LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 183: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 5

We begin the second P which is PRAYER AND PRAISE. The apostle John looks into Heaven and sees the GOLDEN ALTAR before the throne of God. What is this GOLDEN ALTAR and how does it relate to us in our homes?5

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! We’re still continuing our series of the five qualities God wants us to have in our lives as we prepare for end times. We’re currently looking at our second P, which is prayer. PRAYER AND PRAISE.

At the end of our podcast last week, we were looking at Revelation 8:3. I’ll give it to you again, so we can get into the whole theme of this Scripture. We’ll talk more about it. John is looking into the heavenly realm, and he sees in Revelation 8:3: “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”

John was looking at the altar of incense in heaven. You see, the altar of incense in the tabernacle on earth was made after the pattern of the heavenly one. The heavenly one is still there. And Christ is interceding at that altar for us, night and day. He wants us to also participate in this altar of incense.

Everything that was given back in the Old Testament was written for us today. It wasn’t for nothing. It was to show us how we are to live today. So, we see quite a number of things about this altar of incense.

THE GOLDEN ALTAR

First of all, number one, it was called “the golden altar.” We see that also in Exodus 30. That’s where we first begin to read about it. There are many, many Scriptures which I won’t give you in this podcast, but if you get to read the transcript, I will give them to you. I have a whole paragraph here of Scriptures where the altar of incense is mentioned in the Bible, in the Old Testament, and in the New. You can look them all up if you get to read the transcript (Scriptures at end).

We’ll only look at one or two Scriptures today. In Exodus 30, God is telling Moses how He wants him to make this altar. It was to be made of shittim wood, or it’s sometimes called acacia wood, which was a very common wood there in the wilderness, in the desert where they were travelling through. It speaks of man. It was common.

But it was overlaid with gold. Exodus 30:3: “And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold.” And they were to overlay it on the top, and on the sides, and on the horns, and all over. It was to be covered with pure gold, speaking of God and His divinity.

It’s a beautiful picture of we, who are man and fleshy, and who cannot really do much without God. We come to this altar of incense to cry out to God. It is a place of prayer as it tells us in Revelation, that it is speaking of “the prayers of all the saints.” In Revelation, which we just read, it talks about “MUCH incense,” coming up before this golden throne. It is a golden ministry.

Have you ever thought of prayer being a golden ministry? Well, that’s what it is, ladies. It’s a golden ministry, a wonderful ministry that you can be part of. And God wants the altar of incense to be operating in your home. He doesn’t want a little bit of incense going up to His throne. He wants a lot of incense, much incense, a great quantity of incense.

One translation says . . .  I wonder how much incense goes up to the Father, to His throne, because when you’re coming to the altar of incense, when you come to that place of prayer, you are coming into the very throne room of God. How incredible! Oh, what privilege we have, to come in through the precious blood of Jesus that was shed for us!

And through the power of His Name, we can come into the very throne room of God, where He is, in all His glory, and intercede before Him, for our own needs, and especially the needs of others, and the needs of the world. Oh, what a glorious privilege! How much incense goes up in your home? Is it a little trickling bit that goes up every now and then? Or is it “much incense” going up every day toward the Father? That’s what the Scripture talks about, “much incense.” Yes.

I believe we are in an hour in history where we need much incense. We need much prayer. Oh, there is just so much happening. There are so many needs, not only around us, of people in your own home, maybe, and people you know. But in the whole of the world, oh my. And yet, are we truly praying?

I’m always challenged by that Scripture in Jeremiah 10:24-25: “O Lord, correct me, but with judgment” (or “justice,” the word is) “O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing. Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not, and upon the families” (Oh, my. Families? What families?) “The families that call not on Thy Name.”

To me, this is a very challenging Scripture how God will pour out His fury upon the heathen that are not walking in His ways, but also on His families, His families that do not call upon His Name. Are we a family that is calling upon the Name of the Lord? This is really the defining factor of God’s people.

In the early church, they were known as “the people that call upon the Name of the Lord.” Are we known as those who call upon the Name of the Lord? Is our church known as a people who call upon the Name of the Lord? Do the people around us know that we are a praying people, a praying family, a family that calls upon the Name of the Lord?

Well, if we’re not, we might as well be the heathen, because that’s what separates us from the heathen. The heathen walk in their own ways, and in sinful ways. They don’t call upon the Name of the Lord. But we, as God’s people, we have access into the throne room of God, and we call upon the Name of the Lord. That should define who we are.

In this hour, oh, when there is so much treachery and tyranny happening . . . now here we are, we’re living in Tennessee. Really, at this current time in Tennessee, we are living a beautiful life. There’s no lockdowns or tyranny here, especially out where we live. Here you wouldn’t know that there was any tyranny going on in the world, but there is.

We have dear friends and people we know in other countries who are facing great challenges. My dear friend, Val Stares, who is the director of Above Rubies in Australia, I think I shared this with you in one of my previous podcasts, how the 17^th of December in Australia is D-day. If they do not take the vaccination by that day, they will be completely isolated from society, without being able to buy. Their jobs will be wiped out.

This is tough. This is happening in a free society! In a free world. This should never be happening in a free world. But what are we doing about it? Are we praying? We have a responsibility to pray for our fellow believers.

I was just reading last night about what is happening in the Northern Territories of Australia. I could not believe it! I just go to this site here, and it says: “The Australian government of the Northern Territories is now using military soldiers and army trucks to forcibly round up indigenous people, Aborigine people.”

Of course, we lived in Australia for ten years. We lived in this great, free country of Australia, what is called “The Lucky Country.” But now, they’re rounding up indigenous people who have merely been near someone else who tested positive for covid, with families being separated at gunpoint, one of the most horrifying predictions we made has now come true.

Military medical martial law, where innocent civilians are being round up at gunpoint, and taken to what are essentially covid concentration camps. These victims are being forcibly relocated to the Howard Springs Quarantine Camp in Darwin, Australia. They’ve already got these internment camps ready. I have seen pictures of ones in Queensland.

Michael Gunner, the territory chief, admits to the military kidnapping and forced relocation of Australian indigenous people, even disparaging their family structure and implying they are savages because so many members of the community interact with each other like family. So, it goes on and on, of what they are doing to these indigenous people in the Northern Territories of Australia.

Then, we have Victoria, down in the bottom of Australia, which is being locked down. Then we have Queensland, only until the 17^th of December. The mandate is, if they’re not vaccinated, well, then that’s it.

Then we have our dear precious friends in Israel. They only have until the 6^th of December. If they’re not vaccinated by then, they’re wiped out. They’ve got to clear out of the country, after years and years of pouring their lives out for the Jewish people there in Israel.

And not only them, but Canada, Austria, many other countries, are locked down. They have tyranny coming upon them. Free countries. Now, does that get to you? I don’t know. How can people just carry on life as normally, and not be praying? How can we not pray and cry out for these situations? We have to be crying out for the world at the moment.

Now we know that there will come, eventually, a one-world order, because it is prophesied. But we don’t take that sitting down. No, we push back, and we resist all tyranny. We must resist all tyranny because it is evil. It is not for the blessing of the people, or the country. It is not for their good at all.

There are some Christians who passively give in. They talk about Romans 13, how that we must submit to whatever is happening. No, they are taking that passage in the wrong context, because it is talking there about how that we must submit to the government for our good, and we will receive backlash if we don’t. If we’re not good, if we do that which is evil, we’re going to get our rebuke, and whatever they’re going to do to us, from the government.

But this is not for anybody being evil. This is what they’re doing to those who are good! And what does it say in Daniel 11:32 in the context of persecution? “And the people that do know their God shall be strong and DO EXPLOITS.” (King James Version).

Other translations say: “The people that do know their God shall be strong and TAKE ACTION.”

Some translations say: “The people that do know their God shall be strong and RESIST.” Of course, I believe, more than anything else, we pray! Oh, let’s be praying. Oh, prayer works wonders, but as I look around, I see most people carrying on as usual. They have not intensified their prayer life. They have not called corporate prayer meetings.

I believe we should be calling corporate prayer meetings to pray. Yes, and if there is not one near you where you can go and pray, if they don’t have one in your church that’s praying for this situation, and for the countries of the world, well, start one in your own home. It’s a wonderful thing to have a prayer meeting in your home. I think it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. I don’t think we have ever been without a prayer meeting in our home all throughout our married lives.

At the moment, well, we have two corporate prayer meetings a week here, on the Hilltop. We have one in our home, and also one in Serene and Sam’s home. Last night, Wednesday night, we were at the prayer meeting at Serene and Sam’s home. Oh, sometimes you never know what’s going to happen at a prayer meeting. Usually, we are really storming the gates of heaven on behalf of all those who are suffering and that are under tyranny. We’re crying out to God for the needs all around us. But last night, what happened?

We ended up praying for all the children and it was the most beautiful night. You see, we have the children in our prayer meetings. And, dear, precious moms, if you have lots of children, then, “Oh, how can I have a prayer meeting in our home with all the children? What will I do with them?”

Well, you make them part of the prayer meeting! That’s the best thing they can ever be part of, is to be part of prayer meetings! And if you have a little baby, and you’re nursing your baby, well, just nurse your baby. Just have a nursing shawl, a nursing cape. You can nurse discretely. Just nurse your baby and your baby will go off to sleep.

Your little toddlers can be around. We have our toddlers all around us. If you don’t feel you can cope with yours, well, maybe you can make sure they don’t have a sleep in the afternoon, and they get to bed early. But otherwise, they can learn to play very quietly. Then, when they get tired, Daddy or Mummy take them on their knee, and they just cuddle in and go to sleep. That’s what happens with our little ones. Then, of course, the children.

Well, last night, one of our little ones, a little three-year old, he had hurt himself badly during the day, and they were nearly going to take him to ER, but they didn’t. They prayed instead. All the blood that was coming out of his mouth soon stopped. God was good. They wanted us to pray over him again at the prayer meeting.

So, that was the first thing we did. My husband anointed him with oil and prayed over him. And then, it just began. Each little child came and knelt down, and my husband and others began to pray over them, all the little ones. Then the big ones, and even the teens. It took the whole prayer meeting, but it was such a beautiful night.

So, when you start a prayer meeting, you make your children part of the prayer meeting. Children should be part of prayer meetings. They should grow up in the midst of prayer. It should be part of their lives. Yes.

Not a little part, no! A big part of their lives! The Word of God says “much incense,” not a little bit of incense, but “MUCH INSENSE.”

Malachi 1:11: “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My Name shall be great among the gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name.”

This is not talking to the Jewish people. This is talking to the Gentiles! “Among the gentiles, and in every place” (EVERY place, EVERY home) “incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” Amen?

Well, number one: this altar is a golden altar.

THE SWEET INCENSE ALTAR

Number two: it is also called “the altar of sweet incense.” (Leviticus 4:7). Yes, all the spices that were used to make the incense were beautiful, sweet spices. You’ll get all the Scriptures about that in the transcript when you get to read it.

THE HIGHEST ALTAR

Number three: this altar of incense was the highest piece of furniture in the Holy Place. It was higher than the table of showbread and higher than the golden candlestick, which were also very important pieces of furniture. But this one was the highest. God wants it to be the HIGHEST PRIORITY in our lives.

Did you know that it’s the highest priority of Jesus now? The Bible tells us that He is continually interceding for us, which is the altar of incense. Let’s read, shall we? Romans 8:34: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us.”

Let’s go to Hebrews, shall we? Hebrews 7:25: “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Over in Hebrews 9:24: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the Presence of God for us.”

Also, prayer and praise. You see, it’s not only prayer, but also and praise and worship that the altar of incense speaks of. It takes us up to great heights.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us of how those who “wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles.” We mount up in the Spirit when we go to the place of prayer. Oh yes, personally and corporately. There is much power in corporate prayer. I believe in personal prayer, but I also believe in the power of corporate prayer.

In Matthew 18:20, it tells us how that if two or three of you are gathered together, I will be with you. I will be in your midst. Amen?

Isaiah 2:3: “Come ye, and LET US GO UP to the mountain of the Lord.” That’s the place of prayer. “The mountain of the Lord.” We’ve got to go up to it, ladies, go up to the mountain. Now, it’s not always easy getting up a mountain. Have you ever climbed a mountain? Well, sometimes you get pretty tired going up that mountain. It can be steep. It can be rough, and you’re puffing, and you’re getting tired, and you’re getting worn out. But you keep going. And you get to the top.

Oh, what a beautiful view from the top! How exhilarating! And it’s the same in the place of prayer. You’ve got to come up to the mountain. “Come ye, and LET US GO UP to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” And so, we come up to this place of prayer and of praise.

Talking about praise, the other week we were invited to a meeting to listen to this speaker. In one part of his message, he was speaking a most wonderful message about praising God in the midst of our difficulties. He went through the Scriptures, showing the places where the different people of God, and how they were going through the most terrible circumstances. But in the midst, they kept praising God. This is also part of the altar of incense.

He took us also to 2 Chronicles. I’d like to take you to it. 2 Chronicles 20:1. It’s the story of when King Jehoshaphat, who was a good king of Judah, and the enemy came against him. It says here: “that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites.” Actually, another place tells us where there were another lot of people, too. Yes, and also the inhabitants of Mount Seir.

All these enemies came against him, “a great multitude.” And Jehoshaphat was scared. They didn’t have an army like that. They couldn’t even . . .  what were they going to do? That army was too big for them to fight. They were going to be wiped out!

So, what did he do? Well, we see here in 2 Chronicles 20:3: “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” So, number one, he began “to seek the Lord.”

I believe that’s what all God’s people should be doing in this hour. We are facing a battle. We’re facing an enemy that’s bigger than us. This is a huge, evil enemy that we are facing. We have to seek the Lord, because we can’t fight it on our own. It’s only the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of heaven, who is able to bring us the victory.

So, number one, they began “to seek the Lord.” And he proclaimed a fast. 2 Chronicles 20:4: “And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.” They came corporately. They didn’t just back in their cities. “Oh, goodness, we can’t travel all that way! Oh, help! Goodness me! No, we’ll just stay home and pray.”

You know, many people say that about prayer meetings. “Oh, we’ll stay home and pray. It’s too difficult to get to the prayer meeting. I don’t really feel like going out. Oh, I feel too tired.” Actually, that is very true. At the end of the day, you can feel very tired. In fact, many times, at the end of the day, I feel worn out. I have busy days. I can feel worn out, and its prayer meeting night. I say, “Oh, help, how am I going to make it to the prayer meeting? I’m nearly falling asleep.”

But I go! When you go into that place of prayer, into the mountain of the Lord, you are rejuvenated. I was thinking of my dear friend Nadia. Nadia has seven children. Her youngest child at the moment was born with a very rare, rare disease where one side of her body is perfect. The other side grows these huge tumors. On top of that, recently she was diagnosed also with stage four cancer.

I mean, how much more can this little darling go through? She has not only had chemotherapy; she’s now facing radiation and stem cell replacement and so on. Poor Nadia. She’s back and forth to the hospital, sometimes staying there all the time, and then back and forth in the day. She has so much on her plate with all her children and this precious little one.

But Nadia doesn’t miss a prayer meeting! If she’s not in the hospital, she’s at the prayer meeting. Monday night, she was here at the prayer meeting. She sort of dragged herself up the stairs. I could see she was so tired. And she was sharing with me last night. She said, “I was just so worn out. I could hardly walk up your stairs. I could hardly keep my eyes open.”

But she came! She came! And as she prayed, she was rejuvenated. Even last night, there she was, second prayer meeting of the week, and she’s there, with all her seven children!

And there are people who don’t even have children who say, “Well, I don’t think I can get to the prayer meeting. I think I’ll just pray at home.” But they don’t pray at home. There’s something about getting up and going and getting together with the saints. This is what they did here. They came out of all the cities of Judah. They came to seek the Lord.

Yes, and then Jehoshaphat prayed this amazing prayer. 2 Chronicles 20:6: “O Lord God of our fathers, are not Thou God in heaven? And rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in Thine hand, is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee? Are not Thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend forever?”

And so, he goes on with his prayer, right down to verse 12: “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee.” Hallelujah! That’s a great prayer. That’s why we come, because we don’t have the answer ourselves. Our eyes are upon the Lord.

And this is what we do, when we go through our difficulties, our trials, our persecutions. We go through them with our eyes upon the Lord.

So, OK, all the people came, and now we find out something else they did. Whoo! They not only came to pray together corporately, but verse 13 says: “And ALL Judah,” it doesn’t say some of the people of Judah. “ALL Judah stood before the Lord.” Most probably there was not enough room for them to sit down. They weren’t sitting on lovely sofas like we often sit at our prayer meetings. No, they stood before the Lord. And get this, I’m going to read the next little bit. Listen for it, ladies.

“And all Judah stood before the Lord, WITH THEIR LITTLE ONES.” And if you look that up in the Hebrew, the actual Hebrew meaning of “the little ones” is “the tripping gait of little children.” It’s the little toddlers. Oh my, those are the ones we don’t want at the prayer meeting. Oh goodness me, what will we do with them? Yes, they’re tripping around, and they can’t keep still!

Well, God says, “I want them there.” Yes, and they came with all their families, “with their little ones, their wives, and their children.” So, the husbands came, and the wives came. The wives didn’t stay at home! The wives came, with their little ones, and most probably they had nursing babies. They wouldn’t leave them at home. They were with them too! Nursing babies, in the prayer meeting! Whoo! And all their children! Every age group was there, to cry out to God.

I wonder, what it is going to take for the people of God really want to come and pray? To even want to go to a prayer meeting? Because I find that most people in the body of Christ don’t really even want to go to prayer meetings. Oh, they go to the theaters to watch a movie. They can stay home and watch a movie. They can go out to this entertainment. They can go out to this, out to that, out to everything. Yes, and running here and there all the time.

But they don’t want to go to prayer meetings. These people came. As families. Everyone. Husbands, wives, little toddlers, nursing babies. Children of all ages, the teens, everyone was there, to cry out to the Lord. It reminds me of Joel. Oh yes, over in Joel.

So, here was another prayer meeting. Joel 2:15: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.”

Wow. That’s the prayer we need to pray, isn’t it? “O Lord, give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.” We are facing in many areas in the world today, and even here in the States, we are facing where people are seeking to rule over people, rule over their bodies, take dominion over their bodies. This is against God. No one is meant to rule over someone else’s body.

God made us free people. And we should be praying against this tyranny over lives. It says: “wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” But do you notice that when they called this solemn fast, that, well, in fact, if your pastor or minister was to call a solemn fast, he would usually say, “Well folks, we’re calling this solemn fast, so I think you’d better get babysitters. We can’t really have the children all there, because this is a very solemn occasion.”

But no, God is not like that. He’s always incorporating the children, no matter what’s happening. Here’s a solemn fast, and He says, “OK, I want the children. I want the little toddlers. I want the nursing babies. I want everyone.”

And then, goodness, this is a solemn occasion, because even the new bride and bridegroom have got to come out of their closet! Whoo! Well, actually, just before I close, maybe I should tell you this little story, because this actually happened to Colin and me.

When we were first married, Colin went out fulltime for God when we were engaged. We were involved in a wonderful ministry called “Tell the Nations Crusade,” where those who were involved took a gospel of John to the door. Not putting it in the letter box, but to the door of every home in New Zealand.

My husband was involved in that. From that, the leader of this ministry, Campbell McAlpine, a very holy and wonderful man of God, felt God calling us to the mission field, and that we were to do the same thing. Take a gospel of John to the homes in the Philippine Islands. So, we actually did that. After we were married, we went to the Philippine Islands.

But on our wedding day, it had been planned that those who were in the ministry would meet for three days prayer and fasting. Unbelievably, it was going to start the day after we were married. So, of course, Colin and I never even entertained the thought that he would go, even though he was fulltime in that ministry.

We had our glorious wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. But at the end of the day, this man, Campbell McAlpine, came to my husband, and he said, “Colin, I have a Scripture for you.” It was this Scripture, Joel 2:16: “Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet” in order to fast and pray and seek the Lord.

So, we’re going away on our honeymoon, and driving along. Colin says to me, “Well, Campbell gave us a Scripture.” I said, “What is it?” He said, “The bridegroom and the bride have to come out of their closet and seek the Lord and fast and pray. What will we do?”

I said, “Well, I guess there’s nothing else we can do, but obey!” So, we had one night together, and then Colin went off with all the rest of the guys for three days’ prayer and fasting. I went and stayed with Joy and Jim Dawson, who were then living in New Zealand. They now live in the States.

I went down to her prophet’s chamber, which she had in her basement, and had three days’ prayer and fasting, seeking the Lord there. That’s how we started our married life, separated for three days’ prayer and fasting. But I think it turned out a pretty good way to start.

Anyway, let’s pray. I haven’t finished yet, ladies. More exciting things to find out about this altar of incense in our next session next week!

“Dear Father, oh, we just thank You, that we have the privilege to come into Your presence, Your throne room. Oh, God, give us a love to come there. Lord, I pray that You will stir Your people to become pray-ers. Lord God, that we will seek Your face, Lord God.

Oh God, Lord God, there is so much that is happening. Lord, we have no answers, except that we seek Your face. I pray, Lord, the whole church of God, Lord, to begin to seek You, to come together to pray and to cry out to You. We ask You for this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

SCRIPTURES NAMING THE GOLDEN ALTAR

 Exodus 30:1-10; 26-29; 34-38; 31:8; 37:25-29; 39:38; 40:5, 26, 27; Leviticus 4:5-7; Deuteronomy 33:10; 1 Samuel 2:28; 1 Kings 6:22 (AMPC); 1 Chronicles 6:49; 23:13; 28:18; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 13:10, 11; 29:11; 32:12; Psalm 141:2; Malachi 4:11; Luke 1:9-11; Revelation 5:8; 6:9; and 8:1-5.

DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS PODCAST, “LIFE TO THE FULL” WITH NANCY CAMPBELL.” DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 182: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 4

Today we talk about THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. A quality of character that does not allow one to surrender. William Barclay says: "Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to TURN IT INTO GLORY."

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We’re now up to session four in our series, “Five Qualities We Need for the End Times.” Now, I’m not saying that we are in the end, end times. I don’t know when that time will be. It may be in our lifetime, or it may be in our children’s lifetime.

But we don’t wait until we are facing the end to have these qualities in our lives. We must get them part of our lives now. They must be habitual in our lives now so that whenever we may face these more difficult times, and the things that we read about in the book of Revelation that are to come upon the earth, that we will be ready.

Now, if they don’t come in our lifetime, we are preparing our children to have these qualities in them so that if it comes in their lifetime, they will be ready, or they will pass it on to their children. This is what we’re talking about. These are powerful qualities that we want to establish now in our lives.

The five points are F F P P and K. We’re now starting the first P. We’re going to find that in Revelation 13:10: “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

PERSEVERANCE

In the King James Version, it says “patience.” OK, P for “patience.” But most translations of the Bible translate it with the word “perseverance.” So, this is the word that I’m taking, P for “perseverance.”

The Berean Study Bible, The New Revised Standard Version, and the English Standard Version, and many others say: “Here is the call for the perseverance and faith of the saints.”

The Holman Translation says, “THIS DEMANDS THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS.”

Now, this Scripture is in the context of the time when people will face the mark of the beast. That, if they take the mark of the beast, well, that’s the end for eternal salvation for them. But if they don’t take it, they will not be able to buy or sell. I think many will end up being martyred.

So that will be a pretty trying time. It says: “This demands,” or “This calls for the perseverance of the saints.”

It also is repeated again in Revelation 14:12. It says again: “This demands the perseverance of the saints, to keep God’s commands, and their faith in Jesus.”

Now, what is this word, “perseverance”? We’re going to look at it. The Greek word is hupomone. It comes from two Greek words:

hupo, which means “under,”

meno, which means “to remain.”

It literally means “to remain under trials with a cheerful and hopeful endurance.”

Spiros Zodhiates, in his Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, says this about this word:

“It is a quality of character that does not allow one to surrender.”

Do you like that? That’s powerful, isn’t it?

Spiros Zodhiates is the editor of the Bible that I use. I use the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible. I love this Bible! I keep wearing these Bibles out. I just had to order another one because this one, even the first few pages are missing!

But it’s such a wonderful Bible. If you’re looking for a good study Bible, I can’t recommend one more than I recommend this one. It has the Strong’s Concordance in the back. But I rarely refer to that. It also has the Strong’s numbers. If they are in bold, you can go to the LEXICON in the back which gives a fuller understanding of each Hebrew or Greek word.

So, it’s a wonderful way, just as you’re reading the Word, and oh, you want to know what does it really mean? You can look it up and find out just a greater understanding and meaning. I love it.

Let me give you his definition again of “perseverance.” “A quality of character that does not allow one to surrender.” We certainly need to get this quality, this character quality into our lives now. To me, it is very sad that I see many people, and even Christians, caving into take this current mandated vaccination, which is, or could be, a death shot. So many people have died already. They predict that many yet could die.

I read some time back, a letter, not a letter that’s published over the housetops, but I found this letter in some writings. A letter written by Bill Gates, writing to one of the vaccination people who are doing the vaccinations, I forget which one. It may have been Johnson and Johnson. But I’m not sure.

Writing in there, this was a number of years ago, because they have been planning this for many years, how that they did not want people to die immediately from this vaccination, although many have. But that it must come later, so people will not put it together that deaths really don’t relate to the vaccination.

It is so sad, because this thing is not about health. It’s about tyranny. It’s amazing how many have caved in. Well, of course, in the natural, they feel they have reason to. They’ll lose their job if they don’t, or they have other things that they’ll face if they don’t.

But, you see, we’re practicing now for a time where we cannot give in, where we cannot surrender, for when that time does come when we face the mark of the beast, we dare not surrender, we dare not cave in. The Bible clearly warns us that we must never take the mark of the beast, or we will be siding with Satan.

But you see, this is preparing us now to not surrender, to not cave in, to stand even in the face of persecution. There are many who have lost their jobs. But I believe that God honors those who honor Him. He will provide a way. I do believe it. Even if we are facing difficult things, we have still got to stand on the side of right.

Well, other meanings of this word of perseverance: it means “endurance, continuance, not giving up, steadfastness, courageously enduring,” and also “cheerfully enduring.” That’s an interesting one, isn’t it? “Remaining faithful to God and His purposes for you through trials and through suffering.”

You see, precious ladies, we can endure in either of two ways: we can endure cheerfully. That’s part of the meaning, the Greek meaning of this word, “to endure cheerfully, trusting in God, and to endure courageously.”

But we can also endure with groanings and complainings and bitterness. It’s so easy to do that, isn’t it? We’re going through a trial, and we do nothing but complain and groan about it. “Poor me!” We’re full of self-pity. We even get bitter through the trial. It is sad that many people come through trials with bitterness. You see it all over their face. It destroys their lives and the lives of their children.

Yet others can come through incredible trials cheerfully enduring, because they trusted in God. They’re looking to Jesus, and they come through without the smell of that fiery trial upon them. That’s what happened to those three young men there in Babylon, wasn’t it? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They would not bow down to the image. They were the only ones who would not bow. They were threatened with being thrown into the fiery furnace. Well, they trusted God. They said, “God will deliver us. But even if He doesn’t, we’ll trust him!”

They kept bowing. The king, you know the story, how he was so mad that they would defy him, that he got the fire to be heated seven times hotter, and even the people who threw them into the fire were burned to death.

But then, God did deliver them. And God, Jesus Christ, obviously it was a Christophany of Christ Himself being with them in the fire, the fourth man in the fire. And He did deliver them. But their confession was, "Even if He doesn’t deliver us, even if we die, even if we’re burned to death, we will not cave in!”

They came out from that fire, and the Bible says they didn’t even have the smell of the fire upon them. Isn’t that amazing?

As we go through our trials and difficulties and hurtful experiences, let’s seek to trust the Lord, and to come through cheerfully without the smell of the fire upon us. Because that’s such a horrible thing, to smell the fire on people, and see bitterness and hurt over their lives.

Other translations: The New English Translation says: “This requires steadfast endurance.”

The Complete Jewish Bible says: “This is when God’s holy people must persevere and trust.”

God’s Word Translation: “In this situation, God’s holy people need endurance and confidence.”

Even The Message Bible, which is a paraphrase, is very good. It says: “Meanwhile, God’s holy people passionately and faithfully stand their ground.” Yes, that is the meaning of the quality of not surrendering.

And then, there’s that famous quote by William Barclay, an expositor of the Word of God. He says:

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

Isn’t that amazing? That would be a good quote to pin up on your wall, don’t you think? “Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

That’s what Paul did. Remember how he said, “I glory in my tribulations” (Romans 5:3). I often read that and think, “Oh, help! How do you actually do that? How do you make it glory?” But it was possible. He made it into glory.

So, we need to seek to do these things in our lives when we’re facing something so tough. But we’re going to turn it into glory because we’re going to trust God! We’re going to trust Him, no matter what! Yes, because we believe God that He is faithful.

I know some of you, maybe you’re in this position. Your husband’s lost his job because he wouldn’t take the jab. But don’t get bitter. Don’t get into self-pity. Don’t think, “Oh, what will we do? How will we survive?” No, look to God. Trust Him. Turn it into glory.

I believe in these times that so many amazing, incredible people have lost jobs. Some of the best people. But I believe that because of who they are, God can give them ideas, incentives, inventions, things to begin other things. From these hard times, greater things can even come.

This last weekend, we had the Hartman family staying with us for over Thanksgiving. We had a glorious Thanksgiving as usual, packed out, a sit-down meal for over 80 people or so. It was such a glorious time. But Allison Hartman (I hoped to do a podcast with her while she was here, but we never got time. We were just so busy. Everything was happening from one minute to the next).

But she was sharing how that down in Pensacola where they are, she is friends with a doctor at Sacred Heart hospital. He’s perhaps the head doctor there. His picture is all over the city. He was given the mandate that he had to leave if he didn’t take the jab. This doctor actually does vaccinate all his children, but because he is seeing so many negative things happen, coming into the hospital, that he is so against this vaccination. Refused to take it, and even though he was the head doctor, he was fired.

It was a very sad thing for this man who’s given his life to his work for all these years and years and years. As his wife and children and grandchildren came to be with him as he was fired, they wouldn’t even let them come over to him at the hospital. They said they had to stay on the other side of the road.

But God worked on his behalf and the governor of Florida, DeSantis, called a meeting. And he turned all those mandates around and said that organizations and hospitals would be fired for firing their people. Miraculously, after that, he was reinstated. Isn’t that wonderful? Praise the Lord! Yes.

Also, this word includes conviction with perseverance. You can’t really endure if you don’t have conviction about the truth. That’s such an important thing. We’ve got to have convictions. If our convictions are not strong, we won’t persevere. We’ll cave in so easily. I think that’s why so many people do cave in, because their convictions are not strong.

Now, in persevering, I think we’ve got to even practice, even in the little nitty-gritties of life, even in the daily activities of life. There are many things we face that are boring and mundane, but we persevere. We keep on. Also, even in our marriages, we persevere. Sometimes a marriage can go through a difficult time.

THE TIDE ALWAYS COMES IN AGAIN

I never forget. Years and years ago, a dear friend of mine shared this thought. She was talking about marriage, and she said, “You know, we must take this eternal principle that although the tide goes out, it always comes in again.”

If you’ve been to the beach, as I love to go to the beach, you see the tide go out. Sometimes when the tide goes out, you see all the stuff, if there’s been a storm, all the junk that the waves bring in on the beach. I’ve been to the beach sometimes, and it brings in all the seaweed. The whole beach is filled with seaweed, and you can hardly walk.

Sometimes it brings in poisonous things and poison jelly fish, and they’re all on the beach. You can hardly walk either. Sometimes it brings all kinds of junk and stuff. You see all the horrible junk on the beach when the tide goes out. But there is an eternal law. God stated it. The tide always comes in again.

When the tide comes in again, it washes all that junk away again. It’s a beautiful thing. We can take that principle in our marriage. You may be going through a difficult season, a difficult time. Persevere. Don’t surrender to giving up. You may be looking at all the awful things, and oooh, you don’t like it at all. It’s too tough.

But think, remember. The tide comes in again. And wait for that tide to come in again. Trust God. Release the spirit of forgiveness and love and wait for that tide to come in again. It will wash away all that horrible junk.

I have seen that happen in many marriages. I have a very dear friend, a contemporary of mine. Of course, we’re all in our 80’s now. But I remember in the early days of her marriage. It was very tough. They went through a very, very difficult time. But they did not believe in divorce, and they did not give up. Even though it wasn’t very “enjoyable,” we need a worse word for that.

But they stuck it out. And as the years went on, the tide came in again. Now today, goodness, they have been for the last many, many years, many years, they’ve just had a beautiful life together. They’re just so happy, just loving one another together. What a sad thing it would be if they were separated. They wouldn’t be living the beautiful enjoyable life that they are living now.

So, we see there are many, many Scriptures with this word in, but I won’t give them all to you today. Just a couple here, maybe two or three.

Matthew 10:22: “And ye shall be hated of all men for My Name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

Matthew 24:11-13: “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

And then we see this word again in this passage, Hebrews 10:32-36. I’ll read it from the English Standard Version this time: “But remember the former days when you endured a harsh conflict of suffering after you were enlightened (when “you endured”). At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction. And at other times, you came to share with others who were treated in that way. For in fact, you shared the sufferings of those in prison, and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy.”

Wow. That’s a pretty tough thing, isn’t it? Even though their belongings were taken away, they accepted it with joy. “Because you knew that you certainly had a better and lasting possession. So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward. For you need endurance (there’s the word perseverance, steadfastness) in order to do God’s will, and so receive what is promised.” Amen?

One more Scripture: Hebrews 12:1: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.” Now it’s interesting, ladies, that that word “witnesses” is martus, which means “martyrs.” Do you remember we talked about that last podcast; I think? So, here we are.

We are compassed about, ladies, with this great cloud of martyrs who are up there in Heaven already waiting for us. And they’re watching on, they’re cheering us on. “Come on, persevere! You’ve got a great reward awaiting! No matter what you go through, this life is so fleeting! It’s just a blink of an eye. It’s just a vapor and it’s gone! And you’re preparing, you’re persevering for the eternal world, which is the real world, which is forever!”

And even if one day, if we face the real end time, and we’re martyred, wow. It’s worth it for the eternal realm. And yet, all over the world today, there are more martyrs for the faith than there ever has been in the history of the world. In so many Muslim countries, and North Korea, and places all over the world, Christians are being persecuted. They are suffering. They are being martyred, even now for their faith.

But we have this great cloud of martyrs watching us. And it says: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience (there’s the word again, hupomone, and it’s the word “perseverance, endurance, never giving up. So, we run with perseverance the race that is set before us).

And how do we do it? Hebrews 12:2: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” That’s the word again, enduring, persevering. “Endured the cross.” How did He endure it? With joy. “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So, precious lovely ladies, we are getting in practice now to persevere. Amen?

All right, we are getting to the end of our time, and I’m ready for our second P. We’ll start it today, and we’ll finish it next week. We won’t get it all done today.

PRAYER

But the next P is “prayer.” This is also a very important character quality we must have operating in our lives. Let’s go and see what it says, because it’s all in Revelation for the end times. So, we’re going to go to Revelation 5:8: “And when he had taken the book,” (this is, well, I should just give a little bit of understanding of where we’re reading).

It is John, the apostle John, who is looking into the eternal world. God is giving him visions of Heaven and also visions of many things that are going to take place on the earth in the end time. But in this passage in chapter 5, we should go back.

It says here, in Revelation 5:4, how he was weeping because nobody was found worthy to open the book. But one of the elders said: “Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.”

And we come down to Revelation 5:8: “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors.” Or it really means “full of incense.” I think your modern translation will say “incense.” Yes, in my margin of my King James Bible, it says “incense.”

So, they were holding “golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.” OK, incense always speaks of prayer in the Bible. We are seeing prayer here.

We go over to Revelation 8. John is looking into heaven again.

Revelation 8:1: “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar.”

Now, some commentators believe that this angel was actually Christ Himself, who is now our high priest, interceding before the Father for us, 24 hours a day, continually. The Bible says that He is continually interceding for us.

So, “another angel,” it wasn’t one of the seven angels that we read about in Revelation. But it was “another angel,” most probably Jesus Christ Himself. “And He stood at the altar.” Now, this was the altar of incense. “Having a golden censer; and there was given unto Him much incense, that He should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”

And so now we’re reading again about this altar of incense. Now we first read about the altar of incense way back in the Old Testament, way back in Exodus. And there in Exodus, God is speaking to Moses and telling him that He wants him to establish this tabernacle. In this tabernacle there would be all these special pieces of furniture. One of the pieces of furniture was called “the altar of incense.”

MORNING AND EVENING

It’s also called “the golden altar.” It’s also called “the altar of sweet incense” because God also gives the recipe for the incense. It was made up of sweet spices. The incense was to give off this glorious, beautiful, sweet perfume that filled the holy place of the tabernacle. God wanted it filled with this beautiful, sweet aroma, night and day. Yes, night and day!

That’s why they had to light the incense every morning and every evening. When they lit it in the morning, it would fill the holy place. As the day was coming to an end, it would begin to dissipate. So, the priest would come again and light it again so it would be all night. It would be filled with that beautiful, sweet aroma.

Now, here in Revelation, it’s called “the golden altar which was before the throne.” The amazing thing, ladies, is that we read about this altar of incense back in Exodus. As we read about the tabernacle there, (many people don’t know very much about the tabernacle) but it’s something we should know, because, oh my, it’s not some bit of history a way back there in the beginning of the Bible.

No! It is something that is alive and real, right now! And when John looked into the heavenly realm, he wasn’t seeing some altar of incense back in the tabernacle. He was seeing Heaven, and he was seeing the altar of incense right there in heaven itself! And where was the altar? It was before the throne of God, right before the throne of God.

Where was the altar of incense in the tabernacle? It was right next to the Holy of Holies. It was the last piece of furniture before you went into the Holy of Holies. It was right next to it! Next to the glory of God.

This altar of incense, we’ll get to speak about it more next time. Because this is something that needs to be part of our lives in our homes. It’s not just something, “Oh, well, that was something I read about in the Bible.” No, this is reality that needs to be part of our lives now. Also, part of our lives as we prepare to be those who can face whatever happens to us in life, whatever comes into our lives, and whatever difficult times will come, or if we will face end times in our lifetime, or in our children’s children’s time. Whatever.

But we are going to be people who will be prepared. We are going to be people who have these qualities in our lives now, for these are the qualities that we’re meant to have, to even face life, right now. And prayer is a very big part of it.

Oh, I have some exciting things to tell you about it for next week. So, don’t miss out! Come in again next week. Don’t miss out. Let’s pray.

“Dear loving Father, we thank You so much for the way You teach us from Your Word. And we pray that You will help us to be those who know how to persevere, who never cave in, who never surrender, who never give in. But Lord, that we will go through and endure and persevere with joy, with cheerfulness, with courage. We ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 181: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 3

We continue talking about FAITHFULNESS today. Faithful to our word, faithful to church attendance, faithful to be on time, faithful in the daily etiquette and courtesies of life, and faithful to the end. "Continued acts of faithfulness add up to strength of character, to resiliency and preparation for end times."

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We’re up to number three in our series on five things we need to prepare in our lives as we prepare for the end times. We are talking on faithfulness. Last week we talked about being faithful in our marriage, and in our mothering, and in the very mundane, little things of being a wife and a mother.

I do hope that this last week you began to enjoy doing even the mundane things with joy and delight, and with faithfulness. Oh, ladies, faithfulness is such a great thing. It’s not something to be despised. It’s a great thing, and the more you are faithful, the more faithfulness will become part of your life. Remember, it means “trustworthiness.”

All right. Well, I ended last session with the Scripture, Luke 16:10-12. Let me read it again. “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large things. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with the things of your own?”

Now that’s quite a good challenge, isn’t it? Something I do think we need to think about. Many times, we will be using, well, I hope it’s not many times, but we could be using somebody else’s property, something they own. We’ve borrowed it, and we break it!

Well, what do we do? Well, of course, we reimburse it, don’t we? If we break something that doesn’t belong to us, well, we’re going to reimburse it. If we borrowed something from someone, and we break it, we’d better reimburse it. Maybe we lose it. Well, we’d better buy another one. That is faithfulness. That’s etiquette. So, let’s go on to our next one.

No. 3. KEEP FAITHFUL TO YOUR WORD

I said we’d talk about seven different little practical things in our lives. Number three: keep faithful to your word. That’s part of the Greek word pistos, “to be faithful and trustworthy, to keep to your word, to keep to your promises.” It’s so easy to say things, isn’t it, and not to keep them. We have to really watch what comes out of our mouths. “Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay” (Matthew 5:37).

If we are not sure that we are going to be able to do something, well, let’s not say we’ll do it. Because when it comes out of our mouths, we should keep to it. That’s etiquette. That’s faithfulness. I think it’s something we need to get into the habit of.

Like even for functions. Weddings, parties, birthdays, invitations. Many times, we can say, “Oh, yes, I’ll be coming!” And then, something may happen, and it just works out that we can’t come. But we should always call the people. If something happens, and we can’t fulfill our obligation, at least call and say, “Oh, look, I said I was coming, but so sorry this has happened. And we’re not able to. We’re so sorry about this.” But always communicate.

Because we are a hospitable home, I’ve had so many functions and parties and things, dinners in my home over the years. I couldn’t even count them, there’s so many. And it’s amazing, different parties that we’ve had here, people say, “Yes, I’ll be coming.” And then, they don’t come!

Well, if people call me, that’s fine. That’s understandable. You know that something has happened. But when they don’t call, you think, “Wow! What’s happened? They didn’t turn up. And they didn’t even have the decency, the faithfulness, to call and say they couldn’t come.”

These are very important things. When we say something, we must keep to it. Or if it’s impossible to keep to it, we must let the people know. Train our children this way. I believe it’s so important to train our children in faithfulness.

No. 4. FAITHFULNESS AND ETIQUETTE

Many young people today don’t really even know the normal courtesies and etiquette of life, which takes me on to point number four: faithfulness and etiquette. I believe we should teach our young people, when they go to visit friends at another home, because young people love to get together, they will ask one another to each other’s homes.

Now, tell your young people, if they’re asked to another home, they’re not only going just to hang out with the young people. Remind them to go and speak to the parents. They’re going into their home. Therefore, they need to say, “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so. Thank you so much for allowing me to come into your home and enjoy friendship with your children.”

Teach them that when they leave, that they don’t just leave. They go and say goodbye, not only to the young people, but they also go to the parents, and they say, “Thank you for allowing me to be here. It’s been wonderful. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.”

Now, that is normal courtesy. That is faithfulness. But who does that today? Oh, I’ve had so many parties, as I have said, in our home. I have young people coming in. Many times, those young people don’t even say hello. I might as well not be in the house! Nor do they say goodbye. I’m sure it really isn’t their fault. They haven’t been taught.

Now, we must teach our children these things. It’s part of teaching them how to be faithful. Colin and I have always made it a precedent in our lives that whenever we go somewhere to someone’s home, or we’re invited to a party, or even a wedding, we would never even think of leaving the wedding or whatever it is that we’ve got to without going to the host and hostess and thanking them for inviting us. And telling them how we enjoyed it.

Many times, it comes times to go, and my husband says, “Look, darling, we’ve got to go now. I’m getting tired.” I’ll say, “OK, well, we’d better go find the host and hostess.” We’ll both go around to find both the husband and the wife, to let them know we are leaving, and to thank them for the lovely time.

Now, they have done a big job! They have put on this dinner, this wedding, this party, whatever it was. It is only right that we would let them know.

Once again, why am I saying this? Because of all the hundreds of parties and things that I’ve had in our home, rarely do people ever come and say goodbye! I can’t even believe it. It comes to the end of the night, and gradually everyone’s gone out the door. Nobody comes and says, “Well, thank you for inviting me. It was a great time. Great to be here.”

That’s etiquette! There was a time when nobody would ever think of leaving the house without doing that. They wouldn’t think of it! What has happened? Somehow, we’ve dropped the baton, and parents have not passed on this act of courtesy and faithfulness to the next generation. Can I encourage you to train your children this way? We’ve trained our children. And even now I say, “Don’t forget to do that.”

Recently we had one of our family weddings. Addie and Isaiah were married, Serene’s son. He was married to Addie. Actually, you’ll see their picture on the front cover of the new Above Rubies Magazine that is coming out.

Serene and Sam put on the most beautiful wedding. Sam has got this vision to build this wonderful big barn. We’re already calling it “The Wedding Barn.” It’s going to be such a great place. Well, we had Isaiah and Addie’s wedding there. It wasn’t finished. All we had was the concrete, and the roof, and all rough. The wood that holds up the roof, but nothing was filled in.

But it didn’t matter because it was summer, and it was a glorious, glorious day to have the wedding. But now, their daughter Cherish is getting married to Ben on the 5^th of February. So, Sam says he’s going to have The Wedding Barn ready. It will have to be closed in, because it’s going to be winter.

But anyway, I was talking to Serene afterwards, and I said to Serene, “Serene, just for interest’s sake, how many people came and thanked you before they left? Who came up and said goodbye?” Well, she said, “Not many.”

Actually, I had watched people who had been invited, not family, but other friends. I watched couples; young couples walk out. I knew that they hadn’t gone to Serene and Sam, and I thought, “How sad! They haven’t been taught. They could come to a wedding, enjoy, feast on all the wonderful food, then just leave! Without telling anybody! Without going to the ones who invited them.”

So, let’s change things, shall we? And get back to these little acts of faithfulness. They are so important. These little things add up. These little things add up to great things.

Now, we have a family in our fellowship. Nadia, and they have seven children. I remember talking to Nadia about this one day. There’s something about Nadia. She receives instruction. So, she received this, and she obviously decided she was going to tell her children about this. It’s amazing. Every Sunday when they come to church, and we have fellowship meal, and we hang out. It’s such a glorious time.

But every Sunday, before they leave, in the afternoon sometime, these children will come individually, and they will come up to me. They will say, “Thank you, Nana. Thank you for having us here. We really appreciate it.” It’s so wonderful! I mean, I don’t need that, but I’m so glad that they are doing it. Because they are getting into a habit now, as children, that this what you do! It’s so beautiful, and it’s such a wonderful character trait that’s being added to their lives. It’s really beautiful.

All right. Another meaning of faithfulness is “loyal and loyalty.” I like that. In 3 John 1:5, John is writing to Gaius. He says, “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to the strangers.” John was talking to him about the ways he showed hospitality to the preachers who were traveling through, and to whoever came to his home. He said, “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest.” What a wonderful testimony to have over our lives.

No. 4. FAITHFUL TO CHURCH ATTENDANCE

Here’s another one. Number four. I believe that we should be faithful in church attendance. In preparing, this is actually, this Scripture, you know this Scripture, Hebrews 10:25. Let’s read it this time from the Amplified Classic Translation: “Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together as believers, as is the habit of some people, but admonishing, warning, urging, and encouraging one another, all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.”

This Scripture is encouraging us to get into the habit of faithfully attending church fellowship, whether you go to church on Saturday, or you go to church on Sunday, or whatever church you go to. It doesn’t matter, but we should be faithful, because this Word here, the writers of the Hebrews is saying: “Be faithful now, especially as you see that day coming.”

Well, we’re closer to that day now. And the closer we get, the more faithful we should be to the assembling of ourselves together. Because we’re going to need one another more and more. And it is important to establish that fellowship amongst the brethren now, because church is more than going to a building, and hearing a sermon, and going home.

No, church is the body of believers. Church is the assembling of the saints. It’s the assembling together. It’s the togetherness. God wants us to be a togethering people, because we encourage one another. Our faith is not just a personal faith. It’s a together faith. It’s a you-and-me faith.

This is what the Word of God says in Romans 1:12. It’s a togethering, one-anothering faith. And so, God wants us to establish that. As we do, we will have an assembly. We’ll have people around us who will be there for us when times get more difficult. That’s a lot of what church is about. It’s not only going to hear a sermon.

I was absolutely astounded. I still haven’t got over it, that when this whole thing started last year, and this so-called covid thing began, churches actually stopped meeting. I could not believe it. We were never commanded in the Word to stop meeting, no matter what was happening, no matter what persecution.

What about faith? All around the world, there are Christians who are in countries that have for years had to meet underground. They didn’t stop meeting! And here, people stopped meeting! I can’t believe it! Of course, they had Zoom. “Oh, we’re having Zoom! Oh yes! We’re still getting our messages.”

Well, that’s true. It’s good. You can get a good . . . nothing wrong with Zoom. Get a good message. That’s great. In fact, I’m giving you a message now. I’m not with you, unfortunately. I’d love to be sitting down with you. But that’s not church. Yeah, it’s a Zoom meeting, but it’s not church.

Church is the assembling of yourselves together. And we are commanded not to give it up, that it is to become a habit. To do it more faithfully, even as we approach the end. So, make that a habit in your lives, precious wives and mothers.

You know, there’s always things that happen. Excuses can come. “Oh, this happened. Oh, we won’t make it this morning.” I beg your pardon! No. You decide.  We are people, we are a family who go to church! We meet with the believers at least once a week. These other things that are coming . . .  “Oh, this is happening. This is. . .”

No. We don’t take notice of them. We do the priority. We do what we have to do. I just cannot believe. . . I mean, they’re not hardly valid excuses! They’re just, “Oh, someone came to visit. Oh, I’ve got to go here. Oh, I’ve got to get this done.” People, they don’t come to church, because “Oh, I’ve got to get this done around the house.”

I beg your pardon?? Are we believers, or are we not believers? Do we believe the Word of God, or do we not? The Word says that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together! And yet, so many believers, “Oh, well, a beautiful day. I think I’ll just get out in the garden today or get this done around the back. We need to get this finished.”

Oh, I understand. Life is busy. My, often you don’t get time, but let me tell you, the Word of God says: “Them that honor me, I will honor” (1 Samuel 2:30). You honor the Lord. He will honor you. You’ll get those things done some way. God will enable you when you do what is right.

We show to our families, when we just allow things to come into our lives, “Oh, we won’t be able to go today.” What do our children see? You can say it all you like, “Oh, Lord God, You are the pre-eminent One in our lives. Oh, we love You! Lord God, we worship You!” And your children see, well, you’re not even going to church because, just some excuse, or something you want to do that’s more important.

We show to our children the real priorities in our lives by our actions. So, let’s be faithful. Faithful. Faithful now, ladies. Let’s get into the habit of being faithful, faithful now, and we will be much more ready for the end time. I believe it with all my heart.

No. 5. BE FAITHFUL TO BE ON TIME

Number five: be faithful to be on time. On time for church. On time for functions. On time for appointments. That’s being trustworthy. The meaning of “faithfulness.” Are we trustworthy? Can people trust our word? Can they trust us to be on time? Oh, I know that’s not always easy. And there’s often things that cause us to be late. And I’m not perfect either.

But I believe we should seek to be on time. I grew up with a father who believed in being on time. He didn’t only believe in being on time, he believed in being early. He was never late. He was always early for an appointment. He was always early for church. He would be making sure we got ready in time to be there early for church.

That wasn’t easy, because my mother was always late. We used to have this saying, “She was late for her wedding, and she was late ever since.” But he would always be hurrying her along. She was always finishing dishes and trying on this hat to make sure it matched that dress, and so on.

But anyway, he made sure she got there on time, even though he would rather get there early, because he had things that were holding him back. But that was his premise in life: be early. It is a good thing.

I know some mums who will set their watches for half an hour ahead for Sunday. They do it the night before. They’re just half an hour ahead. If they were going to be half an hour late, well, actually they will get there on time. That’s a good idea. You might like to try that one.

But being late is actually selfish, isn’t it? Except, I’m not talking about mothers with little children. Oh, my, I know it’s not easy. That’s why it’s quite a good idea to set your watch ahead, so that you will make it.

Back in our day, can I tell you? I’m really back in the old, old days. So, I can give you a bit of history. But when we were growing up, this was normal. Not just in our home. It was normal in the homes of all the believers. What we would do, going to church, didn’t start on Sunday. It started the night before.

Always the night before. So, Saturday evening everybody would have a bath. Oh, we didn’t have showers in those days. So, we’d all have our bath, all washed our hair. We were all beautifully clean for Sunday. And before we went to bed, we had to lay out all our clothes for Sunday.

Back then, that meant not only your dress, but your hat, and your handbag, and your shoes. Of course, we would wear shoes. But everything to go with it. So, you had it. You didn’t go round Sunday morning, looking round, “Whoo, where is everything? Can’t find it!” All the little children, you can’t find any socks, and you can’t even find shoes! Help!

But no, you do it the night before. So, everything is done. And then, of course, we would even cook on the day before, ready for Sunday, so we didn’t even have to cook on Sunday. We started the day before.

I think that was because it was a priority. They didn’t suddenly think, “Oh, goodness me, it’s Sunday! Here, church, help!” OK. But no, they were gearing up to it, looking forward to it, and preparing for it. I think that would be a good habit to get back into. Don’t you?

Then, of course, we would put our Sunday best. Have you ever heard of that phrase in your life?  “Sunday best”? Well, that’s what we used to call it. Because we would always have clothes that were specifically for Sunday. The best clothes in our wardrobe, usually just one special dress that was our Sunday dress. Or maybe we just might have a couple of others too.

But many times, people only had a Sunday dress, because we were not quite as affluent as we are today where nobody would understand “Sunday best,” because help, you go to your wardrobe, and you think, “Oh, what will I wear?” You’ve got about twenty dresses, and you don’t know which one to wear!

We’re living in a totally different era. Also, people don’t even usually wear their Sunday best today. They wear whatever they feel like. Sometimes you think they were getting ready to go to the beach! Or just so casually.

I do believe, I do believe that we should dress up for Sunday, because it’s that reverence. We are going to worship God. We read in the Old Testament how the priests were not to come into the Holy Place with the clothes they wore outside. They had to change their garments before they came in. They changed their garments to minister unto the Lord.

Then we read about how when Jehosophat was coming against that great army. He sent out the worshippers to go ahead. They got dressed in “holy attire,” in their beautiful worship robes, when they were worshipping the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:21). They didn’t use the same clothes they wore to hang out in. No, they changed them. I think there is something about dressing nicely for church.

No. 6. FAITHFUL IN COMMUNICATION

OK, time is going, so let me carry on here. Number six: faithful in communication. Oh, that’s so important, isn’t it, too? It’s another etiquette thing, really. Communicating with your husband. That’s so important. Families communicating together.

We raised our children to always, especially as they got older. Of course, when they’re young you know where they are every moment. But as they get older, and they’re going out to do their own things, we always told our children they must not ever leave the home until they tell us where they are going and what time they will be home. That is etiquette, and it’s also learning to be faithful to one another.

In a home, we’re a family, and we communicate together. That is something also very important we must train our children in so that becomes part of their lives. When they get married, they will also still be communicating. They don’t just go and do their own thing.

OK, so many people do that today. Just, oh, do their own thing, whatever they’re thinking of doing. Off they go! But no, we don’t live unto ourselves. We are to live for one another. In a marriage, we communicate to one another where we’re going, what we’re doing. In a family, we teach our children the same, so they will always tell us.

It becomes a habit. See, these things become habit. Habits of our lives. These beautiful faithful habits.

No. 7. FAITHFUL TO FINISH WHAT WE START

That’s an important thing, too, isn’t it? So easy to start some project with a hiss and a roar and then to peter out. It’s a good thing in faithfulness to seek to finish. Keep plodding on.

I read once that to get a vision for something is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. I guess that would be my testimony of doing Above Rubies which I started well over 44 years ago, with this great vision that God put upon my heart. It was so strong. It was such a burden. So, I just started it. Wow!

I didn’t think of the future. But as I kept going, because I’ve always felt and thought to have this attribute of faithfulness in my life. Because I started that, I just kept faithful to it. It has taken much self-sacrifice and pouring out of my life. But it’s been my joy also.

I just kept going. I’ve just kept plodding on, and here I am, over 44 years later, still doing it. I’ve known so many other Christian magazines that have started and have finished. So many of them! I guess it’s just by God’s grace I have kept going.

But I know it’s only because I have kept plodding on. I could have stopped a thousand times, but I just kept plodding on. It’s not for any ability of mine. I don’t really have any great abilities at all. Really, all I have, is I keep plodding on. I think this is a very important part of life, to just keep plodding on.

Paul, what was his testimony? 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” He was faithful to the end.

Revelation 2:10: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

In Revelation 2:13, it talks about Antipas. Jesus said of Antipas, “Antipas was my faithful martyr." Faithful, pistos. Martyr. Once again, it’s amazing how many Scriptures there are about when John looked into the heavenly realm. And he saw those who were there. So many of them were there because they were martyred.

I’ll give you these references. We haven’t got time to read them: Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 17:6; and Revelation 20:4. They all talk about those who were there. But they were martyred to get there. But they were faithful unto the end. I think of that Scripture in Hebrews. It’s talking about all those witnesses who are looking on. Those witnesses, that is “martyr” again. It’s the word martus, martyr.

The Bible talks about those witnesses in heaven who are looking on. It’s the word “martyr.” They all got there by being martyred. *

Matthew 10:22: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

Matthew 24:13: “He that shall endure to the end shall be saved.”

Hebrews 3:14 (New Living Translation): “For if we are faithful to the end, trust in God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.”

I just wrote down this quote:

“Continued acts of faithfulness add up to strength of character, to resiliency, and preparation for the end times.”

Let me say it again. “Continued acts of faithfulness add up to strength of character, to resiliency, and preparation for the end times.”

My prayer for you lovely ladies is Jesus’ prayer for Peter when He said, “I have prayed for you, that thy faith fail not.” (Luke 22:32).

Keep being faithful, dear mother, in your home, in the little things of life. As you are faithful in them, they will add up to great things.

“Dear Father, we pray that You will help each one of us to be faithful, to be faithful in the few things, to be faithful in the things that we face each day. We ask that we will become strong in faithfulness. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 180: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 2

We continue our series of F F P P and K. Today we talk about FAITHFULNESS - faithful in our marriages, faithful in our mothering, and faithful in the daily grind of life.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Today we are continuing our series about the five attributes we need to have in our lives as we prepare for end times. They are F F P P and K. Last week we talked about FEARLESSNESS. Today our next F is about FAITHFULNESS. So, we’re going to talk about that today.

I find it easy to remember when we use some letters like F F P P and K. You’ll be able to remember them. The five things that you need, and we’ll continue to find out what they are in the next session

This is something that my husband often does when we’re having our family devotions together, and he’s reading the Word of God. He’ll come across a Scripture, and he’ll ask the children or whoever’s in our home, a question. He’ll say, “OK, do you know what this is?” Let me give you an example.

For example, Philippians 4:8. You all know that Scripture where it tells us the things that we are to think upon. If he was reading this Scripture, he might do something like this.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are. . . Ok, who can tell me what the first one is?” Now, they most probably don’t remember, so he’ll give them a clue. He’ll tell them the letter. “OK, it starts with T, children. Who can guess?” And children love guessing.

Of course, you don’t let them all scream out. You get them to put up their hands. So, they put up their hands. “OK, Bobbie, what do you think it is?” And maybe he says, “Tenderness!” “No, that’s not the one. Who can think of another one?” And someone says, “Truthfulness!” “That’s right, it’s truth. That’s the first one. OK, who can remember the next one? It starts with H. OK.”

Then maybe someone says, “Humble!” “That’s a good one, but it’s not the one for this verse.” Maybe someone else says, “Happy!” “Well, that’s a good one, too, but that’s not the one.” Then someone will eventually get it. “It’s honest.”

So, then we keep going through and give the first letter of the word so they can guess to see what it will be. As they do that, it gets them to be familiar with the things that God wants them to think about. Then we can all say them over together.

Let’s take another example. OK, he’s reading in Titus. Titus 2:10-12: “For the grace of God which bringeth salvation has appeared to all men. Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live. . . OK, children, do you how God wants us to live? There’s three ways, three things it says. Now the first one starts with S. OK, who knows what it is? Put your hand up if you think you know.”

So, maybe they have a try. “Does it mean sweetly?” “Oh, that’s a good answer, but no.”

“Ok, Johnny, what do you think?” “Selflessly!” “Oh, that’s another good answer, but no. OK.”

Then someone hopefully, hopefully someone will be able to guess. The word is “soberly.” Then you’ll have to tell them what it means, because it means more than just not getting drunk. “Soberly” in the Bible means “to live, having a good understanding in your mind of what is right.”

“And then the next one is R.” So, they keep guessing until they get “righteously.”

 “The next one is G.” “Godly.”

But rather than just reading them, “We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world,” they most probably will never ever remember the words. But when you give them a little competition and give them the first letter of the word, and they’ve all got to have a guess and see what the word is, they will remember it.

When they get the right word, “OK, let’s all say it together! Soberly. OK.” And then they guess “righteously.” “Righteously! And then, we can all say it together. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world."

So, they’re really getting to know the Scripture. It’s getting into their hearts, all by having a little fun guessing game.

Often, my husband will do this as he’s reading the Word in our family devotions. That’s just one little trick you can play with the children to help them keep their attention and help them to get the Word into their hearts. 

In the book The Daily Light on the Daily Path, which are Scriptures for every morning and evening from different parts of the Bible. So, it’s rather lovely. You get New Testament AND Old Testament Scriptures on a certain theme for every morning and every evening. But I published one of those books and added at the beginning of each month an idea that you can do with your children to keep them listening and keep them on their toes. So, there’s other ideas in that book, too if you want to order it.

FAITHFULNESS

Anyway, let’s get back to our series. We’re on to the second F, which is Faithfulness. All right, so, we go to Revelation, because we are finding out this from the book of Revelation. Of course, Jesus Himself is called “faithful” in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 1:5: “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.” He is the chief ruler of all kings of the earth, all kings are in subjection to Him.

Well, they may not think they are, at this time, but there is coming a day when all kings and all dominions, and everything in earth and in heaven and under the earth is going to bow to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But did you notice it says: “The One who is the faithful witness.” That word “witness” in the Greek is the word martus. Do you know what it means? It means, “martyr.” It’s the same word that’s used in Acts 1:8 where Jesus told them to wait until they received power from on high. And then they would become “witnesses unto him in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the world.” That word “witnesses” in that Scripture is also martus, which means “martyr.”

Many times, it doesn’t really happen here in the USA, but in many countries of the world, even today, when they witness boldly for Jesus, they can be martyred. There are many martyrs for the faith at this current time, around the world.

Revelation 3:14: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness.” Once again, that word is “martyr.”

Revelation 19:11: “And I saw heaven open.” Revelation is so wonderful, because John keeps saying, “And I saw. And I saw. And I saw.” And he reveals what he saw in heaven, or what he saw as it’s going to come in the end times. In this Scripture he says: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”

It’s interesting that Jesus is called “faithful” many times in the Book of Revelation. The words of the Book of Revelation are also true and faithful.

Revelation 21:5: “And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new. And he said unto me, write: for these words are true and faithful.”

Revelation 22:6: “And He said unto me again, these sayings are faithful and true.” But we also notice something else, ladies. We notice that not only does it state that Jesus is faithful, but that He also wants us to be faithful.

Revelation 17:14: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” This is the criteria of those who will be with Christ in this end time. The ones who He wants to be with Him will be those who are faithful, “called, and chosen, and faithful.” Therefore, it is important, precious ladies, that we have this attribute in our lives.

Now, we are not right yet at the end times, but we are preparing for them. And so, these characteristics, we’ve got to get them into our lives now, so they are part of us. We don’t suddenly think, “Oh, wow! The end time’s come! I’m facing all this persecution. I’m facing incredible things. How am I going to do it? I’d better be faithful.”

Well, if you haven’t had practice in being faithful, it’s not the time to start then. We have to start NOW. This is why I feel this message that I am sharing with you is so important. Share these series with others. Encourage others to listen. Share it with your children. Let them listen too. Or at least share the truth with them, because every one of these points that we’re going to talk about, we must be practicing in our lives right now. If we’re not faithful now, we’re not going to be faithful in the end. IT ALL STARTS NOW.

Now, what is this word “faithful”? It is the word pistos in the Greek. There are two aspects to this word. It is translated “believe” nine times in the New Testament. It means “to believe the gospel,” to stand fast in your belief that Jesus died for you and was buried and rose again, and that He is your Lord and Savior, and you will never deviate from that.

But it also means “to be faithful in the context of being trustworthy.” Trusty. Have you ever heard that word before? Yes, trusty is in the dictionary. Trustworthiness. Genuine, steadfast to one’s trust, to your word, and to promises that you’ve made. So, it’s being trustworthy and faithful. This word is used 54 times in the New Testament.

FAITHFULNESS IN LITTLE THINGS WILL ADD UP TO FAITHFULNESS IN BIGGER THINGS

So, I think we should look at it a little bit more, don’t you? Let’s look it and look at it in the literal things of life. because I believe, lovely ladies, that faithfulness begins in the little things. Just the very little things of life. If we begin to be faithful in the little things, this faithfulness will add up to our being faithful in bigger things.

As we’re faithful in little things, our faithfulness grows, and it becomes stronger. It becomes something that is part of our lives. Now, I thought of about seven little practical things, and my, I have not, that’s not all of them. That’s just a little peak, but I thought we’d just start with the little peek at some of the practical things we face in life. Let’s check how we’re being faithful in them, shall we?

1.     FAITHFUL TO YOUR MARRIAGE

I believe we should, firstly, if you are married and listening to this session, we are to be faithful in our marriage. OK, we always hear about this, being faithful to your marriage, yes, but even in our marriage, faithfulness begins with the little things in our marriage. Just the daily things. I think it actually starts with being faithful to the same attitude that we had when we fell in love with our husbands.

So many marriages, so many husbands and wives, fall out of love. But what happened? They were in love at one time. Did you know that there is actually a word called “in-loveness”? I love that word. It was coined by the guy named Sheldon Vanauken who wrote “A Severe Mercy,” who wrote a book about his beautiful marriage. He and his wife called it “in-loveness.” They never grew out of their being in love. They called their whole marriage “in-loveness.” Isn’t that beautiful?

I think that’s how it’s meant to be. If we were in love, well, why do we fall out of love? We have to keep doing the things and saying the things that we did when we fell in love. What did we do then? We said beautiful, lovely things, didn’t we? We said kind things and lovey-dovey things. These were the things we spoke to one another when we fell in love.

So, therefore, when we get married, we are faithful. We keep faithful to doing and saying those same lovely things to one another. If we are faithful in doing those little things, we will keep in love. That’s just how it works.

We’re faithful in the mundane things in our marriage, in caring for our husbands, making sure he has a good healthy breakfast before he goes out to work.  I know there are many wonderful wives who get up early to get their husband a good breakfast, even to make a good wholesome and healthy lunch for him to take with him. Maybe it’s very, very, early. They’ll go back to bed afterwards. But they will do that. They don’t just sleep on and let him do it all on his own, or don’t do it.

Because when you let your husband go out without feeding him, without giving him something, you know what happens, don’t you? They’ll just go out and eat junk. That’s what men love to do. In fact, every time my husband goes out and I’m not hovering over him, well, he’s going to be eating junk!

So, I have to look after him. Help! Goodness me! He doesn’t know how to look after himself.  You know, most men, well, there’s a few men who love to be healthy. But most men, they’ll just eat whatever they see. It’s usually junk. So, if we really care about our husbands, we will take time to make sure they have a healthy breakfast. We look after them, and we make sure, when they come home from a day where they’ve been working hard that we have a meal ready for them—a wholesome, nutritious, good, lovely meal that they’re going to love and just want and come and sit down to eat.

That’s just one of the basic things of the of being faithful in marriage. Now, today, there’s lots of wives who really don’t cook a good meal for their husbands. Oh, he comes home, and they’re still on their own project, or doing whatever they want, or maybe even coming home from work. Many times, the poor guy has got to get dinner himself. Or it’s just grab something out of the cupboard.

No! Being faithful is thinking about how you’re going to feed your husband and give him healthy food and look after him. These are little things of faithfulness. Faithfulness is not just some lovely word out there, floating in the clouds. It’s down-to-earth, nitty-gritty, doing the things that we need to do in the home.

We need to be faithful in intimacy with our husbands. That’s the first thing God speaks about marriage.

Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” That is the very first thing that God speaks about marriage. And this is a very important part of marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:3-5 in the New Living Translation: “The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. Do not deprive each other of sexual relations.”

And so, if we are depriving, if we are not being faithful in intimacy, well, we’re not being faithful to the marriage. This is also a very important part of being faithful. It’s practical things, ladies.

2.     BE FAITHFUL TO YOUR MOTHERING

Then, of course, we get to mothering. Oh, my. We, as mothers, have the greatest opportunity in the whole of the world to practice faithfulness, don’t we? Because as we manage our homes, so often we’re doing the same thing every day. We’re cleaning up the messes every day. We’re doing the laundry every day. We’re washing the dishes every day. We’re cooking those meals every day. Breakfast, lunch, and supper, and then they want food in between. Help!

Dear ladies, this is all part of your mothering. Yes, it’s very, very practical. It’s right in the nitty-gritty. But be faithful. Be faithful in these little things, even as you’re being faithful in your home, keeping your home, managing it so you’re keeping on top of things. You’re not letting everything get out of hand. In doing this, dear ladies, you are being faithful.

DUTY IS A BEAUTIFUL THING

Do you know what? You are preparing for end times. When you are faithful to even that which is not glamorous, that is working something in your life. I love this quote:

“It takes character to cope with life when duty,

rather than excitement, is the sustaining force.”

Duty is a very powerful thing.

Sometimes it seems, oh, such a boring thing to do that which is duty. But there’s a lot of things in life that really, we do need to do as a duty. You can actually make duty a delight. It’s all in your attitude. If you see duty as a drudgery, well, you’re not going live a very nice happy life.

But if you see duty as a delight, because it’s what needs to be done, it’s not just because you have to do it. Because duty actually makes wonderful things. Out of duty comes amazing things. When you are faithful to keep to the duties of your home, of keeping your home right, of cooking your meals, of keeping up to date with everything, and doing it with joy and delight, you’re going to build a wonderful home.

You’re going to build a beautiful home, a home where your husband loves to be, where your children will delight to be, where people will love to come. You will bless so many people. Oh, homes are the places where you can bless people. When you make your home a delight, and you invite other people into your home, you’re going to bless them and encourage them.

But if you see duty as a drudgery, your attitude will be such that you’ll never want to invite anybody into your home because you don’t even like your home. No, you’ve got to make what you’re doing in your home such a delight that you want others to come and share it. And duty becomes glorious! So never despise duty. Never despise the faithfulness of the little things.

Let’s go, shall we, ladies, to Matthew 25:14-30. We won’t read it all, but it’s the parable of the talents, and how God gave five talents to one, and he gave two talents to one, and to another He only gave one. But we go down to verse 20, and it says: “And he that received five talents came and brought the other five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you gave me five talents. Now I have gained five talents more.’ And his lord said unto him, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’”

That word “faithful” is pistos, the same word where it says that those that are going to be with Jesus are those that “are called, and chosen, and faithful.” Yes, faithful. “Good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things.” Yes, a few things. “Now, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

So, God sees faithfulness as a very precious thing. And God sees you, dear mother, being faithful in the little things, the mundane things. Yes, changing 20 diapers a day! Oh, doing dishes again, and they keep piling up. You get the dishes done, and then they start piling up even before you’ve had the next meal.

But you keep on, and you keep on doing because it needs to be done. You do it with the right attitude. You do it with delight. And as you do it, even in these little things, God sees, and He speaks over you: “Good and faithful servant.”

The same thing with the one who brought the two talents. Verse 23: “And the Lord said unto him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’”

And the one, of course, that buried his talent in verse 26, the Lord calls him, “Thou wicked and slothful servant.” Wow, that isn’t too good, is it? And so, lovely ladies, just keep being faithful.

Let’s go to Luke 16:10: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” So, when we are faithful in our homes, in our marriages, in our mothering, we are preparing to be faithful in much, in bigger things. When it comes to the end time (many people are facing so much even now, they’re losing jobs). Oh, and as I shared last week, we have in Australia, we have so many friends and family. So, we are feeling this even personally.

They are facing incredible odds, even now. In fact, I was talking last night to Val Stares, the director of Above Rubies in Australia. Not only is she the director of Above Rubies, but Val is such a dear friend of mine. Val has been with me in Above Rubies from the very day I first got the vision, over 44 years ago. In fact, I was visiting the hospital of another dear friend. Her little boy was in hospital, so we went to visit them. Val was there too.

It was at that time, I got this vision, and I turned to Val, and I said to her, “Val, I’ve got this great vision! We’re going to get a magazine out, and we’re going to encourage wives and mothers all over the land.” She looked at me, just stared at me. Interesting thing, her name is Val Stares.

She just stared at me, didn’t say anything. I didn’t know that she had said to the Lord that very morning, “If Nancy Campbell comes up with any more of her great ideas, I’m not getting involved!” Well, she got involved. And from that very beginning she has been involved with me in New Zealand, where we started the magazine. When we moved to Australia, she and her family moved with us, like many other families.

And then when we, ten years later, moved to the USA, Val took over, and has been continuing this ministry. Talk about faithfulness! I mean, goodness me, she is the epitome of faithfulness. But anyway, I was talking to her last night and saying, “How are things in Australia?”

She said, “Nancy, we’re really facing it here. December 17 is the D Day. On that day, if we haven’t taken this poisonous vaccination, we will be isolated. We will not be able to have jobs. Our children, grandchildren, who are all working people, they will not have jobs. We will not be able to shop. We will not be able to do anything.” She said, “We’re getting prepared. We are gardening like we’ve never gardened before.”

And that is a big challenge because down in Australia, they are in the hottest time of the year, especially on the Gold Coast. Very hot there and it’s not easy to garden over there. You have to water just about all day. But they are doing what they can and preparing food and preparing for this.

They’re facing challenges, even now. But it’s not the end of the world. And we’re going to face greater challenges in that time. So, we’re preparing now to be faithful. If we do, we’ll find that that faithfulness will be in us and will enable us to be faithful in those greater challenges.

All right, the next thing. This is from the New Living Translation. It’s also Luke 16:10: “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”

Now, that’s interesting. That’s going to take us into another point. But I think we are coming to the end. What is the time, girls? Oh, time is up! Wow! I hardly got started! Well, that means we’ve got to continue next week. We’ll look at a few more practical things. OK, don’t forget to tune in next week! Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, we pray that You will help us to be faithful. This is what You’re looking for. Lord, the ones You are looking for, the ones You’ve called and chosen. You want us to be faithful. Faithful. Teach us what it means to be faithful, Lord God. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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