ARE YOUR CHILDREN GROWING?

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,
that ye may grow thereby”
(1 Peter 2:2).

We love to see our children growing, don’t we? Right from birth we are excited to see each new development. It is so rewarding to see our daughters grow up to be graceful women of God and our sons to be strong young men who really know how to be men! All my sons are over six’ and my oldest son grew to 6’ 8.” Now all the grandsons are well over 6’ and one is also 6’ 8”. And what about the granddaughters? Yes, I even have granddaughters who are 6’3”, 6’2”, 6’1” and 6”! We are a land of giants!

However, we don’t only want to see them grow in physical stature but in spiritual stature. This is our greatest vision and longing, isn’t it?

Reading about Samuel I notice how the Bible records the PROGRESSION of his growth. God does not want our children to become stagnant but continually grow in the Lord.

HE GREW

1 Samuel 2:21 says: “And the child Samuel grew before the Lord.” The phrase “before the LORD” in the King James Version means “in the presence of the Lord.” The HCSB and ESV and other versions translate it: “The boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.” Don’t those words get to you? They certainly challenge me. It is not enough for our children to grow up in our presence. They must grow up in the presence of the Lord.

I love the Young’s Literal translation which states: “And the youth Samuel groweth up with Jehovah.” He grew up with God. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t this what we want for our children?

Motherhood is far more than feeding and clothing our children. It is creating an atmosphere where the presence of God reigns in our home. Our children should feel and be aware of the presence of the Lord. It’s in this atmosphere that they “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

HE GREW ON

2 Samuel 2:26 says: “And the child Samuel grew on and was in favor both with the LORD, and with men.” Isn’t this a wonderful testimony? He continued growing on, physically and spiritually. I am sure this is your vision for your children too.

HE GREW AND THE LORD WAS WITH HIM

1 Samuel 3:19: “And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.” Oh, that our children will grow up knowing the power and presence of the Lord with them in every aspect of their lives. This is the ultimate vision for our parenting.

Of course, you know the story of how God came to Samuel and spoke to him in the night (1 Samuel 3:1-21). The historian Josephus says that Samuel would have been about twelve years old when God called him and spoke to him about Eli and his sons. It’s interesting that Jesus was also twelve years old when his parents found him “in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luke 2:46, 47).

Are we raising our children for maturity? Are they familiar with hearing the voice of God? Are your twelve-year- olds keen to discuss the truths and doctrines of God’s word? As we notice their physical growth, we should also see their spiritual growth. I am amazed that so many adult Christians don’t even know God’s Word. They cannot even recite basic Scriptures.

How will our children become used to hearing the voice of God through His Word if we don’t read it to them daily in our family devotions time? How will they know the truths of God’s Word if we don’t encourage them to also read it personally every day and listen for God to speak to them?

Let’s raise children who are not only physically growing but spiritually growing up in God. Growing up in the presence of God, growing up hearing His voice, growing up familiar with His Word, and growing up ready to be prayer warriors.

Amen! (With an exclamation mark)!

Blessings to you today, Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, Please help me to inspire and encourage the spiritual growth of my children as much as their physical growth. I know their inner man is even more important than their outer man. I want to help their inner man grow strong. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am preparing good food for my children, both naturally and spiritually.

LET'S SING MORE

"Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
and a two-edged sword in their hand"
(Psalm 149:5, 6).

How much do you sing in your home? This is a real challenge to me. I love to have beautiful worship music playing as I am doing housework or even Above Rubies work. I love to sing with others, but I have to admit I don't sing personally as much as I should. Sometimes I spontaneously sing for joy but I want to do it more.

Singing is one of the ways we release oxytocin which is the "stress relieving" hormone. God, our Creator, understands this, and of course, this is why the Bible is filled with admonitions to sing to the Lord, to sing aloud, to sing for joy, to sing praises, to sing with thanks, and to sing a new song. The Bible couples together "rejoicing and singing," "laughter and singing," and "dancing and singing."

We listen to a lot of music today. It is normal to see young people listening to music with their headphones. But how often do we actually sing? I remember growing up in a little town in New Zealand. Many men walked to work in those days and you could hear them whistling as they walked? We rarely hear whistling today. I loved listening to mother sing as she prepared meals and went about her housework.

I remember my father telling me how that after a hard day's work and evening meal, his parents would hitch the horses to the buggy, and with the family and portable organ, ride off to the neighbors to sing their hearts out together. They had no TV in those days and this is how they enjoyed their evenings. I am sure they got lots of oxytocin.

One of my favorite things to do is to gather people into our home for a hymn sing, especially with those who know the old hymns and sing them with gusto. We do sing a hymn every morning and evening at our Family Devotions and we sing hymns together at our weekly prayer meeting. We sing them with all our hearts. My husband makes sure of that. He grew up in a hymn singing home where they all sang with every bit of breath in their lungs. The boys sang in the cowshed while they milked the cows and could be heard a mile away. My greatest memories are singing with his family (all nine children and spouses) with their mouths open wide and singing in glorious harmony.

Colin and I were in Scotland a few years ago we went to a prayer meeting where these Scottish Christians sang hymns before they prayed. I have never in my life heard such singing and harmonies. There were only about 20 people present but you would have thought there were a thousand people! I'd love to go back to that church and relive it all over again.

I love many of the current worship songs which we sing at our church fellowship on Sunday but I do believe that as we embrace the new, we should not discard the old. I feel sad that many young people today do not know the wonderful old hymns, filled with truth and sound doctrine.

We always give thanks before each meal, but maybe from time to time we should sing graces too. We always sing "Be present at our table Lord . . ." when the whole family comes together. How I love the harmonies when we get to the Amen.

During the days of the tabernacle and the temple, the Levites sang and worshipped the Lord through every morning and evening sacrifice (which is a type for our morning and evening devotions today). We read the description of what happened in King Hezekiah's time: "And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded, and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. . . . Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer (the writers of most of the psalms). And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped" (2 Chronicles 29:27-30).

If you want to eliminate the stress in your home, begin to sing more. Let's all begin to sing more. Sing out loud. Sing as a family. Sing at your Family Devotions together. Plan a night to sing and worship with friends and family. Sing when you give thanks at the table.

And what about this idea? One night you could plan a supper time where you don't talk at the table but only sing. Everyone sings their requests to pass food to them, or whatever they want to say! That could be a fun challenge.

Have a great singing day, Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:
"I thank You dear Father that You are the source of singing. I thank You that You sing over us. You put the desire to sing within us. All Your creation sings. When you created the earth, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Help me to sing more. Help us to become a singing family. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:
I will sing of my Redeemer, And His wondrous love to me.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.aboverubies.org

Scriptures to look up:
Sing OUT LOUD:
Nehemiah 12:42, 43; Psalm 51:14b; 59:16; 81:1; 132:16; 149:5; Isaiah 24:14;
54:1; and Revelation 19:5-7.

Sing a NEW SONG:
Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10; Revelation 5:9; and
14:3.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

"Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel"
(Psalm 78:41).

Can you imagine what would have happened if families had taken a stand for God when the public education system took payer and the Bible out of schools? What if they had taken their children out of the system? The worldly system would soon have had to change their ways. Read Jeremiah 10:25.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if God's people had not limited their families? The land would be filled with righteousness and the image of God. We would have a landslide for righteousness at voting time. Read Psalm 105:24.

Can you imagine what this nation would be like if all God's people would start embracing children instead of aborting and using contraception to stop them coming into the world? The God-fearing people would be a threat to the enemy. They would be an army to be reckoned with instead of being overtaken by the enemy. Read Exodus 1:5-22.

Can you image what would happen in the nation if families gathered around their tables each evening to connect and dialogue together instead of being glued to their iPhones or everyone going their various ways? Families would strengthen and cement together instead of fragmenting. Read Psalm 128.3.

Can you imagine what would happen if Bible-believing families gathered their children together each day to read God's Word to them? Read Psalm 19:7-12 and Psalm 119:165.

Can you imagine what would happen if every Christian household gathered their families together each day, preferably morning and evening to cry out to God for this nation? Is EVERY "Christian" family praying? We can quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 by heart, but do we believe it or do anything about it?

Can you imagine what would happen if people would turn off the Fake News and listen to the voice of God instead? Read Hosea 8:12.

Can you imagine what would happen if every mother began to embrace her divine calling of motherhood and came back to her home to raise God-loving, God-fearing, Bible-adhering, devil-defeating, truth-speaking, holy and upright sons and daughters? Mothers determine the destiny of the nation. Read Judges 5:7 and Titus 2:3-5.

Can you imagine what would have happened in the time of the covid lockdowns and tyrannical mandates if God's people would have not stopped going to church? Can you imagine what could have happened if instead of disobeying God's Word and staying away from their churches God's people had FILLED and over-flowed EVERY church building in this nation? The authorities could have done nothing to the millions standing up for their God and a great move of God would have happened. Instead many hid away and the churches weakened. Some have still not returned to church but rely on zoom meetings. Messages on zoom are good, but they are a counterfeit for "the assembling together" of God's people which we are commanded in God's Word. Read Hebrews 10:25.

Can you imagine if everyone had resisted mask-wearing? Just imagine if everyone had refused to shop at the businesses who demanded it. They would soon have reversed their mandate. This is mainly all forgotten now but at the time most people submitted to tyranny instead of standing for freedom.

It reminds me of the confession of Rahab when the spies came to check out the land. We read in Joshua 2:9-11: "I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt: and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites . . . And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God is heaven above, and in earth beneath."

Rahab gave this testimony 40 years after it happened. Their hearts melted in fear and all courage left them because of the Israelites and yet the Israelites were too fearful to go and possess the land. Now, after all these years, they were still in awe of the Israelites coming!

If only we would get back to God's ways. If only we would believe that God is on our side. Gross darkness of deception and evil is covering the land. It is time for God's people to rise, be bold, and shine with God's glory. (Isaiah 60:1-3).

PRAYER:
"Oh mighty God, please save me from compromising. Please save me from mediocrity, passivity, complacency, neutrality, and lukewarmness. Help me to be strong and very courageous as I stand for Your truth and never cave in.

AFFIRMATION:
Dare to be a Daniel,
Dare to stand alone,
Dare to have a purpose firm,
And dare to make it known!

Be blessed, NANCY CAMPBELL
www.aboverubies.org
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

HOT AND SPICY

"And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast
of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow,
of wines on the lees and well refined"
(Isaiah 25:6).

Some time back I did three podcasts with Erin Harrison called WE LOVE OUR KITCHENS. On the third podcast we talked about how a husband wants nothing more when he comes home than "a warm welcome, a warm meal on the table, and a warm bed (meaning more than an electric blanket)! Of the over 400 podcasts I have produced, it is still one of the most popular podcasts on LIFE TO THE FULL w Nancy Campbell.

However, after doing that podcast, I thought more about it and realized I needed to notch it up further. Instead of a warm welcome, it should really be a . . .

HOT AND SPICY WELCOME

How do you do this? When your husband arrives home, don't just yell Hi from wherever you are. Get up from what you are doing. Go to the door or walk toward your husband and welcome him with open arms and a loving and lingering kiss. Tell him how happy you are to see him. A warm welcome is nice, but a hot and spicy welcome will make him even happier. And set the tone for the whole evening. And did you know that you need to kiss for six seconds to turn on oxytocin?

HOT AND SPICY MEAL

To have a warm meal ready for your husband each night is one of the basic privileges of a wife. Make sure the meal is ready for when your husband gets home. If you are only starting to prepare the meal when he arrives, he will get involved in something else or get stuck in front of the TV and how will you get him to the table?

Instead, you'll be able to say, "Supper will soon be on the table. Should be ready as soon as you have refreshed yourself." He'll smell the lovely aroma of your nutritious meal you have prepared for him and the family. Men love a good hearty, hot meal and we all know the old adage that "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!"

A hearty meal is the main thing, but I like to make it spicy and full of flavor too. Bland food is boring. You may like to try spicing up your food with herbs and spices and if you are up to it, hot peppers too. Basic, wholesome food changes from satisfying to scrumptious when you make it flavorful. God gave us tastebuds. Tantalize those tastebuds. Try out new things.

But there is more to mealtimes than just the food. Spice up your family mealtimes with good conversation. Mealtimes can be terribly boring if there is no purposeful conversation. As I raised our children, I found that it was just as important to think about what we would talk about as what I would cook for the meal. Think of a subject you and your husband can bring to the table to discuss-political, biblical, historical, or geographical. Ask questions and get each one in the family to share their thoughts.

Keep surprising your family at your mealtimes. At least once a week, think of something different to do. You may like to write name cards for each one at the table, not only their name but something special to go with it. For example: Betty, our BEAUTIFUL daughter; Samuel, always SERVING everyone, Fred, you make our family FULL OF FUN, etc. Or you could write a little two-line rhyme for each one.

The other night we had visitors for supper, and we played The Guessing Game. I prepared interesting questions for which they most probably didn't know the answer, but they could guess. Each one had to put up their hand to give their guess and the one who eventually got the number got a little prize. It was open to children and adults, and it was so much fun. I threw out chocolates and little prizes as they got the right answers.

One night you could ask each person to think of something really special and nice to say about the person next to them, each one having a turn around the table. There are so many fun and encouraging ideas to spice up your meal table. 

HOT AND SPICY BED

A warm bed is nice but a hot and spicy one is even better. Go to bedtogether. At the same time as your husband. Don't stay up doing your own thing while he lies in bed alone! Forget being passive and pour out your hot and spicy love on him. He is waiting for it. As you give to him, you will be blessed beyond measure. Proverbs 5:19 tells us that the wife is to "satisfy" and "ravish" her husband. Yes, that's King James language. Other translations say "captivate, delight, exhilarate, enrapture, infatuate, and intoxicate." Wow, we can't get off the hook. It's Bible language!

PRAYER:

"Dear Father God, I don't want to be a boring wife and mother. Please help me to think of exciting ideas to make life fun and inspiring for my husband and my family.

AFFIRMATION:

I'm moving out of the boring life into the exciting and exhilarating.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Link for WE LOVE OUR KITCHENS, Part 3.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/183665/9944028