Jesus or your idols?
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Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.
The Way of Love
1 Corinthians 13 ESV
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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What does home mean to you?
1. Home is the basic foundation of every human culture on earth from the beginning time. Cities and nations are built on the foundations of home.
2. Men have built homes in caves, cliffs, trees and lived in tents, but they have always had homes.
3. Homes are the nesting places of mothers and children. Men like this nest also.
4. Homes are synonymous with mothers and families. It’s almost impossible to be a mother without a home
5. If homes and family are built on solid rock foundations, they will survive the storms of life.
6. Home is the focal point of being a family. It is the gathering place of families.
7. Families live in homes, flats, and apartments. If you don’t have a home, you most likely live on the street and that’s not good at all. Imagine what it would be like to have no home and be homeless.
8. Home is the nurturing place of families.
9. Home is a basic requirement of life.
10. Home is much more than a shelter and a bed. It is a place where we find belonging and we all have a need to belong.
11. Home is a place where we find love. Love is one of the greatest needs of all humanity.
12. Home is a place where we fellowship together and learn the basics of all relationships.
13. Home is a place of security. You are not adrift on an endless sea of humanity.
14. Home is a place of rest and peace and where we are accepted.
15. Home is a place where we have a place at the family table and where we eat healthy, home-made food.
16. Home is a place where we experience the teaching, tenderness, and understanding of a loving mother.
17. Home is the place where we experience the provision, love, security, and instruction of a devoted father.
18. Home is a place of guidance and preparation for life.
Make your home a strong, godly home.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
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Home is meant to be a place where we experience first hand the love of a devoted wife and mother. She knows that every child needs to have a full-time mother. She understands that mothering in her home far surpasses all other careers. Raising her own children is her No. career
God ordained the home to be the No. 1 place where all Christian families are to be lovingly nurtured by their mothers (Psalm 128:3 and Titus 2:3-5).
• Every Christian home needs a husband and father who will do his very best to demonstrate his love for his wife and family at all times, especially in the home.
• Every Christian husband and father must have the revelation of the great value of homeschooling, home-loving, home-training, home-safety, and home Bible devotions. To this end, he must work willingly and diligently to protect and provide for all the needs of his wife and family.
• Tremendous pressure is put upon the stay-at-home mother to vacate the home, at least five to six days of every week. Because of this, all Christian men, and especially pastors and church leaders, should go out of their way to strongly encourage the stay-at-home wife and mother.
• Every husband should affirm his wife’s great value and worth in the home. This can never be underestimated.
I believe the nation is as strong as its homes and families. Often the home is vacant day after day from 8 am to 6 pm. Nurseries, day cares, and state schools (including private schools) cannot make up for a mother’s loving smiles, understanding, encouragement, training, and discipline
• Without a mother, the home is nothing but an empty shell. The mother provides the loving atmosphere in the home.
• Without a mother in the home, the home is sterile and boring.
• Without a mother in the home, it becomes meaningless and without a rudder.
• Without a mother in the home, it loses its anchor and begins to drift to liberal ideologies and eventually crash on rocky shores.
Men, do not encourage your wife away from her nest of little ones. Even older children still need the stable guidance and security of their mothers in the home.
The socialists want woman out of the home. They want to destroy the value of the homemaker.
Every Christian man should daily encourage his wife in the home.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
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Have you read this story in the Bible? It’s found in 2 Kings 13:14-19 (NET):
“Now Elisha had a terminal illness. King Joash of Israel went down to visit him. He wept before him and said, “MY father, my father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!”
Elisha told him, “Take a bow and some arrows,” and he did so.
Then Elisha told the king of Israel, “Aim the bow.” He did so, and Elisha placed his hands on the king’s hands.
Elisha said, “Open the east window, and he did so. Elisha said, “Shoot!” and he did so. Elisha said, “This arrow symbolizes the victory the LORD will give you over Syria. You will annihilate Syria in Aphek!”
Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows,” and he did so. He told the king of Irasel, “Strike the ground!” He struck the ground three times and stopped.
The prophet got angry at him and said, “If you had struck the ground five or six times, you would have annihilated Syria! But now you will defeat Syria only three times.”
Elisha died and was buried.”
This incident is probably why we are still fighting Syria.
This passage of Scripture never ceases to amaze me. Elisha, the prophet, despite his sickness and approaching death, wanted God to use him one more time. He wanted their enemy, Syria, to be completely destroyed and consumed. He would not be able to physically fight Syria, but as a prophet, he could prophetically pronounce the entire destruction of one of Israel’s greatest enemies.
Elisha, as ill as he was, asked the king to pick up his bow and arrows which he did. His arrows were most likely in his quiver. He asked the king to put his hands upon the bow and the king did. Then Elisha the prophet must have climbed out of his sick bed to stand over the king and place his hands upon the king’s hands.
He asks the king to open the east window. Joash the king would have asked his servant to do this as his hands were holding the bow and arrow. He shoots and Elisha prophetically pronounces: “The arrow of the LORD’S deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria.”
When the prophet asks the king to smite the ground with his arrows, he only smites three times and stops! Elisha was angry and challenges King Joash, “Why didn’t you smite the ground five or six times? You would have consumed and destroyed Syria! Now you will only smite Syria three times.”
Having made this pronouncement Elisha died an angry man. Every man of God wans to go home to Heaven on the eve of a great victory. Sad to say this did not happen.
Why did King Joash only smite the ground three times? Many could say that it was not his fault. How could the king know how may times he should smite the ground?
The answer could be that . . .
1. He was spiritually out of tune with the prophet.
2. He was lazy and apathetic.
3. He may not have had a quiver full of arrows.
4. He used the only arrows he had.
The following are the lessons each of us fathers should learn from this story:
1. Be in tune with the prophetic voice.
2. The children God has given you (your arrows) are for the purpose of deliverance.
3. Never be ashamed of the number of arrows God gives to you.
4. Keep shooting out your arrows to get the maximum victory.
Be encouraged,
Colin Campbell
Photo: The beautiful Torkelson family.
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Jesus Christ was Heaven’s best arrow, polished and prepared before the world began. He was shot forth into this world through the humble bow of the virgin Mary and Joseph the humble carpenter. The effect of His birth into this world over 2000 years ago has impacted the lives of multiplied millions of people.
Isaiah 61:1-3: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”
God the Father has never stopped shooting forth arrows of deliverance into this needy world. God did not stop sending arrows after the failure of Adam and Eve. Nor did He stop after Noah, the patriarchs, the prophets, the birth of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament church believers.
God still desires to send forth arrows of deliverance through all Christian married couples. He wants as many arrows as possible to bring forth the deliverance that Jesus Christ paid for on His cross at Calvary.
Psalm 127:3 says: “Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” For Israel to have a mighty army, married couples had to have the vision to bring them to birth and raise them.
I am very concerned that the Christian church has lost its vision for raising the sending forth arrows for God. There are many people who are bound by the prince of darkness. He has enslaved multitudes by drugs, alcohol, pornography, and all manner of sexual perversions. And what about depression, poverty, murder, rape, child abuse, and sex trafficking? Women and children are molested and multitudes live in fear and darkness. Millions are in pain and dying of all kinds of sicknesses and diseases.
The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ needs anointed arrows of diligence to set these captives free. The question is: has selfishness, fear, unbelief, and deception robbed the hurting world of God’s arrows who can bring them deliverance?
Who will bring forth and raise the arrows of deliverance and send them forth into this great, needy world? The good tidings are waiting to be preached to the meek so that the broken-hearted will be bound up and the captives will be set free from their prisons, etc.
The present-day 21st century church has been lied to in many subtle ways so that the arrows are not filling the quivers. Like King Joash, we will not shoot forth more than three arrows. Read the story in 2 Kings 13:14-20. Unfortunately, in today’s world it is much less than three arrows per Christian family (only about 1.8).
Where are all the arrows of deliverance? Our world has multiplied millions that need to be set free. The answer is simple. We have been lied to by the enemy.
Let’s get on God’s side and embrace His truth.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
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I am very grateful that God has given us president Donald Trump. He is doing an amazing job of turning this nation around for good, even in the midst of major resistance by the main stream media, the extreme Democrat party, and some Republicans who hate his style and personality.
I heartily enjoyed his State of the Union speech. However, I was concerned over one of his achievements. He stated: “No one has benefited more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58 percent of the new jobs created in the last year. All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before.” And continued: “We also have more women serving in Congress than at any time before.”
We noticed that immediately all “the women in white” belonging to the extreme left of the Democratic party begin to rejoice, dance around, and high five one another.
I wonder if our president and his daughter, Ivanka Kushner, who is a very strong advocate for the working women, realize that getting women out of the home and placing the children in nurseries and day care centers is one of the major agendas of the communist/extreme socialists.
The actual fact is that 76.8 million women are employed in this nation. Many are mothers. Who is caring for their children? The extreme socialists want to breakdown all traditional home and family values. They want all women out of their homes. They want to take total control of the human race, from the cradle to the grave. Both Hitlerism and Communism had this ideology in common.
A few years ago, Germany teachers encouraged that this ideology should be adopted again because of what they observed as poor parenting in their country. These educators want the children from the cradle.
However, God gave children to parents, not governments or school teachers. He wants them to be nurtured by mothers in their homes, and not even fathers replacing mothers.
Extreme socialism seeks to destroy all godly, traditional roles by mixing them up. Without a doubt, young children need their mothers in the home—loving, teaching, and taking good care of them. Mothers are naturally and innately more qualified to accomplish this than fathers. It is mothers who create the best atmosphere in the family home.
What is a home without a mother in it? It is nothing more than a sterile, empty shell.
Homes are the best place for the ministration of motherhood, not the downtown office or the tough environment of a manufacturing warehouse.
Who told us that mothers at home were not working mothers? What a lie.
Who told us that motherhood was not a true bonified career? I’ll tell you who. The extreme socialists and feminists.
Women take away jobs from men and the traditional family home goes begging. It is vacant for most of the important hours of the day. Thousands of homes could have this placard on their door: “Unoccupied from 8.00 am – 5.00 pm.” Many are unoccupied for longer hours. The home, which is the hub of society if languishing.
Motherhood and fatherhood, from God’s perspective, should always be the foundational roles of every culture. When we forsake these roles or seek to destroy them, we do so to our own peril.
David asks the question in Psalm 11:3: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The answer is, of course, to rebuild the foundations again.
President Trump boldly stated in his State of the Union address and I want to agree with him: “We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.” However, the promotion of women to come out from their career of homemaking and replace it with secular careerism is the socialist agenda.
America will only be as great as its foundations. It will only be as great as its homes, marriages, and families.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
Painting: “Knowledge is Power” by Seymour Joseph Guy
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Last week my wife and returned from a ten-day trip to our homeland of New Zealand. It was marvelous to enjoy our country again. It is very beautiful, scenic, and very fertile and lush. There must be something about the atmosphere over New Zealand as all the colors of nature are so vivid to the human eye.
The New Zealand national emblem is the silver fern tree (the ponga). However, there are many different fern plants and trees in New Zealand. Although this country is away Downunder and relatively close to the Antarctic region it has four seasons and a moderate climate enabling it to grow grass all the year round.
One morning, Nancy and I went for an amazing and exhilarating walk through a glade of ponga ferns. Each fern tree has an amazing umbrella of large fern branches. Beside the track flowed a beautiful stream. What a blessing.
Unfortunately, government/wise New Zealand has become increasingly socialistic and humanistic with very liberal morals. They do not get the truth regarding the United States political situation. CNN and other liberal, mainline media are doing their best to malign, accuse, hate, lie, and in general do their best to turn not only the USA, but the entire world against our president, Donald Trump.
Most don’t know anything about Fox news, who at least, generally speaking, give a fair and balanced agenda.
We Christian families must continue to pray for our president that he will be humble, and yet bold. That he will be wise and not foolish. We need to pray that he will be strong to bear the hateful slanderous words that are daily spoken against him.
We must pray that he will not trust in his own strength or brilliance of mind but become a praying president. We must pray that he will truly experience Proverbs 3:5: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
We must pray that God will give him the desires of his heart as he seeks to earnestly protect this nation’s borders from being violated and to protect us from the human trafficking, murderous gangs, murderers, rapists, Middle Eastern terrorists, and all types of dangerous and illegal drugs.
It makes complete sense that it is wrong for any people to enter this great country illegally. As we would not want people to come into our own homes illegally and help themselves to everything in our shelves, pantries, and cupboards, so we should not want this for our country. Anyone with any brains knows this is flat out wrong.
We must pray that God will change the hearts of our liberal and socialist media. We must pray that our government schools will be disqualified from indoctrinating our nation’s children with all this socialistic junk concerning sex changing, identity politics, homosexual acceptance, etc. All our public schools need to teach our children is the basics as well as the helpful sciences, trades, and careers that will enable them to succeed in life. All this other junk must be rejected.
I pray that this country, the good old USA, flatly refuses all this clap trap that is being pushed by the failing economies of those who belong to the so-called United Nations. We must pray that God will help us to make America great again for without His help it cannot happen.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
P.S. We have available a list of biblical prayers David prayed for his enemies. If you would like to use this list in praying for Donald Trump’s enemies, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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Do you play with your children?
Take time out of your busy schedule to read to your children.
Painting by Alfredo Rodrequez
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My Daily Prayer: