LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 209: THE LAND OF MOTHERHOOD, Part 20

Today I continue the 15 points of when God wants us to rejoice! Most of these situations are when we are going through difficult and challenging times. The joy that God give is not just for happy times but a deep joy that undergirds our lives even in the most trying and sorrowful times of our lives. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:10: "Our hearts ache, but we always have joy."

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! We are continuing our journey through the land, and we are still on point No. 15, IT IS A JOYFL LAND. Last week, I began giving you some points about when do we rejoice? I actually have 15 points, so we’ll continue them today.

To recapitulate, last week,

No. 1 was, WE ARE TO REJOICE ALL THE DAY.  

No. 2. WHEN A BABY IS BORN.

No. 3. THAT OUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN.

No. 4.  EVEN WHEN PEOPLE PERSECUTE US, HATE US, AND SPEAK AGAINST US.  

Now, we are up to point number five.

No. 5. WHEN YOU GO THROUGH A FIERY TRIAL

Though the Word of God speaks so much about joy, it doesn’t only speak about joy when everything is going great. It speaks about joy in the difficult times.

1 Peter 4:12-14: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.

Now we see in this passage, when Peter was writing to the early Christian believers, many of them were facing persecution. They were facing hard times. And yet, he gives three different Greek words here about rejoicing. Some of them we looked at yesterday because they are repeated in different Scriptures. But let’s look at these ones.

“But rejoice,” even when you’re going through a fiery trial. That’s the word chairo. It means “cheerful, happy, joyful.” So, then we go down to that “ye may be glad,” that’s chairo, too.

Also, “with exceeding joy.” Now, that’s a Greek word. Let me see if I can pronounce it for you: agalliao. It means “to jump for joy, to exult, to be exceeding glad, rejoice greatly.”

We were talking last week about how it says the same thing in Matthew chapter 5:11, 12: “When men shall revile you and persecute you and speak all manner of things against you,” to rejoice, to jump for joy. Now, that’s not something we’re used to doing when we’re going through hard times, is it? But that’s what the Bible says. And then it says: “if you are reproached for the Name of Christ, happy” (supremely blessed) are you because when you’re going through times like this, the Spirit of Glory and the Spirit of God rest upon you.

No. 6. WHEN YOU GO THROUGH MANY TEMPTAIONS

1 Peter 1:6-7: “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

Sometimes we find it so hard to go through the challenges, the difficulties that we face in life. But we have to look at them, dear friends, we’ve got to look at them in the light of eternity. Because what does it say here? That when we are “tried by fire,” that going through this, it will “be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

As I’m reading this Scripture, I’m thinking of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment. . .” We rarely think of it like that, do we? We think of “our light affliction”? Oh, no, it seems so heavy to bear. “Which is but for a moment”? Well, oh my. We think it’s going on forever! When is it going to end? But this is how we’re to look at it, in the light of eternity.

Let’s read it again: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

So, dear ones, you’re going through a difficult time, a hard time, it seems so heavy, it’s just weighing you down and you wonder how long you have to go through it, I want you to put it on God’s scales.

OK, let’s put our burden on the scale. We think it’s so heavy, but when we put it on the scales, then we see God’s scales. We see what it does for us. Did you notice what it works for you? An “eternal weight of glory.” God uses five adjectives to describe what our prize, our crown, what we will receive in glory. It says: “it works for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Five adjectives to describe the glory that will be revealed in us.

When we put our burden on God, on the scales, it goes up and becomes a light burden as we see the glory, the weight of glory, the heavy glory that will be worked out in our lives. Be encouraged. Don’t just look at your problems and your heartaches. Look up to the Lord. Trust in Him. See what it is working in you, and working in you for glory, for the eternal world.

When we’re going through these fiery trials, what does it say here? You “greatly rejoice.” Once again, it’s that word that means “to jump for joy.” Wow! That’s not our natural language, is it?

No. 7. WHEN YOU GO THROUGH TRIBULATION

Paul confessed in 2 Corinthians 7:4: “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.” Wow! Have you ever said those words? I don’t know how often I’ve said them. We don’t really talk Bible language very much, do we? We are usually more, “Well, how can I get through this? Poor me! Why do I have to suffer this?”

And yet, Paul, who went through more suffering than any of us have ever faced. He was shipwrecked three times and beaten with stripes. I think it was five times, 39 lashes each time! Help! Their body and their back were just one big mess of blood and open flesh. We’ve never faced persecution like that. And all the lists . . . he talks about the lists of things that he had gone through, suffering for Christ, and yet he says: “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.” Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-33.

You see, true joy is not dependent on how we feel when everything is going great. That’s happiness. Everybody, even the agnostic, the atheist who doesn’t believe in God, he can be so happy when everything is going great. But it’s only the believer who can know that deep joy when everything is going wrong.

It makes me think of this Scripture I read the other day, ladies. I was reading in Nehemiah 13. I have read through Nehemiah so many times because I love this book. It’s about Nehemiah coming back to build up the gates that were broken down and build up the walls because Jerusalem had been rummaged to the ground. They wanted to build it up.

I often love to read it because we, as mothers, we also are builders.

Proverbs 14:1: “Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”  

We are builders. We are building a strong marriage, building a godly family, building a godly home. As we do that, dear mothers, we are building a godly nation. A nation is only what it is according to the homes of the nation. The homes of the nation are only what they will be according to the mothers of the nation. We have got to be those who are builders.

I always love to come back to Nehemiah, read about him building. Of course, he had so many attacks against him, people trying to stop him, and persecution. You’ll remember how his enemies, Sanballat and some other guys, were always after him.

I love that Scripture in Nehemiah 6. This is when he’s got these enemies, Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem. They are after him, and they are using every kind of sneaky thing they can in the book to try and get him to come down from the work that he is doing and to stop the building.

You see, that’s what Satan wants to do, dear mothers. You are building, but you know, Satan is at work to try and stop you building. That’s what he wants to do. He doesn’t want you building a strong, godly home and family. No. He brings temptations to stop you building.

But I love how Nehemiah answered these messengers. In fact, they sent messengers to him. They wanted him to come down and meet in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But Nehemiah says in Nehemiah 6:3: “I sent messengers unto them.”

He didn’t even go himself. He did not stop for one minute his work on the wall of building up the wall. He never stopped. He didn’t come down to the enemy. It says:

“I sent messengers unto them, saying,

I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down:

why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?”

That should also be our response, dear mothers, when the enemy wants to tempt you and pull you away and put all these temptations in front of you, or make you feel overwhelmed, and in despair and despondent. send that message to Satan: “Get behind me, Satan! I resist you, Satan, in the Name of Jesus! I cannot come down. I am doing a great work, and I haven’t got time to come down to you.”

That’s a great Scripture to write in big letters and pin it up on your wall so you can see it.

But anyway, I was reading Nehemiah 13, and I can’t believe it that I had never ever noticed this before. Let’s see. There are amazing things here in Nehemiah, but I’m just going to talk about this one.

Nehemiah 13:23, 24: “In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.”

Wow! Can you believe that? That these Jews, they had totally disobeyed God’s Word that they were never to marry people of another race. They were only to marry their own people because God did not want to bring into them the influence of their following other gods. But they had married all these women of Ashdod, and Ammon, and Moab.

Now, their children couldn’t even speak their own language! Can you believe that? Hebrew children could not speak Hebrew! They spoke the language of their mothers. Did you notice that? The language of their mothers. Their mothers taught them their own language so that they didn’t even know the language of their heritage! Wow! Now, Nehemiah was absolutely mad.

Nehemiah 13:25: “And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair.” Wow, can you imagine anybody doing that today? Today, most pastors are too scared to even get up in the pulpit and speak against the evils of the day! Like abortion and homosexuality, and so on. They don’t want to offend one person in their congregation.

But here’s Nehemiah, goodness me! He was just getting into it. He could not stand the fact that they were bringing this into the people of God. He “made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.” He goes on.

But the most powerful thing about this, ladies, is that it was the mothers who taught them this language. We, as mothers, have such power. We, as mothers, have such influence. I want you to realize the influence you have, dear mother. You have a powerful influence in what you teach your children and how you teach them to speak.

Of course, I know we’re all speaking the English language if you’re listening to me because I’m speaking English. Yes, we’re speaking English but of what kingdom do you speak? Do you speak the language of the kingdom of God to which you belong? Or do you speak the language of the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of darkness?

I hear many mothers speaking the language of the kingdom of the enemy. They are speaking more of the language of this society today, which is a humanistic, socialistic society, which does not actually even, they don’t even believe the words of God. In fact, sadly, there are so many, even in the Christian church, who even confess they’re believers, who don’t actually talk the Bible. They don’t say what the Bible says. They don’t even really know it.

They have more knowledge of the kingdom of darkness and this humanistic world all around us than they do of God’s Word. The children growing up in so-called Christian homes, even many in homeschooling homes, know more . . . they have more knowledge of movies, and actors, and stuff on social media than they do of God’s Word.

Dear lovely ladies, what language are you teaching your children? Is it a strange languagelike these mothers were teaching? Why am I saying this? I’m talking about these Scriptures. They tell us to rejoice, even in difficult times, even in times of tribulation.

But what is your language when you’re going through tribulation? Is it joy? Is it, “Yes, I’m going through this but I’m walking in the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. God, who is my exceeding joy, I’m trusting Him.” What is your language?

Or is it, “Oh, poor me! Help! I know God’s forsaken us!” I even hear people, I cannot even believe it, I hear people say they are angry with God. I beg your pardon? I beg your pardon? Who are we, the ones He created, speaking against our Creator? Angry with Him who is a good God? Who always does that which is good? Who knows the beginning from the end, who has our lives planned? Who is watching, even though often we don’t know it? He is watching over us at all times.

He is God. He is God, and who are we, that we should speak like this? And yet, this kind of language comes out of people who are supposedly believers. When we speak this way, our children hear us. We are teaching them, just by, we’re not sitting down, “Now, this is what we speak, children.” No, they listen to us! And they’re going to learn to speak what we speak, the kind of language we speak.

Is it the language of the Kingdom? Is it the language of the Word of God? This is the big challenge to us. We, as mothers, we’re the ones who teach our children what they will speak, what they will grow up speaking. The kind of things that come out of their mouths.

Hosea 8:12, God writing: “I have written to him the great things of My law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” Interesting, isn’t it? There are many things in the Word of God that believers count as strange. You can talk to many believers, and you’ll see a young mother, maybe even at church. She has two lovely little children with her. “Oh, what precious, beautiful children God has given you! Are you hoping for any more?” “Oh no! I’m finished! I’m done!”

I beg your pardon? Where did that language come from? It’s not the language of the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible do you find that language. The language of the Bible is:

“And God blessed them and made them fruitful.”

“And God blessed them and gave them another child.:

“And God blessed them and multiplied them.” God’s blessing is always fruitfulness. And yet we speak the opposite of the Bible.

Let’s get on with a few more of these Scriptures, shall we, dear ladies? Let’s see if our language is lining up with the Scriptures.

Paul’s confession in Acts 20:24: “None of these things move me,” and he’s just told and mentioned many of the things that he has been facing. “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.”

Again, he says in Colossians 1:24: “Whereof I am made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake.”

No. 8. WHEN YOU SUFFER AFFLICTION

In 2 Corinthians 8:1, it is talking about the churches of Macedonia. “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God . . .”  Wow! That’s real King James language, isn’t it? “. . . Bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” Wow! Can we look at that again, ladies?

Yes, how that in “a great trial of affliction,” that’s what they were going through, “and deep poverty.” But in the midst of all that, it talks about how “the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” Even in their deep poverty, they gave out of their poverty. God saw that as great liberality. It may not have been as much as some rich person would give, but it was so liberal, as they gave out of their deep poverty.

Let’s look at a couple of other words here: “how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy.” Now, that word “abundance” is one of the perisseuo words. It’s perisseia, and it means “surplus, super-abundance.” So, out of the surplus of their joy, their joy was not just joy. Their joy was abundance, super-abundance.

DOWN TO EARTH BIBLE LANGUAGE

You see, lovely ladies, I’m not just going over the top. I’m talking down-to-earth Bible language. The sad part is, is that we’re so, we’re not really down to earth. We must be under the earth or something because we’re so below even the down-to-earth Bible language. Wow! And that Bible language is that they had abundance of joy even in their deep poverty.

I know there could be many of you listening. You’re facing difficult times financially. Whoo! I know that’s not easy. We’ve faced that in our lives too. But we can go through it two ways. You can go through complaining and in misery, or you can go through it in joy, continuing to trust God. No matter what, He will not forsake us.

Then it goes on: “And their deep poverty abounded.” There’s the word perisseuo, which I have talked about so many times on this podcast, because it pops up so many times in the Word of God. It’s why I changed the name of this podcast. It used to be, what did it used to be? Oh, From My Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell. But really, oh, we were just talking so much about these wonderful words that we find as we read the Scriptures that I changed it to LIFE TO THE FULL.

What does this word mean? It means “excess, superabound, excel, nothing to spare, over and above.” Of course, that’s Bible language.

All right! We’ve got to get through these quickly.

No. 9. WHEN YOU SACRIFICE YOUR LIFE

Philippians 2:17-18: “Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.”

No. 10: WHEN YOU FACE THE SPOILING OF YOUR POSSESSIONS

In Hebrews 10:34, the writer says you “TOOK JOYFULLY the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.” Obviously, through persecution, all their goods were taken away, or spoiled, or ruined. But what did they do? They took it joyfully, chairo (with calm delight, cheerfulness, gladness). Yes. Do you think we can get with the Bible language, dear ladies?

I can remember way back in New Zealand days, when I had all my little ones around me. I had a Bible study for mothers in my home. Every week all these mothers and children would come. My husband had made me a beautiful plant holder. It was a very great big one with three tiers. It was filled with glorious plants.

I just loved these beautiful plants. They were inside my home. Every week, these little toddlers would come, and they’d jump on it and they’d trample them down. “Oh, oh, my poor plants!” But you know what? God was so good! I didn’t stop having my mothers’ meetings because my plants all got trampled. Every week they somehow grew up again, ready for the next trampling! But they actually did survive. You would never believe it!

No. 11: WHEN YOU ARE WEAK

You all know this one, don’t you? 2 Corinthians 12:9: “And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

No. 12: WHEN YOU ARE CAST OUT

Well, in this particular Scripture, Acts 13:50-51, it tells how the people “raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.” What did they do? “Oh, poor us! They just got rid of us!” No. “But they shook off the dust of their feet . . . and the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.”

Well, maybe you’ve been cast out of your family. Maybe you’ve been cast out of your church. Maybe you’ve been cast out from somewhere. It’s not the end. Don’t worry. Just rejoice! Be “filled with joy and the Holy Ghost.” Instead of getting through it miserably, get through it with joy. Yes, I’ve had the experience of being cast out of a church, way back, years ago. The thing is, everything that happens in your life moves you onto greater realms and into larger places.

No.13: WHEN YOU ARE IN SORROW

2 Corinthians 6:10: “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”  I love that. Paul doesn’t say to the people, “Now, come on, just rejoice!” No, he says: “As sorrowful.” He knew what it was to have sorrow, but still rejoicing, always rejoicing.

I love the New English Translation: “Our hearts ache, but we always have joy.” That’s very powerful. You can be going through a time of such heartache. Your heart can hardly, hardly take it. But underneath that heartache, you can have joy when you have Christ dwelling in you.

The J. B. Phillips Translation says: “We know sorrow, yet our joy is inextinguishable.”

No. 14: WHEN YOU GO THROUGH HARD TIMERS AND EVERYTHING IS TAKEN AWAY

Habakkuk 3:17-18. This Scripture always challenges me: “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

Whoo! That was a testimony of total wipe-out! Nothing left, and yet, still he rejoices in the Lord. And joys in his God.

Time is gone, so here’s the last point.

No. 15. WHEN RECEIVING CHASTENING OF THE LORD

We chasten our children, and they don’t like it but it’s for their good. But as we walk with the Lord God, still He chastens us. Sometimes He uses people. Sometimes He uses our husbands. And we don’t ever like it, but we have to realize, if we will receive it with meekness, that it will bring joy into our lives.

Hebrews 12:11: “Now all discipline,” this is the New English Translation, “seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it.”

Well, there you go, dear ladies, incidents in the Word of God, where we are to be filled with joy. Most of these are talking about hard times, difficult times, challenges, poverty, suffering, heartache, persecution. All this stuff, none of it we like. But in all of it, every Scripture says to receive it with joy.

May the Lord help us to become Bible-believing people, Bible-speaking mothers, who speak the language of the Bible, the language of the Kingdom, and we pass it on to our children.

“Dear Father, please help us. Please bring us up to Your ways. Lord, You say Your ways are far above our ways. Your thoughts are far above our thoughts. Lord, we don’t want to stay down, Lord, just in the rut of our own ways. We pray that You’ll bring us up to Your ways, and to your language, Lord.

“Help us to get to know the language of the Bible and that it will be the language that comes out of our mouths. It will be the language that we automatically pass on and speak to our children. We ask it in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

By the way, ladies, I have a PS for you. The next three sessions, the next three podcasts, I am getting my daughters to come and be with me. I know you’re going to just love it! Don’t miss them. I’m going to get Pearl, and Serene, and Evangeline.

We’re going to continue speaking about joy. But with them, we’ll be getting down to the more nitty-gritty and practical. How do we really have it in our lives, even when we go through these difficult times? Don’t miss these coming sessions. Love you!

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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If you have a moment, it would be lovely if you could email a little thank you letter to Darlene. She sacrifices much of her time to transcribe these podcasts for you and I know it would encourage her to know that you are blessed by her hard work. Thanks so much.

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 208: THE LAND OF MOTHERHOOD, Part 19

The land of motherhood is a JOYFUL land. God wants us to live a life of JOY AND GLADNESS. How can we do this when we face hardships and when people speak against us?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Well, hello again, ladies! So wonderful to be with you. Always enjoy talking to you. Here we are, still going through the land of motherhood. It’s such an amazing, large, and incredible land that we haven’t exhausted it yet! We’re up to POINT . . .

No. 15. IT’S A JOYFUL LAND

Before we get into this amazing subject, I must catch you up with what we’ve been doing. Well, what have we been doing? Not this last weekend, but the weekend before, Colin and I went up to Branson, Missouri. We were asked to go and see a musical show there called Pilgrim.

It was so amazing! It is put on by the Arise Collective Theater. You can find out about it by going to arisecollectivetheater.com. They also have a phone number: 616-446-2450. These two families, plus many others, there’s a whole cast and team of 70 who put it on.

It’s the whole story of Pilgrim’s Progress. It was so professional. They were putting it on nightly for three weeks at a theater in Branson. The last night we were there, and it was packed out, with 1800 people. It was very professional, but very anointed. You would be blessed to see this show. I know they have some more times coming up in Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan. You could check it out. It’s worth seeing.

One of the things I loved about the whole show; they did show very clearly the challenges and the struggles that Pilgrim had as he made his way to the Celestial City. He didn’t get there on a plain smooth path but had to face many situationslike we all do in life.

But there was one person there, dressed in white, who represented God, who represented the Holy Spirit, who was always there with him. Now Pilgrim couldn’t see that He was there. He didn’t know that He was there. But He was always there, just guarding, watching. There were times when the enemy came with such power that He would put forth His hand and push back the enemy. Other times He would come and put His hand on Pilgrim’s shoulder to comfort him.

There were times when He did nothing, but He was there, because He knew that Pilgrim had to learn how to overcome, because this life is where we learn to overcome. Our rewards in the heavenly realm are to the overcomers, aren’t they? But it was very beautiful. We were blessed, so blessed, to enjoy that.

Now, here we are, going through this wonderful land. As you know, if you’ve been listening to all these podcasts about the land (we’re taking the description of the land that God gave about the land He gave to His people Israel). There are 20 different descriptions, and we are likening them to our land of motherhood.

Because the land of Israel, the Promised Land that God took His people to, was a type of the land that He brings us into in the kingdom of God. It’s also a type of the land that we live in as mothers.

I was reading this Scripture again the other day, in Jeremiah 32:41. This is in the context of God bringing His people back to the land, because although He brought them into the Promised Land, sadly they sinned, and they did even worse than the people who were there before them. God had to cast them out.

But God will never give up on His people. God will never give up on His promises. He promised that He would bring them back, which He is doing in this day, in this hour. We are living in a day of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. There is nobody who can say that the Bible is not true, because here we are, seeing it. Promises that were given thousands of years ago are now being fulfilled before our eyes. He is bringing back His people from the four corners of the earth to the land of Israel.

GOD WANTS TO PLANT YOU IN THE LAND – WITH ALL HIS HEART AND WITH ALL HIS SOUL

You see God’s heart in this Scripture: “Yea, I will REJOICE OVER THEM to do them good, and I will PLANT them in this land.” How is God going to do that? It says here: “I will PLANT them in this land ASSUREDLY with MY WHOLE HEART and with MY WHOLE SOUL.” God Himself is speaking and saying this is not some little thing that He may do. No, He is doing it with His whole heart and His whole soul.

This same passion that God has to bring His people back to His land that He gave them is the same longing, the same passion He has to bring us into His kingdom land, the kingdom of God, with all that He has for us to experience and to enjoy in this land. Oh, dear precious ones, how much we fall short of all that God has for us in this kingdom land. We struggle along, and we don’t partake, we don’t feast of all that God has given us, I'm just thinking now, as I’m saying these words, I’m thinking of all the wonderful promises.

2 Peter 1:3-4. I love these Scriptures: “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” Do you notice that He’s given us “all things”? Not just some things. They are given to us for “LIFE and godliness.” Not just godliness, but for life. To live life, to live life in our homes, to live life, dear mothers, with your children all around you, and all the challenges that you face. Yes, He has given you all that you need.

2 Peter 1:4: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” God has given us everything that we need. He has given us His life, His divine nature, which He puts in us when we are born again so that we can live this life that He wants us to live. These promises, we take it by being in the promises, by partaking of the promises. They’re not only promises.

Did you notice that God actually gives three adjectives to describe the promises? God loves adjectives because one word is never enough to describe what He is wanting to tell us. It says these: “EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES.” That’s what they are. This is God’s same heart for you, dear mother. With all God’s heart, with all God’s soul, He wants to bring you into the land of motherhood, for you to enjoy it, not just to come in and hang around the edge.

That’s what a lot of mothers do. Yes, they have a baby. “So, oh, help, I’m entering the land of motherhood! Oh, wow! But help! I don’t know much about it.” So many mothers, they’ve never grown up in a family where the mother has continued to be blessed with children. They’ve hardly had anything to do with babies. They don’t really even know much about it . . .  “What am I going to do with this baby?”

They’ve been so brainwashed in the public education system that motherhood is insignificant. “I’ve got to do my career, and I’ve got to fulfill this.” They enter the land, but they’re just on the edge. They keep going out, and they think, “Oh, I’ve got to get back to my career, so I’ll have to put my baby in daycare.” They have a little bit of motherhood on the edge, but they keep going back out of the land. They’re not really living in the land at all. They’re just in for bit, but they’re out.

But God wants to bring us IN—into the land. In fact, He said this over and over again to His people. As you read through Deuteronomy, you’ll notice it. “I brought you out of Egypt, that I may bring you into the land.” This is what God wants to do. He wants to bring us in with all His heart, and with all His soul.

Of course, the devil’s trying to keep people out of the land of motherhood. He hates motherhood. He hates everything that God has planned, and he seeks to woo women out of the home, woo them away from motherhood. Whereas God is not only wooing us in, He’s saying, “Oh, don’t you understand My heart? I want to plant you in the land. Plant you where you settle, where this is your life. I want to do it with all My soul and with all My heart.”

I trust you are hearing the heart of God to you today, dear precious mother.

Well, let’s have a look at this land, shall we? This land of joyfulness. It is a joyful land. Let’s see what God says about it.

Deuteronomy 12:7, and there in Jerusalem: “And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households.”

Deuteronomy 28, in the cursing part. You know, of course, that Deuteronomy 28 is the blessing chapter. But sadly, the end part is the cursing part, and there are more curses than there are blessings. We get all the blessings when we obey His commandments.

In the cursing verses, it says that “all these curses shall come upon thee” because you did not “keep His commandments and His statutes” which God gave you. Because you did not “serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things.”

That’s very, very challenging, isn’t it? When we don’t appreciate what God gives us, we complain, and we grumble, and we moan. We don’t serve the Lord in our homes and in our mothering because this is what God has given us to do. This is the task where He wants us to serve. When we do not do it with gladness and joyfulness of heart, well, instead of the blessing, we get the curse. That’s pretty strong, isn’t it?

In Joshua 1:15, God, through Joshua, is speaking to the Reubenites, and the Gaddites, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Because if you will remember, before they went into the Promised Land, these two-and-a-half tribes saw land that was this side of Jordan. They said, “Wow! We love this land! Can we have this land?”

God said, through Moses, “Yes, I’ll give you this land. But you’ve got to go over Jordan with the rest of the tribes, and you’ve got to help them fight the giants and take on those cities there and possess the land for all your other tribes. When you’ve done that, you can come back, and you can enjoy the land that I’ve given you on this side of Jordan.”

Now they have possessed pretty much most of the land. Joshua says here now to these two-and-a-half tribes: “Return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it.” Yes, this is what God wants us to do. He wants us to enjoy the land.

In Isaiah 61:7 it says: “In their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.”

Isaiah 35:10. Now when we get over to these Scriptures, we are speaking more of the return of God’s people to the land, when they’re coming back into the land the second time: “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Isaiah 51:3: “For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” Now He’s bringing them back the second time.

This is what is happening now. God’s people are making aliyah and coming back to the land, this land that had become desolate, absolutely desolate, and a desert. Just like the malarial swamps when the children of Israel first came back to the Land when it became a nation in 1948. It was, my, it was challenging when they came back. But as they have come back, they have worked the land. This land is now blossoming again like the rose, as God said it would. He said it would become like “the garden of the Lord,” like Eden.

Do you notice, in these Scriptures, we find these twins, “joy and gladness”? Joy and gladness. God speaks to them over and over again. These are twins. They go together. Joy and gladness. That’s meant to be the lifestyle of the land—joy and gladness.

Isaiah 51:11: “Therefore the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy.” There it is again! “And sorrow and mourning shall flee away.” (This Scripture is repeated again from Isaiah 35;10).

Isaiah 52:9: “With the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted His people.” We see that that is God’s heart, Joy and gladness are meant to be the testimony of the land, His land, the kingdom of God.

What does it say in Romans 14:17? “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but . . . (do you remember? What is it?) “But righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” This is the description of the kingdom of God. “Joy in the Holy Ghost.” It’s meant to be the description of the land of motherhood. “Joy in the Holy Ghost.”

Psalm 113:9 is another description of the land of motherhood. It says: “He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children.” God equates motherhood with joy. At the end of that Scripture, it says, “Praise ye the Lord.”

So, precious ladies, is this the description of your lifestyle? In your home and in your mothering? I wonder, because I have to admit that I see so many mothers with such unhappy faces. They look so sad! That is not the description that God intends. But I see mothers who have frowns on their faces. They look so unhappy. Oh, goodness me! Where is their joy? Well, you say to me, “Well, you don’t know what I’m going through, and all I have to put up. I don’t know, I’m just overwhelmed and I’m facing this and that. I don’t know, I can’t cope with all these children.”

Well, lovely ladies, can I tell you something? We live our lives according to how we think. Often, it’s how we’re thinking in our minds. Because we’ve been so brainwashed by our public education, and by society, and by all the humanist philosophy that is all around us, we’re brainwashed by it. We think, “Oh, I’m here in this home and I’m wasting my life.” It’s all negative.

No, you’re listening to the wrong information. You’re listening to the garbage that comes from the pit of hell, because these are the lies and the junk that the enemy puts in your mind. We’ve got to start listening to the Word of God, dear ladies, to what God says. We have to get what God says into our minds, into our hearts, and into our mouths. It has to be into our very being, so that it’s coming out of us. That’s what we speak. So, we’re speaking joy! Yes!

“He maketh the barren woman to keep home, and to be a joyful mother of children.” The kingdom of God and the kingdom of motherhood is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. It’s how you think. You’ll live how you’ll think. You will live according to the lies of our humanist society, or you will live according to the truth of what God says!

As I’ve been thinking about the joyful land, I’ve been looking again in the Word at the Scriptures. Dear precious ladies, I would keep you going for weeks if I was to give you every Scripture about joy and the Word of God. It just goes right through the Word, from Genesis to Revelation.

You see, God is a God of joy. This is where it comes from. Joy comes from God. I’m not talking about just feeling happy because everything’s going great. No. Joy even when things are not going great. We can only know that as we walk with God, and He dwells in us, and we dwell in Him. This is where we begin to know true joy.

Today, I thought we could look at a few things. OK, when are we to have joy and to rejoice? What circumstances? Well, I have quite a number of points here. Can we look at some today?

WHEN DO WE REJOICE, ladies?

Is it just when everything’s going good and I feel happy today? Maybe tomorrow you’re feeling sorry for yourself. No, it’s not anything to do with feelings.

Now, I will admit I started out my mothering that way, living by my feelings. Oh, it’s a terrible way to live. Oh, goodness me, how can anybody live by their feelings? Because your feelings are deceiving. They deceive you, and you begin to think these negative things, and these self-pity things.

I believe women are so prone to self-pity. “Poor me!” And if we dwell on those thoughts, we get worse and worse, and we go down further and further. All it is, is feelings, and feeling these thoughts that the enemy is putting in our mind, because he’s the one who does it. They don’t come from God at all, because they’re not the truth.

We’ve got to get with it, ladies! Get on God’s side. Get with the truth! My! The only way we can really live an overcoming victorious life is when we walk in the truth!

No. 1. ALL THE DAY

David confessed in Psalm 89:16: “In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day.” “I beg your pardon. Do I have to “rejoice all the day”? Couldn’t I even just do it for five minutes?” No. The Bible says: “all the day.”

Psalm 71:8: “Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honor all the day.”

Psalm 90:14: “That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” “Oh, can’t I just do it some days?” No, all of your days.

No. 2. WHEN A BABY IS BORN

The Bible tells us we are to rejoice when a baby is born. Well, that’s a good one, isn’t it? We usually always rejoice when a baby is born. I love Luke 1:58. It talks about when Elisabeth’s baby was born. It says: “Now Elisabeth’s full time came, that she should be delivered. And she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had shown great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her.”

I believe that is just the testimony of what we should do when every baby is born, to rejoice. Well, I think most people do rejoice when a baby is born. I think often the problem is when a baby is conceived. Isn’t that sad? This is when the baby begins. And yet, there are many who don’t rejoice.

Sometimes even the mother herself is not rejoicing. She thinks, “Wow. Oh, I’m not ready for this baby. How can we afford this baby? Oh, this is not the right time.” But dear precious ladies, when God gives you conception, it comes from God. God has visited you and it’s a miracle! We should rejoice!

Many mothers are too frightened to tell their mothers or their mothers-in-law that they’re having a baby, because they know there’s going to be a negative reaction. That is so ungodly, and so antithesis to the Word of God! Because every conception and every birth should be celebrated, and we should rejoice.

We go back to Psalm 107:41. Interesting passage here: “Yet setteth He the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.” Isn’t that interesting? God loves to make families like a flock. Now, sometimes God only gives a couple one or two children. But mostly, it’s a little flock.

The flock isn’t one or two. Imagine just having one or two sitting around your table. It’s not a flock. A flock, well, a Middle Eastern flock that they’re talking about is not a huge flock. Not like our sheep farmers in New Zealand. I come from New Zealand, where farmers often have thousands of sheep.

But no, Middle Eastern shepherds have a small flock. But oh, it’s a little flock. That’s what God wants to give us. “The righteous shall see it and rejoice! And all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.”

Did you notice, precious ladies, when the righteous see, when they behold a little baby, they hear a little baby is conceived, or a little baby is born, what do they do? They rejoice! They rejoice there’s another baby coming into this family! This little flock is growing! Because a flock is meant to grow. Anybody who has a few sheep, they want their flock to grow! We rejoice.

No. 3. THAT YOUR NAME IS WRITTEN IN HEAVEN

Luke 10:20: “Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”

No. 4. WHEN PEOPLE PERSECUTE YOU, HATE YOU, AND SPEAK AGAINST YOU

Oh, this is interesting. What do you do when you’re going through that situation? And I’m sure you’ve been through it. I’ve been through that many, many times. What do you do?

Well, Matthew 5:11-12 says: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad. . . for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

Let’s have a look at it, shall we, ladies?

“Blessed.” You know what that means? It means “supremely blessed.” “I beg your pardon? You mean to say I have to feel blessed when someone hates me, when they actually say lies about me? They’re not true, and how dare they say that!”

Well, the Bible says you’re supremely blessed and what are you meant to do?

“Rejoice!” Now, the word in the Greek is chairo, and it means “calmly happy, you don’t get in a state about it.” And we haven’t finished yet!

And “be exceeding glad.” Now, what’s that word? It’s the word agalliao. Well, something like that. I know I may not always pronounce it correctly. And that word means, get with it, ladies. It means “to jump and leap for joy. To show one’s joy by leaping and skipping. Ecstatic joy and delight..”

Well, I wonder, have you ever in your life actually done what the Scripture says? You’re going through this sad time, and these people are talking against you, and they’ve even done evil things against you. And you’re mad, and you’re feeling grieved and hurt. But no, the Bible says, “Jump! Jump up and down for joy!

I wonder if any of us ever obey the Bible, because we don’t feel like doing that. Who would feel like doing that? Nobody in the whole world. But we don’t do what we feel like! We do what the Word of God says, and God’s Word always works. You try it. I have tried it. Goodness me, you jump up and down for joy and you jump all the hurt out of you. You see, God’s Word is so opposite to how we feel, isn’t it?

And the Luke account, let’s read it. Luke 6:22-23: “Blessed,” supremely blessed, “are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye,” be calmly happy, “and leap for joy.” Here it is again, “Leaping for joy, for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.”

Now here we’ve got another word. This time it’s the Greek word skirtao, something like that. It means, “to skip, to jump, to leap for joy, to sympathetically move, as in the quickening of a baby in the womb.”

Can you believe it? It’s the same word that is used in Luke 1:41 and 44: “And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.” And later she said, “For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.”

Now, just as we end, I’ve got to tell you a similar Scripture in the Old Testament that relates to this. In Psalm 31:7 it says: “I will be glad and rejoice in Thy mercy: for Thou hast considered my trouble; Thou hast known my soul in adversities.” The word “rejoice” in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word giyl. And guess what it means? “To spin around under the influence of any violent emotion, to be joyful, to rejoice.”

So, ladies, here we are. We get these Scriptures that mean that when we’re going through these difficult times, that we are to actually jump for joy, leap for joy, spin around. Do you think you could actually try it? Well, I’m not making all this up. I’m giving you the literal words of God. OK?

Well, may the Lord abundantly bless you. Shall we pray?

“Dear precious Father, we thank You that Your land that You bring us into, the land of the kingdom of God, the land of our motherhood is the land of joy. It’s where you want us to live in joy and gladness.

“Lord God, we pray that You will help us, help us to live by the truth of Your Words. Not by our feelings, not by the lies of the enemy, but by the truth of Your Word.

“Oh, Lord God, bring us into a larger place. We pray that we will experience all that You have for us. In the precious name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 207: THE LAND OF MOTHERHOOD, Part 18

The land of motherhood is also a HOLY land. I talk about holy marriage, holy mothering, and a holy home. It's also a CHALLENGING land, and a FAT land. No, I'm not saying you'll get fat!

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Thank you for joining me again today in our wonderful journey through the land of motherhood.

We’re currently on point number 12: IT IS A HOLY LAND. We spoke last time about how God wants us to have a HOLY MARRIAGE. He also wants us to have HOLY MOTHERHOOD. We actually looked at that Scripture last time, last week, 1 Timothy 2:15, that we will be “saved through childbearing, if we continue in faith, love, and holiness, and self-control.”

The Scriptures combine motherhood with holiness. God wants us to be holy mothers. This word is often translated “sanctification,” or “sanctified.” It means “to be sanctified, to be set apart, to be sacred.” This is what motherhood is. It’s a set-apart calling. It’s a sacred calling. It’s not common or inferior. No! It is sacred. It is very special.

There’s an interesting Scripture in the Apocrypha. Now the Apocrypha was not chosen to be part of the Word of God, but some of the books are very interesting reading. In Ecclesiasticus 1:16, it says: “Wouldst thou be wise? The first step is fear of the Lord. It goes with holy motherhood.” I love that phrase, “holy motherhood.”

It’s important to know who we’re meant to be, and to be aware that we are meant to be holy mothers. As we have this awareness, we will seek to walk more in holiness, and also to realize that everything in our home is holy, because when Christ comes to dwell in our hearts by His Spirit, He is dwelling within us. He dwells within us with His holy life. His life is holy, and He is walking about our house in us. That’s an amazing, incredible revelation, isn’t it? We sometimes forget all about it, and we’re not aware of that. But it’s so important to be aware of these things that God wants us to embrace holy motherhood.

I love that Scripture over in Zechariah, the last chapter of Zechariah. Zechariah 14:20-21: “In that day,” it’s talking about a day that is to come, “shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots . . .” Most other translations say: (and the cooking pots) in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts.”

The Message Bible, which is a paraphrase, says: “And all the pots and pans in all the kitchens of Jerusalem and Judah will be holy.” I love to think of my utensils, and the bowls, and the cooking pots in my kitchen, that they are holy, because if God dwells in my heart, and if He dwells in my home, that means that everything in my home is sacred. It’s set apart for Him.

Even when I come to prepare meals, I’m not doing a job grudgingly. “Oh, better cook another meal.” No! I am doing a sacred task. Christ dwells in me, so therefore He is working with me. As I pick up a pot, it’s sacred. It’s set apart. It’s for God’s glory. As I’m preparing this meal, I’m doing it for His glory. It’s a sacred task. It’s as important as I am talking to you now. It’s most probably even more important, as I am there, preparing a meal for my family.

Begin to see your tasks in the home, dear mother, as sacred . . . to changing your baby’s diaper. It’s a sacred task. As you’re preparing meals, cleaning the house, doing all the things that you have to do in your home, see them as sacred. Oh, it totally changes your attitude, as you realize that you are living in a sanctuary! You see, God had His sanctuary on earth. It was the tabernacle, later the temple, where He dwelt. Now we no longer have a tabernacle/temple today. God doesn’t dwell in temples. He dwells in our fleshly temples.

We go over to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”

What incredible words! And it says that your body is the temple. Now, that word “temple” there is the Greek word naos. That word literally means “the holy of holies.” It’s that special, sacred place in the tabernacle, and later the temple, where God dwelt between the cherubim, in all His shekinah glory.

Now God is saying, “I no longer dwell there, but I dwell in you! Your body has become my holy of holies.” Oh, ladies, it’s pretty hard to take in, isn’t it? You know, sometimes we know, “OK, I’m born again. I’m saved from sin. I’m going to heaven.” But we forget that Jesus not only died to save us from our sins, but to come and dwell in us, and live His holy, glorious life through us! Oh, and this is what He wants to do every day in your home, with your children all around you, whatever you are doing. He wants to live through you.

We also go over to 2 Corinthians 6:14-18: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 

“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 

There again, same word. You are the temple, the naos, the holy of holies of the living God! Whoo! That is just so amazing, isn’t it? We can’t not walk in holiness when we are His “holy of holies.”

Let’s move on, shall we, to our HOLY HOME. Not only does God dwell in us, but He wants to dwell in our homes. Oh, let me take you to a glorious Scripture.

Hebrews 9:1: “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.” Now, that’s King James language. It’s not very easy to really understand what it’s saying.

Let’s go to another translation, the J. B. Philips Translation. This Scripture is talking about the tabernacle, back in the wilderness. The tabernacle, of course, was a type of the tabernacle, the temple that is in the heavenly realm, that is there right now. It was all a type. It says: “And the tabernacle had a sanctuary, a holy place in this world for the eternal God.”

Oh, don’t you love those words, dear ladies? Can I say them again?

“A holy place in this world for the eternal God.”

God chose this place, this tabernacle, where He dwelt in the holy of holies. It was where God was dwelling on this earth, on this sinful earth. There were sinful nations all around. Sadly, there was even sin in the camp of the Israelites. They were always sinning and turning away from the Lord.

But in the midst of all sin and degradation, there was this sanctuary for the holy God. Oh, He made His presence known. It was His footstool. But now God dwells in us, and He wants to dwell in our homes. Dear ladies, can you get this? He wants to make our homes a dwelling place for Him in this world. He wants our homes to be a holy place for the eternal God, in the midst of this sinful and deceived world.

We live in a deceived and sinful society. We live in a nation, oh, it’s so hard to believe that this nation, which is supposed to be a Christian nation, is a nation that has now made homosexuality law. That it’s made abortion law. How can we even accept it? How can we ever get used to it?

But in the midst of all this degradation, and sin, and murder, and hate, and evil, and horror, God wants light in this darkness. He wants holy homes in the midst of this sinful world. We are His light. We are a glimpse of God’s holiness in the midst of all this world.

This is what He wants you to make your homes, ladies. Can you get a vision for this? To make your home a holy home. Let me say it again. It’s worth typing these words out and pinning them up on your wall:

“My home is a holy place in this world for the eternal God.”

Amen? Oh, yes, yes.

Let’s go over to Ezekiel 43:12. This is talking about Ezekiel’s temple. It says: “This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.” What was the law of the house in Ezekiel’s temple? That not only the temple, but all the land round about, it was all to be most holy unto the Lord.

As I believe, as we read the Scriptures, we first read it on a literal level. This is speaking about Ezekiel’s temple, which is yet to come. But there are levels and levels, and God speaks to us His truth personally through every Scripture, through every Scripture He makes known His truths. Oh, and sometimes there’s more than one. It goes down and down. There are more levels of revelation.

I believe that God not only wants us to build the holy home in the midst of this sinful world, and that’s not easy. Especially when we’re not perfect creatures, and we’ve got all these sinners in and out of our home. And our children are certainly not born saints. They’re born sinners.

But in the midst of this, oh, we teach God’s holiness. We teach His grace, and His forgiveness of sin. How wonderful that the power of the cross, and the power of the blood of Jesus is absolutely able to cleanse us from all sin! Every sin that we confess and repent of comes under the blood, and is not only forgiven, but is forgotten. That is the power of the blood of Jesus.

So, although we are not perfect, we seek after holiness, and we embrace the power of the blood of Jesus in our lives. We seek to not only make our homes holy, but all around our homes. You may only have just a tiny, little, wee section or little plot of land, or you may have many acres. But whatever God has given you, you’re responsible to keep it holy.

We not only know what’s going on in our home, but around our home. What are our children doing inside the home? What are they doing outside of the home? What is going on outside our home? Oh, yes, we as mothers are watchdogs, always watching, checking things out. We have a responsibility to pursue holiness in the home and all round about. Amen? Yes.

Holiness in the home begins with us. We are the heart of the home. Dear ladies, will you make it your vision today, to make a holy place for God in the midst of this sinful world?

Hebrews 12:14: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

All right. Let’s move on to the next point.

No. 13. IT IS A CHAELLINGING LAND

Deuteronomy 1:7: “Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south” which was speaking of the desert, which is south Israel.  

It wasn’t all plain sailing. There were hills. There were valleys. There were deserts. God said, “I want you to go in and take it all.” Yes, even the challenging situations.

What about 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, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!”

And there’s an exclamation mark, right after it, because the children of Anak were the giants. The Anakims were the giants. God says, “Here you are. You’re going to go into the land today, my people! But you’re going to face challenges greater and mightier than you are. Yes, there are cities with fences that are walled up to heaven! Yes, there are giants there! But go in and possess.”

My, sometimes we have fears and concerns about embracing the whole of the land of motherhood. Young mothers go into the land and sometimes they go in with fear about having babies. So many young people today have grown up in small families. They’ve never been around little babies and mothering. They don’t even know anything about this realm!

They have lots of fears and questions. They’re scared that they might have too many children. They’re scared of this. They’re scared of that. They worry about this. They worry about that. All these little things loom up as giants in their minds.

But what does God say to His people? When he said, “OK, you’re going in to face these greater and mightier nations than you. You’re going in to face giants.” Then He said, “Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is He which goeth over before you.” God goes before us. God is with us.

And, yes, all of us face challenging situations in different ways. I’m sure as I’m talking to you today, every one of you has faced difficult situations, challenging situations. Oh, you didn’t know how you would ever come through, but God has brought you through into a large place, into a glorious place.

Some of you are going through things now. You wonder, “Oh, my, how can I do this? How can I face this? How can we ever get through this?” I want to remind you, dear ones, God is with you. He will not let you go. Look up to Him. Trust Him. Confess that He is with you.

Say, “Oh, Lord God, I don’t know where to turn, but I thank You that You are with me. I thank You, Lord God. You’ve promised to go before me. You’ve already been before. You know what to do. I’m trusting You, Lord God. I trust You. I trust You. Thank You, Lord. Oh, my trust is in You! I look to You! I’m not looking to these circumstances. I am looking to you.”

Make this your confession. As you do, as you truly put your trust in Him, you will be amazed how God will bring you through. Many times, the problem doesn’t suddenly disappear. But God carries you through. He’s gone before, and He is with you, and He will never forsake you. He has promised. Yes, every single challenge that you face, He will be with you.

We see it again in Joshua 12:8: “Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession, according to their divisions.” Where did they possess?

“In the mountains,

and in the valleys,

and in the plains,

and in the springs,

and in the wilderness,

and in the south country (which is the desert).”

So, we see that all these are not all the same. It’s not only all plains. There are the springs. Oh yes, wonderful springs. There are the valleys. There are the mountains to climb. There are the wilderness times. They’re all there. But God is with us in every one.

I have another reference here. I must just check it out.

Joshua 11:16: “So Joshua took all that land” (that God had promised them)

“the hills,

and all the south country,

and all the land of Goshen,

and the valley,

and the plain,

and the mountain of Israel,

and the valley of the same.” and so on.

We see it over and over again, that there are all the different seasons and circumstances that we will face in our land. But we can be sure, no matter what we face, that God is with us.

God is with you, dear precious wife.

God is with you, dear precious mother.

He will never forsake you, never, never, never.

That is the understanding in the Greek of Hebrews 13:5-6, where it says: “I will never, I will never, I will never (three times for emphasis) leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Amen?

I love the lines of this chorus where it says:

“Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?

Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?

God specializes in things thought impossible.

He can do what no other can do.”

Amen? And amen!

Let’s go on to our next one.

. Isn’t it amazing, all the different descriptions that God uses to describe His land? Let’s look at Nehemiah 9:25: “And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.”

Here we have the description of it being a “fat” land. In fact, it tells us that they became fat. Well, I don’t think any of us want to become fat, do we? No. We’re all trying to keep slim. But I don’t think it’s meaning they just got fat. I don’t think that back there in those days, we saw any fat Israelites. They were so fit. Of course, the food that they lived on, although God called it a “fat land.”

But what was it? It was oliveyards, and fruit trees, and all the good things that He created. They weren’t living on all these fatty fast foods. They were living on the good foods that God gave to them.  

We go on to Nehemiah 9:35. Now if we move down the chapter, Nehemiah is telling the people what God did for them, and then what they did, and how they turned away in disobedience. Then he says, “For they have not served Thee in their kingdom, and in Thy great goodness that Thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which Thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.”

We notice in that Scripture quite a few things; how God gave to them their kingdom. He also called the land their “kingdom.” The land of motherhood is also our kingdom, ladies. It’s our realm that God has given us to manage, and to rule over. You are not some inferior person. You are a queen!

Yes, queen of your domain. Queen of your home, and all that goes on in it, and not only training and raising godly children, but opening your home in hospitality to bless people. The visions that you have of projects that God has put on your heart to do. Everything that’s happening in your home. It’s your kingdom, your domain, and you rule over it.

He's given us a kingdom. He’s given it to us. You notice that, again, yes, this kingdom that He gave to you. Of course, it’s called a “large and a fat land.” It goes on to verse 36. This is getting a bit negative now. “Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it. . . Also, they have dominion over our bodies. We are in great distress.”

Whoo! That’s a very powerful Scripture. In the last couple of years, many, some more than others, and in some countries more than others, and in some situations, more than others, many began to experience that the government had dominion over our bodies. That is a curse that comes when we walk in disobedience in the land that He gives us.

When we walk in obedience, we experience the fat of the land, and the good of the land. We enjoy the kingdom He’s given us to rule over, and to manage, and to enjoy. But when we walk in disobedience, God brings that curse of a government taking dominion over our bodies. My, I hate that.

And so many, many people, because of fear, gave into a government, and to people who demanded that they be vaccinated for this so-called covid, which was another strain of the flu. That is so sad. There were many who entered hospital, mainly through fear, because fear brings on something and makes it worse.

The sad part about it was that there were many who did not return from hospital, because they were given remdesivir. We know that that was commanded by Fauci to all hospitals, to give those who came in with the C-O-V-I-D, I don’t even like saying the word. They were to be given remdesivir. They were not allowed to have hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin, which had been proved, and has been continually proved to be a complete healer.

But instead, they gave them this poison, which poisons the kidneys. Most people who received that diagnosis died. They died, not through covid, but through remdesivir. They took dominion over their bodies. It was murder. I still cannot understand all that happened. Where will the justice come? Will justice come for all these precious people who died unnecessarily?

But that’s the negative, isn’t it? Oh, the positive is that God wants to bring us into this fat land to enjoy it.

One more Scripture as we close. Ezekiel 34:13-15; this is now where the people have been thrown out of the land because of their disobedience. But God has promised to bring them back, because He will never fail His promises.

He says, “And I will bring them. . .to their own land,” to their own land, “and. . . I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.”

God wants you to enjoy the fatness of the land of motherhood. God has given us a table of fatness. Every day that table is filled with nourishment for us, to come in and partake of. We can partake of it as we come into His presence. We can partake of that fatness as we come into His Word and receive what He has to say to us. The commands and the promises that He has given us for this kingdom in which we live, for this land in which we live. Oh, what a great and wonderful God we have!

Dear Father, we thank You. We are full of thanks for all Your goodness to us, for this fat and large land that You’ve brought us into, for all the good things You give us daily. We are so blessed. We want to be a thankful people. Help us to be full of thankfulness and gratefulness and joy every day as we mother in our land. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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If you have a moment, it would be lovely if you could email a little thank you letter to Darlene. She sacrifices much of her time to transcribe these podcasts for you and I know it would encourage her to know that you are blessed by her hard work. Thanks so much.

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 206: THE LAND OF MOTHERHOOD, Part 17

The land of motherhood is a land of BLESSING. God promises that He will not only bless us in the land, but GREATLY BLESS us! He promises 16 different blessings to us when we are IN THE LAND. Come on in and check them out.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Good to be with you again. I wonder what is happening around your home this week. Well, lots of things are happening around here as usual. Life is always exciting and full on the Hilltop.

At the moment, I’m planting my garden. I’m a little bit late. I should have had it all in by now. But this year, my husband got a very bad and painful leg. He was on crutches. He couldn’t even walk without them. So, we didn’t know what we were going to do because usually he will rotary hoe the garden, and I’ll plant.

He was able to do nothing. But he kept believing, and praying, and walking through it. Well, he wasn’t able to walk, but he began to try as he could. God is so good! Although he still has pain, he’s walking without crutches, and he even rotary hoed my big garden. That is so amazing!

Now I have most of it planted. Still a few small things to plant, but I am so glad. It’s so wonderful to get a garden in. Maybe you have your garden in too, unless you live Down Under. You’ll be in a different season to us here in the States.

But even though it takes work to get in the garden, it’s worth being able to enjoy a wonderful harvest throughout the summer and the fall. To go out every day and pick fresh, beautiful food out of the garden. I just love it!

Now, what else has been happening? On the sixth of May, we had another family wedding. Pearl’s son Rocky, Rocklyn, but we call him “Rocky” for short. He’s actually named after my son Rocklyn. So, we have two “Rockys” in the family.

Rocky married Mary Beth, from down in Alabama. We all had to go down to Alabama for this wedding. Once again, my husband was so blessed to take the wedding ceremony. Mary Beth is such a beautiful girl. She was one of our Above Rubies helpers who came to us about three years ago. Rocky and Mary Beth fell in love, but it’s taken three years for them to come to this place of getting married. It was a very beautiful occasion.

Then last Sunday, we had Addie’s baby shower. Now I think you will know who Addie is, because she is married to Isaiah, one of Serene’s children. Isaiah and Addie are on the front cover of the current magazine. They are now expecting a little baby in June.

It was so joyous to put on their baby shower here on Sunday evening. Cherish was the one who was organizing the baby shower. One of the things we love to do at baby showers, we love “Pass the Parcel,” where you pass it around. When the music stops, whoever gets it, they have to do whatever it says on the parcel.

Cherish really did a great one. Some of the things we had to do, acting out Addie in labor, and acting out if Addie was crying, “What would Isaiah do?” Acting out this and that. They were all so hilarious. We were all just about rolling on the floor with laughter. That was fun.

Yes, we are so blessed with all these beautiful little grandbabies coming on. We have about six little babies all around us now. Little great grandbabies that have been born in the last few months. And now we’re waiting for four more great grandbabies to come! (IT’S ACTUALLY SIX THAT ARE ON THE WAY)! And then we also have three babies of families in our Hilltop fellowship having babies too. So that’s about another seven babies coming. (THE CORRECT NUMBER IS NINE)! We are surrounded with babies! Oh, we are so blessed! It is just so wonderful. God is so good.

On Tuesday night, Colin and I went to another movie, called THE MATTER OF LIFE. Well, you’d think that we were movie-goers! A couple of episodes ago I told you how we had been to see 2000 MULES. Now, we found out that this movie about life, exposing the horrors of abortion, was going to be in the theaters. We were able to go.

It was such a powerful movie! It was only in the theaters for a couple of nights, so you can’t go to see it there now, but you can get the DVD. I would encourage you to order it. I think you can download, actually, too. You can screen it. I would encourage you to do that. It’s called The Matter of Life. Very well done. So much in it. I will have to watch it again, maybe a couple of times, to really get everything that was in that movie. There was so much. Oh, you will be so blessed!

This is another movie you need to show in your own home. Gather people in to watch it with you. We did that with 2000 Mules. We did it once, and we didn’t think enough people came, so Monday night, we actually screened it again in our home on our big screen. We were able to see it again. That was our third time for 2000 Mules. Once again, we really didn’t get enough people coming to see it.

At the theater on Tuesday night for The Matter of Life, I could not believe it! I was so sad, because the theater was only about a third full. I couldn’t believe it. Just some stupid, crazy movie, and they can pack out a theater. When there is something that is so powerful, and giving the truth, and something that is a subject that is so important, people don’t bother to turn up.

Where are we? I wonder. I do believe that we are plagued with a spirit of apathy. I don’t think that most of us really realize where we are in this country, and the state of this nation. We all know that at the moment, the Supreme Court is working on giving their answer about Roe vs. Wade, whether they will continue it, or whether it will be wiped out.

Oh, we are praying so much! That God will move, and He will move upon the Supreme Court judges. That the fear of God will come into their hearts, and they will vote to completely annihilate this horrific bill that has caused the deaths of over 60 million babies in our nation. How do we cope with that? Do we just carry on as though nothing is happening?

Our God is the God of life. God is the authorof life. God loves life. If we are on God’s side, ladies, we will be on the side of life. If we belong to God’s kingdom, we belong to a kingdom of life. We will promote life. We will speak for life. We will stand up for life. We will fight for life.

I believe it’s important for us to see these movies, to be reminded again of the truth, to be reminded again of the horrors of abortion, where precious little babies, babies with all their faculties, are horrifically dismembered limb by limb. You could shoot someone. That’s terrible. But there’s nothing as horrific as dismembering someone, limb by limb.

If we were to see this happen to an adult, we would be in outrage. But it is happening to little babies in the womb! We cannot sit by and do nothing! We must be praying. We must be fighting. We must be calling our senators, our congressmen, our governors. We must be asking them, and pleading with them, to stand for life in whatever state that we live in. We must be a voice.

We have to do something. We can’t just say, “Well, I don’t believe in abortion,” and not do anything! Precious ladies, organize this movie, and get people to come into your home and watch it together. Then talk about it at the end. “Now, what can we do?” Encourage one another in calling up senators and congressmen and so on. Let’s just keep one another on our toes.

Or if we just pathetically, pathetically allow these things to go on, well, really, we’re not standing against it. What are we doing? We’re allowing to happen. That means we’re standing for it, if we’re allowing it to happen! I pray that you can do that.

Have you watched 2000 Mules yet? If you haven’t, don’t forget to watch that one, and bring people into your home to watch this one, too. Although, I’ve just heard that, by public request, 2000 Mules is now coming back into the theaters this weekend. Actually, that’s before you get this podcast, because I’m speaking Thursday. It should come in on the weekend, and you’ll get this podcast on Tuesday morning. But hopefully it will stay in the theaters for a little bit longer this time.

Anyway ladies, let’s be those who are not overtaken by an apathetic, and mediocre, and status quo, and tolerant attitude. Let’s be those who rise up for truth, rise up for life! Rise up for the saving of our nation! Amen? I hope you are saying “amen” with me.

All right. Well, ladies, let’s get on to our walking through the land of motherhood. It is such a wonderful journey! We’re up to point number 11.

No. 11. IT IS A LAND OF BLESSING

Deuteronomy 15:4: “The Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it.”

Notice in that Scripture, He doesn’t say: “The Lord will bless thee in the land.” No, he says, “The Lord will GREATLY bless thee in the land.” Notice also, it says: “IN THE LAND.” We have been reading so many Scriptures, haven’t we, about the phrase, “IN THE LAND.”

This is where God wants us, to bless us. There is where He wanted to bless His people, in the land that He chose for them. This is the way He wants to bless us, and where He wants to bless us, in the land, in the land of motherhood, which He chose for us.

We’re reminded again in this Scripture: “In the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” You see, God gave the land to His people. God gives the land of motherhood to us. We may not have chosen it, but God chose it for us. As we embrace this land, and walk through this land, and take hold of everything in this land, He says: “I will greatly bless you.”

In Deuteronomy 23:20, it says: “That the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to, in the land whither thou goest to possess it.”

Deuteronomy 25:15: “That thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

Deuteronomy 28:8: “The Lord shall command the blessing upon thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto, and He shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

Do you notice the beginning of that Scripture? “The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee.” Command the blessing upon thee. “In thy storehouses,” yes! When we walk in obedience to His ways, which is verse one of Deuteronomy 28, he gets to verse 8, and He says: “The Lord will command the blessing of provision upon you.”

But then we go to Deuteronomy 28:21. This passage in Deuteronomy 28 is one of the curses. And here it says that one of the curses is that “until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.” Do you notice the opposite? All the blessings are in the land. But when God has to bring judgment because we walk in disobedience, the judgment is that He will take us off the land. The cursing is off the land. The blessing is in the land.

Well, let me give you a list of all the different blessings that I found. All these blessings are written of what God will do for us in the land, 16 different blessings. Now, I won’t read you all the references, ladies, because you may be washing dishes, on a walk, doing laundry, sitting nursing your baby, whatever. But I will put them in the transcript for you. So, if you get to read the transcript, or you want to check out the references, you’ll be able to go to the transcript. (I’ll list the Scriptures at the end of the transcript).

All right, number one: blessings of fruitfulness.

Blessings of the breasts and of the womb. Notice that is plural. Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

Blessings of weddings and celebrations.

Blessings of the provision of bread and water, the most basic food requirement.

Blessings of God’s watchful care.

Blessings of peace.

Blessings upon all that we do.

Blessings of health. Deuteronomy 7:15 says: “the Lord will take away from thee all sicknesses.” What a wonderful blessing!

Blessings on our children.

Blessings if we live in the city, or in the country.

Blessings on our cattle and our produce.

Blessings on our daily walk.

Blessings of reigning instead of servitude.

Blessings of lending to others instead of having to borrow.

Blessings on our land and our garden.

Blessings on all the work of our hands.

How about that for 16 amazing blessings? All the blessings that are in the land. Isn’t that so wonderful? God is so good.

You know, sometimes women think, “Oh, to have more babies is not a blessing. Oh, it will be a negative to my body. I want to keep my figure perfect. I don’t want having babies to interfere with my life, or my figure, or my plans for what I want to do.”

The actual opposite is the case. Many women get on the birth control pill. That often causes them to put on weight. It has many, many physical negatives, even decreased libido, which is not a blessing at all! Every contraception has its negatives and is not a blessing at all to our bodies.

There are women who want to avoid pregnancy, lactation, and all these beautiful things that God has given to us as women. They think, “Oh, no, I don’t want that, thank you! I’ve got more to do with my life.”

Instead, they miss out on the blessings of all the hormones that God gives to a pregnant mother and a lactating mother. These beautiful hormones of oxytocin and prolactin. They are blessings that we, as women, are blessed to receive. Yet, many women reject them because they don’t understand that what God has given is a blessing. Let’s embrace our land, dear ladies, so we can enjoy all the blessings God want to give us.

The next point.

No. 12. IT IS A HOLY LAND

Now, I want to read you this Scripture here. Zechariah 2:12: “And the Lord shall inherit Judah, His portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.” Here God describes the land as the Holy Land. God calls His land a holy land.

We go over to the New Testament where we read in 1 Timothy 2:14-15. We read about motherhood. “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety (or self-control).

This Scripture is talking about how Eve was first deceived but how she can still be saved. That word “saved” in the Greek is sozo. It not only means to be saved from sin and receive salvation. It’s used for that, but it’s used more often, to be healed. This word means “saved, healed, delivered, preserved, made whole,” Many times, when Jesus healed someone, the Bible then says: “And they were made whole from that moment.” It's the word sozo.

Now here in this passage, it’s in the context of Eve being deceived, but “she shall be saved” from deception if she embraces motherhood. It says “childbearing” here. That doesn’t literally mean “childbirth,” the actual giving of birth, although there are some folks who take this Scripture and say that you can be saved from pain and have a painless childbirth.

Well, I think there are some people who do experience that. I didn’t ever experience that, even though my births were my most wonderful experiences. Because birth is intense, and its labor. Many times, painful labor can still be a most glorious experience.

But this word means more than that. It means not only giving birth, but the embracing of all our childbearing, child-raising, child-training career. It’s the embracing of the whole of motherhood. This Scripture says that as she embraces this, she will be saved from deception, she will be made whole in her body, she will be preserved, and she will be delivered. It’s an amazing word.

But here it says that she must also walk in faith, love, and holiness. So, here we read this word “holiness” again, in the context of motherhood. I notice in the Word of God, that the Bible talks about holy marriage, it talks about holy motherhood, and it talks about our holy homes. Let’s have a look at them, shall we?

YOUR HOLY MARRIAGE

Well, it starts out, well, no, it doesn’t start on their wedding day. It actually starts before our wedding day, doesn’t it? It is important that we teach our daughters to walk a holy lifestyle. That they keep their bodies pure. That they come to the wedding day as a virgin. That is God’s plan.

God talks in His Word about the virgin marrying the young man. It’s a virgin, a virgin. A virgin young woman and a virgin young man, coming together in holy matrimony. We must constantly talk to our sons and our daughters about keeping pure and walking in holiness. A holy marriage begins before marriage. It begins in walking in holiness, even before we are married, so we are kept pure for our marriage. We come as a pure vessel.

That’s why I believe we must constantly keep watch over our daughters and what they are wearing. Too many girls today put themselves in such a vulnerable place. Even the clothes they wear turn young guys on. Then that can end in all kinds of things.

OK, girls can wear shorts out playing and doing sports. But how short are those shorts? Goodness me! I just see young girls today, young people, their shorts just barely cover their bottoms, barely! I beg your pardon? That’s not holy clothing.

Make sure their shorts are longer than that, please. So that’s out there, playing sports, on the beach, and so forth, but what about going out? Make sure your daughters are clothed. If they’re wearing a dress, make sure it’s to the knee. They don’t have to wear a long dress, but make sure it’s to the knee.

And make sure that they’re not showing cleavage. This is just so prevalent today. It’s just everywhere. In fact, young brides come to the wedding day in their strapless wedding dresses. I can hear you say, “Goodness, what are you going on about? It’s so normal.” Yes, just about every wedding dress is a strapless wedding dress. Sometimes they will cover amply. Half the time, they don’t even cover the breasts amply.

This young bride, who’s meant to be a virgin, comes to her husband half-clad and showing, not just to her husband, but to all of the guests, much of her private parts. I go to weddings, and sometimes I don’t know where to look. The bride is in her strapless wedding dress, and all the bridesmaids are in their strapless dresses. Half of them are just about falling off. Some have bigger boobs, and they don’t fit properly. Some have littler ones, and they’re just about falling off. Oh, they all look ridiculous!

Why can’t a bride come to the altar, the wedding altar, dressed and covered? Surely that’s how God means it to be. Not coming, showing everything. And the wedding dresses are getting less and less and less and showing more and more. If we are walking God’s way, we’ll want to cover.

That doesn’t mean to say you will not have the most beautiful wedding dress.  In fact, some of those that have covered dresses are beautiful and tasteful. It’s so much more beautiful. Oh, I know it’s harder to find them because you go to the bridal shop, and there they are. They’re all strapless. Oh, sometimes you’ve got to find it online, or have it made, or whatever. But please come dressed appropriately.

If you own the name of Christ, let’s be a testimony to who we are. We come to the wedding altar clothed. We come in holiness, not trying to show off our body. Then we come to this beautiful state of holy marriage. And what does it say?

The Wedding Minister, officiating begins with the words: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here, and in the sight of God, and in the face of this company, to join together this man and this woman, in HOLY MATRIMONY.”

Have you noticed those words? “Holy matrimony.” How can you come to this altar to be married in holy matrimony, and you stand in a wedding dress that is exposing half the breasts? It doesn’t add up.

“Therefore, it is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, discreetly, soberly, and in the fear of God. Into this Holy Estate (Did you notice that again? “Holy estate”) these two persons present now come to be joined”.

It’s a holy young virgin and a holy young man who are coming together to be married.

Then we read about marriage in Hebrews 13:4: “Marriage must be honored among all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled. For God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.”

That word “undefiled,” in the Greek, because it’s the New Testament, is actually the same word that talks about Jesus who was undefiled. It says He was undefiled. He was pure and holy. That is actually the same word, holiness. It’s the word hagios, and it means “to be set apart, to be sacred.” So, marriage is to be holy. The marriage bed is to be holy and kept holy.

Another thing about marriage too, is that I believe in the EXCLUSIVITY OF MARRIAGE, where it is for you and your husband alone. Alone. You can read about that also in Proverbs 5. It speaks again about how the marriage is to be very personal. It’s between you and your husband. We do not allow other people to come in and take that place.

Another part of the wedding vows, I love these too, where they are actually reciting the vows: “I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, and FORSAKING ALL OTHERS, keep myself only unto you as long as we both shall live.”

That’s an important part of a holy marriage also. There are some couples who think, “Oh, wow! Yes, I used to know that guy before I was married. We were great friends. OK, I think we’ll go out and have a cup of coffee together.” No. You are now married. You don’t do that. You don’t go out on your own without your husband with another man. There are many couples who think they can do that, and that it’s quite OK, but it does not work. Nor is it what God intends.

Of course, you can have loads of wonderful friends who are guys, with your husband. You can have single guys into your home, if you are showing hospitality with your husband. Of course, you’ll have many friends who are couples, and you will enjoy life together with them.

But you will do it together, as husband and wife. You will never ever go out alone with another man when you are married. That’s it. You are now in a whole different dimension than when you were single.

Sometimes men, and even wives, can have sinful thoughts, even in marriage. Sinful thoughts about another person. We have to deal very, very strongly with those. We cannot stop a crazy thought, or even a sinful thought, coming into our mind, because that’s what the devil tries to do. He’s always trying to bring thoughts into our minds.

It’s what we do with it. We can dwell on it, ponder it, think about it, hide it in our heart. Or we can RESIST it, in the Name of Jesus! We, as God’s people, must BELONG TO THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT. The moment the enemy comes to our minds with a sinful thought, a wrong thought, or in marriage a thought about another man, ooh! What do you do?

You immediately resist it in the Name of Jesus! 

You cast it out in the Name of Jesus!

You take authority over it in the Name of Jesus!

You deal strongly with it.

We’ve got to stop being so apathetic about our thoughts, and just letting them take control. No, we don’t. We must be in power over our thoughts.

2 Corinthians 10:3-6. Oh, you know this Scripture, don’t you? But can we read it again? All right. Actually, it’s a long sentence, a long sentence that takes one, two, three, four verses to get to the end of the sentence, before we get a full stop. Oh, and I see I’m getting to the end of this session. But let’s just read it.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down (casting down, casting down) “imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” Full stop. Period. Wow! That was a long sentence, wasn’t it? Powerful Scripture.

Let me read it to you in the Passion Translation. My husband was speaking on this very passage on Sunday. Wow! It was a powerful, amazing message. Anyway, in the Passion Translation it says: “For although we live in the natural realm, we don’t wage a military campaign employing human weapons. Instead, our spiritual weapons are energized with divine power to effectively dismantle the defenses behind which people hide. 

“We can demolish,” get that word. “Demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience,” Whooo, did you get that? “Insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One. Since we are armed with such dynamic weaponry, we stand ready to punish any trace of rebellion, as soon as you choose complete obedience.”

That’s a powerful phrase there at the end. God says that we will have authority and power over the enemy in big things, and even things in the nation, to take them down in the realm of prayer. But first of all, we must overcome, and take authority, and cast out anything in our own personal lives that is disobedient to the Lord. Did you get it?

Back to King James. “And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” We’ve first got to have victory in our personal lives. Then we have power and authority over the enemy in other people’s lives in attacking evil, even in the nation. We first have to have the victory in our personal lives and in our thought life. Amen?

Oh, yes, well, time has gone. These sessions go too quickly. But let’s pray, shall we?

“Dear Father, we thank You that You have brought us into the land of motherhood. You chose it for us. Lord God, we embrace it with all our hearts. We thank You that You have told us it’s a land of blessing. Oh, You give us so many blessings.

Lord, You’ve told us that it’s a holy land, a land of holiness. Help us, Lord, to be holy women, holy in our thought life, holy in what we say, holy in what we wear, holy in how we act. We pray, Lord, that Your holiness will be part of us. We thank You, Lord, for teaching us and showing us the way. I pray for Your blessing upon every woman, old, young, listening today. 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.

If you have a moment, it would be lovely if you could email a little thank you letter to Darlene. She sacrifices much of her time to transcribe these podcasts for you and I know it would encourage her to know that you are blessed by her hard work. Thanks so much.

SCRIPTURES FOR THE BLESSINGS IN THE LAND

1. Blessings of fruitfulness (Genesis 1:28; 22:17; 28:3; Deuteronomy 7:13-14; Psalm 107:38; and 115:14).

2. Blessings of the breasts and of the womb (Genesis 49:25).

3. Blessings of weddings and celebrations (Jeremiah 33:10-11, cf. Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; and 25:10).

4. Blessings of bread and water (Exodus 23:25).

5. Blessings of God’s watchful care (Numbers 6:24-25).

6. Blessings of peace (Numbers 6:26 and Psalm 29:11).

7. Blessings upon all that we do (Deuteronomy 2:7; 14:29; 15:10, 18; 16:15; 23:20; 24:19; and 28:8, 2).

8. Blessings of health (Deuteronomy 7:15)

9. Blessings on our children (Psalm 115:14; 147:13b; and Isaiah 44:3).

10. Blessings if we live in the city or the country (Deuteronomy 28:3).

11. Blessings on our cattle and produce (Deuteronomy 28:4-5, 11; Psalm 132:15; and 107:36-38).

12. Blessings on our daily walk (Deuteronomy 28:6).

13. Blessings of reigning instead of servitude (Deuteronomy 15:16; and 28:13).

14. Blessings of lending to others instead of borrowing (Deuteronomy 15:16 and 28:12).

15. Blessings on our land and gardens (Deuteronomy 30:16 and Psalm 107:37).

16. Blessings on all the work of our hands (Deuteronomy 23:20 and 28:12).