Every now and then I like to get on my “band wagon” or my “soap box.” I have quite a few soap boxes! Which one am I on today?

I wonder why people are forgetting about their Bibles. Yes, I know most people read their Bibles on their iPhones today and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. But I feel sad that they are discarding their Bible they can hold in their hands. There’s something about holding the written Word of God. I love to hold it in my hands. I love to even caress it. I love to underline my Bible. I love my well-used Bible, and I constantly wear out my Bibles.

In my personal devotions, I use my iPhone to check Hebrew and Greek words and sometimes another translation, but I love to read my printed Bible. Far less side-tracking. Oh yes. It is so easy to get side-tracked. Even though I am a disciplined person, I find I have to be extra disciplined if using my iPhone. I can be checking a Hebrew word and in comes a message, DING! It is so tempting to check that message. But I mustn’t! That’s why it is much healthier to read the printed Bible in your hand.

It is rare to see people bring their Bible to church today. This really saddens me. Even the preachers preach from their iPhones. Oh my, I think there is so much more authority about them holding God’s Word in their hand as they preach!

And the congregation. There are those who are diligent to read along on their iPhones when the Scriptures are being read, but oh my (oh my again!) I know that most are not doing it. And many are checking their messages—in church! Can you believe it? I think it is sacrilege. Oh yes, they are just too tempting and distracting! I’d like to ban iPhones from church! Wow, this won’t be a popular devotion!

I think it’s time we brought our Bibles back to church. What a wonderful thing it is to see a whole congregation with their Bibles open and a notebook ready to write down what God is saying to them. When people bring their Bibles to church you know they mean business with God. You know they are a student of God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15). You know they are a Berean, those who search the Scriptures daily “to see if those things were so” (Acts 17:11). It’s good to check out the preacher.

Here’s a good challenge. Why not make it a new project to go to church this coming weekend, making sure everyone in the family is carrying their Bible! It will give your children a renewed encouragement of the importance of the Bible. It’s not any ordinary book. It contains the eternal living words of God. And when other families see you all with your Bibles, hopefully they will be encouraged to do the same thing. Encourage your children to look up the Scriptures the preacher is referring to (and even to have a notebook to write them down). They will become far more involved in church.

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

What about when you are reading the Bible in public, perhaps on an airplane or waiting room. You may love to do it on your iPhone, but that doesn’t scare anyone. Get out your Bible and you’ll get some reaction or even avoidance! The literal Bible has power to convict people even without reading the words.

It’s time the Bible came back into the open! Anyone with me?

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, I love Your Word. It is my life and my sustenance. Help me to be a true student of Your living Word, reading my Bible where I will not be distracted by my iPhone. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

“I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation” (Psalm 119:99).

 

A few more thoughts about church going. I believe the gathering together of God’s people is not an option, but a command in God’s Word. Yes, I am sure you know Hebrews 10:25.

This last week I was also challenged from 2 Chronicles 29:6, 7: “For our fathers have trespassed and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God and have forsaken him, and have TURNED THEIR FACES AWAY FROM THE HABITATION OF THE LORD, AND TURNED THEIR BACKS. Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense, nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.”

The habitation of the Lord was the tabernacle where they came to meet with God. We must never turn our faces from the house of God. When we choose to do something else rather than gather with the saints, we turn our faces away from God Himself. We turn our backs on Him.

I am amazed at how many excuses people use to forsake the weekly gathering of God’s people.

Visitors arrive. “Oh, we better stay home.” No, bring your visitors with you.

“It’s such a glorious day. Too good to be inside. Let’s have a family picnic. It will be such a great family thing to do.” No. When you turn your face away from the gathering of God’s people, you turn your face away from God.

“I’ve got a headache today. I don’t feel so good. I think I’ll stay home.” No, the place to get healed is in the presence of God where His people are gathered.

“Nobody talks to us at church anyway, so why should we go?” Put a big smile on your face and talk to others. Don’t wait for them to talk to you. If you feel too shy to speak with adults, talk to children. Give some children a big smile, a blessing, and a hug.

Let’s put away all these feeble excuses. Even if we have to sacrifice, we keep to our commitment. Luke 4:16 tells us that it was Jesus’ habit to go to the synagogue every sabbath day. His parents established this habit in his life. This is a habit that we must instill in our children. It’s not something we do if we feel like doing; we do it because it is God’s plan! And we exemplify this habit to our children.

God’s fierce wrath was on the Israelites because they turned their faces away from His tabernacle. Conversely, we cannot expect God’s blessing upon us when we disregard the habitation of His house. When we turn our backs on God’s people, we turn our backs on God.

Psalm 65:4: “We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.”

Psalm 84:3, 4: “Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.”

Psalm 92:13: “Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.””

Psalm 106:47: “Gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in the praise.”

Psalm 111:1: “I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.”

Isaiah 2:3: “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”

Jeremiah 50:5: (NKJV): “They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten.’”

Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“I thank You, dear Father, that You love us to come into Your house with all Your saints. You love us to come as families with all our children, even our toddlers and babies. You love the gathering of Your people. Please help us to be a family that loves the house of God. Help me to give my children a love for your house and the gathering of Your people. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

“Come on, children, let’s go! We are going up to the “mountain of the Lord” where He will teach us of His ways.

An Above Rubies reader wrote and asked me, "Have you ever had difficulty
sitting in church with many little ones? I wonder if it is just our season
to stay home and not even bother attending church since we are so busy
handling the little ones. Were you ever in this season in your life?"

I know how you feel. Many times when my children were little, I wondered
whether it was worth going to church too. However, I realized that church
was more than sitting in a building listening to the pastor. Church is not a
building; it is the people. Therefore, when you go to church, dear mother,
even if you spend your whole time in the nursery, or much of your time
training your children to sit in church, it is still worth it.

You are doing three things. Firstly, you have the opportunity to fellowship
with others. Fellowship with other mothers in the nursery, if you end up
there, can be very precious. It is as important as listening to a message.
You can also share with others and pass on a blessing or a little
encouragement to another mother. Remember, you don't go to church to get,
but to give-and preeminently to give a blessing.

By the way, you'll be seeking to train your little ones to sit in church,
but if you need to go to the nursery, stay with your children. Many toddlers
are very unhappy in the nursery because they miss their mothers.

Secondly, you are training your children to sit in church. This is your aim.
It sure takes a lot of training, but if you stay home, your children will
learn that you do NOT have a commitment to church. If you go, even if it
isn't all perfect, and you don't even get to hear the preacher, you are
accomplishing something. You are showing by your actions to your children
that you put God first in your lives and that it is important to fellowship
with the saints. You show that God is a priority in your lives. You show to
your children your commitment to God and to His people.

You take seriously the admonition in Hebrews 10:25, "Not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is: but exhorting
one another: and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." My husband
said to me recently, "Many people want the church to be there for them but
they are not there for the church!"

Thirdly, you are following the example of Jesus whose habit was to go to the
house of God. We need to keep to this habit in our own lives and to
establish this habit in the lives of our children. If our children see that
we decide to stay home from church for whatever reason, when they are older,
they will stay home for even less reasons.

We have never missed going to church as a family-rain, hail or snow! And
even when we were sick. It's the best place to get healed!

Luke 4:16 says: "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and,
as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood
up for to read."

Keep plodding on. It's not always easy, but you are doing the right thing.
Never stay away from church just because the children aren't perfect. That
is a defeatist attitude. And it won't always be like that. Your children
grow up.

We expected our children to be in church every Sunday morning and Sunday
evening. We lived in New Zealand when the children were young, and they
slept on sheep skins (which are so healthy). I would bring their sheep skins
with me to the evening service and lay them on the floor and they would
sleep on them as they got tired.  

Psalm 26:8: "LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place
where thine honor dwelleth."

Psalm 27:4: "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple."

Psalm 50:5: "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a
covenant with me by sacrifice."

PRAYER:
"Thank you, Father, that You delight to gather Your people together to
worship You. Help me to always be faithful to the gathering together of the
saints. Help me to be an example to our children that You are the most
important in our lives and that we always put Your first, no matter what the
situation. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:
I will always give my children a love for the house of God.

The above Scripture is an amazing description of the bride of Christ although it’s not the picture we would equate with a bride, is it? But this is how God sees His church, the bride of Christ. And also the wife of a husband in the home for the Song of Songs can also be a picture of the marriage relationship.

This is a picture of an army marching to battle with their banners lifted high. They are not retreating. They are on the attack. They are a scary sight as they push back the enemy. Let’s look at some other translations:

HCSB: “awe-inspiring as an army with banners.”

CJB: “formidable as an army marching under banners.”

ESV: “awesome as an army with banners.”

Banners are a sign of victory. They reveal what we believe and what we stand for. God is a banner holder. One of His salvation names is “Jehovah-Nissi, The Lord is my banner” (Exodus 17:15).

He wants us to hold up our banners too. As wives and mothers in our homes must be banner holders. We hold up the banner of God’s truth in our homes. Holding it high. Never letting our banners fall to the ground. We are the transmitters of God’s truth to our children and future generations.

One of my favorite Scriptures is Psalm 60:4: “Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be DISPLAYED because of the truth.”

Are you holding the banner of truth high? This takes purpose, tenacity, and strength. Never let the enemy grab your banner, dragging it off and laughing in your face. Keep standing strong in this evil day and “having done all, stand” with your banner lifted high.

You are the protector of your home front. You are not cowardly hiding from the enemy. You are waving your banners high. You will not allow the enemy to come against your marriage, to woo your children from the truth, or to enter your home. The only way you see the enemy is a foe to be utterly defeated and routed.

Psalm 20:5: “In the name of our God, we will set up our banners.”

Psalm 84:16: “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?”

Let’s be banner waving mothers . . .

Holding up the banner of truth against all deception.

Holding up the banner of love against all bitterness and hate.

Holding up the banner of righteousness against all evil.

Holding up the banner of purity against all immorality and uncleanness.

Holding up the banner of unity against all dissension and strife.

Holding up the banner of contentment against all discontentment.

Holding up the banner of faithfulness against all faithlessness.

Holding up the banner of motherhood against all counterfeits of satan.

Are you flying the banners of the Lord from your home?

PRAYER:

“Dear Father God, I thank You that You have given to me Your banners of truth. Please help me to hold them high in my home and never let them drag in the dust. Please help me to never let go of Your truths and never compromise. Please anoint me by the power of Your Holy Spirit to implant truth into the hearts and mouths of my children and to never weaken the truth as I teach it to them. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am a banner waving mother, heralding God’s truth in my home and wherever I go!