Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Today we will look at the first temptation:

1. FEAR AND PANIC
Exodus 14:11: “And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were SORE AFRAID and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?”

The children of Israel failed in their first temptation (trial) because they feared the enemy. Fear blinded their eyes to the awesome power God had already displayed by miraculously and mightily delivering them from Egypt’s slavery and bondage.

What was Moses’ response? “Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Verses 13, 14).

We often fear when things go wrong in our lives. Sometimes we panic. We open our mouths and speak words that not only make us more afraid but cause others to fear and panic.

Moses gave them the overcoming remedy.

a) KEEP YOUR EYES UPON THE LORD
Stand still. Stop running around in panic. Look for God’s salvation. When a flood of trouble threatens your life as well as your family it is most important where you put your eyes. Do not ever take your eyes off the Lord. Do not look at the enemy’s strength. If you keep looking at the Lord, your eyes will see His strength and power. What a powerful vision.

If you look at the enemy, your eyes will see more and more of his destructive power which causes more fear and panic.

b) ZIP YOUR LIP
Refuse to speak negative words. Hold your tongue tightly.

We are exhorted in Philippians 4:6, 7: “Be carefully for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Jesus Christ is the only Prince of peace. There is no other.

As parents, we must apply this truth to our lives as well as the lives of our families. We must each earn to overcome fear, panic, speaking rashly, inadvisably, and negatively. All these cause us to lose our peace and eventually stop us from inheriting the promised land.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

1. DO NOT LUST AFTER EVIL
V. 6: “To the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.”
Parents, we must speak to our children and families about lust. We must teach them to steer away from it because it is all around us these days.

2. DO NOT HAVE IDOLS
V. 7: “Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them: as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Refer to Numbers 32:6-8.

3. DO NOT COMMIT FORNICATION
V. 8: “Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.” Fornication is the Greek word “porneuo” and means “to have sex outside of marriage, to indulge in unlawful lust.” It includes homosexuality, harlotry, and all types of sexual perverseness. The Bible warns us against all sexual sin.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NET) states: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

4. DO NOT TEMPT CHRIST
V. 9: “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.” We read in Numbers 21:4-9 how God sent fiery serpents among the people because of their complaining.

5. DO NOT MURMUR
v. 10: “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.” IN Exodus 17;2 it says: “Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do you tempt the LORD?”

The word “chide” in the Hebrew means “to wrangle, hold a controversy, complain, contend, debate.” When you murmur and complain, you tempt God.

Arguing and debating with God’s given authority, whether parents, pastors, or the authority of government and law (police) must be discouraged because it tempts God to judge and discipline in His displeasure.

Next post we will look at the 10 ways the children of Israel tempted God in the wilderness.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Paul says at the beginning of this passage: “I would not that ye should be ignorant” and proceeds to tell them the things of which they must not be ignorant.

1. Every family had to have the blood applied to their homes (speaking of our acceptance of the blood of Jesus Christ being applied by faith to the doorposts of our hearts).

Exodus 12:7: “And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat of it.”
Earnestly seek to make sure each of your children to faith in Christ through the precious blood of Christ.

2. They “were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (10:2). We are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the waters of our baptism and the cloud represents the presence and protection of the Holy Spirit.

3. They “did all eat the same spiritual meat” (10:3). This speaks of the manna God provided for them six days of every week throughout the whole of their journey through the wilderness (Exodus 16:14-18). The manna speaks of our daily feeding upon God’s living Word. Don’t miss feeding your family with their “spiritual manna” each day. The biblical pattern is to do it morning and evening.

4. They “did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (10:4). Refer to Exodus 17:6.
John 4:13, `14: “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a WELL OF WATER SPRINGING UP into everlasting life.”

John 7:37-39 (NET): “On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, ‘If anyone Is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER.’ (Now he said this about the Spirit whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)”

5. “But with many of them God was NOT WELL PLEASED” (10:5). We don’t want to be in this camp, do we? May we be those who please the Lord and walk in the fear of the Lord each day in our families.
We will continue in tomorrow’s post.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

God did not want this complaining spirit to enter the Promised Land. This attitude of negativity would never enable them to bring down the giants that inhabited Canaan. The strongholds of Canaan could only be defeated by a people with an optimistic belief that with God nothing is impossible.

Proverbs 15:13, 15: “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. . . . All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.”

The Passion Translation says: “A cheerful heart puts a smile on your face . . . When you CHOOSE TO BE CHEERFUL, every day will bring you more and more joy and fullness.”

It’s your choice.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

~ Alex de Tocqueville (the Frenchman who wrote about democracy in America).

The pulpits of this nation need to be filled again with the uncompromising preaching of righteousness!

Children and adolescents don’t always understand what’s good for them. Sometimes they kick up a fuss about eating a certain food that’s good for them. They do not consider the cost of purchasing the food (and wholesome food is often more expensive than the junk food). They do not consider the work and care the loving mother does to prepare the healthy food. They don’t like it, and therefore they don’t think they should have to eat it! If the parent tries to force them they may bad mouth their parent.

This sort of behavior must not be tolerated, even from an early age. If you do not take the spoon into your own hand and get that spoon somehow into the resisting child’s mouth and keep doing it, along with some appropriate discipline, until you are satisfied that the child as eaten enough you will loose the battle. The child soon learns they can get the victory over you by resisting, crying, and throwing a fit.

Bribing the child with rewards does not teach them good character. Putting the child in a corner or sending them off to their room where they can sulk, pout, and maintain their defiance does not teach them instant obedience.

You must show them that you have the authority, given to you from God, to teach them to submit to authority. This does not show that you do not love them. On the contrary, it shows true love. Proverbs 13:24 says: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him quickly.”

We know that modern psychology does not accept spanking to be appropriate for the disciplining of children. However, the Bible is much wiser than our present-day mindset when it comes to raising godly children.

I firmly believe that all negative and slanderous speech by our present-day media towards our President is a direct result of bad parenting.

Read Jude 1:8-11. It tells us about those who “despise dominions, and speak evil of dignities.” Much of our main-stream media obviously have never been trained and disciplined at home to respect authority. They mouth off the most venomous, hateful speech without any restraint for the person, let alone the office of president.

We must never encourage a winging, whining, or complaining spirit. Our country is overpowered by it.

It is not only bad attitudes about eating food that need to be disciplined and corrected in childhood but all negative attitudes—selfishness, self-will, self-love, and self-pity. Also disrespect of others, especially older people and those in authority. We must teach our children to genuinely respect parents and grandparents, uncles and aunts, neighbors, church leaders, pastors, employers, teachers, and civil leadership.

Many of our university/college campuses do not respect invited speakers but attack, blaspheme, and shout obscenities at them. This reveals a great failure in the homes where they were parented. They must have been dragged up where every type of negative and obnoxious attitude is accepted and tolerated. They do not bring credit to the nation.

To be continued.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Whenever I read a book or watch a movie about our brave Navy Seals I am greatly impressed by their valor and courage to be able to handle and resist extreme opposition forces. Few who enlist in this training actually survive the extremely rigorous training in order to graduate. Often their trainers yell, scream, and abuse them to check if they can be broken down easily or not.

I think it is sad that there are many Christian families who have not been trained by their parents on how to endure hardship as good soldiers.

2 Timothy 2:3, 4: “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

Of course, we should kiss and cuddle our babies and little ones. However, as our children grow older, I don’t believe it’s appropriate to continue kissing and cuddling them for every little offense and problem that happens to them. Do we want them to grow up wimps or are training them to be soldiers of the cross?

Have you ever heard of a soldier in training being kissed and cuddled by his commanding offer for every little offence, slander, rebuke, or disagreement that hurts his delicate feelings?

People remain babies even in adulthood by moms and dads who are always sympathizing with their children’s feelings. Children who are raised like this are the chocolate soldiers of this world. They quickly throw in the towel. They quickly melt when the heat comes on.

There is no strong army in this world that could possibly win a battle, let alone an all-out war with chocolate soldiers who have weak constitutions. These delicate chocolate soldiers are best left at home to look after the flower gardens. Better not to enlist them because they do not have the stomach to take the hardships of life, let alone a battle.

There comes a time in the raising of our children when we must encourage them to toughen up, buckle up, stand up, and stop crying.

When our children grew older, I would tell them if they kept on crying because of a spank, they would get more spanks until they stopped their fussing. I was teaching them to face their discipline like a man. I cannot tolerate winging, whining, griping, complaining children who need to learn what it means to grow up.

To be continued.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Every man should stand by his wife and not side with the children against his wife. If he does not stand by his wife, she will not feel secure and she will feel more frustrated than ever. The situation cannot be allowed to continue. If it is not dealt with quickly the wife will feel trapped, alone, and not loved and supported.

Children need the wise, masculine discipline of an interested and involved father. Parenting children throughout all ages is a mother/father team effort. Believe me, your wife will find it easier to endure the immaturity of the children when she knows that her husband supports her in whatever way she needs him. Not only that, she will love him more for it.

Children need the feminine love and nurture of their mother. However, sons and daughters, on a daily basis, need the masculine encouragement, correction, and if needed, discipline of a loving father.

Regular, daily family reading of the Scriptures, coupled with corporate prayers and a hymn or Scripture worship song provide a basis and anchor for all godly parenting and character training.

When reading the Bible to your children, try to incorporate some good illustrations or examples to assist their understanding of the Scriptures. Always ask questions and try to develop their attention by getting them to share their thoughts on the subject matter. Discussion increases their own input and helps their attention span.

Give them matters for prayer on a small card. This helps them to learn to pray for important matters.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

If you have not already purchased DAILY LIGHT ON THE DAILY PATH Plus Creative Ways to Read God’s Word to Your Children, you will want to have this book in your home.

It is a compilation of Scriptures on a certain theme for every morning and every evening for every day of the year. It is only a small portion, so it is not too long for the family.

This particular book gives you different ideas at the beginning of every month to help make your reading the Bible more exciting and interesting for the children.

You will find it a wonderful resource for Family Bible Reading in your home.

Go to: http://tinyurl.com/CreativeIdeasToReadBible