Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

The trying days, the sighing days, the days when things go wrong,
The hurry days, the worry days, the days when you’re off song,
The busy days, the dizzy days that you go rushing madly through –
Trying to catch up on all the jobs you have to do.

Continuing the discussion from yesterday's post, TWELVE BIBLICAL REASONS WHY GOD GIVES US CHILDREN, one writer commented that most of the Scriptures mentioned were from the Old Testament and that in the New Testament we are not obligated to bring forth natural children, but only spiritual children.

Because we must be faithful to the truth, I will make comment. There are many doctrines and truths that were established in the Old Testament that are not repeated in the New Testament because they were already accepted as truth by those living in the New Testament. They did not have to be established or repeated again. One of these is having children. God's very first words to Adam and Eve after He created them and blessed them were: "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28). God didn't change His plan for mankind in the New Testament. God's design from eternity is revealed from the beginning to the end of the Bible. He is the God of eternity. He established His plans before the ages of the world ever began. He is the unchangeable God.

I want to share Rachael Stokes' testimony which she wrote in response to yesterday's post, especially because it is her little grandson, Jackson who is pictured. She shares:

"Jackson is my first grandson. Everybody has told me that you love your grandchildren more than your children. This is not so. Grandchildren make love MULTIPLY A THOUSAND TIMES. This little baby caused me to love my daughter, Renee, and son-in-love more than I ever thought possible. I never knew that you could love a child that was not your own this much. He has multiplied my love for Jake's family because they are a part of this little man. When Jake fell into love with Renee I had no idea I could love so many people so much. Grandchildren are the love multipliers. Be thankful for the person your child marries because the union will bring blessing beyond what you can imagine."

1. BECAUSE HE WANTS TO BLESS YOU (Genesis 1:27-28; 9:1, 2, 7; Psalm 128:3-4 and loads of others). There is a whole chapter on these blessing Scriptures in the book, Be Fruitful and Multiply.

2. BECAUSE HIS FACE AND FAVOR IS TURNED TOWARD YOU (Leviticus 26:9).

All about us we have voices vying for our attention. Voices that fill our mind, program our minds, and even propagandize us. What is the loudest voice in your mind?

Jesus, our great Shepherd says: "My sheep HEAR my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27). He also says that His sheep "KNOW His voice." If we are walking close to the Shepherd, we will hear His voice more than all the other voices. We will discern His voice from all the other voices in the world.

Do you like to wear an apron? I'm one of those people who need to wear an apron when I'm preparing food or I soon stain my clothes. I love pretty aprons but mine don't stay pretty for very long as they soon become stained and look well-used.

Whether you wear an apron for cooking and cleaning or not, we all need to put on a special apron each day. 1 Peter 5:5 in the William's translation says: "You must all put on the servant's apron of humility to another, because God opposes the haughty but bestows His unmerited favor on the humble."

Never give up. Keep faithfully building each new day to make your home a happy and healthy sanctuary for your husband and children.

The greatest temptation from the enemy of our souls is in our minds. This is where he loves to attack us most, or should I say, even torment us. It is in our minds that he brings thoughts of doubt, deception, despondency, rejection, anger, self-pity, and even despair. If we are not aware of his tactics and do not resist them, they will become bigger in our minds and he wins the victory.

I noticed an interesting Scripture in Daniel 7:25. It speaks about the coming anti-Christ (but this same spirit is already in the world) and it says: "He shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High." The words "wear out" in the Hebrew mean "to afflict mentally." These words are only used in a mental sense. This is Satan's strategy. To wear us out in our minds with unbelieving and deceiving thoughts. If you are in confusion and overwhelmed in your mind, you can't function emotionally or physically.

My daughter, Serene's little boy, Shepherd, is the gatekeeper of their land. Because they have to keep their cows from getting to the neighbors, they have two gates to get to their home. One is about 500 feet from their home and the other about 100 feet.

Each time someone comes to the home Shepherd has to bike or run to the gates and open and shut them for the people coming in or going out. It is so great to be able to call up and give the message, "Tell the gatekeeper to be waiting at the gate." He has a very important job.

God's will for you is to flourish in your home. Here's some ways to flourish in your home:

F Flavor your home with joy, sweetness, and happiness (what a nice flavor)!
L Love every moment of your mothering (rather than dreaming of when these days will be over).
O Offer your life as a living sacrifice (knowing that you save your life by losing it (Mark 11:35 and Romans 12:1-2).
U Unify your home by speaking peace into every situation.
R Revel in the joy of mothering and nurturing the precious gifts God has given to you (knowing that your Employer is God
Himself).
I Intentionally make positive things happen in your home (don't let the day lead you around in circles, but instead purposefully direct your day by the leading of the Holy Spirit).
S Sanctify your home daily with prayer, praises, and the washing of God's Word (Ephesians 5: 26).
H Heap hugs and kisses on your husband and children daily.

Did you know that God's plan for you is to FLOURISH? And where does He want you to flourish? In your home. Psalm 128:3-4 (TLB): “Your wife will be like fruitful vine, FLOURISHING within your home. And look at all those children! There they sit around your table as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees. That is the Lord’s reward for those who fear Him.”

Perhaps you feel like a WILTING plant. You feel "half dead"! Or maybe, like some plants, you are barely SURVIVING. You get through each day, but only just!

Jesus came to glorify God on this earth (John 17:4). Although Jesus is no longer on earth in bodily form, He still has the same passion to glorify His Father on the earth. But now He wants to do it, not only in Jerusalem and Israel where He came in person, but throughout the whole earth. Now He wants to do it through YOU.

If you are born again, Christ dwells in you. He lives in you to glorify the Father right where you are living. Of course, that means in your home--in your kitchen, mothering your children, and coping with all the challenges that each new day brings.

What is your disposition toward your husband? I was struck by another phrase in Way's translation of Titus 2:4 which exhorts wives "to be amiable and submissive to their own husbands." To be amiable makes for a happy and loving atmosphere.

The dictionary meaning is "good-natured and friendly." This is a good translation of the Greek word that is used in this Scripture which is "philandros." It means "to be affectionate and friendly."

I love the Arthur S. Way's translation of Titus 2:3-5 where it tells the older women their responsibilities: "They should be teachers of virtue, qualified to school in self-control the young women, to teach them to love their husbands and their children, to be discreet and chaste, to recognize that their sphere is home, to be amiable and submissive to their own husbands, so that no slander may assail the Word of God."

I also love the phrase, "to recognize that their sphere is home." God has given a special sphere to us as mothers. It is the place where He wants us to rule and reign as queens. It is the place where He plans for us to nurture and raise our children. It is the place where we teach and train children to come forth into the world to bring God's love, truth, and the revelation of who He is. It is where He wants us to build a sanctuary for Him. This place is our home.

A friend shared with me an incident that happened at a ladies meeting. A mother arrived with a new baby and everyone was oohing and aahing over the baby. A mother of three was also delighting in the baby when she suddenly pushed away from the baby and said, "I must resist! I must resist!"

Her nine-year-old daughter also began saying, "Mom, resist! Mom, resist!" This was too much for my friend to see a mother teaching her young daughter to resist babies and she answered, "How can you resist what the Father calls a blessing?"

My friend, Heather Bryant shared this with me:

"This morning at church I sat behind a divorced couple. The man has Alzheimer's and has forgotten they are divorced. They were lovingly sitting next to each other. At some point she got up and got coffee for the both of them. He attentively and sweetly helped her take off her sweater. It struck me how easy it was that they were now together. The man's terrible disease had unaffectedly wiped away past wrongs. His wife may remember, but since he had forgotten, there was nothing to fight about anymore, nothing to divide. Nothing. It makes me cry. It makes my heart break. because it is so simple."

Mother, you are the light of your home and the light of the nation.

Recently I talked to a young man who is attending college. He shared how his professors advocate delaying marriage and childbearing until they establish themselves and their career. This is how all young people are educated today. Girls are urged to make sure they get settled in a career so that they will have a means of support "in case their marriage fails."

Talking to another young lady who attends college she said, "Don't you know that we can now freeze our eggs so we can enjoy our career and have babies later in life when we are ready?"

I was reading again in Daniel 3 the familiar story of how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the golden image. They were the only ones who refused to bow. It is amazing that everyone else in Babylon had become a victim and slave to do what they were told. They were indoctrinated and brainwashed that this was the right thing to do. It says that "all the people, the nations, and the languages fell down and worshipped the golden image" (v. 7).