THE HOPE ATTITUDE
Do not fear what they fear!
Part 2

“Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation;
continuing instant in prayer”
(Romans 12:12).

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 with the corona virus or “little miss c” as my daughter, Serene, calls it. 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 all 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 prayer and as we 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 must listen to God rather than all the “doom and gloom” we hear on the media. We are so tired of it, we don’t even turn on the news. It’s time to fill our minds with God’s truth.

“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).

We hang on to hope even when we don’t currently 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

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Oh God, please save me from living like an unbeliever. I want to live like a believer, full of faith and hope and of the Holy Spirit. Help me to exude hope to my family and all around me. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I will not fear what the world fears; I will fear God only.

THE HOPE ATTITUDE
Part 1

“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).

I woke up the other night with the above Scripture pounding into my mind.

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. Sadly, 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.

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).

NANCY CAMPBELL

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Father, I acknowledge You as the God of hope. Please save me from living in despair when You are Hope and you live in me. I acknowledge Your word of truth: “Christ in me, the HOPE of glory.” I thank You that no matter what is going on in my nation and in the world, I have hope. I believe You are working everything out for good. I trust You implicitly. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am living in confident expectation that God is doing good things!

DUTY’S PATH
Embracing Duty
Part 4

“So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say,
We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”
(Luke 17:10).

Today we look at the last of the Scriptures which specify those things that should not be optional in our lives, but our duty.

1. WE SHOULD BE TEACHERS

Hebrews 5:12 (NLT): “You have been believers so long now that you ought (opheilo—it is your duty) to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.”

How long are we  meant to stay spiritual babies? We would be devastated if we were still spoon feeding our little babies and toddlers when they were four or five years old! And yet many adults are still spoon feeding when they are adults! They still don’t feed from God’s Word each day for themselves. They wait for Sunday for the pastor to spoon feed it into their mouths.

As babies in Christ we soak up the milk as people teach us (1 Peter 2:2). But we can’t stay on milk. We’ve got to get into the meat and learn how to get food daily for ourselves and learn how to chew on it and digest meaty and tough things. This Scripture doesn’t say it’s a good idea. It says it’s our duty to be doing it. It’s time to be teachers instead of babies! And we as mothers certainly need to be teachers.

2. IT’S A DAILY THING

Both 2 Chronicles 8:14 and Ezra 3:4 talk about the daily duties of the priests. Ezra 3:4 says they “offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required.”

We must take notice of this Scripture because we have now been made “kings and priests unto our God” (Revelation 1:6 and 5:10).

Some people may not like the sound of these words: “as the duty of every day required.” But they are Bible words. God ordained the morning and evening daily sacrifice. The priests also had to attend to the fire upon the altar every morning and evening, to light the lamps every morning and evening, and to light the sweet incense every morning and evening. Among other things these were their daily duties.

God ordained the morning and evening principle back in tabernacle days which is good for us to continue each day. We keep the fire burning in our homes as we attend to our family altar morning and evening (not a literal altar, but a gathering together as a family). Anything less is not enough to keep the fire burning. We trim the lamps and pour in the oil (which speaks of the Holy Spirit) morning and evening. Anything less is not enough to keep the light shining.

That’s why we must come before the Lord as a family every morning and evening to read God’s Word and to cry out to Him. It is a duty, but if God is truly No. 1 in our lives, it will be our greatest delight and the “longed for” times of each day.

3. IT’S PART OF LIFE

Do you remember the parable Jesus told of the hard-working servant? After ploughing in the field all day and tending to the sheep he comes in ready to sit down and relax. How nice! But no. Instead, without a word of thanks his master tells him to prepare his meal and put on his apron and serve him. “Then you can eat later,” he says. You can read the story in Luke 17:7-10.

With the “demanding our rights” and “entitlement” attitudes many people have today, this parable would make them very upset! Many folks would like to eliminate the word “duty” from their lives. Very few know the meaning of “going the second mile.” Employees clock out the moment time is up. They couldn’t give their employer one minute more of their time!

But Jesus is sharing a very important discipleship truth. If we truly are a disciple of Jesus, He will be our Master. Conversely, if He is our Master, we will truly be an obedient and submissive servant. That’s the relationship of a master and slave. And this is the relationship of a disciple. There are many who confess they are Christians but how many are disciples?

Half the parables Jesus told were about servants, which the people understood, because servants and slaves were part of the culture at that time. Paul and other disciples of Christ confessed that they were slaves of Christ. It’s the Greek word doulos and means “one who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another, his will altogether consumed in the will of the other.”

How does this affect us in the home? Much of what we need to do in our homes each day are duties and obligations. To keep a home running smoothly and efficiently and to keep a family fed and nourished takes time, planning, and work. Often it is the same thing every day.

Life is spiced with adventures and parties, but the foundation is duty. It’s how the world keeps going.

Can we accept our duties with joy? Let’s see them as what they really are—productive, powerful, and impacting lives and generations to come. It’s often the mundane, habitual things of life that add up to being powerful.

Can we say with Luke 17:10: “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”

Matthew 24:46: “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find SO DOING.”  Do you notice this word? It’s doing! Nor vacillating. Not dreaming. Not putting aside the task in front of you, but facing it head on.

Will the Lord find you “doing your duty” when He comes?

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear God, please save me from being a spiritual baby. I want to get my teeth into the meat of God’s Word. Please enlighten me as I read Your Word. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’m embracing all my duties and doing them with joy.

DUTY’S PATH
No Longer Pleasing Ourselves
Part 3

BEAR WITH THE FAILINGS OF THE WEAK

Romans 15:1: “We then that are strong ought (it is our duty) to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”

It’s easy to pass by those who are weak and struggling as we get on with our own busy lives with all our visions and projects. But God wants us to take time for the weak and fainthearted—to invite them to our homes, to bear them up, to encourage, and hold them up.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 exhorts us to “comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.” This certainly takes forgetting about our own interestes and reaching out with hospitality, forbearance, and love.

WASH ONE ANOTHER’S FEET

You know the incident of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet which is a picture of servanthood and willingly choosing the lowly place. Although Jesus was God and came from the glory of eternity, He was always willing to take the humble position.

He reminded His disciples that the one who serves is the greatest in the kingdom of God. Therefore, after He washed their feet, He said to them, and to you and me: “Ye call me Master and Lord: and you say well; for so I am. If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet: ye also ought (it is your duty) to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:13-15).

When living in Australia, my dear friend, Val Stares asked us all to their home for a meal. It was raining and because they were building, it was a muddy path to their front door. But as we walked in the door, there was Val with her apron on and a big basin of warm soapy water to wash our feet as we arrived. And not only to wash our feet, but to welcome us with love and blessing.

We need to constantly remind ourselves of the attitude God wants us to have to one another. Take a moment to read these Scriptures about servanthood: Matthew 20:26-28; 23:11; Mark 10:43-45; Luke 7:28; 22:24-27; and Philippians 2:5-8.

THANK GOD FOR ONE ANOTHER

Paul writes to the Thessalonians believers in 2 Thessalonians 1:3 and 2:13: “We are bound (we have a duty) to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”

I think this is something we often forget to do, isn’t it? I feel guilty as I think how often I forget. If we thanked God more often for specific brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, we’d be reminded more of special things to do for them, to encourage them, and to spur them on in the faith. May God save us from getting so taken up with our selfish lives that we forget to thank God for other believers who are part of our lives.

Years ago I remember God speaking to me very powerfully. I was walking over the doorstep into my home when I heard God speak strongly to my heart, “Nancy, how can I reveal to you the needs of others if you are always thinking about yourself?” What a powerful question. We need to give God room in our hearts and minds for others. If our minds are totally taken up with thinking about ourselves, how will we have room to think of other people, to thank God for them, and bless and encourage them?

Wouldn’t it be great to take on the challenge of thinking of one extra person each day? To thank God for them and to think of something special we could do to encourage them. Either give them a call, send them a card, write them a loving message, or listen closely to the Holy Spirit for some specific thing He wants us to do for them.

Can you stop for a moment now and thank of someone for whom you are grateful? Pray for them. Ask God for something specific you could do for them.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, please save me from always thinking about myself. Help me to make it a habit to think of others and their needs. Please show me how I can reveal Your love to those who are needy. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’m opening up my heart and mind to think of the needs of others.