WHY DO THEY HATE IT?

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh”
(Genesis 2:24).

Fatherhood is the very essence of God and He wants His fatherhood represented to the world through man. God reveals His plan for fathering and mothering in the very beginning of the Bible. Genesis 2:24 is the first Scripture to use the word father, before anyone had ever seen a father and mother!

We go over to the New Testament and Paul prays: “I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” (Ephesians 3:14). Every family finds its source in the fatherhood of God.

The Greek word for family in this passage is patria from the root word pater which is the word for father. Everything that is called after the Father belongs to, or springs from Him. Oh, how the feminists hate this! They hate the word patriarchy which comes from pater.

This is the ridiculous deception of feminism. They hate their origin. They hate who they are because they hate God who is their source. They hate their femininity and motherhood which is their highest destiny. And yet they could not be in this world without a natural father, and of course, their Heavenly Father who is the only One who gives conception and who planned their gender and destiny.

When I have been interviewed by secular TV, I notice that they always gravitate to the so-called evils of patriarchy. Sadly, they see it from a distorted view rather than the heart of God for the blessing of the world.

We know that many harbor this hatred because of hurts they have received from their own fathers or from other men in their lives. This is all the work of the enemy. Satan hates fathering and mothering because it is how God wants to reveal Himself on this earth and he hates every plan of God. Therefore, he constantly attacks these powerful roles to distort them and tread them down.

That’s why we must continually pray the promise of Malachi 4:5 that “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” God’s ultimate plan is that fathers reveal His beautiful Father heart to their families and the world, just as God wants His female creation to reveal His maternal heart to their children and to the world.

Jesus was one with the Father. He was the Beloved Son of His Father, and the Father was His Beloved Father. And yet in His most amazing mercy He wants to share His Beloved Father with us. That’s why He left the glory of Heaven to come to this earth, shed His blood, and pour out His life for us—to save us and share His Father with us for eternity.

After Jesus had risen from the dead, He said to Mary: “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). Have you ever read anything so incredible? Jesus tells us that He wants His Father to be our Father. He wants to share His glorious and eternal Father with us.

Would you like to share your father? Maybe we would be too selfish to do that. And yet Jesus wants us to experience His Father. When we know Him, we understand what fatherhood is all about.

While Satan and all his cohorts are pulling down fatherhood and motherhood, let’s raise up these roles to be mighty in the nation. When we do this, we reveal God in the earth and we bring God’s blessing to the nation.

Be encouraged. Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Thank you, dear Father, that it was Your plan to create fatherhood and motherhood. It is Your plan for the way we are to live in this world, and You do not have an alternative plan. Please help my husband and me to show forth Your divine fathering and mothering to our families. Help us to exalt these roles in the midst of this distorted world. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I love what God loves and therefore I embrace and love the roles of fatherhood and motherhood.

THE ONE TENTH COMPANY

“In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you”
(1 Thessalonians 5:18).

When Jesus came into a village between Galilee and Samaria, he met ten people with leprosy. They stood at a distance, as all lepers had to do, and cried out to Jesus to have mercy on them. Of course, Jesus responded with compassion and said to them: “Go and show yourselves to the priests and as they went they were healed!” How amazing this must have been—to suddenly look down and see all their leprosy disappearing.

But what is even more amazing is that only one bothered to return to Jesus and thank Him. When this man saw that he was healed, he “turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.” But then Jesus asked: “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” Read the whole story in Luke 17:11-19.

I wonder how often Jesus still asks this question today? “Where are the nine? This story has always challenged me. I certainly don’t want to belong to the nine tenths company, do you?

It’s important to regularly check that we belong to the right company. Do we belong to this company who are constantly grateful and thankful for all God’s goodness to us? Not just the big things, but even the little things? Or do we belong to the nine tenths company who take all the blessings and forget to thank Him?

Let’s cultivate being thankful—thankful for the provision of a home, for our husbands, for the children God has given us, and for all the little things that happen all around us every moment of the day, especially if we look for them.

I love to make it my habit to thank my Savior, Jesus Christ, every day, for His great salvation and for the sacrifice He made to leave the glory of eternity to come to this world to die for me. How can I ever thank Him enough? I don’t want to miss one day. Every sacrifice on the altar in the Old Testament looked toward Calvary, when Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, took away the sins of the world. There is no longer any need for sacrifices to be made, but now I love to look back to Calvary and never be guilty of unthankfulness for my great redemption.

Let’s also cultivate this habit in our children too. Encourage a lifestyle of thankfulness. Never forgetting to say “Yes, thank you” and “No, thank you.” Do they thank you for cooking your meal each night? That’s a good habit for them too, especially as sons grow up to be husbands. My husband reminds everyone each evening to thank me for preparing the meal.

Are you teaching your children to be grateful when you, or their siblings or anyone else, does some little thing for them and to immediately respond with thanks? Are you creating a lifestyle of thankfulness in your home?

Colossians 2:6, 7 says: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith . . . abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Most versions of the Bible translate this Scripture “overflowing in thankfulness (or gratitude).” The word abounding in the Greek is perisseuo. It literally means “superabounding, excessively, abundantly, enough and to spare, over and above.” It’s a word that means far above the normal. Over the top. Are you an “over the top” family in thankfulness?

I wonder how many times you say Thank You throughout the day. Is your home filled with each one thanking one another?

If course, not everything is always going to be going our way. Everyone of us face challenging and difficult times. Do we still keep thanking. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tell us: “In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Do you want to e in the will of God? Then we must thank God in every circumstance.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, You are worthy of my thanks. Help me to be a thankful person and to teach my famiily to be thankful. May it become the habit of our lives and please save us from being a family that belongs to the “nine tenths company.” Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I now belong to the one-tenth company who daily overflow with thankfulness!

REFRESHING WATER,
Part 2

“For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters”
(Revelation 7:17).

Not only does our Shepherd lead us to lush pastures but to refreshing water. Verse 2 in the NET states: “He leads me to refreshing water.”

It’s not murky water. Sheep will not drink from muddy water. They won’t drink from fast waters. They must be pure and still. The Berean Study Bible says: “He leads me beside quiet waters.”

As the mother shepherd in your home, to what kind of waters are you leading your children? Many mothers allow their children to drink from the fast waters of their Internet games and social media. Children today are constantly watching flashing images which are not intended for our little lambs and growing sheep who we are to lead to still and refreshing waters. I believe they disturb their brains. 

The KJV says: “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” The word green in the Hebrews means “tender grass. It doesn’t give them brain indigestion. The word ‘pastures” is the Hebrew word na’ah which is one of the words for the home. It means a dwelling place, a house, a pleasant place.” We lead our children to pleasant places and quiet waters.

Isaiah 32:18 is a beautiful description of home life: “And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” This is the atmosphere for learning and development rather than the constant stimulation of video games that take over the lives of so many young people.

It is the task of the shepherd to find the best food and environment for his sheep. It is also the job of the shepherdess mother to create the right environment for her children to learn and grow in knowledge and the ways of the Lord.

Water in the Bible speaks of the cleansing of God’s Word and also the outpouring of His Holy Spirit.

John 15:3: “Now ye are CLEAN THROUGH THE WORD that I have spoken unto you.”

Ephesians 5:26: “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the WASHING OF THE WATER BY THE WORD.”

Isaiah 44:3: “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I WILL POUR MY SPIRIT UPON THY SEED, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” What a wonderful promise to pray over your children every day.

John 7:38, 39: “He that believeth in me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow RIVERS OF LIVING WATER (But this spake he of the HOLY SPIRIT.)

Make sure you lead your children to God’s Word each day. They not only need to wash their physical bodies but also their inner man.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, Please help me to make my home a refreshing spring and where my children will be daily cleansed by the pure water of Your word. I long for them to grow up clean and pure and not tainted by the evils of this world. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I want my home to be a river of pure water, not a muddy spring.