PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 225: What Does God Want Us to Do in the Land? Part 2
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 225: What Does God Want Us to Do in the Land? Part 2
Find out what stops us from possessing the land. We also discover that God does not like slander against the land of motherhood! Sadly, there is a lot of slander and a “whispering campaign” about motherhood today.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We are in our new series, “WHAT DO WE DO IN THE LAND?” We began No. 1 last week, WE MUST POSSESS THE LAND. We looked at how God told His people to go up and possess the land that He had given them. He had already given it to them. It belonged to them, but they had to go and possess it. We also must possess our land of motherhood. It’s not enough to just come into it with our toes in it. But no, we must come in fully.
Let me tell you one or two stories. A friend of mine told me this story. His father had told it to him. His father was a real estate agent. This man lived on his farm most of his life. But over time, he became bored and dissatisfied so he thought he’d put it up for sale. He contacted the real estate agent, who after inspecting the land, advertised it as “A beautiful farmland, with rolling hills, nice home, three barns, several outbuildings, and two ponds. A delightful investment for someone wanting to make a good living from the land.”
Well, the owner was reading the paper and saw this advertisement. As he looked at it, he thought, “Wow, that’s just what I’ve been looking for all my life!” So, he looked at it a little more closely, and as he looked, he realized this was his own farm that was being advertised! Wow! He didn’t realize that what he had was already what he wanted. He immediately called the agent to take it off the market. For now, at last, he became satisfied with what he had, realizing, yes, this is what he really wanted.
Another true story. Alice Gurr was the director of Above Rubies in England for a number of years. One year, when I was there with Alice, she told me this little story about her brother who lived in New Zealand. Alice comes from New Zealand as I also do.
Her brother bought this land in Matamata, New Zealand. Now many of you will know that Matamata is the area where they filmed The Lord of the Rings. He bought this farm, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to make a living out of it. It became a hobby farm. He enjoyed it as a hobby farm. But because he wasn’t able to really make a living out of it, years later, he decided to sell. But when he came to sell, he looked into things properly and found that he had another ten acres that belonged to him that were the most fertile and lush land of his whole property!
This man had forfeited his own land just because he didn’t know what he had. He could have made a good living out of that land, but he didn’t know. I think that’s often the way with us in our motherhood. We come in and we’re on the periphery of the land. We’re so busy with everything else out of the land that we don’t really come in and dwell and live and occupy and possess and take hold of the land that God has given us!
There’s another story I read about Chief Crowfoot. He gave permission to the Canadian Pacific Railways to lay tracks from Medicine Hat to Calgary. In exchange for this, he was given a lifetime railroad pass. Well, he put this precious pass in a leather pouch, and he wore it around his neck for the rest of his life. But he never once used it. I think maybe we don’t want to be guilty of that either, do we? We have been given a land. Let’s embrace it with all our hearts.
Now, what do you think keep us from possessing the land? I have five different points here.
No. 1. UNBELIEF KEEPS US FROM POSSESSING THE LAND
We come into this land of motherhood, but, oh my, we don’t believe that God can keep us in the land! We’d better just limit our family to maybe two or three children because how can God provide for any more?
Wow! What an amazing thought! I remember challenging someone about that thought one day. Yes, I met this gentleman. He was telling me they could only afford three children. I said to him, “But is the God that you believe in? Is He only able to provide for three children?”
I think this is how many in the kingdom of God think. It’s amazing, because that’s not the God of the Bible. It’s the God of our own imagination. There are many people who go to church, and they say they believe in God. But they truly only believe that the God they believe in is so small, so little, so incapable, that He can only provide for three children? Our God is bigger than that! Our God is able to provide and will provide for every new baby He gives.
I think of this Scripture, Psalm 78:19-22: “Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? . . . Can He give bread also? Can He provide flesh for His people? Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.”
Unbelief, not believing Who God is! He is the God of the Bible! This God of the Bible . . . let’s just look over here in Deuteronomy 28. In this chapter, the blessing chapter, it says in Deuteronomy 28:3-5: “Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle.” And it carries on with all the wonderful blessings.
But do you notice something? The first blessing is the “fruit of the womb.” Then God adds all these other blessings. “Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.” Everything to provide for that fruit of the womb. If there was no fruit of the womb, there would be no necessity for them to have all these other blessings because there would be no one to use it for.
God provides when He gives a baby. Oh, I continually hear so many wonderful testimonies from couples. They say, “Oh, when God gave us a baby, He gave my husband a raise! When God gave us a baby, miraculously we were able to get this bigger vehicle!” And so on. God does these things because He is providing.
We go over to Numbers 14. This is where the spies went in to spy out the Promised Land. They came back. Oh, they couldn’t believe how amazing this land was! When they came back, it took two men to carry one bunch of grapes! Can you even imagine that? That’s how fruitful this land was.
But when they were there, they also saw giants in the land. So, most of the spies came back with this fearful report, this unbelieving report. It says here in Numbers 14:36-37: “And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord.”
Here they came back, and instead of being full of faith, as Caleb was, Joshua and Caleb. Of course, Caleb had a different testimony. He said, “Oh yes, there are giants in the land. But they’re bread for us! We must go up at once and possess!” But the others, “Oh yes, it’s a beautiful land. It’s fruitful. It’s incredible. But there are giants there!” They came back full of unbelief.
Here, the King James calls it: “They brought up a slander upon the land.” This was the land that God chose for them. God chose it. The Bible says He went ahead and spied out the land for His people. He chose it and He gave it to His people. But they were too scared! They were too filled with unbelief to go in.
So, the Bible says: “They brought up a slander,” a slander, “upon the land.” In the Hebrew, that word “slander” means “defamation, infamy.” Yes, they defamed the land, even though it was a good land, even though it was flowing with milk and honey. They were filled with unbelief.
We have to watch, dear ladies, that we don’t bring a slander upon the land of motherhood. Sadly, I hear many women speaking slander against the land. They speak against motherhood in a despising way. They speak against motherhood in a negative way. They speak slander against the land. They speak so defamingly about even having children. Just lies about such things as having more children, and just look upon it with such, oh, that’s just so below me! That’s bringing a slander upon the land.
Now, who were the people who brought the slander back in this story? It was the princes of the land. Moses told them to choose a prince, a leader out of every tribe of Israel. It wasn’t some ordinary person. It was the best of every tribe. And yet, these leaders, yes, these leaders were the ones who brought back this slanderous report.
And very sadly, this is the same today. There are leaders in the church—pastors, ministers, elders—who speak disparagingly against the land. Young couples go for marriage counseling, and they counsel them to wait to have children. They counsel them to use contraception. They are not embracing the full truth of the land.
There are many older women who are doing the same. They’re bringing a slander to the young women instead of encouraging and teaching them the things God wants them to teach, teaching the young women how to love their husbands, and how to love motherhood, and how to love being a keeper at home, and so on.
God has mandated that the older women will teach the young women, teach this new generation. Now that doesn’t mean that they have to get meetings and stand up and speak to 100 or so many women. No, they can do this personally, encouraging the young mothers that are around them. Even their own young people who are growing up and getting married.
One of the sad things that happens is when I am sending out a new magazine. In fact, I am now just sending out the email to remind people to send in their change of address, because with every new magazine, we have to tidy up our mailing list. People are moving all the time. People are changing their addresses. It’s incredible. You wouldn’t believe just how many thousands of addresses that we change with people moving and so on.
But even today, I received an email from an older mother, saying the same thing that many say to me. “Thank you, Nancy. I’ve so enjoyed Above Rubies over the years.” This particular mother told about her lovely 12 children! And yet I couldn’t believe it when she said, “But they’re growing up now, so I’m going to cancel Above Rubies.”
I beg your pardon? Oh, she needed Above Rubies as her children were growing. But they’re growing up now. Now she needs it more! She’s got children! It’s a new generation! They’ve got to be taught. They must be trained. They must know the ways of God. Is she not even passing it on to her children? What about young mothers around her? What about the young mothers in the church that she knows? Doesn’t she care about them?
This is what I find. Most older women are thinking, “OK, I’ve finished! That’s motherhood over with now. They’re grown. I’m going on to my new life.” No, that’s not biblical. We are mothers until the day we die. God created us as females to be mothers. This is who we are.
Yes, we will do many, many things in life, of course. But who we essentially are, is a mother. This is our greatest career. When Adam spoke the words over his wife, he said: “She shall be called Eve, because she is the mother of all living.” When Adam spoke those words, there was not a mother on the earth. Eve was not yet a mother. Adam had never ever seen a mother. Neither Adam nor Eve had ever seen a baby. They didn’t know anything about motherhood.
And yet Adam is speaking these words. He is speaking under the unction of God. He is proclaiming prophetically the career that God placed upon His female creation. “She shall be Mother.” This is God’s plan for every woman, because not only has He created us physically to mother, with a womb, with breasts, but He has created us innately to mother.
So, mothers, women, because they’re female, will be mothering even before they ever have a baby from their womb, because they are innately anointed and created to be a nurturer. They will want to nurture, and to love, and to care for others in a motherly way. That’s who we are.
Our little girls do that from the time they are little. I was just watching the other night at our prayer meeting. When we have prayer meeting, it’s not just all the adults. The children come, and the little ones come. Even last night, it was so beautiful to see so many children all along as families. We are there as families.
But the other night, I was watching two little ones, two little girls, both about four and five. They had their little dolls, and they were nursing their dollies because they’re used to seeing their mothers nurse their babies. They were putting blankets on them, then they picked them up, and then they nursed them. They were intuitively doing this because it’s who they are as female.
Even women who are never able to conceive or have children, they are still mothering, because they have this nurturing, longing, and anointing in them. That’s why some of the greatest mothers who ever lived were women who didn’t even have children of their own. Like Mother Teresa and Mary Slessor, and all these great women of God who poured out their lives in nurturing, and cherishing, and mothering. They didn’t have their own flesh and blood, but they mothered so many more. You see, this is who we are. We dare not come against God’s plan. We dare not slander this whole, beautiful land of motherhood which He has given to women.
Another translation calls it “a whispering campaign against the land.” Another translation says: “spreading lies about the land.” We have to be very careful.
I was talking about the older women. There is a dearth. There is such a dearth of older women today. Where are they? Where are they? As their children are growing, they are totally vacating anything to do with motherhood, let alone taking up the mantle in a greater, greater way than they ever have before, because they have all these young women, and a new generation around them, waiting for them to teach God’s truth.
We, instead, have a generation growing up in deception. They do not know the ways of motherhood. Oh, in my prayer box, because we have lots of prayer boxes, in my ABOVE RUBIES PRAYER BOX, I picked up this week a card, “Pray for a great revival of older mothers to rise up and take up their mandate to teach the younger women.” Oh, it is so needed!
Dare I say it? Yes, I have to say it, dear lovely ladies, because it’s the truth. Is every older mother who is not taking up this mantle to teach young mothers disobeying God? As I said before, it doesn’t mean that she has to be this great speaker, teaching women. No, it’s just in her day-to-day life and in the influence she has with her own family, and young mothers around her in the church. God has given her that mandate. He’s given it to every older mother. Oh, may we rise up into it. Amen?
We’re going to embrace the land and not ever, ever, ever slander it. Watch, dear mothers, older mothers, younger mothers, watch that you do not slander the land of motherhood, that you do not speak negatively about it. Because you’re speaking about a land that God has given to us as women.
No. 2. FEAR
Another thing that keeps us from possessing the land is fear. Perhaps that is one of the biggest ones of all. Fear. Oh, the fear of the unknown, the fear of, will be there be enough provision, the fear of having a baby. Or, of course, even if you’ve had many babies, the fear because something has happened. The fear of maybe you have something physically wrong with you. Help! How can I have another baby? Or whatever.
Sadly, the medical profession are fear mongerers. If you listen to the medical profession, I don’t think that anyone would ever have a baby! It seems that whatever is wrong with a person, well, “You’d better not have any more children because that could be the end of you!”
It isn’t true. Many listen to that and they stop having children. Many have chosen not to listen, but to trust God, and they have gone on to have another baby, completely safely and beautifully. You see, even if we have a difficult pregnancy, it doesn’t mean to say we’ll have the same again next time. Every pregnancy is different. Even if we have maybe a difficult birth, or something traumatic happens, that doesn’t mean to say it will happen again.
Even if you’ve had a c-section, often the medical profession will say, “Oh, well, can’t have any more babies,” or “You will have to have c-sections every time.” But that’s not true either. Hundreds and hundreds of women have gone on to have V-BACS, vaginal birth after c-section.
Because you see, God is a healing God. God is always healing our bodies. He heals our bodies on the outside, and He heals our bodies on the inside. If we have a cut, or even something quite serious, it will heal. God heals. Sometimes it takes time, but it heals. Broken bones heal.
Even if we have had a c-section, or something traumatic in the birth, or we’ve torn, or whatever, those things heal. Sometimes they take time, but they heal. We’re healing on the inside as we heal on the outside.
I believe it’s a beautiful thing for husbands to pray over their wives’ wombs, especially if you’ve been through something quite traumatic or you have a concern. Ask your husband to lay his hands upon your womb and pray God’s healing over you, to pray over your womb, to speak healing into your womb. Your husband is your covering and God hears him as your covering. That is a beautiful thing to do.
We look at Deuteronomy 9:1, 2: “Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, a people great and tall, the children of the Anakims,” they were the giants. “Whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, who can stand before the children of Anak!”
So, they were fearful! How can they come against these cities that were taller and greater, and even fenced up to heaven it seemed like? They were giants, but God goes on to say in verse 3: “Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire He shall destroy them, and He shall bring them down before thy face.”
You see, God is with us, dear ones. Yes, we face issues in our lives that are so much bigger than us. Yes, it's just like they saw these cities that were so great and tall and fenced up to heaven. And the people who were great and tall, and giants . . . Sometimes you’re facing a giant in your life! Oh, it's a giant! And the fear is creeping in.
I want to tell you God is bigger. God is bigger than any giant you face. He is your healer. He is your Restorer. He is your Deliverer. And He will go before you, and He is with you. You can trust Him.
Psalm 53:5: “There were they in great fear, where no fear was.” The margin of my Bible says: “They feared a fear.” I think this is so prevalent. This is what we often fear, ladies. When we look at it, come on, let’s get down to thin tacks. We really are fearing a fear!
Because someone has said something, and they put fear into you. But you don’t know that that’s going to happen. It’s not a reality! It is fearing a fear! This is what we’ve got to watch, that we don’t fear a fear. Yes! That’s a deception.
That’s what often happens when you go to the doctor. Oh, wow! They put that fear in you, but it’s not a reality. The fear of something, oh, it could happen, it might happen. Probably it won’t. And so, you fear that fear, and it takes over your life! No. We must not fear a fear. Listen to it again. “There they were, in great fear, where there was no fear.”
What did Job say? “The fear that I feared came upon me.” Fear is very powerful. What you fear can often come upon you, because of the power of fear. Fear is not of God, so we must resist these fears and put our trust in God. Amen?
No. 3. DISCOURAGEMENT
Now, the next one: Discouragement. Oh, that often keeps us from possessing the land.
Deuteronomy 1:28: “Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, the people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.”
So, once again, there it’s much the same as Deuteronomy 9. Not only did it fill them with fear, but now it’s filling them with discouragement. Did you read that word? They’ve discouraged us. Yes, discouraging words. Oh my, we have to be careful ourselves of speaking discouraging words into people, don’t we?
Because discouraging words can also lock us up. Fear locks us up. Did you know that fear locks you up so you cannot be free to be who you are? Fear locks you up so that you cannot even be free to do what God wants you to do. Or to embrace all that God has for you in His kingdom and in His land of motherhood. Discouragement is also a locking-up thing. We must watch that we don’t put it on others. We need to do the opposite, which is encouragement, not discouragement.
A WORD OF ENCOURAGMENT DOES WONDERS
Proverbs 12:25 in The Living Bible: “A word of encouragement does wonders.” Miracles. Amazing things! Oh, wow! It’s a wonderful Scripture that I love. When I read it years ago, I made it part of my life. “A word of encouragement does wonders.”
Lovely ladies, maybe you’re facing difficulties in your marriage, in your relationship with your husband. I want to tell you the secret: “A word of encouragement does wonders.” You can try it, even though you don’t feel like it. It’s the last thing you want to do is encourage your husband. You don’t feel there’s one thing you could even encourage him about. But if you ask the Lord, He’ll give you something.
There was a time when you loved him. You were in love. So, think of just one thing, and ask God for grace and help to say those words, to say a little word of encouragement. Every day, think of a new little word of encouragement to say. I guarantee you that you will see wonders if you will do it, and if you will continue it, because the Bible works.
The same with your children. If one you’re finding difficulty with, try that word of encouragement. It’s so powerful! It’s the opposite to discouragement. We’ve got to watch that we don’t discourage, but we encourage. Also, that when we are given discouraging words, that we don’t take them in and let them bind us up.
I see that time has gone, so we’re going to talk a little bit more about this next time when we get together. So, let’s pray now, shall we?
“Dear Father, we thank You so much for Your Word. We’re always thanking You for Your Word. I thank You for Your Word every day, because this is how we know how to live. We thank You that You show us the way.
“I pray for every precious older mother listening today. I pray that You will encourage her, and that You will give her a vision to take up her mantle as an older mother. I pray that You’ll show her how You want her to do this. That You’ll bring alongside her a young mother, or young mothers that she can encourage and show the way.
“Especially encouragement. Lord, I pray that You will help her as she encourages her own daughters and daughters-in-law. I pray, Lord, for the young moms, and the middling moms. Lord, bless every mother today. Encourage them, bless them, strengthen them.
“I pray, Lord, as they face these temptations of fear and discouragement, that You will help them to see that they don’t come from You. They come from the enemy, and they will resist them in the Name of Jesus.
“Oh, God, I pray today for the strengthening of motherhood in this nation. I pray, Lord God, for the young generation of mothers. Lord God, we’ve got to reach them. We pray that You will help us to reach them, Lord. I pray that You will give women such a vision to, Lord God, to get, Lord, not just their one magazine, but many magazines, so they can have them to give out, and give to young moms. Lord, that we can spread the word of Your truth across the nation. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.