who daily pray together will experience many breakthroughs. The devil fears the families that agree together in prayer because their praying has awesome power to bring destruction to the devil's evil kingdom.

Family prayer must be re-pioneered. The twice daily Family Devotions is without a doubt a great assistance to prayer.

Prayer should be spontaneous, but it should also be ordered. We love to eat spontaneously. However, what would life be like if we did not order our families to eat together at the table? It would be a hopeless task for the mother to prepare food and organize cleanup if we do not have such a thing as order.

Prayer is quickly crowded out of our lives if we do not order it. The same happens to the daily habit of reading the Bible to the family. It is speedily overtaken with less important things if we do not apply the rule of order. The Scripture says we should "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). This inspires continuous and spontaneous praying. However this does not negate the daily order of prayer. 2 Chronicles 8:14 talks about the morning and evening praise and prayer to the Lord, "as the duty of every day required."

The disciples, Peter and John, went up the temple at the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1).

Lydia, a seller of purple, was converted to Christ at a riverside ordered prayer meeting (Acts 16:13-15).

Matthew 18:19, 20 reminds us, "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Ordered times for prayer and reading the Bible are appropriate for even small families who desire God's presence in their midst.

How can two or three get together on a regular basis in order to have the prayer of agreement if no one has ordered it? It would soon become haphazard and die out.

Our God is a breakthrough God and He has ordained prayer to accomplish every breakthrough.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

How will America fare in the future if all our pioneering is purely natural? Will we not endanger our morals and ethics by inventions that contradict God's morals?

One of the truths that needs pioneering is The Family Altar where families, at the end of their main meals of the day, share God's Word and discuss together what they have read. This is more important than most people realize for it feeds the inner man (the spirit). America, generally speaking, has a well fed outer man. But the inner man is barely alive because it is starved most days of the week.

Feeding the inner man through the use of The Family Altar (Family Devotions, or whatever you like to call it) throughout the week works miracles for the inner man. This in turn, also blesses the outer man. The big question is: who will pioneer this great truth in their families?

Pioneering in the spiritual realm keeps in check the pioneering in the natural realm. Man must order his life in the fear of God. Much of the world has been deceived by the pioneers of humanism, atheism, communism (progressivism) and all false religions. Pioneering outside of God's fear and truth can be dangerous to mankind, and even to the planet. The only way to counter the false is to keep pioneering the truth.

We must not view Family Devotions as "old hat" or Victorian. We must not see them as a drag or a hindrance to our busy lifestyle. We fathers must at all cost, raise up our families to be TRAIL BLAZERS OF TRUTH in all aspects of life.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

The current leaders of America who hate the good that America has done for the world are radical, and we must be radical to defeat them.

Pioneers love to be challenged to accomplish things others think impossible. They live to discover what most think is not discoverable. They are so convinced that the goal they are seeking to achieve can be done that they are prepared to die in the attempt if need be. Pioneers believe in going beyond the limits of standard practice. Normality is boring. To pioneers, there is always a better way, a faster way, or a new way.

This nation has blessed the world with multitudes of incredible discoveries in every aspect of life, from space achievement to multitudes of automotive machines. We have pioneered innumerable life saving pain relieving, disease controlling breakthroughs that make the mind boggle to try and count them, not to mention the massive variety of electronic devices we use to communicate and accomplish what would otherwise be slow and tedious. Air transportation. Military hardware. Our science labs never cease to make multitudinous new discoveries to benefit mankind.

America has been a nation of pioneers to bless the world. I doubt if there is another nation in the world that has given so generously to the world as this nation. Multitudes have laid down their lives and shed their own blood in order to deliver the oppressed and helpless and free the world of tyranny. We even bless the nations who hate us.

But there are evil people in high places within the land who hate America and seek to destroy the pioneering entrepreneurial spirit. These people, although intellectual, fear not God. They despise and ridicule the goodness of God to this nation. They call evil good and good evil. Isaiah 5:20 says, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil."

Christian complacency has hindered the church to the point that we have not withstood the many evils that assail us. Unless we arise out of our complacent sleepiness, the goodness of America will suffer greatly at the hands of our enemies. It has to be the Christians who will pioneer again the truths of repentance, prayer, and salvation so that the blessing of God will continue to flow throughout this nation.

We have to come back to 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

We must first get rid of the evil in order to receive the promises. Psalm 144:11-15 says . . .

"Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace.
That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and then thousands in our streets:
That our oxen may be strong to labor; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.
Happy is that people that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord."

Pioneers are men who venture into unknown or unclaimed territory in order to break ground and settle. They are trailblazers and innovators who lead the way for others to follow. They have a pioneering spirit. They are not afraid to take risks or dangers in their pursuit of new discovery. Obstacles may delay them, but never deter them. They are prepared to put their lives on the line. They may go broke for lack of funds but they will never give up finding what they are looking for.

We now find ourselves living in a world that wants to take this pioneering spirit away from us. Our government squelches this spirit by becoming the Big Provider of so many different benefits and thus creates a lazy and dependent society. The spirit of pioneering, which has been so much a part of the American way of life, is under serious attack. The Big Government mindset is out to destroy the individual pioneering spirit that this country has long enjoyed.

When a country loses its trust in God, it opens itself up for deception. We are deceived when we become human or government dependant. We lose our creative pioneering spirit. God is a very creative being and He creates man after His own image and likeness. Part of this image is pioneering.

Men, we must turn back to God with all our hearts and encourage others to do likewise. We must never allow this country to completely lose its trust in God. We must, by the grace of God, stand in the gap and pray, contend for the truth, and pioneer again the ground the enemy has taken from us.

To be continued.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

The most powerful place in the world is the place of prayer.

"When you carry your Bible, Satan has a headache; when you open it, he collapses; when he sees you reading it, he loses strength; and when you obey and stand on God's Word, he can't hurt you."

Romans 10:9-10 says, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

An important part of our confession that Jesus Christ is Lord that is often overlooked is that these Scriptures are written in the present continuous tense. It is wrong to believe that a onetime confession is all that is required to be saved. It is a continual confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is an ongoing confession from the beginning of our Christian life to the end.

This deception has greatly weakened the proclamation of the Lordship of Christ and has caused many to think they can live as they please and yet still be saved. Jesus said, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).

There can be many times when we are tempted to shrink back from an open and on-going confession because of fear of persecution. We see an example of this in John 12:42: "Among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, let they should be put out of the synagogue." They were secret believers because of the fear of man.

What is the point of calling Jesus Lord in our prayers, but failing to confess Him as Lord before all men? This makes us a secret believer. If we don't actively confess Him, Jesus says we actually deny Him. Matthew 10:32-33 says, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

P.S. Read examples of the disciples speaking BOLDLY: Acts 4:13; 9:27, 29; 13:46; 14:3; 18:26 and 19:8.

Proverbs 29:1 says, "The righteous are BOLD AS A LION." Men, when you are in a conversation that compromises truth, it's not that difficult to speak out, even if it is a small, poignant word of disagreement. Boldness is a masculine virtue. It complements righteous men.

The Spirit of God is a Spirit of boldness. The early church recognized their need of boldness to proclaim the message of salvation in the midst of great opposition. They had just been commanded "not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus" (Acts 4:18), but what do they do? Cry out to God for MORE BOLDNESS.

Acts 4:29-31 says, "And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants, that with ALL BOLDNESS they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus, And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they SPAKE THE WORD OF GOD WITH BOLDNESS."

The Spirit of this age seeks to feminize men in order to make them more tolerant, more gentle, and less offensive toward enemies. This type of femininity is crippling our military and causing us to lose in the day of battle.

But God's army has no dainty, pansy, fearful, tip-toeing, castrated men fighting His battles. God's army consists solely of BOLD MEN who will not shut their mouths when it's time to speak up. They will not keep their swords sheathed when it's time to draw them. They will not say nothing when they have the opportunity to say something in order to throw a wrench in whatever compromising discussion the world, the flesh, or the devil is promoting. They are not a disgrace to God's army of righteous bold soldiers.

1 Chronicles 12:7 describes the soldiers in David's army, "Men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose FACES WERE LIKE THE FACES OF LIONS, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains."

Jeremiah 48:10 says, "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood."

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell