PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 128: WHO ARE YOU AS A MOTHER?

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 128: 

Who Are You As A Mother?

We have two powerful anointings as mothers. We are gentle and caring as we reveal our nurturing and mothering anointing. But we are also roaring mama bears as we protect our familiesand stand guard against the enemy. I talk about these anointings, and then we move on to discover the Scriptures about God as a “a man of war,” and the “mighty warrior.”

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Always lovely to be with you again. Today I'd like to talk to you about two aspects of motherhood. First thing, let me take you to John's description of Jesus in Revelation.

In Revelation, chapter 5, John is looking into the heavenly realm. Let's read verse two. “And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the Book, and to loose the seals thereof?' And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the Book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the Book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, 'Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the Book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.' And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb...” A Lamb. “. . . a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.”

Now this is an amazing description, because when they proclaimed: “We found the One who can open the Book,” what did they say He was? “The Lion of the tribe of Judah.” But when John looked, he didn't see a Lion. What did he see? He saw a Lamb. “A Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

It is so true. Jesus is both the Lion and the Lamb. He is the Lamb Who came into this world to take away our sins. John the Baptist proclaimed that: “Behold, the Lamb of God, Which takes away the sins of the world!”

But Jesus is also the Lion. He is the One Who roars. There will come a time when Jesus Christ, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, will arrive. In this time of grace, He has such longsuffering and patience as He waits for all men to come to repentance—for  that is God's heart, that all will come to repentance.

But there comes a time in history when He can wait no longer. And He rises up as a man of war. He rises up as a Lion, and He begins to roar. And He begins to go to battle, and to bring all into subjection unto Him.

But as we look at this, and as we see in Christ both the Lion and the Lamb, we see that also in our role as mothers. Because God inherently created us, as women, to have a nurturing anointing. Every one of us who are created female, we have from God, divinely from God, this nurturing anointing. We love to mother. It's just who we are as females. Not one female can get away from it.

Oh yes, there are so many in this society who have turned from motherhood. We have such a big feminist movement in our society today who have turned from motherhood, and that beautiful nurturing anointing. They think they don't have it. They think they've thrown it away.

But no, they can't get away from it. You look at those who refuse to have anything to do with children, who don't even want their own children. You will find that they will be mothering some kind of pet. They'll have a little dog. They'll have a little cat. They will have something they can mother. They may refuse to mother children from their womb, but they have to mother, because it's in them instinctively. It is in every female. This is the most beautiful anointing that is upon us, as women, this nurturing anointing.

It's not just something that we have, “Oh yes, this is us.” No, it's God-like. It comes from God Himself, because God is the Nurturer, and He's the One Who created the female to reveal to the world this aspect of Who He is.

We see this in one of the Names of God. God has many names and every name reveals another aspect of His character. One name is not enough to reveal all Who God is.

One of the beautiful salvation Names of God is El Shaddai. El meaning, “might and power and omnipotence.” Shaddai. This is a beautiful word that reveals a picture of God Himself as a nursing mother, one who wants to gather us in His arms, to comfort to us, to minister to us, and to nurture us.

This is Who God is. It's one of the aspects of His character that is to be revealed, for we are the image of God. Male and female are the image of God. God created male to reveal God in different ways, but He gave us this privilege, this beautiful privilege, to reveal the mother anointing of God.

It is such a beautiful thing to embrace, dear lovely wives and mothers. You may be in the thick of your mothering, and oh, just trying to care for all your children. Sometimes you just do it, because suddenly, not suddenly, but one by one, all these little ones have been added. And here you are with them.

But have you ever embraced who you are? Have you embraced this mother anointing? Because this is who you are. Every one of us have gifts from God. We can do different things. We have different gifts, different abilities. But mothering is actually who we are, who we were created to be.

If we just get rid of all societal programming and educational programming in our brains, if all that is taken away, well then, we get back to bedrock. And we know who we are. We have this nurturing anointing. It is beautiful. It is tender. It is mother-like. It is God-like. As we embrace it, we enter into the fullness of all we are meant to be as females.

I encourage you today, don't just do your mothering, Don't just get through every day. But embrace who you are, because you will find that when you embrace it, you walk in the joy of it, the fullness of it, all that God wants you to walk in.

I think, I always think this thought, “How sad to go through life, and not fulfill what you were born for.” Whatever you do in life, you were born to mother.

Maybe you are listening and you are not even married. Or perhaps you haven't been able to give birth to children. You are no less a mother! You have this nurturing anointing within you! Embrace it, and begin to reach out and nurture needy and lost souls and whoever God puts upon your heart. For whatever aspect you are in, whatever your situation, you are a mother.

Now, if you have children all around you, wow! You are really in the midst of it! But you won't even come into the fullness of it until you embrace it.

EVERY MOTHER LOVES HER CHILDREN BUT NOT EVERY MOTHER LOVES MOTHERHOOD

I often say to mothers, “Every mother loves her children, but not every mother loves motherhood.” This is the secret. I know you love your children. But there's something more. It's loving and embracing motherhood. For when you do that, you come into a whole new realm.

MOTHERHOOD TAKES COURAGE AND STRENGTH

Now, OK, we are, we have this beautiful, gentle, nurturing anointing. But, ladies, we do also have a lion-like anointing within us. Yes, God has put that in women too. We are not just little wimps! No, we are not! In fact, I often say, motherhood is not for wimps! It takes courage. It takes strength. It takes everything you've got to be a mother.

But you know, we see this, this other anointing, just as we see it in Christ, the Lamb, Who submitted Himself to the cross—but also the Lion, Who is the King. And so, we also see that in mothering.

We see it, even in the beautiful anointing of breastfeeding. When a mother is nursing her baby, she has these hormones. God is so incredible. Every breastfeeding mother has hormones that God gives to her, to help her in her mothering.

She has oxytocin. Oh, how I love that hormone! It's called the calming hormone, the bliss hormone, the love hormone. It has so many adjectives, because it's that glorious hormone that just brings such a calming to us.

God gives that to the nursing mother. When she puts the baby to the breast, the milk lets down, and oxytocin begins to work. Oh, and she's just feels that, ohhh, that sort of calming come all over her. That's why sometimes when you're nursing, you just drop off to sleep! You get sleepy! It's oxytocin and it's God refreshing you, even for those few minutes when you're nursing, so you can get up again and face the fray! It is so beautiful.

God also gives prolactin to the nursing mother. That is such a powerful hormone. It's a love hormone, too, but it's a very, very, strong hormone. It makes a mother become very, very protective. She can even become ferocious in protecting her child. It's a very protecting hormone.

They've done studies on animals in the wild who are nursing their young. They've found, while they're nursing their young, if any other animal comes near them, or maybe even comes to attack them, they will go into attack mode to save their little one. Because it's that protecting hormone.

I noticed this once when we had a little cat. It was just a wild cat. Out here in the country, it's kind of good to have a cat, because as it gets colder, the mice start to come in. It's great if you have a micer.

Well, we don't usually have one, unfortunately, because my husband doesn't really like cats around. He doesn't like them inside, because they scratch the furniture. Actually recently, I did pray upon him, and we did get another little kitten. Sadly, it didn't last long and got run over.

But back a few years, well many years ago, we had this little kitten. This little kitten, it had kittens. So my husband said, “OK we can't have all these kittens around. You'll have to get rid of them.”

Back in those days, you could go and stand outside Walmart, and hold your little kittens, and people would take them. So I did that, but I kept one. This kitten, she was really still not much of a cat. She was just a wiry, skinny little thing. But she was nursing this kitten, the last one that she had, because the others were given away.

Anyway, she just kept nursing this kitten. The weeks went by and I didn't stop her. She just kept on, and this little kitten of hers began to grow sleek and fat. I was just amazed at how beautifully this little kitten grew.

One day Pearl came by. Her children were little then, and she said, “Mum, we're going away. Can you look after our dog?”  I said, “Yes, no problem.” So they bring the dog in, and off they go. We wave good-bye.

Well, it wasn't long, and all of a sudden, there was barking and meowing and hissing and wow! What is happening? This dog and cat were fighting! I thought, “My, what has happened?” Anyway, we managed to separate them, tie the dog up, and things went back to normal. So we had to keep this dog tied up.

Next day, Serene walked over for a little visit. She had with her a little puppy. Well! It was hardly a few moments, and fighting began again! Barking and hissing and meowing and screaming, and whoo, I thought, “This cat has got rabies! What's happened to it?”

Oh my, it was just terrible! So we eventually separated this cat and dog. Serene went home with her dog, and things went back to normal again.

Oh, I was wondering about this kitten! What happened? Well, the next day, Serene came over again, minus her dog. We were sitting outside, having a cup of tea, and I looked over and there was this kitten, just so calmly nursing her little kitten,

Suddenly I realized, “Of course! No wonder she is fighting every dog that comes near! She's got prolactin! She is fighting to protect her little kitten. And look out, any other animal that comes near!” It was so powerfully expressed in this situation.

Anyway, time went on. Of course, she weaned this other kitten and when prolactin was gone, every dog in the neighborhood would turn up, as they do out here in the country, and she never even sort of hardly lifted her eye. It was only when she had the prolactin.

That's rather amazing, isn't it? But God has, not only while we are breastfeeding, no. We also have this protective anointing that we will rise up and fight against anyone, or anything, that would hurt our children, in the physical, and in the spiritual. ecause, if we are walking with God, dear mothers, we will also be watching in the spiritual realm. We'll be watching things that can come into our homeor that can begin to affect our children. We will rise up to fight against the enemy.

Often, it's not flesh and blood we're fighting, but we're fighting principalities and powers. We have to fight in prayer. Dear mother, we have these two things as mothers. I want you to know today that you have both of them, and embrace both of them.

Yes, you have this tender, nurturing, God-like, mother anointing. But you also have this lion-like anointing within you to protect your children, physically and perhaps even more, spiritually. God has given both of these to us.

As I've been thinking about this, I've been thinking about who God is like. You know, I mentioned before, that God has many, many names, because one name is not enough to describe Who He is. Every character of God, He has it one hundred percent.

Sometimes, we find it difficult to know how to work this out in our lives. How do we show mercy? And yet, how do we show justice at the same time? Do we have 50% of each? How do we work it out?

Sometimes it's difficult, in our experience, to work this out. But God is complete in every area. He is completely a God of love, completely and wholly and totally a God of mercy and compassion.

But He is also completely a God Who is a man of war. Dear ladies, I beg your pardon. Did I actually say, “A man of war”? Yes. That is what the Scripture tells us. We go back to Exodus, chapter 15, verse 3. In fact, Exodus 15 is the beautiful song, the Song of Moses that they sang. Remember how Miriam led the whole of Israel with her tambourine? And they danced, and they sang. Read this psalm over again. Well it is a psalm, but it's actually Exodus 15. It's so glorious.

In verse three, it says: “The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is His Name.” As He delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, He had to rise up as a man of war. He could not deliver them if He just perhaps lived in his rest, which He is. He's a God of rest, God of love, the God of love. He came down as a God of mercy. He came down to the people of Israel in their time of such servitude, and all they were going through.

But he rose as a man of war against the Egyptians. Let's just read a little more of what God did there. “Pharaoh's chariots and his host has He cast into the sea:” Now this is not saying that Moses did this. No, they didn't do it. They had no way. They were stuck! They had no way out! But God did it. Yes. “His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.”

That's God. Oh, wow! Does that sound like God? Yes? We have to understand, lovely ladies, Who our God is. We cannot put God in a box, and say, “This is the God that I believe in. I believe in this God of love, this God of tolerance, Who, you know, He loves everybody, and He doesn't mind if they sin a little bit.”

No! That's not the God of the Bible. We have to read His Word to know Who He is. He's also a God of war. And here he dashes in pieces the enemy. “And in the greatness of Thine excellency Thou hast overthrown them who rose up against thee: Thou sentest forth Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of Thy nostrils, the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.” And so it goes on and on.

This word, “The Lord is a man of war” is the Hebrew word gibbor. Of course, it's used many, many other times in the Bible. In Jeremiah 32:18 is another description of God: “The Great, the Mighty God.” “The mighty,” yes, that's gibbor as well. “The Mighty God, the Lord of Hosts is His Name.”

I have actually, dear ladies, found 12 different Hebrew words that relate to war and fighting. Almost of these words are all used, also, to describe God. Now, can you believe it? I think we'll have a little look at them. I think it is good to understand the whole counsel of God, not to just see one aspect of truth, or one aspect of God. We have to understand it all.

Before I move on to another one, I love this Scripture in Psalm 89, verse 19, it says here: “I have laid help upon one that is mighty;” There's that word again, gibbor. Now this time, it's not used of God, but it's used of a man. We find, in all these words that I am going to show you, they are used to describe God, but they're also used to describe us.

I'm always amazed about this in the Bible. There are so many words that are used for God but that He also uses for us! Have you noticed that? It's amazing. So . . . “The Great, the Mighty God,” I told you about that word.

We're up to Psalm 89:19: “I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out of the people.” Who is this person? It goes on to say, “I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him.”

This is speaking about David, but it is also a Messianic prophecy, speaking of Christ. David was a type of Christ. So here He says that He has laid His hand, He's laid help upon this mighty one.

When God was looking for a leader, for a king for the children of Israel, He looked for a warrior. He didn't look for someone, “Now let Me find someone who, oh, yes, he will be very plausible. You know, he'll be able to speak to the people nicely, and he'll be tolerant, so everybody will be happy.”

No! God looked for a warrior. In fact, most translations say: “I raised a warrior.” Why does God raise up a warrior? Because He needed a man who would be able to conquer all the enemies that were surrounding Israel. Because there was coming a time when God wanted a reign of peace.

He would raise up David's son, Solomon, to build the Temple, the sanctuary where God would dwell. God needed a time of peace to build that sanctuary. In fact, it was actually David's, it was his vision to build this Temple for God. Oh, how he dreamed of it! Night and day, it was his passion.

But God came to Him one night, well maybe it was the day, through the prophet, and said, “The Lord is telling you, David, that you are not going to build this Temple. You have been a man of war. You've been a man who has shed blood. I am going to raise up a man of peace. I'm going to raise up your son to build the Temple.”

But God goes on to say something very beautiful. I love this. “And God said to David, 'But David, it is good that it is in your heart.'” God saw his heart. God saw David as though he actually built the Temple himself, because he saw the vision in his heart.

Dear ladies, there may be some of you today, you have a vision to do something for God, and that maybe you've held onto it for years. It's still hasn't come to pass. Well, maybe it will. But maybe the vision is for someone else. But God sees your heart. And God says, “It's good that it's in your heart.” And so, be encouraged by that. When you have a passion in your heart, God sees it as though you've actually done it, even if the way doesn't open for you to do it.

But as we think of how God raised a warrior, He needed a warrior, a conqueror, and David was the man of war who went out. He was an amazing, incredible soldier. Oh goodness, I remember one time reading, I haven't got the reference here today, but the Philistines came against him. It was David and only one other. All of David's army fled, and it was only David and one other standing there in that field, and they took on the Philistine army on their own and pushed them back. He was just such an amazing warrior!

But I actually think of how we're facing a little bit of that situation today, when we have a President that God gave to us in 2016. There have been so many people, sadly, even Christians, who are... They don't really like him.

They think, “Oh dear, oh dear, he's, you know, he's just too much of a warrior!” Yes, because he is a warrior. He knows how to fight. “He just says things that he shouldn't say. He should be more tolerant. And he should be more presidential,” and so on.

But you know, dear precious ladies, we didn't need someone like that. We needed a warrior. There's only one man who can, because God  has raised him up. I believe God  raised him up to stand against this whole world, one-world take-over, and this whole push to extreme socialism and communism. That is, if the new... The democratic party got in, if they do.

Although they're saying that he is the President-Elect, it is far from true. They are still counting in this election, and we all know that more and more and more fraudulent voting is coming to light every day. It is unbelievable! It is just beyond anything that's ever happened in the history of our nation. It is huge. I don't know how much you have read, but oh my, there's even more behind the scenes that hasn't even yet come out of how fraudulent this election has been.

But nothing is in stone yet. We need to  be praying with all our hearts, because if these people get in, we go down a road that takes us toward toward communism. There will be no more freedom in this nation. We have one man who is standing against that. He is a warrior. I believe God raised him up, and I believe we should be praying for him.

Anyway, perhaps I will end this session, before I start on our new word. Next session, we will look at some more words that are related to God and even to us, about war and fighting.

Yes, here we are, mothers, and we're going to talk about war and fighting. But it is part of God's character, and as we have learned today, it's also part of us. We also have to rise up to be fighters, fighters in the spiritual realm, for our families.

Dear Father, We thank You so much for Your Word. For without Your Word, we would be in our own little world, and what we think is best. And Lord God, we wouldn't even know what You are like. For Your Word opens up our whole understanding, to know Who You truly are.

We thank You, that You've created us to be tender, nurturing mothers. But we thank You, that You've also put a fighting spirit within us, to protect our children, and our families. We pray that You will teach us how to do this, Father. We ask it in the Lovely Name of Jesus. Amen.

Transcribed by Darlene Norris.