PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 226: What Does God Want Us to Do in the Land? Part 3
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 226: What Does God Want Us to Do in the Land? Part 3
One of Satan's biggest ploys in hindering us in our walk with God, and in the task God has given us to do, is discouragement. Do you get discouraged? How do you deal with it? God has an answer for you.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Oh, it is such a beautiful fall day! As I look out this window and see the lovely leaves turning yellow, and red, and gold, it’s always such a wonderful time of the year, isn’t it?
Well, let’s get back to our series. We’re now doing “What do we do in this Great Land of Motherhood?” No. 1 was POSSESS THE LAND. We’re still on this No. 1 points but now, we’re talking about, WHAT STOPS US FROM POSSESSING THE LAND?
We’ve talked about how unbelief can stop us. Fear can stop us. And now, today, we’re going to talk about discouragement. We talked about that last time, but I want to share a little bit more with you on this subject, because I think this is something that many mothers face. Oh, it’s so easy to get discouraged, isn’t it, dear mothers?
But before we go on to this point, I want to tell you about a Scripture that we read this week. In fact, it was a Scripture that popped up in one of our prayer boxes. I’ve told you before how we love our prayer boxes. Every morning and evening, when we have our family devotions, we use usually two of our prayer boxes. I have about nine different ones on different subjects.
We had chosen our prayer box about praying for Israel. In our prayer boxes, I do also have a lot of Scriptures, because, ladies, it’s so good to pray the Scriptures, isn’t it? To pray the Word of God. You know you’re in the will of God when you’re praying the Word of God. Sometimes we pray, and often we don’t know whether we’re really praying the right things, although God sees our hearts. That’s so wonderful.
But this Scripture was Jeremiah 32:41. It’s a promise from God about bringing His people back to the land. There are hundreds of Scriptures in the Word of God talking about bringing His people back to the land. Right now, we are continuing to live in this season of Bible prophecy, where God has already brought back so many. And He’s still bringing back His people to the land of Israel. Even though they were scattered to the four corners of the earth, God promised that He would bring them back to their land.
He says here: “Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.” What an amazing promise! But, ladies, do you feel the compassion that’s part of God in this Scripture? He doesn’t just say, “And yes, I will bring My people back to the land.” No, He says: “I will plant them in this land ASSUREDLY.” Wow, what a word! “Assuredly.” “With my whole heart, and with my whole soul.”
This was God’s longing and heart for them. He wants His people in His land that He chose for them. He wants to plant them in the land because He chose this land for them. This is where He wants them to be.
GOD WANTS TO PLANT YOU IN YOUR LAND OF MOTHERHOOD
And ladies, we’re taking these Scriptures into our land of motherhood. It is true. God has this same heart for you in your land of motherhood. He wants to PLANT you in this land. He doesn’t want you to be just on the edge of it, with your toe in it.
No, He wants to plant you in this beautiful land of motherhood, because this is the land He chose for you. He wants to dig you into it. That’s what you do when you plant something. You have to dig into the dirt to plant it. He wants to dig us in so we’re established. When we’re established, when we’re planted strongly, and our roots are down, then we can grow.
Sadly, many moms don’t grow in their land of motherhood. They’re just there, and they’re so shallowly in it that they’re dry and wilting. They’re not lush and growing, because they’re not planted. But God will plant you as you let Him, and as you make this your purpose, knowing that this is God’s wondrous purpose for you. He wants to do it with all His heart, and with all His soul. He wants us to have that same purpose, too, that we want to plant ourselves in this great land of motherhood, with all our heart, and with all our soul.
YOU’VE GOT TO BE PLANTED, MOTHER
Oh, I hope you are blessed by that Scripture. You take hold of it in your land of motherhood, and you won’t be a little plant that’s hardly planted, that’s not growing any fruit because it’s not planted deeply. We can only produce fruit, and we can only live in the fullness of the glory of motherhood, in the lushness of motherhood, when we’re planted. We’ve got to be planted, ladies. Amen?
THEY DISCOURAGED THE PEOPLE
OK, back to our talking about discouragement. Deuteronomy 1:28, talking about going into the land. Some of the people said: “Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our heart.” That’s where you get discouraged, isn’t it? In your heart. You can get discouraged in your heart.
I know it’s easy. I can get discouraged, too. In fact, at the moment, I have a concern, something I’m grieving about. I could get really discouraged, but I have to do something about it. We’ll talk about what we have to do in a moment.
But let’s look at another Scripture, Numbers 32:7: “And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord God hath given them?” It seems that whenever God has a purpose for us, and His plan for us, there will always be those who discourage it. That discouragement comes from the enemy, because discouragement comes from the devil. It never comes from God.
When you’re discouraged, you’ve got to know where it’s coming from, dear ladies. It’s coming from the devil. Now, he may be using somebody else to say things into your life which discourage you, or say things about you, which make you discouraged. Or, you have to face circumstances that discourage you.
But let’s see. Numbers 32:9: “For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them. And the LORD'S anger was kindled.” God was wroth, although I think you say “wrath” here in America. I grew up saying “wroth.” But anyway, God was angry, because those spies discouraged the people.
Deuteronomy 1:21: “Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.” God says these words to you today, Mother. Oh yes, I know. There are so many things that come against you, to discourage you. There are always people who are going to say all these derogatory things about you.
“Why are you staying home to look after these children, when you could be out earning so much money? And in your career.” And they discourage you in your powerful calling of motherhood. You get discouraged from this one and that one, and there’s always someone to say something negative to you, just make you feel lousy and down in the dumps. Oh, yes. Discouragement is all around us, isn’t it?
But the other day, I was reading in the book of Ezra. I noticed in Ezra, chapter 4, four different ways the enemy comes to bring us down, discourage us, and stop us from the great works that God has given us to do. As I read them, these were the things that they tried to stop them from building the wall. The people had come back from Babylon, and they were rebuilding the Temple. But their enemies and adversaries all around them were trying to stop them.
That’s what the devil is doing. He’s always trying to stop us do the perfect will of God. And when God gives us children, the perfect will of God for us is to embrace these children, to mother and nurture these children, to raise them in the home, not out of the home. No, in the home. God has given the home to raise children. He doesn’t want them out there in daycares and out with people who don’t walk with God. He wants His children to be raised in His presence. The enemy comes to discourage us and to stop us doing what the Lord wants us to do. Let’s look at this passage, shall we?
It's in Ezra 4:4 where it says that these adversaries (and we know that the devil is our adversary, the adversary, the devil, that’s what the Bible calls him, “our adversary, the devil”). It says their adversaries (the devil was using these people) “weakened the hands of the people.” Now, nearly every other translation of that Scripture says they discouraged the people. That’s what the word literally means, “to discourage.”
But of course, if we’re discouraged, we’re going to be weakened, aren’t we? When you’re discouraged, you feel weak. You don’t feel, “I’m ready to go! I can take on anything in the world!” No, you feel weak and useless. That’s what discouragement does to us.
The Berean Study Bible says: “Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build. They hired counselors against them to frustrate their plan.” They tried to get them down, to weaken them.
So, lovely ladies, when we’re in this place, maybe you’re going through something now. And you’re feeling very discouraged. Maybe you’re even feeling discouraged with homeschooling. You’re feeling discouraged. You’re not really making it. You just feel helpless. “Oh, I don’t know how I can even do this!” Dear mothers, it’s the enemy who puts these discouraging thoughts in your mind. We’ve got to realize, the first thing we have to realize, is that discouragement comes from the enemy. What are we going to do?
1) WE’VE GOT TO ENCOURAGE OUR SOUL
Oh, that’s such an important thing to do! In Psalm 42:5 & 11, and Psalm 43:5, three times David, the psalmist, says this same thing. Three times we read this Scripture. OK, let’s read this right: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”
We see here that David is feeling pretty down. That often happens when you’re reading the Psalms. You see, “Oh, David is complaining about what he is facing!” The enemy is against him, but he never stays there. You never finish a psalm without him coming into victory and putting his trust in the Lord. Here he says, “Oh my soul! Come on, soul!” He talks to his soul. Sometimes we have to do that, ladies, because it’s in our soul, in our heart, we get discouraged. Therefore, we’ve got to speak to our souls. Say, “Come on, soul! Get up! Come on! Put your hope in God.”
Now this word, because other translations say: “Why art thou discouraged?” The word is “cast down” here in the King James, but other translations say, “discourage.” Some translations say, “bowed down.” But when we’re feeling like this, we speak to our soul. “Oh, thank You, Lord, I can trust in You. Oh, come on, soul. Come on, soul! Praise the Lord! He is my help. He is the help of my countenance.”
Down in verse 11, it says He is “the health of my countenance.” But the interesting thing, ladies, is that it’s actually the same Hebrew word in both Scriptures. In one, it says that “He is my help.” In the other Scripture, it says: “He is my health.” But it’s the same Hebrew word, Yeshua. Of course, that is the name of Jesus Himself. It means “salvation, healing, deliverance, victory.”
So, we can speak to our soul and say, “Come on, soul. Look up to your Savior. Lord Jesus, You are my salvation, You are my deliverance, You are my healing, You are my health, You are my victory!” When you talk to your soul to get with it, and look up to the Lord, and look at Him instead of looking at your problems, it’s amazing what happens, and how your attitude changes.
Talking about encouraging your soul, I think of that story about David. Do you remember that story, when David had been out doing battles? He came home, he came back to Ziklag. This is the city in which he was living with all his fellow soldiers. It’s in 1 Samuel, chapter 30. Oh, it’s a sad story. David and all his soldiers had been out fighting and they came home.
And they came home to nothing! They came home to their city and what did they see? Nothing! It had been burned with fire. The Amalekites had come through and completely wiped out their city. Where were their wives? Where were their children? They were all taken captive. There were no wives or children. There was nothing! Can you imagine it?
My, I think they were more than discouraged. In fact, we go down to verse 6: “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters.” And so, not only did David come home to nothing, but now his men were rising up against him! They were going to stone him! What was he to do?
It also says here what they did in verse 4: they “lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.” There was not another tear left! And they still didn’t know what to do. But then, David did something. At the end of verse 6, it says, “but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”
He spoke to his soul, just like he did in Psalms 42 and 43. And He encouraged himself in the Lord. “God, you’ve taken everything! But, Lord God, I look up to You. You are my God. I trust You. Lord God, You are my deliverer.” And as he looked to God, God then began to show him what to do.
Now, ladies, there is a real principle here and I have found this in my own life. I’m sure you have, too. That when you’re discouraged, when you’re bowed down, and when you’re taken up with all that you’re going through, it so overwhelms you, and so overtakes you, that you can’t even hear the voice of the Lord. All you hear is all the negative. You just get more and more into your self-pity, and you never have an answer. You just stay in your rut.
But we’ve got to come to that place of encouraging ourselves in the Lord. “Lord God, You understand. It’s all in Your plan. You are bigger. I trust You.” And as David looked up to the Lord, he then said, “Wow, get me an ephod! I want to hear from God!” And he listened to God, and God spoke to him and gave him a strategy, showed him what to do. He said, “You go after them.”
So, David and all his men went after the Amalekites. You can read the whole story in 1 Samuel 30. It tells you how they did it, and how they found them. And then verses 17-18: “And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels. . . And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.”
Isn’t that great? But that only happened because he took his eyes off his discouragement, off this. What could have been worse than what they were facing? But he put his eyes upon the Lord. That’s what we have to do, ladies.
Number one: we’ve got to speak to our soul and encourage ourselves in the Lord. I love the Berean Study Bible of Psalm 42:5 and 11, where it says: “He is the help,” or the health “of my countenance.” This translation says: “He is the salvation of His presence.” It’s His presence. If we look up to Him, we begin to experience His presence again.
2) TAKE HOLD OF GOD’S WORD
The next thing we have to do is take hold of the Word of God. We can either stay in our rut of despair, or we can take hold of God’s Word. I love Psalm 146. There’s a little Scripture there, Psalm 146:8: “The Lord opens the eyes of the blind: the Lord raises them that are bowed down: the Lord loves the righteous.” That little phrase there, “The Lord raises them that are bowed down.” This is the same thing as feeling discouraged, isn’t it? When we’re discouraged, we feel bowed down.
I can remember a way, way, way, way back, when I was just a young mom. I was facing a situation that was really quite bad. It was so bad that it was actually not just bowing me down in spirit, but I was totally bent over with the weight of it, and the grief of it, until I learned how to get delivered.
I’d never really experienced that before . . . because I learned my lessons, I learned my strategies of victory. But unless you take hold of these principles, you can not only be bowed down in your heart, but your whole body can be bowed over. I did experience that because I didn’t know how to get the victory at that time.
But this Scripture says, and here are some other translations:
“The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.” That’s the New Living Translation.
The New Revised Standard version says: “The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.”
The Good News Translation says: “The Lord strengthens the backs of those who are bent over.”
I like that, because the literal meaning of being bowed down is “bent over,” just like I had experienced, way, way back, so many years ago. But the Lord can straighten our backs! He lifts us up as we look unto Him.
We can take this Scripture and we can say, “Thank You, Lord! You are the One who lifts up those who are bowed down. I don’t have to stay bowed down. Lord, You see these circumstances but I thank You that You are bigger, You can lift me up, even in the midst of them. I trust You, Lord. I thank You.” We take the Scriptures and get into the Word. Read the Psalms. Take hold. As you’re reading, take hold of the promise that God gives you and speak it out loud. Take it to yourself.
3) PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD
Ephesians 6. You know how to do that, don’t you? But sometimes we have to do these things.
4) APPLY THE BLOOD OF JESUS
Another thing we can do is to, no, I don’t mean literally, I mean spiritually, to apply the precious blood of Jesus which is our covering, and which also has power to set us free, not only saving us from our sins, but also healing us, and delivering us, because that is the fullness of the word “save.”
That when Jesus saves us from our sins, the word is sozo. It also means “to deliver, to heal, to make whole.” There’s such great fullness in that word. It comes through the precious blood of Jesus. Way back in the Old Testament the priests had to apply the blood on their ears, and on their hands, and on their toes. Then, not only on the priests, but on all the people. The priests would take the blood, and they would sprinkle it all over the people, so they were covered with the blood.
Now, we are not going to do that today. But in the spiritual realm, by faith, we can ask the Lord to cover us with His precious blood. It is such a powerful thing. Even last night, at our prayer meeting, one of the brothers was sharing how his two little children were so sick, and coughing, just filled up with cough and cold. They couldn’t sleep. They didn’t know what to do.
Then he thought, “Wow, the power of the blood of Jesus!” So, even though they were just little, their little four-year-old, and their little toddler, he gave communion to them in the middle of the night. Guess what? They were immediately healed and went to sleep for the rest of the night! Isn’t that amazing? Incredible testimony.
5) DAILY STRENGTHEN YOUR IMMUNME SYSTEM
We’ve been speaking spiritually. But also, we do need to look after ourselves physically, because even when you get weak physically, it can affect you spiritually. Even that can make you discouraged too. It is important to always live as a mother (not only giving your children and because you want to feed your children healthily) but you must look after yourself and feed yourself healthily.
Whole foods. No refined foods. Just keep yourself eating whole foods, the foods that God gives you. Not all the junk, and the packaged food, and the refined food, but eat wholesome food.
6) DON’T GET TO BED TOO LATE
These are things that can run you down physically and then they affect your spiritually and make you discouraged. But God always has His answers for us, doesn’t He? Amen?
Now you know how to defeat discouragement. First of all, knowing it comes from the enemy, and because it comes from the enemy, you’re going to rebuke him in the name of Jesus.
“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). How did Jesus resist the devil? He spoke forth the Word of God.
Matthew 4:4: Jesus said these words to the devil: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
When we speak the words of God, His living words, we speak them out loud, and we speak them to ourselves, and we speak them to the devil—and he flees. He doesn’t like the Word of God. He doesn’t like the precious blood of Jesus. He doesn’t want these things, but these are our weapons against the enemy.
THEY MADE THEM AFRAID
All right. Well, the next point. It says they “troubled them.” We’re going back to what they did when they were building the Temple. The word “troubled” means “to make them afraid.” The word means, “to terrify, to palpitate, to be anxious, to dismay.” They actually put fear into other people, to try to stop them. We talked about that last session, I think, didn’t we? About how fear can paralyze us. He loves putting fear into our hearts.
Oh, goodness me! If mothers were to listen to everything the medical profession said to them about having babies, I don’t think anybody would ever have a baby! They’re always putting fear into mothers. “Oh, this might happen!” “Oh, I don’t think you could have any more children because of this, because of that!” Help!
Things that might happen most probably never will happen. It’s never a surety. It’s always something that might happen. It’s a fear of a fear. We do not take any notice of the fear that the enemy brings to us, because fear also does not come from God. It comes from the enemy! Yes.
THEY HIRED COUNSELORS
And then the next thing they did; they “hired counselors to frustrate them.” That’s interesting. They hired counselors. That’s an interesting one. We live in a day, ladies, where it seems that everybody is going to a counselor for something! For this or for that. Why is everybody running to counselors these days? Why don’t they run into the Lord? Why don’t they run to the Word?
The Word of God is our greatest counselor.
Psalm 119:24: “Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.” Do you know that I have always found an answer for every single thing I’ve ever wanted to get an answer about? I find it in the Word of God. You can find it if you search for it. It is there. God’s words are our counselors.
Now, I know there are some godly counselors. Actually, they’re rather hard to find, because there are so many humanistic counselors today, even in the church. Just because they’re in the church does not mean to say that they are truly a godly counselor. Many are guided by humanistic understanding. Most counselors have their degrees in psychology and sociology. That’s all humanistic. People are running to these counselors, and they’re getting humanistic counseling, which is not going to help at all.
These adversaries, they hired counselors. Oh yes, and what were those counselors going to do? They weren’t going to help them to build. They were going to stop them from building. They were going to frustrate what they were trying to do.
We have to careful, ladies, where we run to as our source. Who is our source? Isn’t it God? Look, He is our source. He is enough. He is the God Who is enough! If your God is not enough, it's not the God of the Bible. You have a god of your own imagination if your god is not able, and you’ve got to run off to some counselor. God is enough. We can find our victory. We can find our deliverance. We can find our healing. We can find our comfort. We can find our encouragement in Him and in His Word. Amen?
So, we do have to watch that. The Message Bible of that Scripture says: “So these people started beating down the morale of the people of Judah, harassing them as they built. They even hired propagandists to sap their resolve.” Oh my, how the enemy loves to sap our resolve! To just take away our energy, take away our purpose, take away even the truth from us! And fill us with all this other stuff.
Oh, isn’t it amazing, that there are counselors today in the church who even advise young couples to “Please delay your childbearing. Just wait until you’ve got your house, and you’ve got everything. You’d better make sure you limit your family.” Hey, where did they get all that junk from? It’s humanistic counseling. It doesn’t come from the Word of God. We have to watch that.
But time has gone, so let’s pray.
“Dear Father, I pray for every precious mother today who’s feeling discouraged. Oh God, we know how easy it is to feel discouraged, but Lord God, I pray that You will remind these precious ladies today that You didn’t give them this discouragement. It comes from the enemy.
“Lord, I pray that You will help them to look up to You. Oh God, to know that You have not deserted them, that You are with them. You’re with them, right there in their situation. You’re there with them, right there in their homes, with all they’re facing. In their marriage, with their challenges with their children. With the circumstances, Lord, that maybe they’re facing at this time.
“Lord God, lift their hearts up to You. You are the One Who lifts up those who are bowed down, so You can straighten our backs. Lord, You lift us up. I pray that You will lift these precious ladies up, Lord, up from their pit of discouragement, up to a higher plane, a plane where You want them to be, Lord, where we are.
“The truth is, we are seated with You in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Lord God, save us from, Lord, coming down to this pit of self-pity and discouragement. Lord God, help us to see where You have placed us in You, in Christ, and seated at the right hand of the Father, in Christ.
“Thank You, Lord. Oh Father, pour out Your blessing, and Your encouragement, and Your comfort, and Your love all over them today, Lord God. Oh, Father, come to them. Let them feel Your presence surrounding them, Lord, all around them, filling them, Lord God. Oh, I ask this in the Precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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