Proverbs 14:11, “The tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.”

We continue God’s description of our homes. He wants them to be…

FLOURISHING AND FRUITFUL,

“Like gardens by the riverside.” Numbers 24:6, Isaiah 58:11

There is nothing more delightful to the eye than a beautiful flower garden. There is nothing more satisfying to the soul than a flourishing vegetable garden. A garden gives pleasure, but it also provides sustenance. God wants our homes to be a delightful place to live and a wholesome place for our children to grow and for our husband to return each evening. Who is the one who can make it a delightful?  It is the mother of the home, of course.

In Ezekiel 19:10 NLT God likens mothers to “a vine planted by the water’s edge” with “lush, green foliage because of the abundant water.”  Psalm 128:3 NLT gives us the same picture - “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine, flourishing within your home. And look at all those children! There they sit around your table as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees.”  Growth is not enough. We must also be fruitful. What is the good of a plant that grows prolifically and yet produces no fruit? 

Can you see God’s picture for your home? A garden where the fruits of the Holy Spirit grow in abundance – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)  A life-giving garden, not only to those in the home, but providing nourishment and healing to those outside the home.  A garden where the fruit of the womb is received with joy – new olive shoots sprouting up to bring more life and blessing to the home.  Isaiah 44:4 promises that our children will “spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses.” The allegory in Ezekiel 19:10-14 tells us that we should have a funeral dirge when the fruit “dries up”.

This all sounds like a nice dream. But let’s get to reality. How can we produce this fruitful garden? God gives us the secret. We have to live close to the water! It’s the water that produces a flourishing garden. You can have the best soil and the best plants. You can be the most industrious gardener, but without water the garden will die. My big garden is flourishing, but it takes a lot of watering. It usually takes me over an hour to water my garden each evening. We have also planted a number of fruit trees on our land, but there is one tree that is bigger and greener than all the others. I wondered why until I realized that this tree is planted near the water tap. Every few days I give a drink to all the trees, but this tree constantly receives water – and so it flourishes.

In God’s Word, He likens water to two different things – the cleansing power of God’s Word (John 15:3, 17:17; Ephesians 5:26; 1 Peter 1:22) and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. (Isaiah 44:3-4; John 4:14; John 7:38-39; Acts 2:17) We can’t make our homes flourish by our own strength or our own intelligence. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit. I am looking forward to the day when I can get soaker hoses for my garden. This will save me a lot of valuable time but it is also the best way to keep the garden watered.

Mothers, to keep our home flourishing, we need to daily soak ourselves in the Word and in the Holy Spirit. You may not have time to have long Quiet Times when you have little children around, but you can read a few verses when you are nursing the baby. Put your Bible on your windowsill, opened at Psalms or Proverbs so you can read a verse here and there as you are doing the dishes. Have a Bible on the table and one in the bathroom. These moments will keep you nourished and cleansed. 

When we receive Jesus Christ into our lives, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us. Don’t quench the Holy Spirit. Allow Him free reign in your heart, in every area of your marriage, and in every room of your home. As you keep a soft and yielding heart, He will come like the dew to refresh you each morning. As you cry out to Him with a thirsty heart, He will come to you like the rain, bringing cleansing and new growth.

Keep the garden of your home well watered.

LOVE FROM NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Father, I don’t want my home to be a dried up garden. I want it to flourish with fruitfulness. Open my heart to fruitfulness.  I know it can only happen as I live by the water. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Fill me to overflowing. Teach me how to live in the Holy Spirit instead of living in the flesh. Thank you, Lord. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

Numbers 24:5, “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!”

“What a lovely home you have,” people remark when they enter a well built home with lovely décor. Beauty and exquisite furnishings always inspire me, but there is something greater than the outward appearance. God is more interested in the atmosphere of the home than the arrangements. He is more interested in the sweetness of His presence than the surroundings. He is more interested in our homes being dedicated to His glory than being filled with expensive décor.

Do you remember when King Balak of Moab called for Balaam to curse Israel? Balaam came, but instead of cursing, every time he opened his mouth, He prophesied blessing over Israel. In his third prophecy, as he looked out over the tents of Israel, he exclaimed, “How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob: how lovely are your homes, O Israel.” (NLT)

These words were prophetic, for the children of Israel did not live in spacious mansions – they lived in tents! These words described God’s heart and His vision for the families of Israel. They also portray God’s vision for our homes. He wants them to be filled with the beauty of His peace, the loveliness of His presence, and the joy and laughter of family togetherness. Listen to the beautiful imagery in verse 6 as He continues to describe what He wants our homes to be like – “Like valleys that stretch out, like gardens by the riverside, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters.”

Have you ever read such a beautiful description? Let’s look at it more closely. God wants our homes to be…

FAR REACHING – “Like valleys that stretch out.”

God has a big vision for our families. He has an on-going vision. He wants to enlarge our vision to see like He sees. He wants to take us from our selfish vision of “me, my husband, our two children and we are quite happy like we are” to the vision of Isaiah 54:2-3, “Stretch out the curtains of your habitations; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations…” He wants godly families to fill the streets, fill the neighborhoods, fill the nations, and fill the earth with His glory. Rather than being the minority, God wants His people to increase and overtake the world.

Valleys encompass a river or rivers and continue to spread out to the sea or to a lake. They are the watercourses of the mountains, which is the actually Hebrew meaning of this phrase in the Scripture. Because of this they are always green and fertile. I think of the longest river on our continent, the Mississippi, which is 2,348 miles long.  It starts from little Lake Itasca in Minnesota – a small stream winding its way through lakes and marshes. But it continues to enlarge. From St. Paul to the mouth of the Missouri River it grows in force to become a powerful dominating river. After it is joined by the Missouri and Ohio rivers it swells to full might and grandeur – often 1½ miles from bank to bank.

We are all interested in our family tree. What about a family river? Each new marriage starts as a little stream. God blesses and children are added to the family. The children grow in the ways of the Lord and touch many lives for God’s kingdom - the river flows with life and vitality. The children get married and grandchildren come along. The river widens and influences more and more people for the kingdom of God.  Great-grandchildren are born and the ever-widening and deepening river becomes a mighty torrent, flowing with salvation, truth, love, and joy and healing to a hurting and barren world. Ezekiel 47:9 tells us that everything lives where the river flows.

Sadly, there are many streams that die out before they become a mighty river. They start with a name, but the name does not continue down the generations. We have found that it is not as easy as you think to pass on the family name. Currently, we have 18 grandchildren, but we had to wait for our 15th grandbaby to have a grandson that would carry on the Campbell family name!

Have you got God’s vision for your family? Are you only thinking of the present, or do you have a vision for the future? When God spoke to the patriarchs of old, He also spoke to their children and the children who were yet to be born. He saw the future generations in their loins. You can read of one example in Genesis 17:7-10. When speaking to Abraham God says these words, “you and your descendants after you…” But He didn’t say them only once – He repeated them five times to make sure Abraham got the message that God’s vision was not only for him but for the continuing generations.  

Dear mother, enlarge your vision. Don’t limit your family to a trickling stream. See your family becoming a mighty flowing river, taking life and healing to the nations and down the generations.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh God, save me from my narrow vision. When I become inward looking, remind me of your great vision to fill the earth with your glory. Help me to see our family becoming a mighty river, flowing through the nation with your light, joy, love and salvation.  Lord, I cannot do this in my own strength. I am dry and thirsty and barren. Please, fill me with your Holy Spirit, Pour your Spirit upon me. Pour your Spirit upon our children. Pour your Spirit upon our home so that we can pour out your love to the world. Thank you, Lord. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION: 

By God’s grace, our family will not become a dried up creek bed, but a mighty flowing and ever enlarging river to bring life and healing to the nations.

 

John 3:31, “He that comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.”

Recently my family put on a 60th birthday for me. When people arrived, they were given a questionnaire to fill in regarding information about my life. One of the questions was, “How many languages does she speak?” It was a trick question, because I have to confess, to my shame, that I only speak English. If I had my life over again, I would change that. I feel ashamed when I travel to other countries and mix with people who speak five or six languages. I remember staying with a family in Malaysia. Between them, the husband and wife spoke more than six languages in which they constantly talked to their children. Consequently their young children fluently spoke six languages.

However, more importantly than speaking many languages, is that we speak the right language! There are thousands of languages and dialects in the world, but there are only two categories to which they all belong – the language of earth and the language of heaven!

There is a vernacular that belongs to the kingdom of Satan and a completely different one that belongs to the kingdom of God.

When we are born again into the kingdom of God, we must learn the language of this new kingdom. It is a language of love and purity. It is a language of truth. It confesses the truth of God’s principles, even if it is the opposite to how we feel. It speaks divine truth, even if it is opposite to what the rest of the world is saying. It aligns with God.

Now please don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about speaking religious-sounding words that don’t relate to life. They are phony. They are religiousity, not reality.

God’s language is real. It is part of the nitty-gritty of life. It speaks truth, in plain words, in the midst of humanistic deception. It speaks wisdom in the midst of man’s foolishness. It talks love in the midst of hate. It retaliates with blessing when abused, persecuted and mistreated. It rings with praises to the Lord instead of groaning and grumbling. It talks faith in the midst of doubt and delusion.

We don’t learn to speak this language immediately. It takes time because it is totally opposite to the way we used to speak. We have to practice it. It will not feel natural at first, but we keep speaking it in faith until it becomes natural.

Philippians 3:20 says, “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  The King James Version uses the word ‘conversation’. ‘Citizenship’ and ‘conversation’ are linked. Citizens of heaven will speak the language of heaven. 

As Jews from all over the world make aliyah to Israel, they immediately have to go to an Ulpan to learn Hebrew, the language of their new country. It is mandatory.

We have had to learn many new words since coming from New Zealand to live in America.  We used to say ‘nappies’, now we say ‘diapers’.  We used to say ‘dummy’, now we say ‘pacifier’. We used to say ‘pushchair’, but now we say ‘stroller’. Instead of talking about the ‘boot’ of a car, we now call it the ‘trunk! And so it goes on and on. Bill Bryson in his book, “Mother Tongue” says that there are some 40,000 words that are different in American English to British English. I can believe it.

Which language are you speaking? Are you still speaking the old language that belongs to Satan’s kingdom – the lingo of doubt, defeat, dread and deception? Or do you speak the language of your citizenship – words of love, joy, peace, praise and faith?

1 John 4:5-6 says, “They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God: He who knows God hears us: he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

Make it your aim to become fluent in your new language – the language of heaven. Your speech will expose to which kingdom you belong.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh God, please touch my lips with your heavenly fire. Cleanse my lips. Purify my speech. Teach me your language. Lord, I belong to a heavenly country. Help me to speak the language of this country. Amen.”

QUOTE:

Isaiah 3:9, “The show of their countenance doth witness against them.” Or here is a more modern translation - MLB,  “The expression of their faces witnesses against them.”

Most mornings two of my daughters, Evangeline and Serene, join me for our one-hour morning walk. We walk fast but we talk fast as well.

One morning I asked them the question, “How can we have a heavenly atmosphere in our homes?”

“Wear a happy face,” Evangeline immediately answered.

I didn’t expect that answer, but it was a good one. The face we wake up with will determine the atmosphere in our home for the day. Even if you are feeling depressed, it is important to put on a happy face – for your children and for your husband.

“But that’s not being real,” you answer.

I guess that depends on whether you prefer to give into your feelings or live by the power of Christ who lives within you! There are some who think that reality is living according to how you feel. This is actually deception. True reality is Galatians 2:20 – not living according to the dictates of my flesh or my emotions, but by faith, living the life of Christ who lives in me.

You will be amazed how your actions can change the way you feel.  Perhaps you have been up all night with the baby. You feel tired. Put on a happy face anyway. Smile at your husband. Smile at each of your children. You’ll begin to feel better right away. Yes, you will. Just try it.

Perhaps you are in a negative mood. Everything is going wrong and self-pity is taking over. It’s already showing on your face! Stop. Look up to the Lord and smile at Him. Thank Him for your blessings. Thank Him that He is near you and will never leave you or forsake you. Now show your happy face to your children. Your gloominess will soon leave.

A downcast face will lock you into your tiredness or anxiety. A happy face will ignite a spark of joy in your heart.

A miserable face will sink you into self-pity. Put on a smile, even if it is the last thing you feel like doing, and you will feel your heavy burden lift.

Proverbs 15:13 says, “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance.” The MLB says, “A happy heart makes the face look sunny.”

I like Proverbs 15:15 in the Living Bible, “When a man is gloomy, everything seems to go wrong; when he is cheerful, everything seems right!”

And what about Proverbs 17:22 in the Good News Bible? “ Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is slow death to be gloomy all the time.” Gloominess not only brings death to you, but to your whole family. It casts a shadow over your home.

Dear mother, just as you look to the Lord and are changed into His image, so your children look to you and their lives are affected by your countenance. (Wow, that is a powerful truth!) Yes, they will grow to be like your countenance. I know you have heard the expression, “Looks can kill!” The expression on your face can bring death or life to your home.

A smiling face and a positive attitude can become part of your life. Make it a habit. Show it by example to your children. Don’t allow your children to get into moods, to be grumpy, or to pout! We never allowed this for one second in our children and they don’t battle with any of these attitudes today.

Last Sunday Evangeline arrived at our home after church. She had a breast infection and had such a high fever that she could no longer feel her fingers. She could hardly walk but she still confessed that she was “terrific” even though she was wiped out with the fever! She had never learned the habit of being miserable.

Dear nation changer, put on a happy face, and change the atmosphere of your home.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“O Lord, I look up to you and behold your face. I want to be changed into your image. I want to be changed from glory to glory. Shine the light of your countenance upon me so that it will shine from my face to my children. Help me to remember that there is a higher truth than my feelings. It is the truth of your life in me, and this is the life I want to live.  Thank you, Lord. Amen.”

QUOTE: