Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

JOB

Job was a very blessed man with 10 children and lived a blessed life (Proverbs 29). He also owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 oxen, and 500 asses and in one day he lost the lot! Yes, every one of his precious children. How would we survive such heartache? But what was his confession?

Job 13:15: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

We reveal how much we trust God we wonder how we can trust Him. It reminds me of the lines . . .

Trust Him when dark days assail thee,
Trust Him when thy faith is small,
Trust Him when to simply trust Him
Is the hardest thing of all.

HEZEKIAH

Read this story about Hezekiah in 2 Kings, chapters 18 and 19. 2 Kings 18:5, 6 says that Hezekiah “TRUSTED in the LORD God of Israel . . . he cleaved to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments.”

However, although Hezekiah was faithful to God and trusted Him, he faced a big challenge. Sennacherib, King of Assyria planned to take Jerusalem. Firslty, he sent his Chief of Staff to taunt the people and to put doubt and fear in them about trusting in their God. Then he sent a personal message to Hezekiah: “Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered in the hand of the king of Assyria . . . ” (2 Kings 19:10-19).

What did Hezekiah do? He spread the letter before the Lord and prayed earnestly. When the king of Assyria came to conquer Jerusalem, the night before the angel of the Lord smote 185,000 of the enemy soldiers in the camp. In the morning, they were all dead corpses (2 Kings 19:35). God delivered Hezekiah because he trusted in Him.

We all trust in something. The question is: who do we trust? Do we trust God, no matter what? Or would we rather trust in man’s solutions. Man-made predictions. Media-hype fear mongering. I am amazed how many people would rather trust a corrupt government than God, the mighty Creator of the universe, the God of signs and wonders and miracles, the God who is our Savior and Deliverer!

Psalm 18:31: “For who is God save the LORD? Or who is a rock save our God? Is there anyone or anything that is more worthy to be trusted than God?

Let’s be the people of God who truly trust Him.

Nancy Campbell

God was furious with them “because they believed not in God, and TRUSTED NOT in his salvation.” (v. 22).

I think it is good to get into the habit of trusting God in the little things we face each day. Then we find it easier to trust Him in the big things. We can trust Him for what is happening in the nation right now, although I believe the fear that has entered so many people, and sad to say, even Christians, is worse than the virus itself.

TURN OUR EYES TO THE LORD

How do we trust God? David cried to the Lord in Psalm 141:8: “MINE EYES ARE UNTO THEE, O God the Lord: IN THEE IS MY TRUST; leave not my soul destitute.” When we trust God, we have our eyes upon Him—not the difficulties, not the trauma, not the challenges. We get into the habit of our lifting our eyes to God and confessing, “I trust You, God. You are bigger than this challenge I face. I thank you that I can put all my weight upon you.”

Dear ladies this is the most wonderful thing. When we put our weight upon God, He does not cave. He will never fail us. He is our Rock and our Fortress. When we put our weight and our trust in man, man will usually fail us.

Isaiah 26:3 has always been God’s challenge to me every day as I raised my children and as I face daily life: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose MIND IS STAYED ON THEE: because he trusteth in thee.”

If our minds constantly regurgitate on our problems, we are not trusting God. We’re trusting in ourselves. When we lift our eyes to the Lord and confess our reliance and trust in Him, perfect peace fills our hearts.

Constantly keep your eyes in the right place!

To trust God is so much BETTER than to trust man. Psalm 118:6-9 says: “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? . . . It is BETTER to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is BETTER to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.”

When we trust in the Lord, we don’t have to hide. We don’t have to flee. David confesses in Psalm 11:1 (NLT): “I TRUST IN THE LORD FOR PROTECTION. So why do you say to me, ‘Fly like a bird to the mountains for safety!”

Be blessed today,

Nancy Campbell

Psalm 9:10 says: “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” Read also Psalm 20:7; 33;21; 124:8; Isaiah 50:10; and Zephaniah 3:12. We know that the name of the Lord is powerful. His Name is Savior, Defender, Deliverer, and Healer among so many other names.

If He is our Healer, why don’t we look to Him for healing? If He is our Deliverer, why don’t we look to Him for deliverance rather than to a vaccine which cannot be trusted, which cannot be full-proof, which needs sufficient time for testing—and by the time it is fully tested there will be a different strain of flu!), and which will only imbed foreign materials into our bodies which we don’t need!

Remember when the swine flue outbreak came in 1976? They rushed to a vaccination program and incumbent president, Gerald Ford, urged every American to get vaccinated. In fear, thousands of Americans rushed to get their vaccination. Unfortunately, the vaccine triggered a disease which caused weakness in the limbs and even killed 33 people.

I’d rather trust God any day than trust man, wouldn’t you? We must ask ourselves the question: “For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?” (Psalm 18:31). Why would we trust in man when we can trust in God? It seems such a ridiculous question, doesn’t it?

I’ve always been challenged by Isaiah 2:22: 21: “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of?”

In 2 Kings 18:21 (NLT) Sennacherib, king of Assyria taunts King Hezekiah for relying on the support of Egypt (which in the Bible always speaks of the flesh and relying upon man): “On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand.”

“In God we trust.” Do we truly trust Him?

Be blessed today,

Nancy Campbell

P.S. Read these powerful Scriptures about trusting in man: Proverbs 3:5, 6; Isaiah 30:1-3; 31:1-3; Jeremiah 13:25; and 17:5-10.
Scriptures about rusting in the shelter of His wings: Ruth 2:12; Psalm 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; and 91:4.

Don’t be concerned that you think differently to our culture? You’re not meant to think like our humanistic culture today. Your thinking should be transformed! We are meant to think like God thinks, not like the world thinks (Isaiah 55:8, 9).

Jesus went on to explain to His disciples the meaning of the parable of the sower where people hear “the word of the kingdom.” Verses 20, 21 say: “But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has not root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises BECAUSE OF THE WORD (the truths of the kingdom of God which are opposite to the thinking of the natural man), immediately he stumbles.”

If we believe and receive God’s Word from beginning to end. If we obey the words of His kingdom, we will receive reaction from family and people around us. We may face ridicule. Be scoffed at. We may even face persecution.

The question is: will we be offended? Will we turn away because kingdom truths are opposite to man’s ideas? Or will we stick fast?

We belong to a kingdom that is not of this world. It is an everlasting kingdom. A kingdom that will never be shaken. A kingdom that will one day rule every other kingdom. Because our kingdom is not of this world, the natural man cannot understand it.

In a society where marriages are breaking up, build and strengthen your marriage. You are sticking to your sacred vows.

In a culture where people do not understand the value of children, joyfully embrace the children God gives you.

When you receive pressure to leave your children and get out of the home, stand your ground. You will not give the children God has given you to someone else to raise. You know who God created you to be. You embrace motherhood, home, and family. You are out of step with culture, but you are in step with God.

People can’t understand you, but you are coming to understand the “mysteries of the kingdom.” You know they are God’s eternal truths. They are God’s blueprint. They bring peace, joy, and rest.

“Blessed are your eyes, for they SEE: and your ears, for they HEAR” (Matthew 13:16).

Be blessed today.

Nancy Campbell

How ridiculous to try and be someone you are not! To miss out on your purpose for life!

There were women who rejected their femaleness back in Roman times too. Romans 1:26 tells us that “God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women (a word which means a suckling mother) did change the natural function into that which is against nature.”

But we need to get back to the Scriptures and see what God says. He says it more powerfully than I can say.

1 Corinthians 6:19: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and YE ARE NOT YOUR OWN? For ye are brought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Isaiah 29:16 (ESV): “YOU TURN THINGS UPSIDE DOWN! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, ‘He did not make me’: or the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?”

Isaiah 45:9 (ESV): “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”

Isaiah 64:8: “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

Jeremiah 18:6: “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? Saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.”

Romans 9:20 (CJB): “Who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me this way?’”

Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Romans 14:7: “For none of us liveth to himself.”

Our Creator knows what He is doing.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Check out these Scriptures of our God marvelously creating us: Genesis 1:26, 27, 31; Deuteronomy 32:4; 2 Samuel 22;31; Psalm 11:1-6; 18:30; 139:14; and Revelation 15:3.

But we need more than healing for our land. We need healing and forgiveness from the sin which fills our land. Abortion, murdering precious life in the womb, continues. The Abortion Clock states that up today there have already been 261, 950 babies murdered. The COVID-19 is insignificant compared to this number, and yet most people are oblivious to it.

This is only the beginning of the sin that fills this nation. Let’s take hold of 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says that IF we . . .
Humble ourselves
Pray
Seek God’s face, and
Turn from our wicked ways . . .
THEN He will hear from Heaven, and forgive our sin, and heal our land.

God is faithful. He will heal us and heal our land too if we do our part.

Could we increase our prayers to three times a day? This was the habit of David’s life and yet he was a great king and with many responsibilities (Psalm 55:17). It was the habit of Daniels’s life and yet He was high up in the Babylonian kingdom with many responsibilities. (Daniel 6:5). e also have lots of things to do but we can do it too.

I guess it depends how much we want God to heal our land.

Love to you today from Nancy Campbell
Check out: http://www.numberofabortions.com/

Paul longed to come and see the believers in Spain, but he told them he couldn’t come until he FINISHED his current task which was to take contributions from the church to the poor believers in Jerusalem (Romans 15:28).

Paul asks the Galatians believers in Galatians 3:3 who were trying to gain their salvation by doing the works of the law? “Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?”

We have to watch this too, don’t we? We can begin a project in the power of the Holy Spirit and gravitate to doing it by our own human effort. God wants us to finish in the anointing of the Holy Spirit too.

It was Paul’s habit to complete and finish his missions. He states in Acts 20:24: “But none of these things move me (the fact they he was going to face prison and afflictions), neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might FINISH my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus.”

Toward the close of his life he confesses in 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have FINISHED the race, I have kept the faith.”

JESUS also finished the work God gave Him to do.

John 4:34: “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to FINISH His work.”
John 17:4: “I have FINISHED the work which thou gavest me to do.”
John 19:30: “Jesus said, It is FINISHED: and he bowed his and gave up the ghost.”

May we also be task finishers.

Blessings to you today,

Nancy Campbell

Peter encourages the believers to keep on adding godly attributes to their faith so they will have an ABUNDANT entrance into the everlasting kingdom (2 Peter 1:11). How do you want to go into the eternal kingdom? Abundantly? Triumphantly? Grandly? A flourishing finish? That’s what I want, don’t you?

Of course this will only happen as we CONTINUE on in the faith. Life on this earth is not always easy. We face challenges and difficulties. But we don’t give up. We continue plodding on because we look for a heavenly city. We live this life in preparation for the eternal kingdom which is the REAL world.

Proverbs 4:18; “The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth MORE AND MORE unto the perfect day.”

Philippians 1:6 is not only a wonderful promise for yourself, but you can pray it over your husband and your children too.

Be encouraged and blessed, today,

Nancy Campbell

You don’t have to live in the doldrums. Why live below par when you have the resurrected Christ living in you? Jesus Christ now sits at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realm. And Ephesians 2:6 tells us that He has also “raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Therefore we live above our problems, not below them. We live by faith, not fear. We live with hope, not despair. We confess healing, not sickness. We are joyful in our tribulations.

Paul penned the truth: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Because He lived these words he was imprisoned, tortured, persecuted, beaten, stoned, and suffered hunger. And yet what was his confession: “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

Are you facing financial hardship? I love the translation that says: “Penniless, we own the world.”

Live in resurrection power today,

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed ones of God
Be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

Dear folks, please forgive me asking all these questions. I am asking them myself today as I pace the floor? I have been asking them for days and am now voicing them to you. Please forgive me if I tread on toes. I’m just asking.

Yes, I just have to ask. Why does the media intentionally fill the nation with fear? Why has a whole nation, the greatest and freest nation on earth bowed to a lockdown of life? This is far scarier to me than this virus. It shows the nation is ruled by fear.

I love to imagine that the churches did not bow to silence and instead gathered, not for normal services perhaps, but to pray and intercede and storm the gates of Heaven for this virus to halt. Can you imagine millions of Christians praying in groups together (Matthew 18:18-20)? This would be far more powerful than hiding ourselves away.

Imagine the sick coming to God’s people to be healed!

There is power in corporate prayer, Instead, we are isolated. Instead many are locked down with fear. It’s hard to believe how fearful people have become. I know many families are praying in their homes, but I know that there are many who are not. Sadly, it is not the usual habit for even Christian families to all pray together every day. I pray they have begun to do this since this lockdown, but are they? Is their less prayer because we are not meeting together?

Could I humbly ask this question? Did you gather your family to pray together for this nation this morning? And will you be doing it again this evening with your family?

Oh I know some would say that we would be a threat to others by passing on the virus, but I believe in the power of God. I believe that when God’s interceding saints get together to come against a virus, that the virus could not touch them! God is much bigger.

And does not Christ dwell in us? His powerful healing life that dwells in us is greater than any virus. As one of my daughters says, “I do not fear. Because Christ lives in me, any virus just falls off me.”

Romans 8:11 (ESV): “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

I believe that God’s people should be available for the sick to come to us to pray for their healing. My grandson who loves to pray for people was sharing how he was convicted of Jesus’ words, “Go, cleanse the lepers” (Matthew 10:8). He reminded us how Jesus didn’t hide from the lepers. He touched them and healed them. He was likening the lepers to this virus. But although he goes looking every day, he hasn’t found any yet. He’s ready to pray for anyone. But one good thing, he said that although he hasn’t found any corona victims to pray for, that people are about 40 percent more open to hear the gospel.

My dearest readers, I don’t write this casually. According to the statistics, my husband and I are in the most “vulnerable category” according to our ages, but we do not fear. How can we fear, when our trust is in God?

Isaiah 8:11-13 states: “For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people: ‘Do not call conspiracy everything these people regard as conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not live in dread. The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded’” (Isaiah 8:11-13 BSB).

I think back to when the government took prayer and then the Bible out of schools What did the Christians do then? Nothing. Imagine if every Christian family had taken their children our of our public schools? They would soon have put prayer back again!

Last question: Why don’t we the people of God stand up for what we really believe?

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

I personally heard of two cases that did not die of corona, but the following day their death certificates were changed to corona virus being the cause of death. Why?

A couple of other examples. They found the corona virus in the blood of a man who had a serious accident and therefore attributed his death to corona, not his accident. They found traces of corona virus in a baby who was suffocated by the mother and instead of suffocation the cause of death was noted as corona. Why?

Interesting information is also coming from Italy where they have had the most deaths. Professor Walter Ricciardi, scientific adviser to Italy’s minister of health writes: “On re-evaluation by the National Institute of Health, only 12 per cent of death certificates have shown a direct causality from coronavirus, while 88 per cent of patients who have died have at least one pre-morbidity - many had two or three.”

But there are other factors that may have contributed to Italy’s fatality rates, experts say. This includes a high rate of smoking and pollution - the majority of deaths have been in the northern region Lombardy region, which is notorious for poor air quality.

Another study says: “Rome-based institute has examined medical records of about 18% of the country’s coronavirus fatalities, finding that just three victims, or 0.8% of the total, had no previous pathology. Almost half of the victims suffered from at least three prior illnesses and about a fourth had either one or two previous conditions. More than 75% had high blood pressure, about 35% had diabetes and a third suffered from heart disease.

Yes, we know there is suffering and death and our hearts grieve. But at the same time, we want to know the truth, don’t we?

~ Nancy Campbell

O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore,
Though all things around us be trying,
Though floods of affliction like sea billows roar,
It’s better to sing than be sighing.

Then rejoice evermore, rejoice evermore,
It is better to sing than be sighing:
It is better to live than be dying;
So let us rejoice evermore.

O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore,
When the darts of the tempter are flying,
For Satan still dreads, as he oft did of yore,
Our singing much more than our sighing.

O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore,
When sickness upon us is stealing,
No cordial like gladness our strength can restore,
For joy is the fountain of healing.

Have a joy-filled day. Get your entire family singing.

~ Nancy Campbell

We are also saved from the judgment of our sins when we acknowledge the blood of Jesus upon our lives. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says: “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” Jesus Christ is our Passover. What a glorious and wonderful redemption we have.

I love this picture which a dear friend of mine sent to me. She flies her red scarf at her doorway representing the power of the blood of Jesus as she remembers this Passover time. She also flies it to acknowledge the protection and power of God over her home as we face this “c” virus.

We do not have to fear any plague as we abide under the Shadow of the Almighty and plead our protection through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Many blessings,

Nancy Campbell

It teaches your children how to work. We all want our children to have a good work ethic. Let’s show them how. They learn more by our “showing” than our telling them what to do.

Have a great smiling day,

Nancy Campbell

This virus is going out to the ends of the earth, but God is bigger! This thing is under His feet. He doesn’t want you looking at all the projections (which are only “might be’s). He wants you to look to Him.

I can understand those who don’t know God becoming fearful because they are not looking to a Savior. But we have a Savior! Yes, a Savior!

If you are saved by the blood of Jesus, you will put your trust in your Savior. This word “yasha” is used twice in the above passage and 105 times in the Old Testament. It not only means that God is your Savior, but He is your Preserver, your Deliverer, your Defender, your Rescuer, Your Succorer, and your Avenger. It also means you will be made free.

Our trust in not in government, in hospitals, or vaccines! Our trust is in God.

Look to Him. Encourage your children to look to Hm. Encourage the people around you to Look to Him. As we look to our Savior, we have hope. When when we have hope, we live in joy and peace and divine health.

Be filled with joy and peace today,

Nancy Campbell

P.S. A few weeks ago I did two podcasts about looking for the coming of the Lord, not only for His second coming, but for Him to come into every department of our lives now. I believe that as we look for His coming, we also look for Him in every aspect of our lives. We look to Him in this current crisis and as we LOOK TO HIM we are set free from all fear.

You can listen to these podcasts again:
86: https://www.buzzsprout.com/…/2655406-episode-no-86-even-so-…
87: https://www.buzzsprout.com/183665/2705560

P.P.S. If you really want to be encouraged and blessed out of your socks, go to your concordance and look up the 105 Scriptures which include the Hebrews word “yasha (2467). Read them over personally and share them with your family.

Then go the New Testament and read the 119 Scriptures for “sozo” (4982) which also means to be “saved, healed, protected, preserved, delivered, and made whole.”

Today’s attitude about hope is rather amazing. Romans 15:13 reminds us that . . .

IT IS AN ABOUNDING HOPE
God does not intend us to live an ordinary life. God gives adjectives for every attribute He wants us to enjoy and experience. When He talks about hope, He wants us to ABOUND in hope.

Now get ready to understand this word. It is “perisseuo” and means “to superabound, to be excessive, to excel, abundant, enough and to spare, over and above.”

The hope God gives is far more than “I hope this might happen.”

• It is exuberant hopefulness,
• It is speaking words of confident expectation when everyone else is negative,
• It is an overflowing spirit of optimism,
• It is believing God will do good things when everything looks bleak.

To everyone else you will seem “over the top” and crazy. But it is normal Christian living. We all live so abnormally according to the biblical way of life.

We are all facing a world-wide dilemma as we face this corona virus. We read or watch on TV all the different projections of how many are going to die and how long it is going to continue. Dearest ladies, these are only projections. They are what MIGHT happen. They are not fact! And yet we say, “Yes, Sir,” and give into fear.

I know you are praying, but what could happen if we REALLY took time out to intercede and take authority over this virus in the realms of prayer? Prayer is powerful. But not little prayer. It is MUCH prayer (Revelation 8:3). It is the “effectual fervent prayer” of the righteous (James 5:16).

Psalm 53:5 says: “There were they in great fear, where no fear was.” I believe that we can see a BREAKTHROUGH as we pray and release words of HOPE to our families and everyone we are in contact with. Oh yes, you’ll be met with “doom and gloom,” but answer back with faith and hope. We must spread faith and hope, not fear.

We hang on to hope even when we don’t currently see any results. Paul writes in Romans 8:24, 25: “Hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

I recently read the wonderful little book, “MAKE YOUR BED – LITTLE THINGS THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE . . AND MAYBE THE WORLD!” by Admiral William H. McRaven. He states in this book:

“Hope is the most powerful force in the universe. With hope you can inspire nations to greatness. With hope you can raise up the downtrodden. With hope you can ease the pain of unbearable loss. Sometimes all it takes is one person to make a difference.”

IT IS A PATIENT HOPE
1 Thessalonians 1:3 talks about out being “patient in hope.” The word “patient” means cheerful and hopeful endurance. It means to keep joyfully hoping as you endure troubles. It does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial.

IT IS A HANGING ON TO THE END HOPE
Hebrews 6:11, 12 says: “And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Hebrews 10:23 (NET): “And let us HOLD UNWAVERINGLY to the hope that we confess.”

Be blessed today and keep spreading hope,

NANCY CAMPBELL

Attitudes are contagious. When people speak words of fear it affects everyone around them. But when we rejoice and speak positive words, they affect everyone around us for good. Even in the midst of this virus, rejoice. Let your rejoicing be contagious.

I passed my neighbor in the car the other day. As we wound down our windows to greet one another, he said to me, “When people are full of fear, I ask them, ‘Do you know anyone who has this virus?’” He continued. “No one has yet told me they know anyone who as it.

I know many people, not only around where I live, but across the nation and the world, and I personally don’t know of one person who has this virus. Of course I know there are many who do (and statistics now reveal that anyone who needs to be hospitalized or may even die, are those whose immune systems are compromised or they have existing medical problems), but I personally don’t know of one yet.

I have shared before how fear is powerful. What we fear comes upon us (Job 3:25). I think fear is spreading more than this virus. It’s time we got out of fear and into hope. It’s time we began to spread messages of cheer and hope.

Dear ladies, I’m not being unthoughtfull (I grieve for those who contract serious cases of this virus, and we are in daily prayer) but I know the power of words. To spread words of health, positivity, and cheer brings salvation and healing. Words of fear bring death.

Romans 12:12 tells us to “REJOICE in hope.” This same Scripture reminds us to “endure in suffering.” The New English Translation says: “Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer.” We keep hoping in the midst of stress and tribulation.

Romans 15:13 reminds us that when the God of hope dwells in us that He fills us with “ALL JOY AND PEACE in believing.” Did you get it? ALL joy! Not half joy and half fear, but ALL JOY. Not a little peace, but ALL PEACE. The Passion translation says: “Now may God, the inspiration and fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him.”

Romans 14:17 says: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and JOY in the Holy Ghost.”

May you live in the overwhelming blessings of joy and peace today,

Nancy Campbell

I woke up the other night with the follow Scripture pounding into my mind: “”Now the God hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:13).

This Scripture does not tell us to abound in hope only when everything is going well. It is an attitude we should have no matter what we face. At the moment, it seems that much of the current attitude is doom and gloom. And even worse, the spirit of fear. But this shouldn’t be the attitude of those who call themselves believers.

If God is truly our God, we will live in hope. Why? Because our God is a GOD OF HOPE! Yes, did you read those words? They are truth. God is a GOD OF HOPE! No matter what is happening in our individual lives or in the world, God is still in control, and when He dwells in us by the power of His Holy spirit, we dwell in hope.

Would you like to know the full meaning of the Greek word for hope? It is the word “elpis” and means:

• An energizing principle
• A spontaneous overflowing spirit of optimism
• A looking ever on the bright side of things
• A looking forward to only that which is good
• Believing that God is going to do something good
• Confident expectation
• Expecting continued blessing and joy
• Exuberant hopefulness, leaving us no room for worry
• To anticipate with pleasure

We can’t work this kind of attitude up. It comes through the power of the Holy Spirit who resides in our hearts. It’s is God’s attitude and therefore it becomes our attitude when He dwells in us.

And it is not a dead hope. It is a living hope. 1 Peter 1:3 tells us that we are born again unto “a living hope.” My grandson, Zadok, was talking to me about this hope yesterday. “Nana,” he said. “Because it is a living hope, we must feed it. If you don’t feed something that is alive, it soon dies.”

Are you feeding the spirit of hope that God has put within you? We feed it by . . .

• Living in the Word
• Standing on the truth of God’s Word
• Confessing God’s Word out loud
• Confessing our confidence and expectation in God
• Believing and confessing that God is doing good things! It is the opposite to doom and gloom and fear.

The other day I posted on my personal Facebook the fact that there is not one case of the corona virus in our country in Tennessee! Not one. Nor has our closest hospital had one hospitalization, and that’s a different county! What totally surprised me is that not one person acknowledged this good news with a positive comment. No one said: “Praise the Lord that you have none in your country. That’s wonderful.” Or “God is good. That’s great news.” Instead, even though this was good news, most of the comments were full of fear and doom and gloom.

Dear ladies, it concerns me that many are living in fear rather than hope.

Are we believers or are we nonbelievers? If we are truly believers, we will live in hope. Not a surviving hope, but a LIVING and ABOUNDING hope.

I’ve got more I want to share about hope, but you’ll have enough for one day. I’ll share more tomorrow.

In the meantime, let’s change gears from becoming victims of fear and a lot of information that is not true! Let’s be who we say we are. Let’s be believers who . . .

• Live in hope
• Speak words of hope to our family members
• Speak hope to a hurting and fearful world around us
• Release the spirit of hope instead of the spirit of fear
• Keep hoping when there is no reason to hope (Romans 4:18).

Overwhelming blessings to you and your family today,

Nancy Campbell

God reiterates the same theme in the New Testament in I Timothy 5:10 where He tells us that feeding and raising children is a “good work.” The Greek word is "ergon" and means, “work that is not accomplished by a single act but by accumulated labor and continued work.” That sounds like daily mothering, doesn’t it?

If you don’t already like work, can I suggest as I did yesterday, to start confessing that you love it. When you get up in the morning say aloud, “I love work.” “I’m looking forward to a day of work in my home today.”

Rejoice as you work. Sing while you work. You are in the perfect will of God.

Are you singing Hallelujah?

Blessings from Nancy Campbell