FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 163 –  LET’S GET BACK THE GLORY, Part 5

God wants us to dress femininely and like royalty. Did you know it is possible to femininely and yet not modestly? It is also possible to dress modestly and yet not femininely. How do we do it?

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Before I get onto our subject today, I want to remind you that we have three Above Rubies Family Camps coming up. I'll let you know where they are. If you are anywhere near, do try and see if you can organize everything to come.

These family camps are such a wonderful blessing. It's just so great, families getting together, having great fellowship. Not only the parents, but the children and the teens, and even the older children. Oh, they make such great friends. It's just so good.

I think it's so good, even for the children, and the young people. At our family retreat down in Panama. I think we have more young people than even parents and children. It's just so beautiful to see the young people fellowshipping together.

I have a little secret. Well, Colin and I, we actually met at a family camp so many years ago, away down in New Zealand. I believe that Christian family camps are a wonderful way where young people can meet other young people, and maybe their future husband, maybe their future wife. What greater place to meet someone who has the same convictions that you do?

So anyway, what's coming up?

We have one in Missouri, August 13-15. You can check it out on my webpage, AboveRubies.org. Go there, and you can check out all the information, and who you have to contact.

Then we have August 20-22 in California, up in the hills of San Diego. We've been having retreats there for many, many years.

Then we have another one coming up at the beginning of September, September 3-6 in Central Mississippi. That's Labor Day Weekend. So we're going to have the whole weekend. That will be so great. So if you're thinking of “What will we do for Labor Day weekend,” well, think about this Above Rubies Retreat in central Mississippi.

If you are living in any state around Mississippi, get in the car, come for a drive, and come and join us. It's going to be at the Timber Creek Camp, which is a beautiful lake. They've got everything there for children and young people, volleyball, and gaga ball, and canoeing, trails through the woods. Apparently, they have a wonderful Christian staff and cook scrumptious meals.

So look into those retreats. I just hope that I might get to see some of you at them. That would be so wonderful!

Now ladies, I am still continuing our series, “Let's Get Back the Glory.” We are currently talking about the subject of clothing. That's not the only subject in “Getting Back the Glory,” but we've talked about lots of other things.

Now, I'm talking about this, and I haven't finished yet. So I've got a few more things to share with you. Even then, I know I'm not going to exhaust everything that I could share. As I told you in one of my last podcasts. I found 23 different Hebrew words that are used for clothing in the Old Testament. Then I found 13 different Greek words that are used for clothing in the New Testament.

So God speaks a lot about clothing in His Word. God is so practical. I'm always amazed that anything we want to know about, we'll find it in the Word of God. Even what we have to do every day. We've got to clothe ourselves. Well, God speaks loads about it in His Word.

I'm not going to go through all these Hebrew and Greek words with you, but I'll just share a few more things.

Now last, time, when Allison Hartman was with me, and we talked together about this, and I read you that beautiful, beautiful passage from Ezekiel 16. Oh, such a beautiful passage! If you didn't hear last week's podcast, do go back, and listen to it again.

One of the phrases in that passage says that God, He says, “I will cover your nakedness.” It's a spiritual allegory, but God is using physical clothing in that passage to describe so much that He does spiritually. God often does that. It's first that which is natural, then that which is spiritual. They are tied up together. God uses the natural to help us to understand the spiritual.

And then what we have in the spiritual, we should have in the natural. So it all ties up together. And that word in the Hebrew where it says: “I will cover your nakedness,” I told you last time about how it means, “to cover your secret parts.” One translation says: “I covered your private parts.”

And we talked about how important it is that we do cover, we cover our private parts. We don't expose ourselves. We cover. That’s what clothing is all about. It's to cover. We cover amply. We don't clothe ourselves skimpily. No, most of the words in the New Testament, and in the Old, they all have slightly different meanings, but just about everyone means, “to fully clothe, to cover up.”  It's used of the garments, and the raiment, and the clothes, all these clothes that really clothe you.

I didn't have time last time to give you a few of the different Scriptures where that same word is used, so you get to understand it. Often, when we just read one Scripture, we don't get the full meaning until we look at other Scriptures, where maybe it's translated with a different word, or it's even talking about a different subject. But it gives us a further meaning.

So that word which means, “to cover our secret parts, to hide them,” it's used in Genesis 7:19: “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole of heaven, were covered.” This is talking about the flood, of course. But it says that all the high hills, even the mountains under the whole of heaven were covered. That flood covered everything.

That's the same word that God uses when He covers our nakedness. He doesn't half cover us. He fully covers us.

Genesis 24:65: “When Rebekah saw Isaac, her future husband coming, she took her veil and covered herself.” Rebekah had been waiting for this man to come. She didn't even know who he would be. But when she saw him coming, she covered herself and went to him.

This is how a bride is meant to come to her husband, not exposed on her wedding day, with bare shoulders, and so much uncovered. It's amazing, brides are so uncovered today. But a bride is meant to go to her husband covered.

We go to Genesis 9:23: “When Noah's sons, Shem and Japheth found their father naked, they took a garment and laid it upon their shoulders and went backwards and covered the nakedness of their father.”

In Exodus 28:42: “And thou shalt make them linen breeches” (this was talking about the priests, the Levites) to cover their nakedness; from the loins, even unto the thighs.” That was an area of the body that God always wanted covered.

In Psalm 32:1: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” When God covers something, He doesn't partly cover. Oh, no, He completely covers it. So that gives us a little more understanding of that word.

NO. 5. GOD WANTS US TO DRESS FEMININELY

Now we're up to point number five. I have so many points. I think I have 12 points. Anyway, let's see how we go. But this is point number five. God wants us to dress femininely.

Deuteronomy 22:5: “The woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.”

God does not want male and female to be blurred. Nor does He want them to be mixed up. God is against transgender, even in clothing. God wants the woman to look like a woman in her clothing. He wants the man to look like a man in his clothing.

Now, does that mean that you are never allowed to wear pants again? Well, no, because when those words were written, both male and female wore long robes. That was mainly the kind of clothing they wore back in those days. They wore, usually, an undergarment, which was a tunic, maybe coming to, at least the knees, or so on. Sometimes it was a long tunic.

People would wear that around the home. But when they went out, they would always put on an outer garment. They didn't go out with just one garment. They went with an undergarment, which was a tunic. Then they would have an outer garment. Sometimes, if it was cold, they would even have a cloak over that.

But both men and women did wear those kinds of clothes. But there was a difference. There was a difference. The women wore more feminine clothing. The men, theirs were more rough and coarse and darker clothing. The women wore that which was more suitable to a woman, which was feminine.

This is the thing that we have to get at. We are women. We are female. We have been created feminine. Now, what does the word “feminine” mean? Well, I looked it up in the dictionary. But I didn't get time to look it up in the Webster's Dictionary, the 1828. I must do that. Perhaps I'll tell you next session what that dictionary says, because it usually has the fuller meaning of any dictionaries we have today.

Anyway, here are some modern dictionaries that I looked up. It means “having the quality or an appearance traditionally associated with women. For example, a feminine, frilled blouse.” Well, even a modern dictionary used that example.

Another one: “Characteristic of, or appropriate, or unique to women. For example, feminine beauty.”

Another one: “Belonging to the female sex, female.” Therefore, “female” means “opposite to male.” I think that's pretty straightforward, don't you? Female, opposite to male.

Therefore, when we dress, God wants us, as females, as His feminine creation, to dress opposite to males. OK? So I guess that means that in whatever society, whatever time in history we are living, we should dress differently than males so that we can see easily, “There is a woman!” We know by looking at her, she is a woman, but even by the way she is clothed, she is a woman.

Now, in our current society, men wear pants and shirts that they didn't back in Bible days, but they do today. So, what should we do? Well, the amazing thing is, that now the trend is that everybody wears pants and shirts. We do wear them differently, but it's so much like the male.

Why is it, why is it, I'm just asking myself, I'm asking you, why is it that the more humanistic, the more we have turned away from God's ways, the more now in society, and not only secular society, but the Christian society. . . In fact, you don't really see much difference between secular and Christian in clothing. Pretty well everybody dresses the same.

And mainly today, it's jeans and top, or some kind of pants and top. Some people will make it look very, very feminine, and that's beautiful. OK, you can wear pants and a beautiful feminine blouse and look very feminine. But more and more and more, we're getting away from femininity.

What do we have today with most young people? Or not even young people. I've seen loads of older people doing this too. They’re just wearing their jeans. Jeans are not feminine. Guys wear jeans. It doesn't really show much difference.

Sorry, ladies, I'm really coming against culture, aren't I? I'm being counterculture. I'm not here saying you can't do this. I mean, people are free, free to do what you like. But, but why don't we want to be feminine? Why? We must ask ourselves that question because this is who God created us. We are His feminine creation. He wants us to reveal our femininity to the world. He wants us to glory in it. We glory in our clothing. Our clothing shows who we are.

So, so many, yes, even Christians today, I know some who hardly own a dress. They just wear their pants and top, or jeans and top. And that's their uniform. They really would have grown up with this. Maybe that's what their mother wore. That's what everybody's wearing around. We so gravitate to society and what everybody else is doing.

But can I ask you, lovely ladies, to ask yourself the question? “Why do I not want to be feminine? Why don't I wear more feminine clothes?” This is what the Bible wants. He does not want us to dress like a man. He does not want men to dress like a woman.

Imagine! Imagine if men, I mean, oh, goodness me. I have a friend, and sadly she's no longer married to this man. But he was a cross-dresser. And he would come out to her, in her living room, all dressed up in women's clothes! He had a problem! And there are a number of men like that.

It is disgusting. I mean, it is an abomination when you see a man trying to dress like a woman. Of course, we have these people now, these transgenders, who want to change their whole sex, that's totally anti-God. It's even anti-God to dress like a woman if you're a man.

So, why is it, that so many women dress like men? Now, do I wear pants? Yes, out in the garden. I mean, if I've got to get out there in that garden, and I'm down on my knees, and I'm digging, and I'm in the mud. I'm just getting my old pants on.

I don't ride horses now, but when I was young, I used to ride horses. My father was a great dog trainer, horse trainer, and broke in horses. I was blessed to have a beautiful thoroughbred trotter. I used to ride this beautiful horse. I always rode with pants on. I didn't ever learn to ride sidesaddle as they did in earlier days from me. The ladies would have to learn sidesaddle. Of course, I always pants, although I haven't ridden horses for years.

If I'm going hiking, well, I'm going to put some pants on. So there are places where I will wear pants. But I don't like to wear them in my normal day around the home, or especially when I go out. Especially when I go to worship and to church. I want to bring glory to God and who He created me to be.

I remember one time, oh goodness me (your husband, I guess he's so used to pants, women wearing pants, because it’s just society, that he accepts it). My husband, he doesn't have a problem with other people, but he just never liked me wearing pants. Well, he doesn't mind when I'm hiking, gardening, doing all those kinds of things.

But he doesn't like me to wear pants around, or to wear jeans. In fact, I've never worn a pair of jeans in my life! Because my husband just, oh, he wouldn't be able to stand my doing it. That's just him. OK.

But one time, this is quite a number of years ago, I was flying back from New Zealand, because we come from New Zealand. We would go back frequently to see family. I would go back to minister there. And I was flying back, this long, long trip when you fly back from New Zealand, or fly to New Zealand. By the time you leave to the time you get there, you've been flying and stopping and waiting for about 30 plus hours or so.

I thought, “Oh, I'll just wear these pants, they're so comfortable. I'll just wear them on the journey.” Anyway, I arrived here in the States and my husband was there waiting to meet me. And I'll never forget (this may sound so strange to you, because even men today, they're just so used to women wearing their pants everywhere), but my husband didn't say anything. But I saw him look, and I saw the disappointment in his eyes. He knew that I knew that he didn't really like me wearing them. But I'd done it. He never said anything, but I knew. I felt his disappointment. And so I didn't do it again.

In fact, now you know, this happens quite often, except since this plandemic's been around, we haven't been flying so much. Usually I'm flying quite a lot, going to speak at Above Rubies retreats. Just weekends away, and I come home, and my husband is always there, waiting for me.

I have to admit, after being married for 58 years, it's still so exciting to be walking up, with all the travelers, and knowing my husband is going to be waiting there (I think the most handsome man in the whole of the world and he is waiting for me to come) and he's watching, and he's looking.

I know he's going to see this woman is not like everybody else. Maybe I'm the only one who's not arriving with jeans and tops, or pants and tops. And I'm wearing, because I love to now to wear something lovely when I'm going to meet him. So I'm wearing a dress, or wearing a skirt, or wearing something lovely, so that when he sees me, he's going to be so excited. And we're always so excited to see one another, even after a weekend.

So that's just my little experience. I'm not putting anything on anybody. But I do feel we should ask questions. And I believe, in this day of transgender, we should be more than ever, we as women should seek to show our femininity. We should be feminine in who we are, and we should clothe ourselves femininely. This is basic. This is foundational.

YOU CAN BE FEMININE AND YET NOT MODEST,

YOU CAN BE MODEST AND YET NOT FEMININE!

I believe that we are a hindrance really to what God wants. He wants such distinction between male and female. But here's a little point: you can be feminine, and not modest. And ladies, did you know, you can be modest, and not feminine?

God actually wants us to be both. Sometimes I'll see a beautiful dress. Oh, it's so gorgeous! And it's beautifully feminine. And then I look, and, oh, but the person wearing it is showing cleavage. I mean, this beautiful, feminine dress is spoiled because the person is exposing themselves. They're not fully clothing their secret, their private parts.

But then on the other hand, there are sections of Christian society who do wear very modest clothing. Oh, they believe in modesty, but really, they're not very feminine at all. Their clothes are dark colors. They look like sacks. There was that trend, you don't see it so often now, where so many women. . . You'd often see it amongst the homeschooling movement. They'd wear these denim jumpers. They were just like a sack. They covered everything inside. But they were just so boring and so unfeminine.

There is a balance. We have to seek to find clothes that are feminine, and that are modest. It's not always easy to find them in the shops these days. But you know what, ladies, you can find them on the internet! It's unbelievable how many beautiful, beautiful dresses that there are, out there on the Internet. Oh, I love it!

Every single time I see my lovely granddaughter, Meadow, she is always in a beautiful dress. Oh! She loves to dress femininely. I'll say, “Oh, Meadow! Where did you get that dress! It's so beautiful!

“Oh, on the Internet,” she’ll answer.

And even her mother, Pearl, she has so many beautiful dresses, too. She'll come to church in a lovely, gorgeous dress, just beautiful!

“Pearlie, where did you get that dress!”

“Oh, on the internet.”

 So I thought, “Oh, goodness, I'd better start looking myself!”

It's amazing, I've j seen so many beautiful dresses that are maybe, three-quarter length. Some are long. You don't have to wear long dresses all the time. Even three-quarter are lovely. I think dresses should be at least to the knee, or below the knee, because it's not just what they look like when you're standing, but when you sit and when you bend over.

Even when you sit, you need a dress of considerable length to cover you. Of course, even learning to sit correctly. Oh, I think it's because of so many women wearing pants and jeans that they have forgotten how to sit. And they even begin to sit like a man!

I've seen young people today, sitting with their legs crossed, not like a woman crosses her legs but her leg, with one leg crossed right over, like men sit. That is so unfeminine. It is so like a man. And it's so sad to see beautiful young girls and women actually sitting like a man! Well, if they're dressing like a man, they're going to start sitting like a man!

But there is a way for a woman to sit. You can sit with your legs crossed properly, or you can sit with your legs together sideways. Have a look at the Queen. See how she sits. I mean, that is total etiquette. We should learn ourselves, and teach our daughters, how we are to sit. That's part of being feminine also. So, lovely ladies, yes, let's get with it, shall we?

I love Philippians 1:9-10: “That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ.” The word “excellent” there is diaphero and it means “to differ, to be better, to differ from, to be more excellent, to be of more value.”

Well, let's look at some other places where that same word is used. In Matthew 6:26, Jesus is talking about how He feeds the birds of the air and looks after them. And then He says: “Are you not much better than they?” That's the same word, “excellent.”

In Matthew 10:31, Jesus was telling the people how not one sparrow falls to the ground without Him knowing. And then He says: “And you are of more value than many sparrows.” That same word. You see that same word, “excellent, more excellent,”

I think it relates even to clothing. We should, why do we just stick to whatever everybody else is doing? There is a more excellent way. The more excellent way is the more feminine way because it's who God created us to be.

I wonder, is anyone bold enough, courageous enough, to stand out a little bit, and dress more femininely more often? Maybe just start trying it a little bit. Maybe when you go out, perhaps order a couple of lovely dresses. Wear them when you go out. I think your husband will be so happy to see you in them. Actually, it will be quite a change.

Now in Matthew 12:11-12 Jesus tells the parable of a shepherd having one sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, and how he won't leave it there. But he goes and rescues it and lifts it out. And then Jesus said: “How much then is a man better than a sheep?”

1 Corinthians 15:41: “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star from another star in glory.” And ladies, we are meant to differ from man in the way we clothe ourselves. We are to be different. So, there it is.

NO. 6. GOD WANTS US TO DRESS MODESTLY

Number six, God wants us to dress modestly. We read in 1 Timothy 2:9-10: “A woman should dress herself modestly and prudently.” We talked about that in the last point, didn't we, how that, yes, modesty is important, but we want to cover it with femininity. And remember, once again, we don't just have femininity without modesty. They're twins. That means they “to go together.”

NO. 7. GOD WANTS US TO DRESS LIKE ROYALTY

Number seven: God wants us to dress like royalty. Why? Because we belong to Him! And He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! We belong to a royal kingdom. In that beautiful passage in Ezekiel 16, where God gives His allegory about clothing us, it's talking about us spiritually. But it says here, in the New Living Translation, in verse 13: “You looked like a queen, and so you were.”

In the ESV, it says: “You grew exceedingly beautiful, and advanced to royalty.”

Yes, in Psalm 45:2, it talks there about the bride being brought to the king, dressed like royalty. So we should keep that in mind. As I close this session, remember, we are to be queens and princesses. We need to teach our children that they are princesses. They belong to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That also helps us to up our standards a little bit.

OK, time is gone, and I've still got some more things to share, so we'll carry on next session, if you can take it! Do you think you can come in for another session? Still some interesting things to talk about.

“Dear Father, we thank You for Your Word. Thank You, Lord, that it teaches us the way. Thank You that You created us female. Lord God, help us to be who You created us to be. Help us to live how You want us to live. Help us, Lord God, to clothe ourselves how You want us to clothe ourselves as women. Teach us what it means to dress femininely.

Lord God, we pray that You will help us to be those who are not totally taken up by the spirit of this world, but You will help us to be living how You want us to be, even in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

 

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.abovwerubies.org

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

Would you like to email Darlene and thank her so much for faithfully and freely transcribing these podcasts every week for your benefit?

SUGGESIONS FOR DRESSES FROM MY GRANDDAUGHTER, MEADOW HALL

Ivy City Co (they have a nursing-friendly category) - https://ivycityco.com/

Jessakae - https://jessakae.com/

Maternity & Nursing-friendly clothing - nothingfitsbut.com 

These brands have modest dresses to offer, but not all of their dresses are modest.

More Modest Clothing Websites for you to check out:

-        https://pinkofyouth.com

-        https://www.onelovedbabe.com

-        https://roolee.com

-        https://loveoliveco.com

-        https://www.aubrey-jane.com

-        https://www.shopemeryrose.com

-        https://www.curvedream.com

-        https://www.neeseesdresses.com

-        https://www.appleseeds.com

-        https://wesandy.com

 

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FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 162 –  LET’S GET BACK THE GLORY, Part 4

Allison Hartman joins me again as we talk about dressing in a way to glorify God. And we continue discussing how to teach our children God's ways in the midst of a worldly culture.

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

Nancy Campbell: Here I am again today, with Allison Hartman. Well, she's still staying with us. So we're doing another podcast while she is here. We're on this subject of clothing. We're looking into the Scriptures to see what God has to say. And we're talking about it. So I'm going to start with some Scriptures again today, and then Allison and I will get talking and we'll see what happens.

I hope you are enjoying this series, and that you still love me. Well, actually, it's not me. It's what God wants us to know. I have to say that I have been learning as I have been going into these Scriptures too. I haven't always dressed appropriately, especially growing up. I had to learn gradually God's ways. So we're all on a learning process.

But we all have to have soft hearts to hear God speaking to us, don't we? Let's keep soft hearts. Let's be open, even if we have to be open to change because that's how we grow, ladies. When we think, “Oh, goodness, no one's going to tell me that! We're going to stick to what we do!” You're in a rut! Look, when we are not open to change, we are in a rut. And a rut is not a good place to be. You're stuck, and it's usually muddy, and it's usually dirty. It's not a growing place. So let's always be in that place of growing.

I constantly pray, “Oh, Father, give me a soft heart, a soft heart to hear Your voice.” That was one of the prayers I prayed so much for my children as I was raising them. “Oh, God, give them soft hearts to hear Your voice.”

Oh, that's such an important prayer to pray over your children, that they will keep soft and humble hearts, and meek toward the Lord, because the Scriptures says: “the meek will He teach His way” (Psalm 25:9). If we don't have a meek spirit, we'll never learn the ways of the Lord.

NO. 5. GOD WANT US TO COVER OUR SECRET PARTS

Now, we're up to point number five. God wants to cover our secret parts. I'm going to take you to a beautiful passage of God's Word. I wonder if you're familiar with it. It's Ezekiel 16, and it's an allegory. Our God writes so many allegories so we can understand. It's talking about Israel and how He found Israel, and birthed Israel, and made them His people.

Oh, as I read this, you're just going to love the language. It's all in the language of clothing. It's amazing. And so, as we read about it, we get God's understanding of clothing. But the actual whole bent of the Scripture is what God has done for Israel. Just be blessed as I read it.

I'm going to read it from the New English Translation and you'll notice so much about covering and clothing as I read it. God says: “I spread my cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declared the sovereign Lord, and you became Mine.

“Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with fragrant oil. I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

“You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You became extremely beautiful, and attained the position of royalty. Your name spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the sovereign Lord.”

What a beautiful passage of Scripture! I'd love you to read it again in your own time, whatever translation you love to read. The end part of that, in the King James, it says: “And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.”

And it's speaking here of how God is covering us with His salvation, and with His robe of righteousness. And we became perfect, not through our own righteousness, not through our own beauty, for it says here, it wasn't your own beauty, but “My comeliness.”

Now the word there is the Hebrew word hadar. Do you remember how last week I told you all about the word hadar? It means glory, and how God is clothed with glory, and how He clothes us with glory, and how He wants our clothes to be glorious. Here He says that it's “My glory, My beauty which I put upon you.” That beautiful word hadar comes again, which means, “glory, magnificence, splendor, excellency, honor, majesty, dignity.” This is what God puts upon us, His glory.

Let's look at few little things here. Where it says, “I spread My cloak,” the King James says, “I spread My skirt over thee.” My skirt. He covers us with His skirt. The Hebrew word is kanaph. It means, “the edge, or the very extremity of a garment.”

So He doesn't just put a little bit of His garment over us, He puts the whole garment, right to the very edge of that garment and wraps it all around us. Oh, it's so beautiful! That is what God has done in the spiritual realm.

This is not only talking about Israel, but what happens to us when we come to Christ. And we're covered with the blood and covered with the robe of righteousness. It's not just some little covering. We're totally wrapped in the very extremity of His garment.

That word also means, “the wings.” We're covered with His wings. And then it says: “I covered your nakedness.” Now here's another Hebrew word. I was telling you there's 23 different Hebrew words, I won't give them all to you, but just some of them.

Here's another one, kacah (pronounced ka-sa). This means, oh, listen to this one, “to cover for secrecy, to clothe, to conceal, to hide.” Did you get that, ladies? When God covered our nakedness in the spiritual realm, He totally hid it, and He covered it over because He didn't want anyone to see.

This is what this particular word means, “to cover with secrecy, to cover those secret parts.” God doesn't want those secret parts of our body exposed to every “Tom, Dick, and Harry.” Our secret parts, as women, are only for our husbands. They're not for anyone else.

What is it, what is it, let's ask the question to ourselves, what is it that makes us want to expose our secret parts to, it doesn't matter who? Anybody? Young men, people, anybody who's around? What is it? That's not from God. That is not from God. Dear precious ladies, we need to go before the Lord, and let Him deal with our hearts.

I do understand, because I understand that this kind of clothing today, it is so “normal.” It's not normal (in God’s eyes), but it's so in society that we think it's normal. You see, we cannot live by society. We have to live by the Word of God. And God's Word is that He wants our secret parts to be covered.

Covered means covered. Not a little bit showing, whoo-oo, yes, because some want to show everything. But just to show a little bit? Yeah. I mean, I look at women I know, and goodness, I know they love the Lord with all their hearts. And yet I'm wondering, why are they having to always even having to show a little bit? What is it? What do you think it is?

Allison: I really think just, like Satan did in the garden, just questioned, “Did God really say? Did God really say you can't touch just a little? Just try a little bit?” And so culture is, we all know how wicked culture is, right? We're trying to basically change our worldview of everything that we believe that is based on God's Word.

So culture is slowly but surely, and more, less slow. They're actually doing it very, think about the TV shows. Think about what's on the movies. So when we're watching this garbage day in and day out, and you're seeing it, and you're seeing it, it's like boiling a frog. You don't really feel it.

All of a sudden, the frog's dead. All of a sudden, we're watching, and we're watching, and we're looking, and we're seeing, and we're, oh, this friend wearing less and less and less. You're just getting, we're just getting used to it. And so . . .

Nancy: It is. That's what it is, it's getting used to it. And I think many people have no idea. They are not willfully, in any way, trying to be fleshly. It's just, in fact, when they go to buy clothes, the clothes that they don't quite cover . . .  when you find clothes that are covering.

And that's what clothes are for, to cover, not to uncover. They are to conceal, and to hide, not to be uncovered. That's what we have clothes for. That's why God clothes us spiritually and He even clothed Adam and Eve physically from the shoulders. You know that's how it is, that's Bible.

Allison: Go to any clothing store right now. Go see what's on the racks, and you'll see what they're pushing, And so these young girls, my girls love Ross and TJ Maxx. That's their favorite places. So you go into Ross and TJ Maxx, let's say. We don't go to the mall because we don't ever buy anything retail.

But you've got your cropped top shirts, that stop right under your chest, and then the whole stomach and midriff is wide open. You've got your short, short, shorts. You've got the holes in the jeans all the way up. So, that is what is on the shelf.

Practically speaking, if you're a young, you're a mother, and you're letting your daughter, like me, I let my girls shop for themselves. They're 22, 19, and 17, so they take their money, and they go buy clothing. So what is our responsibility as parents? Do we just let them go blindly to go buy whatever wardrobe they want?

Or do we give them some . . . I really think we've got to change our mindset, because I'm learning things just as we're sitting here talking. When we put on clothes every morning, we need to ask ourselves, “What is our purpose, what is our goal?” Is our goal to attract other people? Is our goal to attract our husbands? Because I can promise you, our husbands, they're attracted to us completely, covered or uncovered.

My husband will normally say, “Oh, that's a little short.” He wants me to dress, he looks for me to be modest. He loves that. And we . . .

Nancy: Because he doesn't want you to be exposed to every other man out there. You are for him. And I think this is something, because we're not, we're talking about young people. Now we're talking about marriage. I think in marriage, OK, what we wear in the bedroom, or don't wear in the bedroom, is so totally different than what we're going to wear for other people.

We, today, it seems as though people take the sacredness of the bedroom out into the public marketplace. It's unbelievable!

RAISE OUR DAUGHTERS TO BE LEADERS

Allison: Because they want to fit in! They want to look, let's say, the young ladies my girls' age, they want . . . They don't want to stand out and look like the, maybe the homeschooler that's wearing the denim jumper. They don't want that. They want to fit in. So they look at what their friends are wearing.

Well, guess what? Church friends, church children, are wearing the same thing as worldly children are. And we have to got to raise, I said this last podcast, we've got to raise the leaders that are willing to create a fashion that others will want to follow. We want them to be leaders, and girls that are wearing something that looks beautiful and is modest, and other girls to say, “Oh, I want to dress like those girls!”

That's what we've got to do. We've got to change our hearts. And we, as mothers, we have to be good examples. I'll tell you, when I was raised, when I was growing up, I really, truly, went through a phase where I remember wanting to wear, every time I would get dressed, try to find something that would attract boys to me. I really did. I'll be honest with you. That was in my heart.

Which is why I really do have a heart for these young girls, because they're craving attention from young men. I say that for two reasons. One, to encourage fathers that you must have your girls' hearts, so that they won't have that desire to always be with a boyfriend. In order to do that, you have to spend time with them. You have to spend hours sitting on their beds, talking to them, finding out, “Why do you want to wear . . .?”

Don't just say, “You're not wearing that! Go home, and go to your room, and change!” Explain to them. Have a conversation with them. I don't think a thirteen, fourteen-year-old girl, when she's putting on, say, short shorts, she's not thinking that some, maybe grown man is going to lust after her. She's not thinking that. She's thinking, “I want to look like my friends when we go to the mall.”

But the father's and mother's responsibility is to explain to that young girl that that is, again, like I said, you want to cover the areas that you don't want young men's attention drawn to. Unfortunately, with today's fashions, you're going to have to be creative. So if you have a shirt that you love that has the low-cut, wear a tank top underneath it. Be bold parents, to where you're willing to possibly upset your child, because we aren't made to be best friends with our children.

Thankfully, I feel we ought, I am best friends with my girls, but that's not my goal. That's not my purpose. My purpose is to raise godly women so that they're godly wives and godly mothers.

Nancy: Absolutely. I think that is so important. So often, so many mothers and fathers are just trying to be best friends, and to please their children. Nowhere in the Word of God does it ever say that we are to please our children. No, we are in the place of God, raising them up. Raising them to a higher standard, raising them to what God wants, raising them to a biblical standard, and a holy standard.

Because God's passion for clothing is holy, and glorious, and beautiful. It's holy, but it's glorious and beautiful. I look at your girls, and they wear beautiful clothes, and always look so beautiful. That's another thing. Beauty seems to have got forgotten in this fashion today because most of it's not beautiful. It's actually very plain and ugly. There's nothing very beautiful about this at all. I think we should encourage our girls to be beautiful.

But if our daughters come out of the room, and they're wearing something that is not appropriate, we have to be faithful as parents. As you say, don't say, “Get back in that room!” No, we say, “Hey, look, you can't wear that out, especially if you're going to church. We're not going to the beach today, we're going to church.” Or, “We're going out into the public, and that's not suitable.” You know? We have to do that.

Allison: We want it to be their decision. You want them, as they're getting dressed in the morning, to make those choices on their own. But they're not going to possibly get there right away. You're going to have to parent them. I mean, that's our job. We're going to have to instruct, and explain, and encourage them to do the right thing.

But be willing to, you might have a slammed door. I mean, it's not easy. We can make it sound, like, “Oh, that's so easy. You just say, ‘Go change,’ and ‘Oh, yes, Mommy, I would be glad to.’” That's not even realistic. But the goal is to get into their hearts, to where they want and desire to be modest.

Nancy: And, of course, we're teaching our children how to receive instruction. I can remember an incident, not just when I was young. Actually, perhaps I didn't face it so much growing up, because, even in the secular world, when I was growing up, this fashion wasn't even around. We actually did clothe ourselves.

But I can remember, I was a mother. I had three little children. And I was, I thought I was modest. But I was also trying to sort of be, pretty cool. I went downtown, and I didn't know. I was bending over to see to my little twins in their pram. Back in those days, we used to have these big prams. Do you know what I mean? They're so old fashioned now!

But I would have the twins in this pram. Anyway, there was a lady in our church. She must have seen me. She must have been somewhere in the street, and she came to me later. Maybe it was the next Sunday. She said, “Nancy,” she said, “Nancy, I have to tell you, your skirt was too short. And when you bent over, I could see everything.”

Allison: Wow! Oh, no!

Nancy: Oooh! And I was the pastor's wife! (laughing)

Allison: Oh, my goodness!

Nancy: But I thought this skirt looked pretty OK when I was standing up. But you, see, it's very different when you bend over! And people often forget about that. They forget when they lean over, they forget when they bend over, and all that.

So, I had to receive instruction. I had to realize, wow, how that is terrible, and what a testimony. You know, I had to throw that out, and make sure my skirts were longer. We have to be open to learn from one another.

Allison: How encouraging that that lady took the chance of offending you. She could have offended you. That is so good, because we . . . There was this friend of mine, that her daughter posted a picture on Facebook of prom. The cleavage was so bad that I really lost respect. I'll be honest with you, I lost respect for this family.

I really wanted to go and tell her that, “I think you guys need to think more about the way you let your daughter dress.” But I never did, and I think about that often. Shame on me that I wouldn't be bold enough to go and tell her.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU “LIKE” ON FACEBOOK

Nancy: I know. We don't like people to think negatively of us, do we? But talking about that, I think we have to be careful. And young people, if you're listening, be careful. Think about this. In fact, all of us, is what you like on Facebook?

Because often I will see a picture of someone I know, and I see it's not appropriate. Their clothing is revealing too much. I cannot believe it because I see these “likes” of Christians I know! And I think, “How are they liking it?” When you like that, and press the “Like” you are saying, “I agree with this revealing of the flesh. I agree with you showing off your breasts, and your cleavage!”

We have to be careful. I will not like, in fact, there are many pictures that I could never, like you say, I could never show my husband. I would hate to show it to him. Why do I want to violate his mind, and that's what it's like. It's just beyond it!

Allison: If you're a mother listening, tell your daughters that, because I just recently saw that one of my girls “liked” a girl's wedding pictures. But yet, privately, we talked about how immodest, and how revealing, and how sexual this girl's wedding dress was. And it was embarrassing that she would wear something like this.

And I said, “You don't ever “like” a picture like that again!” She said, “But I mean, I just, you know . . .” I said, “No! Don't do it!” Because it sends a message to your friends, to the world. . .

Nancy: To everybody else! Yes, we need to stop “liking” every single picture that is not appropriate. Otherwise, we might as well be doing it ourselves. We are just siding with it. Yes.

Allison: I think another thing we need to be really sensitive of, and I won't go into it heavily. We met a man a couple years ago, and sadly, he passed away very unexpectedly. But his name was Bill Tollis. His whole ministry was to help men, and women get out of the addiction and the sin of pornography.

I met him at a graduation. It was the first time we really got to talk. He came up to me. He was just a neat guy, had a curly mustache, and just a great attitude. He loved everyone. He said to me, “I have noticed your family for a while now,” because we went to church with him, but we didn't know him well. He said, “But one thing I have noticed is that your girls, strikingly, dress beautifully, but modestly.”

And I thought, “Wow, that's kind of amazing, that a man, a married man, would even notice that. And I said, “You're in this pornography ministry,” so he helped thousands of men. It wasn't a small outfit. It was huge, what he did.

In fact, at his funeral, we could not believe it. They decided to do an open mike, and they let other people talk about how, what he did to affect their lives. Man after man after man after man stood up, admitted in front of everyone, “I was into pornography, and if it wasn't for Mr. Bill, I would still be stuck in it.”

They were honoring him at his funeral. But what he said that day, I'll never forget. He told my girls, I said, “Do you mind sharing with my girls what your thoughts are on how pornography . . .”  He said, “You know, pornography doesn't just start with a man looking at the worst of the worst. It starts way, it goes way back, to the way a young lady dresses.”

And it starts with that idea, like I talked about in the last session, the idea of nudity, where you're seeing just a little sliver of the breast on either side. He said that, and that's where I heard it, he said, “That is way more attractive than just a girl that has her shirt off. To see a sliver of some cleavage is way more of a turn-on to a man than that.”

He said, “The way men are wired,” he said, “I can undress a girl in a burka. So if they're dressed, and they're covered with a burka, I can still, mentally, undress them in my mind.” And his point was, as you get dressed, ladies, think about what men are going through when they're struggling with maybe an addiction to pornography. Be considerate as you're dressing.

And fathers, mothers, I can't say it enough, to encourage your girls, and not just encourage them, but really make it clear, that this is what you are going to ask them to do. Don't make it an optional thing. I really think you've got to set the standards when they're young, and then stay on it.

Don't let just one thing, “Oh, well, they're going out with their friends. That's fine, just go with what you're wearing.” No! Make it something that it really should be an issue that should be discussed.

So anyway, I think about this man, and he just recently passed away. But I'll never forget that he took time to share with me that he was appreciative of my girls attempting to dress in style, but in a way that didn't show off everything. He said that was so helpful when it comes to men that struggle.

Nancy: Oh, yes. So, talking about your covering the secret parts, it's not just covering the breasts, but it's even parts of the body that shouldn't be shown. Today, the fashion is the tight pants. Some can get away with it, but many of them, you cannot believe it, because every single line and form is shown. It's just so revealing. They might as well not have anything on, because you're seeing every single little thing, because they're so tight.

And it's the normal fashion, but as parents, we shouldn't allow it, and advocate it. Because that's the whole thing. God wants to cover, not to expose. That's the whole thing of clothing.

I remember going to a meeting one time. It was a big meeting where many young people come. In fact, I have been a few times. It was quite amazing, because it happened on more than one occasion, that young people, I didn't even know these young people! I didn't have a clue who they were.

They came up to me, and they said, “You look so beautiful.” I thought, “This is weird,” because here they were these beautiful young people. I'm older, I'm past the prime of my beauty. But I thought, “Help! Why are they saying that?”

I was dressed stylishly, but I just sort of had this long, pretty cool dress on. It was about three-quarter length. I was totally covered, and it was beautiful. But I realized, it wasn't because I was beautiful. I believe they just saw something of what they really want as a woman. They saw femininity.

And here they were, beautiful young girls, just gorgeous. But all in their tight jeans and tight pants, and just the normal thing everybody wears, even to Christian events. I guess I was different. But they were drawn to it. You see, it was something that, “Wow, now that's beautiful!” And that's because no one else was wearing it.

They were just so used to their norm which really wasn't beautiful. They might have been beautiful faces, and gorgeous girls, and loved the Lord, but really, what they were wearing wasn't beautiful at all.

Allison: Well, I remember in high school, it seemed to be where everybody wanted to look like each other. Remember?

Nancy: Yes. To me, even jeans have become a uniform. I always hated uniforms. When I was growing up, back in my day, when we went to school, you had to wear uniforms. Well, I have never been a conformist. So therefore, I couldn't stand uniforms! Oh, goodness me!

Allison: I can imagine you not being a conformist! (laughter)

Nancy:  Uniforms! That was just the worst thing in my life And yet I notice now, that people, I don't know, they get into the groove. They just wear uniforms. Everybody has the same thing. They all just wear their tight pants, or their jeans, and their top. You know, it's the uniform!

Allison: Yeah. I was just thinking, maybe it's encouraging advice, or an idea. I still think that that as parents, this is where I'm at in life. I have eleven children, from age one all the way to 22. I'm pretty close with my girls. We go shopping a lot.

And so, one idea I have is to the mothers. Take time to be interested in what your girls wear, and what they like to do. It might just mean taking them on a shopping trip, and saying, “Come on, I'd like to go buy you a pretty dress!” And I think there is not a girl out there that would not jump at the opportunity.

Instead of always saying, “No, no, no. Go change, go change, go change.” Make it something that they're looking forward to.

And even fathers, my girls would just pass out if Daniel said, “Let's go shopping,” because he hates shopping! It's a big waste of time. He has about five different things and he re-wears them all the time.

If a mother says, “Let's go shopping. Let's go to Ross, and let's find . . .” And there's some really pretty, cute dresses at Ross. Just say, “Let's go find something.” And then, as they're picking things off the shelf that maybe is not a good idea, you could say it. “Ooh, that's too short. Let's keep trying.”

And once they find something that really is a good length, it's good on the top, don't be difficult, and say, “Oh, well, that's too expensive,” or whatever. Just buy it for her! Let her enjoy you blessing them with something that they would really feel beautiful in. That's just an idea I had.

Nancy: I think that's wonderful idea. And also today, have you noticed, Allison, that you can buy beautiful dresses now, online? There are so many companies now that are making beautiful dresses. They're three-quarters, or they're longer. And they're just absolutely beautiful! And they're very cheap. You could go, “Hey, let's look at some dresses online! Look at these, oh wow! Isn't that beautiful? Hey, wow, why don't I buy that for you?”

I have been amazed myself, how the most beautiful dresses you can buy online. Some of them are just so reasonable. So that is . . .

Allison: When I saw Serene, Serene, the last few days I've seen her, she keeps wearing these, I don't know if you've noticed, but they're elastic-waist skirts. They go down a little bit past her knee, maybe between the knee and the ankle. And they're the cutest skirts. They have two big pockets.

I said, “Where did you get your skirts?” And she said, “Oh, I bought them online. I bought one in every color.” They're a skirt my girls would totally like, and think are in style. So I went on Amazon, and I already put several in my cart. They were only, one was on sale for $10. Most of them were about $20 -$25.

Nancy: Yes! It's so cool!

Allison: But, you know, if you had two or three of those, I love wearing skirts. I love wearing dresses, but it's hard when you're nursing to always have a dress on. But I just think it's fun to, yes, and that's doing something that's building that friendship with your daughter, but yet, not allowing them. I was sharing with you at the break about when I was raising my daughter, we had somebody we knew, who I guess was a close friend, that was also raising a daughter that was the exact same age.

And now, looking at where both of our girls have ended up, the other one has really not done well. She's not made good choices with boyfriends, just her life. She really has been, it's been quite. quite sad. But I remember going back to where, just when they were little, what we would let them wear.

I have never been a fan of bikinis, two-piece bathing suits. But a lot of people think it's cute to put on little girls. “Oh, it's no big deal! It's cute!” I remember this particular friend of mine, she would always dress her daughter kind of cute in kind of seductive clothing even when they were little. So when it got to be her turn to choose what she wanted to wear, she would go out . . .

Nancy: And get what she was used to!

Allison: Oh, yeah. A sports bra, or whatever, tight shorts, and that's what she got to wear. But what I noticed is that their goal as parents was one hundred percent to be the best of friends with their daughter. That's all they wanted, was just to be super-great friends. And you know, I want that, too. I want to be my girls' go-to when they're having a problem.

But you can do both! You can be your children's best friend, and good confidants and advisors, and those that they'll come to. My daughter is now married, and we talk several times a day. She asks me everything, from little teeny, tiny questions that don't seem like it would matter to really big decisions.

But I never went down that path where I ignored truths about what she was wearing because I wanted to be her friend. So I think that's so important.

But I don't want you mothers to be discouraged, thinking, “I'm a single mom. I've got this young teenager and all she wants to do is look like her friends.” I get it. That's a tough spot to be in. Sadly, it didn't just get there overnight.

Even if you're at a point now where it seems like you're too old, I don't think it is. I think you can really think of productive, intentional things you can do to spend time with your daughters, to where they would desire to have that modest heart.

Nancy: Amen! Well, time has gone again. So I pray that you have been blessed and encouraged. We'll pray together.

“Father, we come to You in the Name of Jesus. We thank You that we can talk about these things, these everyday things. It's every day because every day we clothe ourselves.

Lord, give us wisdom, as mothers, as wives. We pray that You will help us to dress the right way, Lord, to glorify You, and to be an example to our families. Give us wisdom as we . . .  Lord, I pray for every precious mother, that You will give her wisdom as she raises her daughters, Lord, for You.

Even our sons, Lord, raising them in the right way, Lord, that they will be prepared and know, Lord, what to do in this hour, and that they would even dress appropriately. But we ask, Lord, for Your wisdom, and Your blessing. 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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THREE ABOVE RUBIES FAMILY RETREATS COMING UP SOON!

Check out the following Above Rubies Family Retreats. Try and get to the one closest to you. You will be so blessed. Great fun. Great fellowship. Great teaching. Great uplifting for you and the whole family. Tell other friends and family.

AUGUST 13 – 15 in MISSOURI

Location: LOVE AND PURITY CAMPUS

5027 Wayne 380 Lot 10, Patterson, MO 63956​

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AUGUST 20 – 22 in CALIFORNIA

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Location: Pine Valley Bible Conference Center, San Diego County

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SEPTEMBER 3 – 6 in CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI

ENJOY LABOR DAY WEEKEND AT THIS GLORIOUS FAMILY RETREAT

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This family camp will take place on the beautiful grounds of Timber Creek Camp.  It is located in central Mississippi and is run by a cheerful, sweet, and friendly Christian couple and their employees, (Christian campground).  It is surrounded by a beautiful pine forest.  On site, there is a beautiful lake.  There are accommodations for families in cabins, (family cabins).  There is also an opportunity for sports, fun, and fellowship:  Foosball, basketball, volleyball, Ga-Ga ball, canoeing, trails through the woods, and more.  There is a chapel for sessions on campus and a dining hall with scrumptious meals made by the Timber Creek Camp staff.

This family retreat will take place on the beautiful grounds of Timber Creek Camp. Surrounded by picturesque woods and a peaceful lake, Timber Creek Camp is a perfect place for families to be refreshed and encouraged by each other, other families, and Colin and Nancy Campbell.

Bring your children, teens, adult children, and friends to enjoy the foosball, basketball, volleyball, climbing wall, Ga-Ga ball, tunnels, canoeing, and trails through the woods. You are sure to be touched by God and other godly men and women of faith.

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 161 –  LET’S GET BACK THE GLORY, Part 3

We discover today that God's plan for clothing is to cover, not uncover. Allison Hartman from Pensacola joins me as we talk about how we can teach our daughters to dress biblically without giving into legality.

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

Nancy Campbell: I have a guest with me today, although she's not so much a guest, but an old friend. And Allison Hartman has shared a number of times with me on this podcast. Every time they come to stay, I say, “Allison, it's time to do another podcast!”

She and her husband Daniel and family have been staying with us for the week of Fourth of July. They come up each year for this time and we have such a great time together. And we had a marvelous Fourth of July, didn't we?

Allison: We sure did. It was wonderful. Being a Sunday, we just did a little short service and prayer service. That was amazing. Then we headed down to the river and had just a really fun time with lots of food. We loved watching the children saying the Pledge of Allegiance. It was wonderful.

Nancy: Oh yes, and then, of course, we went all day. And then barbecue and fireworks at night from our front lawn. It was a pretty big fireworks. It gets bigger every year!

Allison: Oh yes! Those young men did not spare any expense! Arden and Cedar headed it up and they had all the young boys following them, learning their ways. But thankfully no one got injured and everybody had a wonderful time.

Nancy: Yes, and they were saying to me, “It's going to be even bigger next year!”

Allison: We had a couple visitors too, that came, that had come to our family camp. It was so neat to see them. A couple of the families, the Grahams, and Will and Shavona Shaw. That was fun having them.  We were like old friends, even though we just met a couple of them at the retreat.

Nancy: Some of you may not realize that Allison and Daniel are the ones who organize our Above Rubies Family Retreat in Panama, which is down in Florida on the Gulf, right on the Gulf. So it's become a very, very popular family retreat. This last retreat in April, we had about 800 folks there. It was just the most glorious time.

But really, Allison, it hasn't really finished, has it? It just kept going.

Allison: It really did. Now, I started doing ladies' retreats for you when my girls were young. I can't quite remember, but maybe 15 years ago. And then we headed into family camps. And just like most people, when they go to a summer camp, you meet friends, you become besties, and then you get each other's phone numbers or addresses, like when I was growing up. And then you might reach out to them once or twice, but then, that's it.

And then the next summer, you'll think, “Oh, I hope I'll see my friend again.” But that’s just the way it goes. So typically, with these family camps, we will have lots of great connections, a lot of friendships built. But typically, we'll notice on the group chat, which we do during the conference. . .

Nancy: Which you do on WhatsApp, right?

Allison: Right, we use WhatsApp. But after the retreat, though, people are posting: “Here's a picture of my family.” Don't forget me kind of things. “And here's pictures from the retreat.” And then maybe a few prayer requests. “Hey, pray that we get home safely.”

But then, everybody starts leaving the group chat. You can tell, because it says, “So-and-so left. So-and-so left.” But this is so interesting that almost no one has left this group chat. And we're talking 70 to 80 families involved that came to the last retreat. It's just amazing.

In fact, just today I made a post and people said, “Man, I was just so thankful that we're still coordinating, and talking, and sharing.” In fact, someone did share that over the Fourth, two families that met at the retreat got together and spent the Fourth of July together. They live in different states, and they've just become friends. I'm hearing this over and over.

One young man who has a young little girl, he's single. He's a widower, just recently. The family had him come stay with them for a couple of weeks.

Nancy: That was lovely. That was Jether.

Allison: Jether, yes.

Nancy: I did a podcast telling you about Jether, because it wasn't this last retreat, but the retreat before, where his beautiful young wife passed away. She was dying of cancer. If you can get to listen to that podcast, it is unbelievable. But how lovely that someone reached out to Jether. *

Allison: Yes, they had him come stay, and they said they were blessed by him. But how neat, a young, single guy goes and stays with a family that has 14 children and they immediately became friends. And this was all because of this conference, that all these strangers met and left as friends. And they're continuing their friendship. It almost gives me chills thinking about it.

And I honestly think it all goes back to this deep desire for fellowship that has been created by this pandemic, plandemic, covid thing that our government, as we all know, has put this thing in place. But to me, how neat, and how wonderful that something good has come out of something so terrible. And the fact that these families are just starving for fellowship.

And many of them, the churches are still not meeting that. Many of them had not been around other people. Maybe their family doesn't want to be around them. That's very common. Even if you're not concerned about covid, all your family might be concerned, to where they don't even want to fellowship with you.

So it was amazing. We do have another conference, retreat, coming up. We have two coming up in the next year. You want me to mention them now? OK.

Typically, what we have done, we have done an annual conference. Normally that's in April. We've done that for, I don't even know, ten years or so. It's grown from 50 people to a hundred to two hundred. Like Miss Nancy says, last time it was almost 800 people, from all over, from Canada to California.

So we are going to do that annual conference again. It will be April 20th through the 27^th, 2022 That's the full week, if you want to come to be on the beach and fellowship with all the families. The conference itself will just be during the weekend. To find out more information to register, and I will say, it is almost three-fourths full now, already. Just because of the families that came last year, they've already rebooked.

But the website is AboveRubiesGulfCoast.com. You'll find out all the dates, and all the details, and how to register. However, because of covid, we had to cancel April, 2020. So instead of just canceling, we went ahead and made it in August. Because of that, this conference center we're going to, this Christian camp, has allowed us to have the August dates as well.

So instead of putting on two full conferences, we've decided to do what we're going to call the Above Rubies Family Reunion. There are so many families who can't wait to get together again. Have potlucks, have cook-outs, have fellowship time, head for the beach together. So we decided to allow that to be August 18^th through the 25^th.  Again, that information can be found at  AboveRubiesGulfCoast.com. Or you're welcome to reach me on Facebook, Allison Hartman.

But that's going to be a wonderful time for fellowship. We're going to be doing some breakout sessions that will be very spontaneous. “Hey, head down to So-and-so's if you want to learn about homesteading.” Or “Come here for this dad. He has something he wants to share on raising boys.” Or whatever.  You see the possibilities will be endless. We would love to have you come and join us.

Nancy: Yes, so good! If you're interested, you have to book now to get into both those, because that's filling up so fast.

At the moment, we are in the middle of a series called “Let's Get Back the Glory.” We're talking now about getting back the glory God wants us to have, even in what we wear. So we talked about some points last week. I'm going to go on with that today. So, Allison, you can just join me and hop in, whatever you want to say, and whatever's on your heart. It will be good to have both of us talking about this.

NO 4: GOD WANTS US TO WEAR CLOTHING THAT COVERS

So we are up to, I think it's point number five, actually, now. Or maybe point number four. Yes. God wants us to cover when we clothe ourselves. We go to Isaiah 61:10: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath covered me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels.”

Now this is talking about God covering our sins, because this is what He does. When we repent of our sins, He covers our sins with His precious blood. Then He puts on us His robe of righteousness. It's His robe, not ours, because we don't have any righteousness of our own. But God gives it to us.

So this is talking spiritually, but I believe it is also talking about clothing. In fact, God uses the allegory of clothing to describe what He does spiritually. When we get rid of our sins. I also believe that, when I read this Scripture, when I see that God has covered me and clothed me, if He has done that spiritually, I think that should work out in my life physically.

How can we be covered with the blood of Jesus, clothed with His robe of righteousness, and yet still go around scantily clad, especially in public. I don't think it adds up.

What we're going to do is look at some of these words. I have so many other Scriptures. As you know, ladies, I'm going to take you into the Scriptures little by little. Even on this subject, the subject that is, goodness me, we can find Scriptures about this! But there are so many in the Word of God.

I am just amazed. I'm always amazed at the Word of God. I'm always amazed at how practical it is, and how God gets down to the nitty-gritty of life, and how He talks about clothing, and how He wants it to be. God doesn't leave anything out of His word.

All right. So let's look at some of these Hebrew words to understand what they really mean. When it says “For God has clothed thee,” the word is labash in the Hebrew. It's a verb. It an action word. It literally means, “to put on.”

So when God clothes us, He puts on clothing. Now He uses the allegory of clothing, although this is a spiritual thing that happens inwardly, but it’s “put on” as so many of the Scriptures are even translated “put on.” This is what is means. It means “to properly wrap around, to clothe oneself.”

Now there are so many different words for “clothing.” I think there are about 23 different Hebrew words for “clothing” in the Word of God. Then there's also a number of New Testament words. God doesn't use just one word. He has so many words, even for our clothing. But this particular word, labash, is used 111 times in the Bible.

Here are just a few examples.

Genesis 41:42. Pharaoh “arrayed Joseph in vesture of fine linen.” So the word is “arrayed” there. It's amazing how the Bible will translate a Hebrew word, and they will use different English words to translate it.

In Exodus 40:14, God commanded Moses about Aaron's son, and how he was to clothe him. He said: “Clothe them with coats.”

In Job 29:14, Job is speaking, and he says: “I put on (there it is, labash, to put on. You see, God's idea of clothing is that we put it on. We don't take it off. It's to put on, to cover, to wrap around). So, “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem.”

Psalm 132:9: “Let thy priests be clothed” (labash) “with righteousness.”

Isaiah 59:16-17. Here this Scripture is talking about God Himself. It says: “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His arm brought salvation to Him; and His righteousness sustained Him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.”

Wow! That's pretty amazing, ladies, because there, two times, God Himself says the words, “I put on righteousness.” In other words, “I clothed Myself with it. I put on the garments of vengeance. I clothed Myself with it.” In fact, if we read this over again, we will find six words about clothing in this one Scripture.

OK, “For He put on,” labash.

“He put on (again) the garment,” two, that's labash.

“Garment,” third word. That's beged. 

“Clothing,” another Hebrew word. That is four.

“Clad,” He was clad with zeal, another Hebrew word, five.

And He was clad with a “cloak.” That was six. Six words about clothing in one Scripture where God is talking about covering. It's pretty amazing, isn't it?

Psalm 93:21: “The Lord reigneth, He is clothed, (labash) with majesty.” “The Lord is clothed (same Hebrew word again) with strength wherewith He hath girded Himself.”

Psalm 104:1-2: “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, Thou are very great; Thou art clothed (Here's God. He is clothed, labash, the same word. He is clothed) with honor and glory. Who coverest Thyself with light as a garment.”

Once again, all these words about clothing. And I could go on and on. But you're getting the idea, aren't you?

But let's go back to the very beginning, because that's where we always have to start. Because in studying the Word of God, there is a law which is called The Law of the First Principle. And it's something which all Bible students look for.

When God says something, or He states something, or there is an action about something, the first time God is establishing a precedent for that subject. He will add to it, and it will be developed throughout the Word of God but that is the foundation.

It's the Law of the First Principle. God never takes away from what He says the first time. That's a good thing to remember. That's why Genesis is so important. Even the first three chapters of Genesis give us so much of what God wants us to understand because it's His foundation.

So, we go back to the story of Adam and Eve. We know how they sinned, and then, after they'd sinned for the first time, they realized they were naked. They had never really seen their nakedness before. It was so pure and innocent.

But now, now, because they'd tasted of that fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, now they understood nakedness. And they had to do something! So what were they going to do? They did the best thing they could do. They gathered some kind of leaves, or whatever they were, and they made aprons for themselves, the Bible says. And they girded them around themselves.

What does it actually say? Yes, Genesis 3:7: “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed (that's interesting. Wow! They sewed. I wonder how they were even able to do that?) But “they sewed fig leaves together (it must have been some leaf that was very big, I'm sure) and made themselves aprons.”

Now the word “apron” comes from a root word, chagor, which means “gird on every side.” So they girded their loins. That was interesting. They at least covered that. But it was not good enough. They tried to cover themselves, but it didn't really work.

When God came on the scene, what did God do? He, first of all, had to kill an animal, and blood had to be shed. Blood was shed, right there, for their sin, because sin can only be redeemed through the shedding of the precious blood of Jesus.

And through the shedding of blood, then God took those skins. Then He made them clothes. What does it say? We go to Genesis 3:21: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them.”

Now there's that same word we've been talking about, labash. The Hebrew word, which means, “to put on, to wrap around, to clothe ourselves.” And so God was the one Who first clothed man. Well, they tried with aprons. Leaves didn't really work too well.

GOD WAS THE FIRST CLOTHES DESIGNER

But God actually, it's amazing, God is the first of everything! God was the first clothes designer!

Allison: That's right.

Nancy: Yeah! I mean, the devil’s taken that up and taken that away from God. God was the first clothes designer. And I am sure that those clothes that He made for Adam and Eve would have been glorious. They would have covered them, but they would have been stylish and beautiful.

Because you remember, ladies, last week we talked mostly about how God wants us to clothe ourselves with glory and beauty. And so that's in God's heart. He loves beauty. He loves glory. So those beautiful leather garments would have been absolutely glorious.

Have you seen pictures? I have, of  Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden. They've got  animal skins around their backs, and they're going out from the Lord. But that's not true. God would not have given them a skin, and said, “Put that around you.” No! He made, do you notice the word? He made, He made, God, the Creator of the universe, made their clothes.

Can you imagine what they would have been like? They would have been glorious. They would have been beautiful, stylish, comfortable, to keep them warm, or to keep them cool. They would have been incredible. They would have been perfect, because all God's works are perfect.

But, we see another thing. OK, now we see that He made them “coats.” That's what it's called here in the King James. He made them “coats of skins.” That Hebrew word is kethoneth. It means, “to cover, a coat, a garment, a robe.” It comes from the root word katheph, meaning (and this is there, wow, I had never noticed this before. Whoo! The root word means, “ the shoulder, the upper end of the arm. A place from where the garment hangs. A side piece.”) That's the full meaning of that root word of the clothes that God made.

So therefore, He made them from the shoulders down. That's how He clothed them. He didn't clothe them with bare shoulders. He didn't make Eve’s dress a strapless dress. It was clothed from the shoulders down. And I guess I haven't thought of this before. Probably you never thought of this before. But you see, when we understand what the Bible says, and this is the Law of the First Principle, we need to say, OK, is my clothing lining up?

I think of wedding dresses. Help! I mean, most brides come to the altar today in a strapless dress. Bare shoulders. That's not how we're meant to come to the sacred wedding altar.

And really, I don't know how you think about this, Allison, but I go to weddings, and really, it can be so embarrassing, because the bride is in this strapless wedding dress, and then all the bridesmaids are in their strapless dresses. Some are big-busted, and it's hardly fitting on and showing all their bust. And others, their little dresses are barely hanging on. It's really quite a joke.

And it doesn't even look very nice! And it's not how it's meant to be. I believe a bride is meant to come to the wedding altar covered. Covered. And it's her husband's privilege to uncover her. Can you believe how we just, you see, we do so many things in our society that we take for granted. We think they're normal. Normal! You know, a wedding dress. Where do you find one that's not a strapless one? It's pretty hard to find today. And yet, the bride is showing off to everybody her flesh even before she gets to her husband.

And then, you know, we went out to dinner the other night. Oh, tell us about that.

Allison: Yes, we were at a restaurant. Right next to us was a wedding dress shop. And so they had their (you usually put your most popular dress that you want to entice people to come in) so they had this white, long, very elegant wedding dress. And I pointed it out, and you noticed it separately.

And what it was, and I pointed it out to my husband, because there are pictures on Facebook I can't even show him, because they're so, I don't even know. I think they're pornographic. They really show so much. This particular wedding dress was in downtown Dickson, TN.

Nancy: Little, wee, downtown Dickson! Here we are, just out in the woods. You know, it’s not like some up-fashion sort of place.

Allison: Right. And so what they did, was this wedding dress, it started the vee, if you will, where your cleavage would be, the vee cut all the way down to the belly button, I would say. It was showing everything.

I've heard that men are even more attracted to just the idea of nudity than nudity itself. Meaning just having a little glimpse of what a breast looks like is more attractive and causes lust more than a completely naked, naked . . .

This bride is wearing white, because it was a white gown, to show . . .

Nancy: Show her purity.

Allison: Show her purity. But yet, her poor husband is having to share her body with everyone who comes to the wedding. It's just, it's embarrassing.

Nancy: Well, you see, they just go from one thing to the other. For years now, you see a strapless wedding dress. But now that the fashion, and I had noticed this on Facebook, even before I saw it in the window. I sort of thought, “Oh, well, that must be just certain people.” But then now I see that that's what they're selling, where it's just about see-through, and the vee right down to at least the waist.

Where are we going? The trouble is, we know what happens in society. People take for granted, and think it's normal. But it is not normal, or in the Bible.

Allison: Think about who the dressmakers are. Who are the fashion people? Are they people that are seeking God on a daily basis? Are they people that have a moral compass? Are they people that really desire to keep young girls' purity? Absolutely not! And it's not just the wedding gown. It's these homecoming and prom.

Nancy: You know, because you've. . .

Allison: Oh, my goodness! I try to just keep my husband off the phone!

Nancy: Allison and Daniel have probably the biggest photography business in Pensacola, and they do many proms. Well, you have just about a thousand children at schools, haven't you?

Allison: Proms and homecomings, and yes, even the home-school prom they have in our town is kind of a joke in our opinion. They pray before they sing. But other than that, the clothing's the same, the short, short dresses that show everything, the low cleavage. The thing is, I've always said to my girls, we have six girls and five boys. We have six beautiful girls. So we have raised young ladies. They're 22, 19, and 17 (and two younger ones).

I've always said to them, “Whenever you get dressed, you're selling something. What are you wanting to sell? Because there's going to be something that captures a young man's attention. What type of man are you trying to draw in? Are you trying to attract the one that wants to look down at your cleavage, or are you trying to attract the one that wants see into your heart, into your eyes, into what you're all about?”

Goodness, we literally talk about the practical. Being a mom in today's culture, being a father in today's culture. With teenage girls, you send them off to go buy clothing. What is our responsibility? Do we instruct them on . . .  Because a lot of people can get into, “Oh, well, it has to be two inches below the knee, and it has to be this and that, and it can't be spaghetti straps.”

I know a lot of ladies might be thinking, “Oh, that sound so legalistic!” So all these anti-legalistics, you know what they're doing? They're throwing it out the window, and they're saying, “Oh, let's not be legalistic. Let's let our girls wear whatever they want. We want to be their friend.”

We were talking about this the other day. These mothers, I am amazed at these Christian mothers and fathers that I know personally. They love the Lord, they're trying to raise their kids. But they literally let their girls go out of the house half-naked. And these are young, beautiful, unmarried girls.

They're sending them, with a young boy, to prom, to be alone, where I can't even show my husband their picture because it is so seductive. How do they expect that sixteen-year-old young boy to not look at her breasts all night, look up her skirt all night. You're just inviting it! I think there has to be a better answer than all legalistic and all freedom. There has to be . . .

I have some ideas. I don't know if we have time. But I think you're right. It goes back to, that God has an opinion on this. We as parents . . .

Nancy: I think it's not an opinion. God has His law of the first mention. He has His heart. He has His whole plan for how He wants us to clothe ourselves. He's showing it in the very beginning. We're either going to live by society and what has society produced? Havoc.

There is so much fornication among young people, even Christian young people. It's not meant to be like that. Clothing has a lot to do with it. It's not like we we're talking about weddings. Of course, it's not just weddings. It's the whole of life. It's even coming to church, you know? And even going out in public.

I am amazed. I cannot believe. Often I have met in town, you know, in a shop, and I'll meet a friend, well, someone I know. Surely I hardly know where to look, they have so much cleavage showing. Their husband is supposedly a Christian, and I think to myself, “How does he let his wife go out, just showing herself?” If a husband truly, truly loves his wife, he's not going to want her to go out and show to the world what is so sacred and special for him.

Allison: But it's so cultural. It's so in style. It's what everyone's doing. You understand, this is what all these young girls, they just want to keep up with what everyone else wears. Here's my challenge: we need to be raising those who are willing to be set apart. WE NEED TO RAISE LEADERS, NOT FOLLOWERS! That is so important in fashion.

I think we all would agree that modesty must be a heart issue. If you force it, my dad, growing up, he had rules that he made me do. But there was no, necessarily, I didn't actually desire to please him. So when I would get on the school bus, I would change clothes so I could wear what I wanted. It has to be a heart issue.

I know with our oldest, she really, thankfully, desired to be modest. It's funny, I did a poll down here at the Hilltop the last time I was here. I had a bunch of the young boys. We were talking about modesty. I know girls, they really think they want to dress immodestly, because they think that's what boys want.

But I asked about ten young men here, unmarried, what would you really rather see a young lady? Would you rather a young lady be dressed very beautifully and modestly, where you're not seeing any part that you shouldn't. Or would you like to see the cleavage, and the short skirts, and the tight pants?

Every single one of them, except one who's just an honest young man, he said, “Oh, I like seeing it.” Every other one said, “I would definitely prefer seeing a modestly dressed young lady. It's beautiful to me. It's what attracts me.”

If there's two girls next to each other, and one is just dressed beautifully, but yet her shirts are higher, she's either wearing a skirt, or something that's not showing everything, that's what he's attracted to.

See, these fathers need to be telling their girls this. They don't need to take a back seat when it comes to dress. And a lot of men do. They think, “Oh, that's the mom's job.” And then the mom wants to be best friends with the daughter, so she doesn't give an opinion.

And honestly, they just let them wear whatever they want. And it has to be a big deal.

Nancy: That's not parenting. But I think what you, a little phrase you said, really, is the answer. Beautifully and modestly. It's not that you go around drab, looking like you come from a hundred years ago. No. You can dress in a style that goes with society that's modest. You can make anything modest, and you keep it beautiful. That's what God wants. He wants beauty and He wants covering.

Let me end this session with some little statements:

“Clothes are to cover, not uncover.”

This is another thing I wrote down:

“The further people get away from God, the less they want to wear.

The closer people get to God, the more they want to cover.”

So let's pray, and I think we'd better do another session on this.

Allison: I think that you're really getting wound up! (laughter)

Nancy:

Lord Jesus, we thank You that You love to show us the way. We thank You for Your Word, Lord, for without Your Word, we're in the dark. But Your Word shows us, Lord, how You want us to dress. Lord, we pray that You will give us open hearts and meek spirits that hear Your Word, to be willing to obey You, and, Lord, to take notice of Your Word. We are asking in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.abovwerubies.org

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

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TO LISTEN TO THE STORY OF JETHER, THIS IS THE PODCAST:

PODCAST 117.

ACCIDENTS, DEATH, LIFE, AND THE GOODNESS AND GLORY OF GOD

My daughter, Evangeline joins me today as we talk about these things. I can’t even tell you in print. You’ll have to listen to find out. Amazing.

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ABOVE RUBIES FAMILY RETREATS COMING UP SOON!

Check out the following Above Rubies Family Retreats. Try and get to the one closest to you. You will be so blessed. Great fun. Great fellowship. Great teaching. Great uplifting for you and the whole family. Tell other friends and family.

AUGUST 13 – 15 in MISSOURI

Location: LOVE AND PURITY CAMPUS

5027 Wayne 380 Lot 10, Patterson, MO 63956​

For more information check out the event web page at: www.loveandpurity.com/above-rubies

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SEPTEMBER 3 – 6 in CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI

ENJOY LABOR DAY WEEKEND AT THIS GLORIOUS FAMILY RETREAT

Location: TIMBER CREEK CAMP 

8113 Morton-Marathon Rd, Pulaski, MS 39152 * Ph: (601) 536-9012

Contact: Les Lanford (225) 953-1970

Or Connie Lanford (225) 335-3969 * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.lanfordlegacy.com

This family camp will take place on the beautiful grounds of Timber Creek Camp.  It is located in central Mississippi and is run by a cheerful, sweet, and friendly Christian couple and their employees, (Christian campground).  It is surrounded by a beautiful pine forest.  On site, there is a beautiful lake.  There are accommodations for families in cabins, (family cabins).  There is also an opportunity for sports, fun, and fellowship:  Foosball, basketball, volleyball, Ga-Ga ball, canoeing, trails through the woods, and more.  There is a chapel for sessions on campus and a dining hall with scrumptious meals made by the Timber Creek Camp staff.

This family retreat will take place on the beautiful grounds of Timber Creek Camp. Surrounded by picturesque woods and a peaceful lake, Timber Creek Camp is a perfect place for families to be refreshed and encouraged by each other, other families, and Colin and Nancy Campbell.

Bring your children, teens, adult children, and friends to enjoy the foosball, basketball, volleyball, climbing wall, Ga-Ga ball, tunnels, canoeing, and trails through the woods. You are sure to be touched by God and other godly men and women of faith.

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 160 –  LET’S GET BACK THE GLORY, Part 2

God is clothed in glory. He also wants us to clothe ourselves with glory. He wants us dress in a way that represents His glorious, majestic, and royal kingdom. What does this mean? How can we make this happen in our lives?

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, again! We are talking about “Let's Get Back The Glory.” I hope you were blessed last week as we talked about that beautiful revelation of God dripping down His glory, right to the hem of our garments. And we learned how that, when God has filled the tabernacle, and filled the temple, now He wants to fill us, because we are now His house, that it was just His footstool. We are His footstool.

I'd love you to just say that with me.

“I am God's footstool.

I am God's feet on this earth.

I am God's feet in my home.

I am created to reveal His glory.”

So, whatever you're doing today in your home, once again, God wants to drip that anointing down, right down to the very edge of your garment, right down to the skirt, right down to the hem. To bring His glory, to bring His healing, to bring His comfort, to bring whatever need our children have.

We can bring it to them, because that's what God wants us to do. We are mothering on His behalf. Isn't that wonderful? We're not doing it on our own. We're mothering, we're parenting on God's behalf. He gives us our children, and so we are now caring for them, teaching them, training them, parenting them for Him.

All right. So, we do this. Of course, we reveal God's glory through our lifestyle, through our attitude, through our actions, through our speech, and through our clothing. Now, ladies, we're getting on to this point that I didn't share with you way back when I did that series on “The Glory of Motherhood.” I was a little scared. I mean, I've always been radical and bringing radical things to you. I thought, “Oh my, I wonder what they will think if I start talking about clothing.”

Because it seems to be a controversial subject today. But it's something that I have looked at in the Word of God. In fact, I was reading, going through my journals again this morning. I was looking at a study that I did on all the Hebrew words and all the Greek words about clothing.

When I did this study, it was just amazing to me. I have to admit that I had to step on my own toes. God had to show me things that I had never looked at or thought about before. I have been meaning to share these with you. I looked back and thought, “Wow, I did this over three years ago!” So it's time that I did.

But it's not all going to be bad. It's going to be great! Really great, because this point is, God wants us to dress with glory. This is all part of the glory. I think this is something that we don't, well, maybe you haven't looked at these Scriptures. So I want to take you today into these beautiful, glorious Scriptures.

First of all, let's go back to the one I started off with last week, Lamentations 1:6: “And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty (all her glory) is departed.” Now I do believe that this has happened with the clothing of God's people, because number one point (and there will be many pointers. we won't get through them all today).

NO 1: GOD WANTS US TO E CLOTHED WITH GLORY

Number one point is that God wants us to be clothed with beauty and glory. God Himself clothes Himself gloriously.

Isaiah 63:1: “Who is this that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”

This is speaking of God and speaking of His glorious apparel. Yes, it talks about God's clothing! God clothes Himself and His clothing is glorious. It's the word hadar. We learned about that last time, that beautiful word hadar. Remember what it means? “Glory, magnificence, splendor, beauty, excellency, honor, majesty,” and so on.

Let me give you some other translations of Isaiah 63:1.

The Common English Bible: “This splendidly dressed One, striving with great power.” Many translations use the word “splendor.”

The Complete Jewish Bible says: “So magnificently dressed, so stately in His great strength.”

The New English Translation says: “Who is this One, wearing His royal attire?”

And the New Living translation describes Him “in royal robes.”

You see, precious ladies, we belong to a royal king. We belong to a royal kingdom. And our God is dressed, clothed, with royal, glorious, magnificent, splendid clothing.

The Young's Literal translation says: “He is honorable in His clothing.” We read in other Scriptures, Psalm 104:1-2: “O Lord my God, Thou are very great. Thou art clothed with honor.” Now that's another Hebrew word, hode, which is meaning “beauty, excellency, glorious, honor, majesty.” You notice, they all have similar meanings.

“And majesty. Who covereth Thyself with light as with a garment.” So once again, we read that He's covered with beauty and majesty. But once again, ladies, what is ascribed to God is also ascribed to us.

I read that verse from Proverbs last week. Here it is again, Proverbs 31:25: “Strength and honor (or glory, the word hadar) “are her clothing.” We also are to be clothed with glory. Now, of course, that's going to mean our hidden glory, that which emanates from us, but also what we put upon our body.

The clothing on our bodies. It's also meant to be glorious, glorious. Well, this really gets to me. I mean, as I look into the Scriptures, and we'll look at many today. Maybe a few more podcasts to get through this. I've had to keep stepping on my toes all the time, because, wow, I can't really testify that I just wear glorious, majestic, beautiful clothing all the time. Especially around home. Goodness me, I don't always look very glorious as all!

I do like to, when I go out, when I go to church, when I go to a function, I do like to dress as gloriously as I can. I'm sure it's not really to the biblical standard but I do it as much as I can. Because this is not my idea, ladies. This is the Word of God. If God, Who is the Head, and we are His body on the earth, if the Head Himself is clothed gloriously and magnificently, so shouldn't we, His body, be clothed gloriously and magnificently?

Let's read Psalm 145:10-12: “All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord: and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.”

Ladies, are we really getting it? Do I really get it? We belong to a kingdom. Not just any kingdom. It's God's kingdom, a royal kingdom. The glorious majesty of His kingdom. And God uses two glory words to describe His kingdom. One word is not enough. “Glorious” is kabad, and “majesty” is hadar. Two Hebrew words that speak of God's glory and yet which are also ascribed to us!

And so, if we truly believe that we belong to a glorious, majestic kingdom, don't you think that it will change the clothing that we wear? Truly, don't you really think that we should seek, to even in a little way, clothe ourselves gloriously and majestically? Because we belong to this glorious, majestic kingdom.

Aren't we meant to represent His kingdom on earth? I'm sure that's what we're meant to do. I know I fall short, but I want to begin to reveal more and more that I belong to a glorious, majestic kingdom.

I believe, dear mothers, that we should be training our daughters. and our sons, who we are raising to be princes in all the earth. That's what it talks about in Psalm 45, that we are raising princes in all the earth. And we are raising daughters who are princesses who belong to a royal kingdom.

And yet, we let them go out dressing like rags. Well, not quite. I mean, they're fashionable rags. But when you think about it, now I'm going to say something here that some of you may not like. I'm not going to say it in that, “Oh, well, you can't do this.” You can do what you like.

But as I think of these Scriptures, do you really, truly, do you really think that holey jeans that are all tattered at the knees, and holes everywhere, do you think they really can be equated with God's royal, majestic, and glorious kingdom? Oh, I know they're the fashion. Yeah, they're the fashion.

But isn't it amazing, how we, even as the people of God, are so taken up with fashion. We just do, and we're all prone to doing it, we all do what society is doing. I'm not saying, “OK, you can never wear those.” Young people love them. They think they look great. But they really, actually, look horrible.

I mean, they look fashionable. But truly, are they beautiful? No, they're not beautiful. They're not majestic. They're not glorious. OK, they're good for around home, but I think if, you know, we're going out, if we're going to church, we should rise to who we are, subjects of a royal kingdom. It's worth thinking about, isn't it? You go to think about it.

OK, let's go to some other Scriptures, shall we? Exodus 28:2. Now, this Scripture is in the chapter that talks about the high priest's garments. Now the garments that God planned for the high priest to wear were absolutely glorious. They were made of glorious colors of blue and purple and scarlet. And he wore on his breastplate these beautiful jewels that were shining and sparkling. There were beautiful jewels on his shoulders. The garment was just one piece of glory.

Exodus 28:2: “And thou shalt (now this was a commandment) And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother (speaking to Moses) “for glory and for beauty.” Isn't this amazing? When God wanted clothes for His high priest, and he was just going to be there in the tabernacle, later in the temple, in the Presence of God, God wanted to behold beauty. God wanted to look upon glory.

Because as the high priest, he was representing God. And, therefore, he couldn't just wear any old thing. He had to wear clothes that represented God. God Himself was clothed with majesty and glory. So He commanded that the clothes of the high priest were also to be majestic and glorious. “For glory and for beauty.”

Now ladies, here in the New Testament, the Word of God says that we have been “made unto God kings and priests” (Revelation 1:6 and 5:10). We are now priests unto God. And therefore, He wants us too, to wear clothes that are for glory and for beauty.

So, when we're choosing our clothes, the first thing, because this is our point number one, the first thing we're going to think about, “Is this beautiful? Is it glorious? Will it represent God's kingdom, which is a kingdom of majesty and glory?” So that's number one thing to think about when you're choosing clothes. Will they glorify God? Will they match His kingdom that we represent?

Then we go to Psalm 45. Oh, this is a beautiful Psalm. Here it's talking about the king's daughter. And it says: “So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty.” Did you know that God loves beauty? Yes. He made a beautiful world. He made so many beautiful things. His creation is beautiful. And He delights in beauty.

I mean, as we have just read, He said, when you make the high priest's clothing, it's got to be for beauty and for glory. “So the king greatly desired thy beauty. . . The king's daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework.”

The king's daughter. Are you a king's daughter? Yes. Yes, if Christ dwells within you, you belong to the King. You are the King's daughter. You belong to a royal kingdom.

Please, dear mothers, please impart to your daughters and your sons that they belong to a royal kingdom. Encourage your daughters to dress like daughters of the King. Amen? Yes.

Oh, and that word there, “The king's daughter is all glorious within.” She's glorious and beautiful  within and without. That word is not kabad, but the word that comes from that is kebuddah. It means “magnificence, carriage, the way you carry yourself, stately, interesting.”

Now, it's talking not only about the clothes we wear, but how we wear them. How we walk. Our carriage. We have to even teach our daughters how to carry themselves, how to walk stately, how to walk like a daughter of royalty. All these things are in the Bible, ladies.

Let's go to Ezekiel 16:14. This is a beautiful description of Israel, and how God found Israel, and what He did for her: “And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty (here we have another Hebrew word, yofee) for it was perfect through my comeliness (that’s hadar) which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord.” And so, here again, He's talking about clothing with beauty.

We'll go to 1 Chronicles 29:25. Now it's talking about King Solomon here, but we also learn something if we read this Scripture: “And the Lord magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.” This is just a little tiny picture of God's royal majesty.

You see, God revealed little glimpses on earth of His heavenly majesty. And He did this through Solomon. Solomon revealed this. God bestowed upon him, but he also revealed it, this royal majesty. And he dressed in a way that revealed God's royal majesty. That word there is the Hebrew word hode, another word for “glory,” meaning “glory, grandeur, imposing form and appearance, beauty, excellency, glory, majesty.”

NO. 2: GOD WANTS US TO DRESS WITH DIGNITY

All right, number two. God wants us to not only clothe ourselves with glory and beauty, but to look dignified. Now this is all part of the same Scripture, Proverbs 31:25: “She is clothed (the virtuous woman is clothed) with strength and honor,” or strength and glory. When I looked this Scripture up in other translations, I found nineteen different translations that used the word “dignity.” And there could even be more because I didn't exhaust every translation of the Bible.

This was the one that was used mostly to describe that word hadar. “Dignity.” Dignity goes along with royalty and majesty, doesn't it? This is the thing I think we have to come up to, ladies, in our clothing, is to get away from, perhaps, that which is not really dignified.

You know, there's a lot of clothing today that's not dignified. Can you believe it? I have even seen a lady preacher preach in holey jeans. Not h-o-l-y, but you know, h-o-l-e-y, with holes. OK, maybe go around the house in them. But to preach in them? Shouldn't someone who is holding and imparting the Word of God dress with majesty and dignity? I believe we've got to raise the standards up to a royal standard. Amen? Can you get with me, ladies?

NO. 3: GOD WANTS US TO DRESS IN A HOLY WAY

All right, number three. God wants us to wear holy clothes. We're going back to another Scripture we've read, Exodus 28:2, about the high priest's clothing. And it says: “And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.” So, we see three adjectives there—holy, glory and beauty. So, they're triplets, all going together, holy, glory, and beauty.

That's another thing we need to ask ourselves when we're choosing our clothes. Is this going to be holy? Not holey, with holes, but holy unto the Lord. Is it something that will give an impression of holiness? That's a big thing, isn't it? But it's something we do have to ask ourselves, because this is what God commanded for the clothing of the high priest.

And let's remind ourselves again. We are now His priests. You see, it all changed from the Old Testament to the New. We are now His priests. Amen? So we've got to begin to dress like priests. Well, we won't use the exact clothing the high priest used, of course, but we will seek to wear clothes that will have something about them that is holy. And of course, glory and beauty.

HOLINSS AND BEAUTY ARE TWINS

and

HOLINESS, BEAUTY, AND GLORY ARE TRIPLETS!

Psalm 110:3 talks of the beauty of holiness. Some people say, “Well, how can you have holy clothes and beauty going together?” They've got this idea of holy clothes being boring old clothes. Long dress down to your feet, all drab and bland, and just looks so boring.

No. Holiness and beauty go together! You combine them, ladies! God wants both! He wants both holiness, and He wants glory and beauty! That's who our God is. He is holy. He's clothed with majesty and glory and beauty.

And so, this is what He wants us His people to do, because we are His representatives. We are manifesting Him on this earth. I believe, on this point, that we should learn to use discretion in our clothing, because we do use different kinds of clothing for different things.

USE DISCRETION

Now, you're not going to go out to the garden in your beautiful, glorious, long, gorgeous dress that you would wear out to a function. No! Goodness me, when I go out to the garden, I put on my oldest clothes because I'm kneeling down in the dirt. Many times, it's been raining and I'm kneeling down in the mud. I come in, and my old pants are caked with mud, and my gardening shoes are caked with mud, and I'm just really dirty.

And so, we have clothes for getting down in the dirt when we're out in the garden. Maybe you're out riding horses, or if you're doing some kind of sports. When you're going to do sports, you're going to put on your shorts and go out to the volleyball court. You're going to play the sport that you love to play. OK, you're not going to wear this glorious, long, beautiful dress. You're going to wear clothing that is suitable for what you are doing.

So of course, you'll wear shorts for those kind of things. But even when we're wearing shorts, well, I don't wear shorts now. I did when I was younger. But even when we wear shorts, be careful how short they are. So many shorts today, even on lovely, God-loving Christian girls, are so short they just barely cover their bottoms! Help! And all you can see is these legs! Oooh!

I mean, I think shorts are short, but you don't have to make them skimpy. Remember, even shorts, if we're going to be out there playing sports, doing things and all this kind of stuff, well, just have them reasonable. Let's have a little bit of the fear of God about it.

But of course, you won't wear those kind of clothes to church. This is the sad thing today. I am amazed, because we have to use discretion. I've seen people come to church as though they're on their way to the beach, I've seen them come in shorts to church. I beg your pardon? I don't mind shorts for sports and doing those things. You're going to the beach. But coming to church?

In Ezekiel 42:14, it's talking there of how the high priests had to change their clothes. They could not wear what they wore amongst the people when they went in to the Holy Place to minister unto the Lord. They had to change their clothes, to wear suitable clothing if they came to minister unto the Lord.

And so we also should use discretion when we come into the house of God. We're going to change from the things we wear out on the sport field, or out on the beach, and we're going to come in something more appropriate for what we're doing. I think it's just common sense, don't you, to wear clothes that are appropriate for what you are doing.

When you come into the house of God, when you come to a prayer meeting where people are crying out to God, you're not going to come in shorts. I've seen people come in shorts and I find it really takes my mind off what I'm doing, because what I'm seeing is these legs—and this is in the holy place of prayer?

OK, it doesn't matter if you're on your own in your bedroom. You can do it there. But we're amongst the people of God. We learn to use discretion. And learn to use appropriate clothing for the situation where we're going to be. I believe it's time for people to come dressed ready to minister unto the Lord, just as God wanted His priests to change their clothes when they came into the Holy Place, to minister unto Him. We now are the priests. We're coming to church to minister unto the Lord, to worship Him, and to meet with our fellow brethren in the place of the Presence of God.

So we're not going to wear what we wear to the beach! We're going to wear appropriate clothing. And for glory, and for beauty. We're not going to come with cleavage. Oh, goodness me. You see that in church today. Unbelievable! Even bare shoulders. No, that's not for church. That's not for church. It can be a hindrance to people. It can be a hindrance to young men. Yes, it really is a hindrance. We have got to guard what we wear in the house of God. Let's use discretion, and wear appropriate clothing. 

Even just going to certain things. Recently there was a function. It was a party. It was going to be where people had to get dressed up. One of my granddaughters, I saw her getting dressed and she was just in jeans. I had to say to her, “I beg your pardon? You're going to a very special function, where you should dress up. You don't just wear jeans. Go and find a lovely dress.” And so she did.

We have to think. Today, people don't think. They think, “Oh well, you can wear jeans to church and jeans to a beautiful function.” No. There's certain clothes for certain things. Let's have discretion. Amen?

Well, lovely ladies, we've got lots more things to talk about. So, I hope you're going to tune in next week and find out what more the Word of God has to say. because there is so much more. Oh, goodness me! It's unbelievable. In fact, when I come to do a study in the Word of God, I always find so much more that I can hardly believe it. So I want to take you into it so we can know what God says.

You see, I think mostly, and sometimes these things I've been saying to you, people who do these things, oh, goodness me, I know some of these people. And they're such beautiful hearts who love the Lord! Oh, goodness me! And they just don't know because they haven't read the Scriptures.

But we do have to know the Scriptures, don't we? We have to know God's heart, what He says for us to live and belong to this beautiful, royal, majestic, glorious kingdom.

Father, we thank You that You do not leave us in the dark. We thank You that You have shown the way for how we are to live. Lord, Your Word is filled with such practical things, even how we're to dress. It's all just for us. We pray, Lord, that You will teach us, that we will be teachable, and we will learn to dress, Lord, in the way that is a beautiful testimony to Your royal, majestic, and glorious kingdom to which we belong. In the precious Name of Jesus, Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.abovwerubies.org

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

Would you like to email Darlene and thank her so much for faithfully and freely transcribing these podcasts every week for your benefit?

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