Episode 6 – PROCLAIMING MOTHERS

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

You will be excited and inspired as Evangeline, Nancy Campbell’s evangelistic and extroverted daughter, joins her for this session.

As we read the Scriptures, we constantly face “the tension of truth.” We often notice two apparently contradictory things, and yet because the Word of God is divinely inspired, both are true! We cannot hold one over the other. We face this as we read Psalm 68:11 where it talks about the “female proclaimers.” Does this mean women are to leave their homes to become preachers and pastors? What about the other Scriptures that reveal God’s plan for women to embrace home and mothering? How does it fit together? Listen to this podcast to find the answer.

Two quotes for you:

“Truths that are compelled to stand alone never stand straight and are not likely to stand long. Truth is one, but truths are many. Scriptural truths are interlocking and interdependent. A truth is rarely valid in isolation.” ~ A. W, Tozer

“No matter how much two teachings of Scripture may appear to be contradictory, they are not. They may be paradoxical, but they can never be contradictory . . . Denial of one set of biblical truth in order to affirm another is never an option for the faithful student of Scriptures.”

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

Nancy Campbell: So great to be back with you. Today we're carrying on from our message last week. I was speaking to you again about this great, mighty army that belongs to the home. And I talked about PURPOSEFUL mothering, and then I talked about PROTECTING mothering, and then PRAYING mothering.

Today I said I would talk about one more P, but today I'm also bringing on my daughter Evangeline. Evangeline is married to Howard, and she has 10 children, 25 years old down to Saber, their eight-year old. Anyway, say hi them!

Evangeline: Hello, you beautiful mummies, young ones and old ones. I love you.

Nancy: What is this fourth P? It is PROCLAIMING mothers. This comes right from this Scripture we're talking about in Psalm 68:11, where it says, “The Lord gave the word: great was the company . . .” It really means “Great was the ARMY of women who published it.”

I like the Young's translation. The Young's translation of the Word of God is the same guy who did the Young's Concordance. Taking it straight from the Hebrew, he says “the female proclaimers.” Now we've got to talk about this for a little bit, ladies, because in this Scripture we come across something which we call the tension of truth.

Now, right throughout the word of God, we come up against subjects and doctrines in the Word of God that look opposite. There is the tension of truth on one side, and something on the other side.

What is the truth? Sometimes they look totally contradictory. For example, we look at the absolute deity of Christ, and at the same time, the absolute humanity of Christ. Now some people can often take one and put it above the other, or less than the other, but no, both are eternal divine truths.

What about the fact that God is One, and yet He is three distinct divine Persons? Both are true. What about the fact of God's ultimate sovereignty, and yet our human responsibility? Some take one area, some take the other, but no, they are both absolute divine truths. In this tension of truth, we have to find what God is saying.

I love the words of one writer and he says: “No matter how much two teachings of Scripture may appear to be contradictory, they are not. They may be paradoxical, but they can never be contradictory. Denial of one set of Biblical truth in order to affirm another is never an option for the faithful student of Scriptures.”

Now, why am I saying this? Because when some women read this, “Oh, the female proclaimers, woo hoo! Now I can get out and I can be an evangelist!” Today's women I find are encouraged and exhorted to get out and to be speakers, and even to speak to men, and became great speakers of congregations, and even pastors.

Okay, we've got that truth on one side. Then on the other side, we've got that God created the home for the mother. He created His women to be mothers and to raise the children. It is impossible to be in the home and raise children, and at the same time be out as a great evangelist.

Now, I faced this many, many years ago when I was speaking at a women's conference in Malaysia. I was invited to speak along with a very, very well-known speaker, Daisy Osborn. I don't know, some of you may not have heard of her, but back in the days when Tommy Osborn and his wife Daisy were alive, they were just about a household word in the Christian scene. Tommy and Daisy Osborn were great evangelists. They traveled the world. They preached the Gospel to just about every country in the world, and they brought thousands, maybe millions, into the Kingdom of God.

I had great respect and honor for their ministry, but it was not an easy thing when I spoke at that conference, because although I honor this woman who has now gone to be with the Lord, and so has her husband, Tommy, I had to preach the other tension of truth, which was also the truth. Now Daisy was saying to the women, “You've got to get out. You've got to become an evangelist. Yes, you can become the pastor of your church.”

She had a little bit of the truth there, but you see ,when you speak to women in their childbearing years, and you're telling them to get out and to be evangelists and yes, they can be speakers, and they can be positive, and they can do this, well, what do they do with their children?

They'll have to stop having children, and they won't even be able to care for the ones they've got. So, you see, there's something wrong. So, let's get it right. Let's find out what it really means.

It is true this Word does say “female proclaimers.” But that's because we proclaim, and we are meant to be proclaimers, first to our children, and then wherever we go. We speak about Jesus, we speak the truth, we drop seeds of truth. We are proclaimers wherever we go, and God has given this to women because we know how to speak.

Women talk more than men, and so we just talk. Wherever we go, we talk. We're female proclaimers. It doesn't mean to say that we became pastors and evangelists. Yes, we'll be that individually, we'll be that. To stand up before congregations does not put proclaiming in that little wee segment. No, proclaiming is a lifestyle and its part of our lifestyle of mothering.

In fact, dear ladies, you do not give up your home and your mothering to become a proclaimer. It is part of your mothering anointing. Did you get that? Can I just say that again? You don't give up your home and mothering to be a proclaimer. It's part of your mothering.

Now let's find out what this word proclaim means. We've always got to go back to the original and find out what it means. Okay. Oh, it's an amazing meaning. It means “to be fresh.” How do you like that, Vange?

Evangeline: It's so good, Mom! It's so good!

Nancy: The only way you can speak about Jesus is if He is real to you. If He's not real, if you're not walking with Him, if you're not hearing His voice, what can you say to anybody? But when you have been reading the Word and, oh, you've just got something God is saying to you, you can share it with someone else. You could call up another mother and encourage her.

Evangeline (we call her Vange): It's so good, because you know it's fresh. You know when it's regurgitated, old dead style. You just want to say to that person, shut up. That's not fresh.

Nancy: I know, we're not talking about giving a sermon. We're talking about speaking something fresh that's going on in your life.

Evangeline: And that's life. And that's what changes.

Nancy: Oh, absolutely! And get this. I could not believe it when I read this. It also means “rosy.” Oh, can you believe that.

Evangeline: Forget that rouge, woman, it's a rosy world!

Nancy: Yes, isn't it beautiful! I just couldn't believe it. Full of cheer. Oh, it's so good. Yes. See, this is our testimony, ladies. We go out with our children, with our little ones around us, who we've been training. We go into the supermarket, and oh, you know, we're a testimony.

Somebody says to you, “Oh goodness me, are all these children yours?” You answer, “Yes, we love children, don't you?” What a testimony.

Evangeline: And we usually just say, “It's just our first set!”

Nancy: That's a great idea. Yeah. Some say, “Oh, you've got your hands full!” You could answer, “Well, actually I'm only up to number six. I've got four to go!” And you've become a testimony, and you've got a smile on your face. It's fresh testimony.

It also means “to announce, to bring good news, to tell glad tidings, to be a messenger.” Now, this is your day-to-day walk. In fact, Psalm 96:2 says, “Sing unto the Lord, bless His Name, show forth His salvation from day to day.”

Day-to-day in your home. If you have to pop down to the grocery store, if you have to go somewhere, wherever you go, you're showing forth His salvation.

What about this one? Isaiah 52:7: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of hi that bringeth good tidings, that PUBLISHETH peace; that bringeth good tidings of good that PUBLISHETH salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Also, Nahum 1:15. Both talk about the feet, the feet of him that brings good tidings. It's the same word for female proclaimers. So where do your feet go? If your feet are just going into your kitchen in the morning, what are you going to do, darlings?

You're going to be a proclaimer of good tidings to your children. You're not coming out of the bedroom with your dressing gown on. Is that what you call it here? I don't know. Something you put around you. That's what we call it down under.

And you're all morbid, and you're hardly awake. No, you come out. “Good morning children. Isn't God so good? We're going to have a great day together. Oh, I love you. And I love being your mother!”

You're proclaiming the best news you ever could to your children! You'll be proclaiming all day to your children. If you go out somewhere, you'll just keep on proclaiming. What do you reckon, Vange?

Evangeline: It's so true, and I just so love it, because we are made to hear proclaiming news. We love a heraldress. I mean, people love to hear news. Your children are loved.

It's what's in our DNA to want to hear something fresh and that's why we have Facebook, and we have these memories. I was just talking on Pearl and Serene’s Poddy (Trim Healthy Mama) all about this. We get all these new things and it's just a lot of real nonsense. Rather than, you can be the mother, giving them the fresh word that you've got from Jesus, and then getting them to get it.

Otherwise you'll be running off to this conference, running off to this retreat, trying to get something to fulfill your life, where you yourself are the one to bring refreshment. You are the one to bring the rosy cheeks to your children, and the life, and to the world, and to your neighbor, and to all those people in the grocery line.

I mean, that's it. You know, a lot of people say to me, you should be a preacher, and I say to them, “Well, I am! Every day to whoever I meet! I mean, yeah.”

Nancy: Got any stories?

Evangeline: I've got so many stories, Mom, but to the point where, you know what? Really, the world should be trying to shush us up, but we cannot be shushed up. Our homes are not to be a retreat center. They are to be an advancement center. They are to be advanced headquarters, and that's it. They can be a haven, but not a retreat. And that's a big one. Mom, do you want to go on? Because I've got lots to say. I know you've got lots to say too.

Nancy: Going to one little thought there. I think that is so true. We have again, the changing of truth. Like some people think, “Oh, yes, I can send my children out into the public school. They will survive there, and they will be a great testimony!”

Oh, I beg your pardon. Your precious little children are so vulnerable. So, we protect them in those early years. We're protecting them in the home. We're protecting them. We are filling them richly with God's truth, and we are getting them ready. But no, not forever, because one day we're going to send them out into the world. We're getting them ready to do that.

Evangeline: It is an advancement. You know, I want to bring on the Scripture right before we keep on going. It was either Isaiah or Jeremiah, he said, “Here I am for You, Lord, with the children You have given me.” Do note, one of the greatest prophets wrote a book of the Bible. He didn't just say, “Here I am.” He said, “AND THE CHILDREN YOU HAVE GIVEN ME.” (Isaiah 8:18).

So, he was a man. How much more we as mothers should wake up and say that daily to the Lord! “Lord,” not just “Here I am,” but “Lord, here I am, and the children You have given me.” That's been my thing since I was first married. Soon as they were in my womb, not when they were born, even while they were in my womb. I'm like, “Here I am, Lord, and the children You have given me, for what?”

“For SIGNS AND FOR WONDERS in Israel.” We are not just having children. We're not just being any old family. We're being signs and wonders in this country. Wherever we are, whatever country you are, for signs and wonders for the glory of God, for the Kingdom He wants displayed on this earth. That's why. 

People do have a point when they say, “You know, you Christian families are just hiding out.” Stop it. We are to be a haven where, when they're little, we're training them. It's an advancement center for the God squad that they are going to be, and that we are as a family. It's where literally Christianity starts, where social justice starts, where missions start.

It is not a place to hide from the world, or hide our light, but the complete opposite. When the family unit, and you as a mother, as a part of this army, as a leading SEAL team person, leads your children, you become a God squad. It's powerful, adventurous, and exciting. Your children get to experience the power of God themselves, rather than doing just this little writing of ticking the boxes, versus they actually get to experience it.

It's not an endorsement to leave your family for some church ministry so others can raise your children for you. No, no. It's a call to take your family out when the time is right, and also to take yourself out of hiding. When you go to the grocery store, you are not in hiding. You have a voice, as Mom said, women and children, stop shutting your voice up, proclaim it. Don't hide! Be the adventurer and give yourself to God and His Kingdom for purposes together.

Nancy: Yes. Well, I find if I ever happen to be out shopping the same time as Evangeline, and that doesn't always happen, but on the occasions when it has happened, and with being in Whole Foods, or maybe Aldi's, or somewhere like that, and I don't know if she's there. Well, if she is there, I will soon hear her, and goodness, she's here! I hear her voice and what is she doing?

She's got some ladies round her, and she is sharing with them one of her God stories. She just tells them, doesn't matter who it is, Christian or non-Christian. She just tells them what God is doing in her life, and what God is like. That's how it happens. That's how it's meant to be. You see, lovely ladies, this is the understanding of this tension of truth.

Yes, we are free as women to proclaim. We have been given this anointing to be the proclaimers of the Gospel, the proclaimers of the truth, but at the same time, we have this powerful mandated career from God, to take up this career in our homes and raise godly families for the nation to be a godly nation.

Now we don't have to do one or the other. You see, they fit together. Do you understand it now? They fit together. We do both. As we mother, we are proclaiming. As we go out and about with our children, we are proclaiming His Word. There's nothing to stop us. We are free to proclaim!

Evangeline: It's true, Mom, because even yesterday, and it is true about my life, because yesterday (Vickie is here watching us, a friend of mine), and she couldn't believe it. Yesterday I was just at Aldi's, and somebody could hear me three aisles over. A lady shouted out, “I can hear you, Vange!”

You know what? People sing out when they're happy, and they're excited at something, and they think nothing of it. But people think something of it when you sing out and are happy about Jesus, and I just don't care. I'm happy and excited, so I sing in the shops, I sing at home. I'm just like . . .  This is my life, and I get to live it, and so should you.

If you're happy, stop letting the dictating negative thoughts of your brain say, “Oh, somebody might be watching you all. They might think you're just a little bit over the top. Ooh, why are they singing?”

Well, let them think it. Maybe they'll come up, and say, “Hey, you're happy!” Or, “Hey, I know that song!” Or, “Hey, I heard the words of that song!” They might hear your latest truth that you got this morning, or the story that happened to you last week.

I mean, they don't have to be . . .   Just look at everybody before you as a human being before the Lord, whether they know Him or they don't. Just give them Jesus, and you don't need to go and find some ministry. You have it all at your feet.

Nancy: You have it right before you, and the world is waiting for you. Mother, you don't have to vacate your great calling of mothering.

Evangeline: They're actually really waiting for you. They’re desperate, that desperate.

Nancy: Another thought to release you. In my early days, I didn't understand fully. You know, you don't understand all God's truth all at once. It takes years and years of searching His Word and seeking after Him.

I can remember when I was a young pastor’s wife. We were, my husband and I, we'd been pastoring for all our lives. In fact, we went out full time for God when we were engaged.

So, I've always had that opportunity, and that pull, as a pastor's wife, to get involved in ministry. There was that pull there. In the early days, I thought, “Oh, I am meant to be doing this and that,” but then the children were coming along. I had to realize I had to seek God to know what was my calling. And yes, I began to see, yes, it is in the home.

This is where I was to be. And just because my husband was a pastor does not make me a pastor. Now this is one of the strangest things in the whole of the world that I still can't get over. I have been a pastor's wife now for, goodness me, 55 years!

Yet I find that when a wife is married to an engineer, she doesn't feel that she has to be an engineer. When a wife is married to a doctor, she doesn't feel that, “Well, I have to be a doctor too.” When she is married to an accountant, does she have to be an accountant too? No, she is who she is!

Why is it that pastors' wives think they must be pastors too? That's a strange phenomenon, isn't it? But I got freed from that. My grandest role as a pastor's wife was to be the greatest mother and to show to all my congregation what it means to be a mother.

That's why it says in Titus Chapter Two, verses three to five, that the older women teach the younger women to love their children, and love their husbands, and be keepers at home. And then, if they don't do it, what does it say, what is the word? It's pretty strong! “BLASPHEMED.” Yes, the Word of God will be blasphemed.

Oh goodness me. I wrote about that once. I got all these women writing back to me and saying these most terrible things. In fact, I think if they were looking at me, they would have had rocks to throw them at me! The funny thing was, I was only quoting the Word of God! Isn't that funny? I often find when I say things and I'll quote the Word of God, then I get all this feedback. It's as though people never ever heard the Word of God. They just thought it was me.

Evangeline: They haven't. They haven't because they just go, and they hear other people, but they don't pick it up for themselves. I'm genuinely speaking. I urge you to just go and pick it up, and start reading it. Start reading one that you can understand . . . the Bible. Start with the gospels. John, it's amazing. I can't get out of John right now. It's freaking me out. Changing my life daily.

Nancy: Yes, we must be careful. When we don't show the right lifestyle, we do blaspheme the Word of God. Why do we blaspheme the Word of God? Because it's showing the opposite picture to what God originally ordained.

Now, I haven't gotten on to my little point. When I was going through this dilemma myself, and I hadn't really got through to victory way back in those days, God came to me one night. He said these words:

“The perfect will of God for your life will never contradict My existing commandments.”

Therefore, if I felt called to this great ministry. I have always had such a love to teach; I was a teacher before I was married. Because I have a passion for the Word, I love to teach the Word. I could have been tempted to go out and be a teacher of the Word.

Oh, I remember when I first had an opportunity to go and minister the word. My husband said to me, “Nancy, what are you going to speak about?” I told him some great revelation I got out of the Word. He said to me, “No, you're not. No, you're not.” He said, “God is showing you in the Word what you should speak about. You're to speak about loving your husband, loving your children, building your home.”

I am so grateful for a husband who was my protector, and in him protecting me, and him guiding me in the right direction. I'm doing what I am doing today. Maybe I wouldn't be doing Above Rubies if he hadn't protected me from keeping to where God wanted me.

The wonderful thing is understanding God's truth. If we have to go out and do something, and because we're doing all that for God, but goodness, we don’t have time to maybe have another baby, or have another two babies, or three babies, or however many God wants to give us. If we haven't even got time to be at home with these children God has given us . . . that is not the perfect will of God. So, forget it. It's your will, not God's will, because God's will doesn't contradict His original commandments. His tension of truth doesn't contradict another truth. Are you getting it, ladies?

Evangeline: That's so good, Mom. That's so true. You often find women who are gifted, but they don't understand this. I also want to say here to all of you, when you are living an absolutely wild-mothering laid-down life, and many people say, “It is like I'm giving up.”

It's not really, because you've already given your life over to the Gospel. When you get the Gospel, and Jesus comes and pervades your whole being, you have died to your own life and you're living for the Lord. That's the same with mothering.

You've already given over to Jesus because He lays his life down for his children. In doing so, we're the female version of the Gospel. It is our time to shine. Literally, we get to do the same thing for our children, and raise, just as he was the high priest, we're raising priests and such before the Lord. We are.

We're doing the same thing, and it is an army, and it's soldiering. Mothers, your most amazing value on earth is when you were soldiering for the future. This is what you're doing, Mothers. You're soldiering for the future.

You cannot sit down on the job and wish you that you were somewhere else, or wish you were doing some other ministry. Because it's pretending that you're soldiering in the future, but you're not really doing it. It's not going to look right. It's like a SEAL team member, or a guy who's trained or waited his whole life to be a soldier. Go out and take that nation, or into that war!

It's like he's sitting down at a desk, and he's unsatisfied. He's irritated, but he's pretending to do a good job. The same with you, you will be frustrated in your motherhood, you will be trying to find another job because you aren't giving your all over. You have to give your all over.

You can't go to all these little formulas and stuff where you're trying to get the meal over faster. You're trying to get the children out of the door faster. Your highest form in your life of doing the Gospel is when you're mothering.

We can sing, we can pray like all these Christians do,” Lord, let your glory come,” but we neglect, Mom, how that can be done. How is it done? Children are created. We are His glory, and we're like, “Nah, I'm good. I'll pass. I just want to go down to the woman's ministry center.” We're forgetting how His glory is revealed on Earth by US raising kings and priests to God! They are His Glory!

Nancy: I think that's the most wonderful thing, Mothers. It's a double portion we have, because we are the feminine proclaimers. We are also raising proclaimers for God's Kingdom. They're going to become proclaimers as they see us proclaiming. Are your children going to grow up being proclaimers of God's Kingdom if you're not doing it? No! It's what they see us doing, a lifestyle that they emulate and follow.

Now Evangeline's children, they are just following her lifestyle. I look at her oldest son, Zadok. He is. well, it's rather hard to describe him, isn't it? Zadok has such a passion for Jesus and for winning souls to Jesus. He can't go anywhere; he can't even go to the gas station to get some gas without winning someone to Jesus, without praying for someone to be healed. And he sees them healed.

He can hardly go into Walmart without preaching the Gospel, without waiting in line for whatever he's paying for. There's someone in the line that can hardly walk. So, he stops, and, “Can I pray for you?” He prays for them right there and sees them healed.

Evangeline: But I want to interrupt, sorry Mom, because there's lots of good stories there. But you know what, when they were little, you mothers have to rock the boat a little bit. I've read this story today. It says do something uncomfortable. I love that saying. We had to sort of, we don't keep them in the boat. We are to rock the boat. They might feel a little bit inhibited.

When they are out with you, children are drawn to the drunks and the old people. When they're like, “Mom, look at that old person,” and you go with them because you've got to be their protector. It's like, “Would you mind if my child prays for you?”

Who's going to refuse a little girl, six-year-old girl, wanting to pray for an old woman who's drunk, or you know, with a wine bottle. Or an old person. Let your children be with them. But let them be the Gospel. Let them be the Gospel.

If they see you do it, they will be so excited, because then you allow them to pray. It is not your story anymore. It's their story. It's their story! My children have grown up with it being their story. It's so fun. It's so exciting. Yeah. It's not about us. It's not.

Nancy: And even if they do what you did . . . Remember when you were about six years old? Yes, I went to this store and Evangeline's just a little girl. She looks up at this guy at the counter, and she says to him, “Are you a Christian?” And the guy says Yes, and she looks up at him. She says, “No, you're not! you smoke!”

Evangeline: That's so funny. But you know what? Our children, we don't do it perfectly. No one does it perfectly, and our children aren't. But you know what, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me.” He hears the prayers of the children. So why don't you get the children to pray instead of you? Because he hears the prayers. I mean, we are a family squad for his Kingdom. If you're just doing it by yourself, you're all about yourself. Can you just get off your high horse?

Nancy: So anyway, lovely ladies, I'm sure you got the message. Alright, okay, tell a story.

Evangeline: Well, you most probably said it, Mom, but I want you to tell me stories. You know that it might be a little bit hard for you because you've kept your mouth quiet for a long time. But you know mothers, you're talkers, so start opening your mouths!

In the meantime, I want you to proclaim also in prayer. We live out in the woods, and I would often go on these lovely walks. I have a baby on my back or pushing a stroller. That's when they were little, and you might have little ones. Now, take your children for walks, and proclaim out loud. You think that you might not be affecting the world. I have acted like the President, not just of the United States, but of the world.

I tell you what, the spiritual dimension is so much bigger than the natural dimension. God has shown me pictures through the night. One day, I saw this picture of this huge statue falling down. Well, I didn't understand what it meant. The next day, I was out in the woods, and I think I had a baby on my back, and I was with a friend.

I said, “Look, this is weird, but I just feel like yelling out from what this picture God's shown me, “Pull it down! Lord, pull the statue down!” I felt like it was a statue representing evil. Do you know, two days later, on the news, they had that huge statue of, who was it? Saddam Hussein? It was something like that. It was a massive statue that was on the news. They had this huge statue, and they were pulling it down.

Another time, you know, just me, I'm a little mother, not knowing many people out in the woods.

Nancy: She's a six-foot mother.

Evangeline: Yes, yes, that is true. But, I just felt led to pray for all the soldiers of our country, that as they were going over to, I think it was they were going to Iraq the first time, that they would, as they were on their way, they would receive revelation for who Jesus is. They would be able to receive Him, maybe even get baptized. I had this whole imagination.

God uses your imagination, mothers. Two days later, in the paper, everything that I'd imagined happened. Because I was imagining all these soldiers getting baptized in rivers, and I started to pray it out loud on my walks. Well, guess what? Two days later, in the main page of that paper, and on the cover of one of those big magazines were all these soldiers getting baptized in a river on their way.

You know what? Do not, do not, regard your prayers as insignificant because God hears the prayers of praying mothers who cry out. You can change the very foundation of the world. You live in, not just your country of the world, you are a sniper, a SEAL force sniper, in prayer.

Wipe out evil countries! Wipe out evil in the world, to change the foundation for what your children will grow up in. You could be the President in the spiritual realm. “God, what nation do you have me pray for today? What is it? What presidents do we need to be praying for? What's on your agenda, God, for this world?” I'll tell you what, you can either let your brain go to the brink as a mother, or become the most brilliant woman on earth. You have this time to raise this incredible future and change the world.

Can I just say one more thing? You know, I've got this great friend of mine, and she's of opposite faith. She says she's not even of faith. She is a, she won't say the word “God” even. Anyway, I met her, and she said, “Well, I'll eventually speak to you.” She never wanted to talk to me.

She said, “I've been married three times.” She refused to ever, ever have a child, because she wants to save the world. I said, “Ooooh, you are my kindred friend. I've had 10 children for the same vision, to save the world too!” So, she laughed. She couldn't believe it. I said, “No, we both want to save the world. We're just coming up from different angles. Let's talk!”

You see, this is the deal. Hey, you are changing the world! Get out there and do it. Don't hide.

Nancy: That's the thing, dear ladies, and remember, this is our word to you today. You are in the home embracing your mothering and raising Godly children. You are a proclaimer and you're raising your children to be proclaimers.

Let me just read the Scripture to you once again, so you get it. This beautiful story, Psalm 68:11, 12: “The Lord gave the word. Great (GREAT) was the army of women who proclaimed it.” Great was the army of feminine proclaimers. It goes on to say: “Kings of armies did flee apace.” All the armies fled because the men went out, they won the battle. But she (SHE) once again. Get it, precious ladies. It doesn't say “he who dwells in the home.” “She who stayed in the home divided the spoil.” The two armies, and you are part of this great army in the home.

Let's pray as we close that God will bring back the women to this army, this army that's deserted. We can't win a war with a deserted army. God wants his army back in the home. Because it's as this army of women, these mighty women, these powerful, praying, protecting, proclaiming mothers come back to the home, wow, we will, we will begin to raise a godly nation.

Now we have a president who wants to make America great again, but it's no man that can make America great again. It's only God, and doing it His way, and His way is the home. Because a nation is only what the homes and families of the nation are. We cannot build a strong nation when the mothers are not in the home. It does not work. This army has got to come back.

“Oh God, we pray now. We ask, Lord God, in the name of Jesus, that You will move by Your Spirit, and You will draw Your army back into the home, oh God. Back to this glorious realm, because this is where the glory is. The enemy has totally deceived women, taking them out of this sphere of glory.

This is where You have placed them, in their glory, Lord, and to raise godly children who will become the glory in the nation. We can only bring Your glory into this nation as we come back to the home, and there to raise godly children.

So, we ask, Lord God, that You will bring a great revival of women coming back to their home, and embracing the children You want them to have, and bringing forth the godly seed and more godly proclaimers to fill the world with Your glory. We ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Evangeline: Guess what? I agree.

 

Episode 5: DON’T VACATE YOUR SENTRY DUTY

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Rocky: Welcome to the podcast FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell, founder, and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy: Hello ladies. I wonder if you got to listen to my last podcast, YOU ARE PART OF A MIGHTY ARMY. If you didn't get to listen to it, do go back and pick it up. You will find it powerful and encouraging. If you did listen to it, I wonder if you have thought anymore about this deserting army that I talked about. God, in His word, in Psalm 68:11-12, talks about a great army. It doesn't say an army. It says a GREAT army, and this army is in the home. Sadly today, there are many who belong to this army who have deserted their home. They're not there in their homes. I believe this is a great matter for prayer in this hour. It is a great revival that is needed of turning back the fathers, as the Bible says, and the mothers to their homes (Malachi 4:5, 6).

Today, of course, we're speaking about this army that's in the home and I want to talk a little bit more about it today. I have a few more thoughts. In fact, when I first got this revelation on Psalm 68, I spoke about it at our Washington Above Rubies retreat earlier this year.

We came to the airport to go home, and as we sat (and there was a whole crowd of us because I had taken with us Serene and Pearl and Evangeline, and not only my daughters, but granddaughters and great-grand babies), so it was a great entourage of us. As we sat down, we looked at this woman who was crying, so sad when you go to an airport and there's someone crying and so upset, but we noticed that she had a military bag beside her. We thought, I wonder if this woman is being deployed.

As we began to talk to her, yes, that was the truth. And why was she crying? This mother was leaving two little children. She was leaving a little baby and a little toddler and being sent away for at least one year; it might've even been two. You can imagine how she felt leaving these little, precious children, and we said to her, wasn't there any way you could get out of it?

 She said, “I tried. I tried. They were many, many single women who wanted to go and take this post. They wanted it with all their hearts. I didn't want it because I'm a mother, but no, they wouldn't give it to them. They said I had to do it.” Of course, if you desert in the army, there is big punishment. Here she was having to go, having to leave her precious children.

Of course, what she didn't realize was that she was deserting an even more powerful army that she belonged to, and it was a more important post that she was leaving. Serene was there, and of course, with her mother heart holding her little newborn, she was totally employing her, "Don't go, don't go, don't go." Of course, that wasn't possible.

I don't believe in women being deployed overseas. In fact, why do they even enlist in the army in the first place? It's not biblical. It's not what God intends. He intends the men to go out to war. Whenever you read in the Word, it's the men going out into the battle. It's the women who are at home holding the fort. We see this in this beautiful picture that we've been talking about in Psalm 68, how the men went out to fight the battle, but the women were at home. They were holding down the hatches at home. They were taking the responsibilities at home.

I want to talk a little bit more about this. Another little thought, I had a wife who is married to a marine talk to me recently and she said, "Nancy, we find that the men in the marines often have to do what is called standing duty.” They must stand for 24 hours on guard. That means without sleep. That's not an easy thing to do. I don't think everybody in the world has the caliber of our current president. I was watching an interview with him just the other night on Hannity, and he was interviewing him as he finished his big talks with Kim Jong Un, and when he was interviewing him, he had been awake for 25 hours, and he looked as fresh as if he had just woken up.

Anyway, back to these men and Marines who must go on standing duty. They are usually given preparation time to prepare to do their duty so that they can catch up on some good sleep and be prepared, ready to be able to do it. Unfortunately, a lot of them don't bother to prepare, and they keep late nights and want to go to their parties and do whatever they want to do. Then it comes to their standing duty, and they can't make it, and they even fall asleep on duty. Of course, there's punishment for that.

I think that relates to us too, as the army in the home. We have a great assignment from God and many times we don't prepare for it. In fact, I believe as mothers we have to prepare for each day.

We can't just do what we like into the hours of the night and think that we're going to be fresh, and able, and strengthened the next day to tackle our job of raising our children, which is a huge job, and managing our home. No, we must prepare.

I think it is important that mothers go to bed at a reasonable hour and don't stay up late reading into the hours of the night. I say that because that is a discipline that I have had to work on. I especially had to work on that as a young mother because I've always loved reading. Of course, before I was married, I would read into the hours of the night. I was a total book worm. I came to marriage, motherhood, all these little children around me, and I just want to keep reading my books and if I had a really good, exciting one, I'd want to read into the hours of the night. Then, could I cope the next day? No, I was hopeless. I had to discipline myself so that I didn't read books. Of course, I would keep exciting books for vacation time and just read the Word as I was going off to sleep because I had to be prepared for the next day.

Now, today, not everybody's a reader, but everybody's on social media. I was talking to a friend recently who belongs to a home school Facebook group. She was saying it was most enlightening because she found that, at about 10:00 pm, this Facebook group, with all these mothers, would come alive. They've got everything done, it's the end of the day, now it's their time. They get on social media, but it's getting later into the evening and often they stay on there for a long time. Instead, they should be preparing for the next day, for their great assignment. 

What about just going to bed with their husband? He's tired, he goes to bed, and you're still up on social media, and he's waiting for you in bed. We’re deserting the bedroom, and then, we're getting so tired we're going to desert our post the next day. These may seem like little things, but we must be mothers who are prepared for the job. That takes me onto another point. I have four more points I'd like to speak about on this subject.

The first one is PURPOSEFUL MOTHERING. I believe that we must be purposeful about our mothering. We can mother in all kinds of ways. In fact, every mother loves her children. I mean, every mother, no matter who she is, would die to save her child. She loves her children passionately, but not every mother loves MOTHERHOOD. They may love their children, but they don't love motherhood. This is something we need to come to because this changes the whole atmosphere, the whole attitude, the whole way of living, of our mothering.

When we not only love our children but we love mothering, it changes. We enter into the joy of mothering. We enter into the purpose of mothering. We enter into the anointing of mothering. Many mothers, they may have an extra job as well, and they can care for their children, clothe and feed them, make sure everything is fine, but mothering is so much more than that. We must have a purpose. We have to know what we're doing. We have to realize this is not a part-time job. This is something God has given to us full-time. We are not to be just pathetic mothers but PASSIONATE mothers, passionate about being mothers, passionate about waking up each morning to fulfill this great career that God has given to us.

You say, "Well help, goodness me, do I have to be all worked up and passionate about mothering?" Well, aren't we meant to walk as Jesus walked?

I was challenged about that this morning. My husband read in our daily devotions the Scripture from 1 John 2:6: "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." If we are born again, if Christ dwells in our hearts, we'll be wanting to walk like He walked. How did Jesus walk? In other words, how did He live? Was it just pathetically? No, he lived passionately. In fact, he lived an abundant life. He said these very words himself: "I came to give you life and to give it to you MORE ABUNDANTLY." That word literally means “super-abundantly, over the top, above and beyond, more than enough.” It's speaking about something that's not ordinary, not status quo, not boring.

It is more. It's not just life, but more than that, because it's Christ's life. We also see how that when Jesus went into the temple, what did he do? In fact, way back in Psalm 69:9, it is a prophetic word talking about Jesus, and it says, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."

One day, when Jesus walked into His house, He saw in the temple all the money-changers at their tables selling and going on. Oh, His heart was grieved, and He just rose up with His passion and His zeal, and He threw out these money changers, and He whipped them out of the temple, and He threw over the tables, and He shooed out the oxen and all the animals, and He cried out, "My House shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves."

When that happened, the disciples remembered that prophetic Scripture which said, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." Well, have we even got a little wee bit of zeal that Jesus had? I believe we should become zealous mothers. Why be boring and status quo? That doesn't change the world. We've got to rise up into a whole new attitude, an attitude of purpose because we have purpose. God has given it to us. He has mandated it. We didn't decide we were going to take up the career of motherhood. No, God put it in us right from when we were created. It's innately within us. He even created us physically for the task, and then He mandated it in His Word. It's a divine calling, not just something we decided to do. It's something mandated from God. Now, anything that we have from God, surely, we can do with passion and zeal. Don't you think? I do.

Another important part of our being this great army of mothers at home is that we're also to be PROTECTING mothers, mothers who are watchdogs, mothers who guard over their homes.

When I was raising our children, I read this Scripture. It’s found in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and it's a prayer that Paul prayed over the Thessalonian believers. As I read this prayer, it was quickened to me, and I just took it up as my own. I made it my purpose. I made it my goal for raising our children. This is what it says:

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly (Now, it's not H-O-L-Y, but W-H-O-L-L-Y, sanctify you wholly, every part of your being) and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." That became my prayer, my purpose. When I stand before God, as I will do, and I will have to present all my children (since those days it's grandchildren as well, and even great grandchildren), and I stand before Him, and I must present them before Him, how do I present them?

Will they be whole--whole in spirit, soul, body? Wow. Now, we may not make the fulfillment of that fully, but we have it as a goal. We have it as a purpose. You see, motherhood is far more than just caring for the bodies of your children. It's their souls, their spirits--and that word PRESERVED. Wow. It's the Greek word, tereo. It means “to guard from loss or injury by keeping your eye upon.”

As watchdogs . . . a watchdog has to be there . . . if the watchdog’s gone, he's not a watchdog. If the mother is gone from the home, if this mother is deserting the home, the watchdog is not there. God wants us to be there, keeping our eye upon. It's not just little wee ones we have to watch over. In fact, we watch our children in different ways at different stages.

I'm sure many of you older mothers will just say Amen to that. When you're watching your little ones, you're having to guard them so that they don't hurt themselves and guard them here and there. You’ve got to watch over them physically.

But then as they get older, you don't have to watch over them physically so much. They've learned to protect themselves, but you still are watching over their hearts, their minds, their souls, their spirits. Oh my. That is a far greater watching, and that takes time, and that takes being there, because often there's a greater watching needed over our older children growing up into their teens more than when they were little. Precious, lovely mothers, can I encourage you? Don't vacate your post, don't vacate your standing duty, don't vacate this great, mandated career God has given to you. Be a purposeful mother, be a protecting mother and be a praying mother.

Of course, one of the greatest ways that we protect our children (especially as they're getting older and they know how to protect themselves physically now) is protecting them in prayer. Oh mothers, do you think that you can get away with mothering without praying for your children? I couldn't. I couldn't survive. I had to pray. I couldn't make it without praying. In fact, when our older children were teens, we moved from the sweet, little, lovely country of New Zealand, and we went over the sea to Australia, and we lived there for the next 10 years. When I took our family there, most of our children were getting into their teens or already in their teens, and we didn't go to a nice little town in Australia. We went to the Gold Coast, Surfer's Paradise, and we pioneered a church right there in Surfer's Paradise.

Our church was right opposite the Jupiter’s Casino on the Gold Coast. In fact, our house looked out on the casino, and the bedrooms of our children looked out on the casino. This place was the playground of Australia, and it was filled with nightclubs and every bit of flesh and materialism.

Bringing my teenagers and my children into this place, how am I going to survive? Well, there was only one way to survive and that was pray. Of course, prayer has power, and no matter where we are, as we pray over our children, God will keep them. I love that Scripture in Deuteronomy 28. It's the blessing chapter. Well, I call it the blessing chapter. I'm sure, as you know, there are far more cursings in that chapter than there are blessings, although I usually just read the blessings.

Now, the first blessing, apart from the fruit of your womb, is: “God will bless you in the city and bless you in the country.” Oh my. What a powerful promise. Now I know, maybe I'm speaking to some moms today and you think, "Oh, if only I could just get out of this city. If only we could take our family out to the country where it's peaceful. It would be so much more wonderful and so much better for raising our children." And yes, I will admit it's a wonderful blessing to have raised your children in the country. Now, our grandchildren, not all of them, but a good many of them have this wonderful blessing, and we now live in the country. Three of the families of our daughters, the three daughters, they've all grown up together around here on the hilltop, so the children have grown up together and not only are they like brothers and sisters, but the cousins are like brothers and sisters and have been so blessed to grow up in this environment, but my children didn't grow up like that. 

I would go out each morning; I would walk the beach. We lived right near Surfer's Paradise/Broadbeach, and I would walk down the beach with the rolling breakers coming in off the Pacific and just cry out to God for my children, cry Out to God. Dear mothers, God hears your cry. He kept our children, even in that evil environment.

In fact, I remember one time, I have to tell you this story. We had a lady come to our church. We were always having visiting people because we were right on the Gold Coast where people are traveling all the time and this lady came, and we always love to show hospitality. Every Sunday, we'd invite people back from church to our home. Often, we’d end up with 30 or 40 people back home. Colin would invite people. I would invite people. And as the children grew up, the teens, they'd be going around inviting other people too. We'd end up with all these people and have such glorious fellowship together.

Anyway, this lady came, she was from Texas. I said, “Oh, come home and have some fellowship.” She was staying at the casino, which was opposite our church, because their family were having a big reunion. She enjoyed the fellowship. I said, “Come back next Sunday after church, we'd love to have you.”

However, during the week I got a call, “Nancy, I'm just calling to say I won't be coming home to your place for dinner after church because I'm going home. I can't stay in this place any longer.” She said, “You see, I come from the south.” Well, I hadn't a clue what that meant.” Come from the south?”  What did that have anything to do with her going home? It wasn't until a few years later when we came to the South (in USA) that I understood.

You see, back there on the Gold Coast, it's a little bit like Florida and maybe LA where it's so hot, and people don't wear very much. In fact, everybody is very scantily-clothed. We would go down to baptize people in the greatest, hugest baptismal pool in the world, the Pacific Ocean. We would have to cover our eyes as we went down past the topless bathers, and this was the scene of the Gold Coast in which we were daily surrounded. Sadly, although you hated it, you’re vexed by it, you kind of got used to that environment.

But this precious sister from Texas, she was there for one week and could not take it. Well, when we eventually came to the States and we came to Nashville, the “Buckle on the Bible Belt,” and way back then when we came (that was about 27 years ago), it was more conservative than it is now, and we arrived. Wow. People were clothed. It was amazing. Wow. All of a sudden, I thought, now I know what that lady was saying when she said, “Oh, I'm from the south.”

Anyway, that's kind of explaining the environment in which our children grew up, but God kept them through prayer, and they ended up being on the offensive, and all our young people, they began to go out onto the streets, into Cavil Mall, which was an open-air mall there. They would preach on the streets, and they would all preach, right from our eldest son right down to little Pearly. Some of you know, Pearl and Serene through Trim Healthy Mama. Back then, Pearly was just a little girl, and she would preach in her squeaky little voice. They got up there, and they preached the Gospel.

I remember my son, Rocklyn, he was just a young teenager who would come out of the surf, barefoot and jeans, and begin to preach like three Billy Graham's put together and crowds would gather as he preached the Gospel. From that, they moved on. Our sons got a vision for putting on a Christian nightclub in our city because it was filled with worldly nightclubs, and they were such a temptation to the young Christians, so our sons felt we needed something for the Christians there. They began to bring in Christian bands, and they just set up the whole thing in our church, where they had food, and pool, and table tennis, and Christian bands, and testimonies for Jesus. They called it Club Genesis. Interestingly enough, the band that was the most popular was, guess who, the Newsboys.

They were the only band that got into the prayer meeting and prayed up a storm about an hour before they played. Eventually my son, Wes, began to do their sound; then he became their manager. He brought them to the states. Of course, he has made them what they are today, one of the very big Christian bands in the USA today. That all happened back on the Gold Coast of Australia.

Time is going, and I think what I'd like to encourage you to do is to go to http://aboverubies.org/index.php/articles-stories. Oh ladies, there's so many stories, testimonies, and articles there to bless you on every subject, but go to the subject of PRAYER IN THE HOME and under that, you'll want to read everything there, but particularly pick up HOW TO PRAY FOR YOUR CHILDREN. Here’s the link: https://tinyurl.com/HowToPrayForChildren

You could print it out. These are the prayers that my husband and I pray over our children, and I have Scriptures with every prayer. Now, you can't pray every one over them every day. There's so many. You take one each day and pray it over your children. In fact, never let a day go by without you and your husband together, praying over your children, each one by name.

Now, you can do it because if I can do it, you can do. We've got more names than you have. I'm sure we have more names than you have with all our children and their spouses, and their children, and their children and their children. Maybe you've just got seven or eight names, you can do it. Talk to your husband, say, "Darling, I feel we just can't get through without praying for our children. When do you think would be the best time? You tell me, do you think we should get together in the morning before you go to work? Or maybe in the evening? You tell me the best time and I'll make it, and we'll just pray together."

If you can't pray anything else with your husband, pray for your children. Check that out. Check out how to pray for your husband and check out our priestly responsibility. That's another powerful article I give you about how to pray over your children. Here’s the link for this one: https://tinyurl.com/OurPriestlyResponsibility

Now, I've got one more point, but I think we'll do that in our next episode. It's special, ladies, because I'm going to ask my daughter, Evangeline, to come and join me in that episode, and we're going to talk about the next point then. Let me pray for you as we end this session.

“Dear Father, I thank You for these precious mothers. Oh God, I pray that You will make the conviction of your mandated mothering more and more powerful in their minds and in their hearts. Bring them in to Your purpose for mothering. Oh God. Raise them up to be mighty watchdog, protective mothers, not only over the bodies of their children, but their souls and their spirits and their minds and their emotions. And Lord, I pray that You'll make them, above all, praying mothers, mothers who never let a day go by without praying and interceding for their children. Oh God, I ask it in the precious name of Jesus, and I ask Your blessing over them. In Jesus' name. Amen.”

 

Episode Four – YOU ARE PART OF A MIGHTY ARMY

Psalm 68:11, 12 tells the wonderful story of two armies. One is the army of men, and the other is the army of women in the home! Yes, the word that is used is “tsaba” and means “an army, a mass of persons especially organized for war, a host, battle, warfare.” And this army is in the home.

Well, they are supposed to be in the home. The Hebrew word is in the feminine gender and therefore it means women. And this army at home is also called “SHE,” not “he.” Sadly, a big portion of this army have deserted! We need them back!

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. Good to be with you again. A couple of weeks ago, I was speaking to you about a beautiful Hebrew word. It's one of the Hebrew words for “dwell.” I think I told you that the word “dwell” is used 468 times in the Bible.

God loves the word “dwell” because He is a dwelling God. He loves to dwell in us, and He loves to dwell in our homes.

There are 31 different Hebrew words for that word, “dwell.” One of them is “naveh.” I was talking to you about it, and how the full meaning of the word is to “stay at home, to make your home lovely, pleasant, satisfying.” It's a dwelling place. It's used of God's Temple. It's used of homes for people, and homes for flocks and animals. It's a word that describes home because God wants all His creation to live in a home.

Now today I'd like to take you to another Scripture where this word is used. It's in Psalms 68:12. I will have to do some explaining about it as we go along but let me read it to you.

“Kings of armies did flee apace, and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.” The words, “tarried at home,” in the Hebrew is the word “naveh,” n, a, v, e, h. That word talks about a home, meaning “lovely, pleasant, satisfying.”

In fact, one commentary of this Scripture and this Hebrew word says that it means the “inhabitress of the home.” When it says, “she that tarried at home,” it means the “inhabitress of the home, the one who inhabits the home.” This is a wonderful Scripture because, dear ladies, we've got to get back to Scripture to understand who we are as women and God's ultimate purpose for us. We find God's truth for us all the way through the Word of God.

Here we pick up another Scripture where it says “she.” Did you hear me say that word? She, she. Okay. In my Bible, I have put a circle around it. You can do that in your Bible too. Because it doesn't say “he that tarried at home, he that dwelt in the home.” No, she that dwelt in the home.

It is God's intention for the woman to dwell in the home. That's His plan. It's not His plan for the men to be dwelling at home raising the children. Although today we do have this happening, and we even have it happening amongst Christian people. I know many who say to me, “Well, my husband, well, he can't earn as much as me. I can earn far more the him. So, it would only make sense for him to stay home and look after the children while I go out to work and bring in the income.”

Now that does sound very wise. Sounds feasible. Sounds with human wisdom the best thing to do. But human wisdom is foolishness with God. He laughs at human wisdom, even if it just looks so good. In fact, that is how the devil tempted Eve in the very beginning.

If you remember in Genesis, chapter three, how did he tempt Eve? He knew he couldn't tempt her with anything evil. Goodness, here was a woman who walked with God every evening in the cool of the day. At the end of the day, work was done, and God came and walked with them at that time and fellowshipped with them. How could someone like that be tempted by the devil?

The devil knows he can't tempt you with anything evil too. And so, He will use good things. Even things that may seem wise. Yes, they seem wise to the human mind. So, we read in Genesis 3:6 and it says here, yes, that he made the food so that she would see that it was “good.” Yes, that's the word, “good.” And that it was “pleasant.” It was “to be desired to make one wise.” All those things, oh, it looked good. It looked wise. And that's how she was tempted.

Dear ladies, because something looks wise, and it may look the best thing, it doesn't mean to say it is the best thing, because we either believe the Word of God or we don't. We are either believers in His infallible eternal Word, or we're not.

I am amazed how many times so many Christians, you'll speak the Word to them, and then they'll say, “but, da da, da, da,da” and give their circumstances and what they think. And it's opposite to the Word. And they think they're arguing with me. Oh no, I just quoted the Word. They don't even listen to it.

I believe we must get back to the Word. Everything I believe, everything I stake my life on, every principal I have in life, it's got to be backed by the Word.

Here we have God's truth, “she that dwelt in the home.” It's the mother dwelling in the home. That beautiful word “naveh.”

Okay, let's look a little bit more at the whole context of this Scripture. It's in Psalm 68, which is talking about victory over war. And these two, there's two Scriptures that go together, tell a story.

Let me read them to you. We'll go to verse 11: “The Lord gave the word, great was the company of those that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace, and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.”

All right, I'm reading King James. So, let's unfold it a little more. “The Lord gave the Word.” This is a Word of truth that God gives. And then there were some people who published it.

“Great was the company.” Now my King James Bible, in the margin it says for the word “company,” it says it should be “army.” Army. Did you hear that? Army! Yes, that is the exact Hebrew word. The Hebrew word is “tsaba,” t, s, a, b, a. It means literally “a mass of persons, especially organized for war, an army, battle, warfare. A huge host of warriors.” That is the word.

So, it's talking about an army here and then it goes on to say, “Great.” Great. Notice it was “great,” not little.

“Great was the army of those that published it.” Now in the Hebrew, the word “that published it,” is the word “bassar.”  It has a little bit more to it in the Hebrew when you read the whole phrase, but that phrase is in the feminine plural. Most translations of the Word of God translate, “The Lord gave the Word. Great was the ARMY OF WOMEN who published it.” So, dear ladies, this Scripture is talking about us. It's talking about women. But do you notice it's also talking about an army? Yes, we are an army. Yes, we are not to be trifled with. We are an army.

And then the next verse talks about how another army was going out at to attack the enemy. They won the victory and all the kings flew away because they were winning the victory.

We see here in these two Scriptures, two different armies. Isn't that amazing? Now the army that it's speaking about here, the women, in the next verse, it tells where the women are meant to be; in the home.

We've got an army who is in the home, and an army who goes out to fight the enemy. So, we've got two armies here. You’ve got this word “tsaba.” There’s also another word in the Bible that talks about us women being an army.

Did you know this one is in Proverbs 31? We all know the Scripture. Proverbs 31:10, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” The word “virtuous” in the Hebrew is the Hebrew word “chayil.” This word literally means “a force, an army, virtuous, valiant, strength.” It’s interesting, ladies, that this same word “chayil,” is used to describe valiant men in the Bible.

In 1 Chronicles 26:7, we read about “strong men.” The word is “chayil.” We read in the next verse about “able men,” same word, “chayil.” In 1 Samuel 31:12, we read about “valiant men.” In 2 Chronicles 26:12-13, we read about an “army” = “chayil,” and “mighty men of valor,” = “chayil.” And so it goes on. There's loads and loads of Scriptures about valiant men, and it's all that word.

And then we come to Proverbs 31:10, “Who can find a virtuous woman?” It's still the word “chayil,” an army. Oh my. But maybe the translators didn't really know how to translate that word for women. So, they used virtuous women instead of valiant women. Because God wants us to be valiant women in our homes, to be a mother in the home. The anointing of motherhood is an anointing of gentleness and nurturing and nourishing and caring and loving and protecting.

But there's an also another aspect to mothering. That is that valiant aspect of mothering, that watch- dog-like spirit, that thing that rises up in a mother to protect her child from evil, from danger, or for whatever is happening. She will give her life to lay down, to save her child, and she will protect.

She is like a lion, and she's like a mother bear. Why do we say mother bear? Because a mother bear will fight to protect her little ones. And so, we have this gentle, beautiful, nurturing spirit, but we also have this fighting, valiant spirit to protect our children, our little ones and our bigger ones, to protect them from evil.

It's the same dichotomy we see in the life of Christ Himself. We go to Revelation 5:3-6. Remember how John was so sad because there was no one worthy to open the books. An angel came and said to John, “Don't worry, because the Lion of the Tribe of Judah will come. He will open the books. He is worthy.”

And so, John looks. But instead of seeing the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, he sees a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Christ is the Lion. He is also the Lamb. In motherhood, we are nurturing, but we also value and protect. God calls us an army.

We also see another part of the story here, “the Lord gave the word.” Maybe that was the word, “The enemy is coming!” Maybe the women had the responsibility to go out and pass it from home to home, to tell the men, “Get ready for war! You've got to go out against the enemy! You've got to protect our city! You've got to protect our families!”

They took the word out because great was the army of women who proclaim the news. Now they go to proclaim it, and that army gets ready to go out to war. There's the army that goes out, but of course, there must be an army at home.

The homes must be protected. The women have to take on even more responsibility because their men are out at war. That's greater responsibility for the woman. You know how it is when your husband is away. If your husband is in the military, and he's had to go overseas, you feel the weight of all that you have to do on your own.

Or your husband has to go away on business for a certain time. I said to my husband the other day, “Oh Darling, you just have to stay around forever, because if you go away from me, if something happens to you, this house will fall down around my ears.”

I am so unpractical. I don't know how to fix anything, but my husband can fix anything. When something goes wrong, he's there to fix it. He's there also as my protector. If he's not here, well, what do I do? I've got to rise up.

So, the women had even more responsibility, but they would not vacate their homes. They are there to protect their homes and to protect their children while their husbands are out. This is an army in the home. She that dwells in the home. Let's get it straight, dear ladies, okay?

But then, praise the Lord! They win the victory. Did you read “the kings of armies flee, they flee, they flee.” It's repeated twice because it was a great victory, and they won. They come home now, and they're bringing all the spoils, and all the beautiful gold and silver, and costly garments.

The Bible says that they don't bring it home and just appoint, “Okay, Wife, you can have this, and you can have that.” No, they bring home the spoils and they lay it at the feet of the women. It is the women who have the privilege to divide the spoils among themselves, and among their children, and among those who are needy. They had been given that responsibility.

You see how beautiful it is. Everyone has their part. We are made to believe in this society today that the woman, she is at home with her little ones, in her four walls looking after her children. No. She has a mighty, mighty task.

Once again, she begins to proclaim, because when they come home with the news, the women are out on the streets again, with their timbrels, singing the songs of victory as they did so much in the Bible. When they came through the Red Sea, Miriam went forth and danced with the timbrels, and they all joined her in praise to God.

And I remember when David slew Goliath, when he won the battle over the Philistines, he'd come home. And the ladies would come out of their homes with their tambourines and timbrels, and they would sing, “Saul has slain his thousands, but David has slain his tens of thousands!” They would sing the victory songs.

The men play their part in the war, in the battle, of chasing the enemy. The women play their part on the home front. Amen, are you getting the picture, dear precious ladies?

But another thing we must think about. No army can win a battle if they have deserters. Oh well, they can get away with a few deserters, but imagine if more and more and more soldiers began to desert the army. In fact, we all know, especially in bygone times, my, if you deserted, you got shot.

Now they don't do that. But they do have a very serious punishment for deserting. Deserting is a very serious offense in the army. I was just checking it out on the Internet recently, and I read all about it. There's different aspects of desertion and I won't go through them all with you here, but I got up to number five, which is the desertion of abandoning watch, or guard.

I said,” Oh my, I'd better take notice of this one because this is one that God has mandated to us as women. He has made us to be the watchdogs of our homes. He has made us to guard and watch over our children's lives, not only physically but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We are to watch and guard them and we're responsible for that. We can't do that effectively unless we are there in the home, watching over them.

If we're out of the home, we can't be watching. We don't know what goes on. We've got to be there. There are women who will stay home with their little ones, even their little bigger ones, but then when their children are getting older, they think, “Oh, well, they're great. They can manage, they're on their own.” They go off and out into the workforce and they don't realize this is such a very important time as well.

Oh, I just remember the sad, sad story. A dear, dear, dear friend, so close to me. Beautiful, beautiful mother. And this mother was working. She didn't want to work. She wanted to be at home. She had such a big mother heart, but she was under the illusion that she had to help her husband, and she helped her husband by going out to work.

But then she began to see it wasn't working, and she began to become unwell. She was working about three jobs at once at one time and things were just getting worse and worse. And she was realizing more and more too, that, okay, this wasn't right.

She wasn't really a helper to her husband by going out, because she wasn't there in the home. She wasn't even there for him. She wasn't even there to prepare a meal for him.

But then the clinch day came. One day this dear friend came home to her unguarded home . . .  a home where she wasn't there. She came home to find her teenage daughter in the shower with the neighbor next door. She was totally devastated. Devastated!

She realized she could not stay away from her home a day longer. She gave her notice. She came back home. She said, “I'm not allowing this to happen to my younger children.”

You see, we must be in the home, dear ladies. But as I read this No. 5, the area of desertion on the watch . . . by the way, Titus 2:3-5 tells the older women to teach the younger women to keep the home. That word there actually means “to guard the house, to watch over the home, like the keeper of the castle who keeps the keys and will not allow any intruder in. It's a guarding watch.

Then we also have that word in Proverbs 31:27, where it says “She.” Do you notice that word? “She,” again. So many times in Proverbs 31 it states “She.” What “she” does . . .  “She looks well to the ways of her household, and eats not the bread of idleness.”

Once again, it doesn't say, “He looks well to the ways of his household.” No, that's not his job. His job is out there to earn the money, provide the money. Well, he may be doing a job that he can do at home. That's so great, but it's his work, and he must give his time to that.

But it's the woman, the mother who has been given the charge, the mandate, to manage her home, to guard her home. That word, “She looks well to the ways of her household,” is the exact same word as “watchman.” When it talks about watchmen on the walls, and you read about it many times in the Bible, look up the Hebrew. It's exactly the same word as “She looks well to the ways of her household.” It means “to guard.”

We have been given a mandate, a command, to guard our home, to guard our marriage, to guard the lives of our children—spirit, soul, and body.

Now this is what it says regarding ABANDONING WATCH IN THE ARMY, No 5.

• “The accused is a member of a guard, watch duty.” Now that's what we are, mothers. We are members of a watch guard and we are on watch duty. We are on sentry duty. We're an army, remember.
• “He has absented himself or herself from this guard.” Absented . . . hey, isn't that amazing? So many women today are absenting themselves from their sentry duty, from their guard duty, then leaving their home unguarded.
• “The absence was without authority.” Have they been to the One who gave them the mandate, the King of Kings, written in His word? Have they got authority to leave their home? No, no, they have not.
• “The accused intended to abandon his or her post.” So many women today are abandoning. Dear precious ladies, the actual word is “deserter.”

We are an army. The sad thing, this powerful, powerful army in the home is weakening. There are hundreds, there are thousands and thousands of deserters. The enemy has deceived the minds of women, and he has wooed them out of the home to leave their homes unguarded, their precious children unguarded.

Oh yes. They can care for them. They can cook the meals, they can clothe them. They can do all that. There's far more. We are responsible to guard their minds and hearts and souls and spirits. We must be there. We are an army, we're a soldier against the enemy who comes in to intrude into our homes, who comes to want to take our children. He wants to get hold of them. You can't get hold of them when there is a praying mother, a guarding mother in the home, dear precious, precious, dear ladies.

Oh, I believe that in this hour, there must be a returning, a returning, a returning to the home, back to our posts, back to our sentry duty, back to our guarding the home. Because God wants this army, a powerful army, in the home, as well as going out.

There are two armies, you are part of the army that is at home. “She dwelt in the home.” All the works, all the blessings, and all the responsibilities that she has in her post in the home. Let's embrace it.

Will you do that today? Be encouraged.

Dear Father, we come to You today in the Name of Jesus. We think, oh God, of this huge army that You have planned to be in the home, because our nation is only as powerful as the home. It is only as powerful as the marriages and the home life.

“Oh God. we grieve so many mothers who have been deserting. Many have been doing it willingly, but many, dear Father, they are doing it ignorantly. They're wanting to do the best. They are just following what others say. They think it looks good, but oh God, bring them back to Your precious Word, to Your Truth, Lord, to the vision that You have and that You planned right from the very beginning.

You set it out. You showed the way and Lord, You created the home. You put the woman in the home. Lord, You want her to be a valiant soldier in the home. I pray that You'll bring back the women into the home, bring back this mighty, valiant force into the home, that we will raise up godly marriages in godly, strong homes in this nation, for this is the only way that we can make a strong nation.

Oh God, I ask that You do this, that You will bring this revival, oh God. Lord, we think of the last words that You gave at the end of the Old Testament, but Lord God, before that great day comes, that great and terrible day, that You will send the anointing of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers and the mothers back to their homes, Lord, not wooing them into the workforce, but back to their homes. Lord God, we pray that You will do this in the Name of Jesus.

Bless these precious mothers today in Jesus' Name, Amen.”

 

Episode Three – Welcome to Our Ladies' Luncheon

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello lovely ladies. It's such a joy to be with you again today. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing in your home, this is from my home to yours.

Don't you love that song at the beginning? That song, “In That Home,” was written by my dear friend Michael Tait, who is the lead singer of the Newsboys. He wrote that song about his own mother who has now passed away. It was a tribute to her, and the home she created, and how it was always an open home. So many people, needy and hurting people, came into this home to find life and love and the Gospel of Jesus.

Well, I wonder what's been happening in your home since I spoke to you last. We've just had a continual round of birthdays, and a baby dedication, which is pretty normal in our large family of so many children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren coming along.

We also had a Ladies' Luncheon. Maybe I'll tell you a little bit about that. Perhaps, although we've already enjoyed it, I'll just bring you in to sit around our table with us, to catch up with the joy of this.

This was a Ladies' Luncheon, just in the family for my daughters, daughters-in-law, and close family around. \We do this about once a year because we all live such busy lives that we don't have time. We celebrate all the children's birthdays, but we often don't have time to celebrate our own birthdays with one another.

Of course, each wife enjoys her birthday with her husband and her family, but this is something we do together. So, we do it once a year, and okay, it's happy birthday to all of us.

Last Wednesday it was just nine of us sitting around my table here in our home. Three of the girls were missing. Two of my daughters-in-law were out of state. But each one brought a special dish, something lovely, usually a Trim Healthy Mama dish.

We sit around the table and as we're eating, we'll open it up for each one to share something. We're very big on sharing together because this is what makes a meal time. I'm a great believer in that food is not just eating food. Food is also sharing our hearts with one another. It's food and fellowship.

As one writer said that gathering round the table is “Eye to eye, face to face, table fellowship.” That's what makes a meal so beautiful.

So, we opened it up, and because we're all very talkative and outgoing, I usually have to be an umpire. We started to go around the table, not everybody talking when they like. So, we started with Pearl. Perhaps I'll just tell you a few of the things they shared, not everybody of course, or we'd be here all day!

Pearlie began to share just a few blessings, just basking in the blessings of God, in their new home. Many of you may know that just before Christmas last year, the home they were living in was burned to the ground. They lost absolutely everything that they owned, but praise the Lord, they were already in the process of building another home.

And so, they were able to move into that, and she was so enjoying it, loving it, and loving being a grandmother, entering into this new role of enjoying little Warren Charles, her eldest daughter, Meadow’s son.

Then we moved on to my sister Kate. Now I'm so blessed to have her living here. For many years, Kate and I hardly saw one another. We were in different countries of the world. I was back in New Zealand, moved to the Philippine Islands, back to New Zealand, then to Australian, and then we came to the States. She was living up in Canada. But eventually through circumstances, a few years back, she came to the States too.

Kate is a wonderful intercessor. She loves to pray. A number of years ago, God put on Kate's heart a burden to pray in the square in Franklin for revival. Now Franklin is our nearest, what would I call it, nearest yuppie city. Because we live out here in the woods in Primm Springs, and we have three little towns around us. In one direction, it's Dickson; in another direction, it's Centerville; and in another direction, it's Columbia. They're all about half an hour away.

But if we travel an hour, we'll get to Franklin. That's our favorite place to go. Kate lives nearer to Franklin. Way back, after the Civil War, there was a revival in the city of Franklin. And it happened through prayer. It happened through the prayers of E. M. Bounds, and other men praying with him.

E. M. Bounds is a man who was, he's no longer with us today; a man who loved to pray. In fact, I think he has written the most powerful books on prayer that have ever been written. If you have never read them, get hold of them. You can just get them off the internet.

Of course, I am a great believer in not so much reading about prayer, but actually praying. I believe that if you want to learn how to pray, you don't read books about how to pray, you pray! But if you want to be stirred up in the ministry of prayer, do read E. M. Bounds. He's just so challenging.

Kate read about the revival that happened in Franklin. She felt, oh my, we need another move of God, another revival in this city of Franklin. So, she began. She asked others to join with her. She has a few that join her each week. So, every single Friday lunchtime, she goes to the square in Franklin and prays for revival.

Kate has been faithful to do this year after year, rain or sunshine. There have been times when she was the only one who turned up. But she still prays. At one time she told me: “I was the only one that day. God put it on my heart not to stand there and pray in the square, but to actually kneel down.” She said, “I felt rather embarrassed, but I obeyed the Lord and knelt down, the only sole person, and cried out for revival in Franklin.”

Well, Kate's blessing was that just the other week, a lady turned up to pray with her. She said to her, “Kate, do you know that this is the anniversary of your praying in the square? It's the tenth anniversary. At this time, I want to join with you again today as we celebrate this anniversary of praying for ten years.”

Kate said she was just so blessed, because she hadn't counted the years. She had forgotten how many years she had been faithfully praying in the square. But she realized God has not forgotten. God has been counting the years, even when she hadn't been counting. She felt so blessed that God encouraged her. He was saying, “Kate, I've been counting the years. I've been watching you pray every week, rain, cold, or snow.”

She shared that encouragement. I know God is going to faithfully honor those prayers. We don't know how many more years she'll have to pray. Maybe it'll be a few months. Maybe it'll be more years. But God has heard those cries.

Who was speaking next? It was my sister-in-law, Judy, all the way from New Zealand. And that's why we had our luncheon this time, when Judy was visiting us, so she could be part of it. She's married to my only brother. His name is Grant. Of course, we say, “Grant,” (with the sound of “ant”) having come from New Zealand. I know that most Americans say “Grahnt,” but I can't get used to saying “Graant,” so of course I call him who he really is, “Grant.”

So, Judy began to share. She's here on her own, because, sadly, my brother is no longer able to travel. He's younger than me, but he has developed Parkinson's, and he's no longer able to travel. I'll get on to that story in a little minute, because this is what Judy shared with us, what she's having to face now, with this new season in her life.

But before I do, I must tell you another story about my sister-in-law, which is quite amazing. Judy is a twin, her twin sister is Jan, and they are identical twins. I can remember when Judy would come to our home, way back in the days when she and my brother were courting. Sometimes Jan would come too, but we wouldn't know who was who, I mean they were just so identical.

Well, praise the Lord, they were identical, because if they weren't, well, we may not have known Judy today. Because way back then they didn't really put a nametag or identification on the babies. Somehow there was another set of twins that were born at the same time in the hospital. For some reason, nobody knew that it happened at the time, but these twins got mixed up.

These twins were about 20 months or so, maybe two years. One day Judy's mother was wheeling her twins down the street in her push chair, as we call it in New Zealand, just pushing it into the shop. There she meets another lady with twins. That's so exciting to meet someone else with twins! I know, because I also had twins!

Of course, she goes up to them, and oh, before their eyes, they see something dreadful! Because one of the twins in her pushchair looked exactly like one of the twins in the pushchair of the other mother! And vice versa! The mothers looked and realized something had happened. Because they were identical, it was obvious. Here were these two sets of twins, but with two different mothers! One with one, one with the other. Can you imagine that happening to you?

Well, of course, they had to go and get checked, find out which twin belonged to each family. They had to face the most traumatic experience of giving up a baby which they thought was theirs, they thought belonged to them, whom they had loved, and were bonded to completely.

Now my sister-in-law, Judy, she was the one who was with the other mother. She had to be given back to her true mother. And then her mother had to part a baby whom she loved. It was a most traumatic experience for all.

Fortunately, Judy's parents were very godly people, and God gave them great strength to handle the situation. Judy didn't know about this herself until later on in her life, in latter years. I mean, not when she was really older, but when she was grown up.

But she never suffered one little emotional stress in her life. If you could see my sister-in-law today, she is the most “got-it-together” person you could ever imagine in your whole life. I believe that's because of the parents who were able to embrace this new baby, which was theirs, and begin to pour out their love on this baby, and bond with this little one.

Sadly, sadly, that didn't happen in the other home. This we have only found out in very latter years. Because it was such a sore point in the parents’ lives, and when Judy did find out, she found out through her grandparents. She was never allowed to talk about it with her parents. They wouldn't talk about it.

In fact, when Judy and Grant, my brother, were courting, I'll never forget one mealtime. They came and had dinner. You know how it is when you get the two families together. Her family came to have dinner with our family. And interestingly, her father had been groomsman at my father's wedding, and then they had parted ways all these years until, now, these two were courting.

So, my father is there at the table, and he just puts his foot in it. He says, “Well, that must have been a pretty terrible time when those twins were all mixed up!” Oh my. You could have cut the air with a knife!

Her father said, “We don't talk about that, thank you!” That was the end of that conversation!

It was only when her parents passed away, that Judy wanted to find out, “Who was this woman, who was my first mother?” She was able to track her down. She shared with us that when she went to this home in great trepidation, and knocked on the door, this woman came to the door. She said to her, “I'm your Susan,” because that's what they had called her.

Well, this woman, she just ran! She ran into the house screaming, “My Susan is here, my Susan is here, my Susan is here!” This woman had never ever never got over losing that child.

In fact, when Judy was able to meet the other twin, then they discovered for the first time what had happened. The twin who had been given back, it was the first time she could understand why she was never accepted in the family. She was rejected. She wasn't loved. She was never even hugged. They couldn't accept her. So, it was a terrible thing that happened in that other family.

So anyway, that's the story of my sister-in-law. But she is so amazing today. It didn't really affect her because she had wonderful parents.

As we were all sharing about our lives, Judy began to share about facing life now with her husband, who has Parkinson's. Because my brother and his wife Judy have always been the most adventurous couple in the world, they have traveled, and they have done exciting things with their family. They were just wonderful parents.

Then as their children have grown up, the children have left the shores of New Zealand. Two of them live here in Tennessee.

We are blessed to have Melissa, her daughter, here with us. Their eleven children, soon to be twelve, because Melissa and Cal, are in the process of adopting a little Down's Syndrome baby from China. They're no longer able to have any more. They're blessed with eleven, praise the Lord, and so now they're adopting this little baby. They're going to call this coming baby, Jewel, because all their children, their names start with “J.”

So, Melissa lives here, and Judy’s other son Levi lives here, and another daughter lives in Majorca, in Spain. So of course, they had to travel to be with their children.

Now, Grant can't travel. He just can't go too far away, because Parkinson's is not only physical, but very emotional. You can't cope with too much. So now all their plans of visiting so much with their children who live overseas and doing other wonderful things together have come to a halt. They’ve always had the most glorious marriage. They just wanted to enjoy these wonderful retirement years together, and now, Judy, who feels so fit and full of energy and full of adventure, is stuck.

Now, she came this time to see her family here. She came for three weeks, leaving Grant. Praise the Lord, her twin sister and husband live right next door, so they were able to look after Grant while she was away.

But most of their plans have had to change. She was just sharing how she had to come to this, and accept this season of her life, and accept this situation with her husband. Not to be bitter, not to be disappointed, but to embrace what's happening now, and to make the most of this.

Of course, she loves to be useful, so there is an Old People's home just down the road from her. She goes down there and visits and talks these people, helping where she can. She just loves to make herself useful.

And of course, she's there to support her husband. But I thought it was such a beautiful thing to see her attitude. And to see, how, without disappointment and bitterness, she is embracing this, and still full of joy, and making the most of her life.

So, of course, we continued around the table, and I won't go on with all the rest of the stories of everybody else. But you can just imagine what a beautiful time it was. Of course, we laughed, and of course, we cried. These are wonderful times, wonderful memories.

I would encourage you, dear wives and mothers, to make memories in your family. Make things happen. It's so easy to just go along, in the busyness of life, and everything we must do, and forget to make memories.

Always be thinking of special things that you can do, special meals that you can make, special functions you can create to make happen with your family. Or even to bless others outside your family.

I have done so many different things over the years. I remember, and I used to find, even when I was raising our children (they're all grown now), but when I was raising them, and in the home, I found that my home was the most powerful place to touch people for God. I had a home. You have a home.

Oh yes, a home is a sanctuary for your family. But it's a home to bless others. You can impact hundreds of lives. I'm sure we've impacted thousands of lives all throughout the years in our home.

I remember one time I got an idea to put on a function for the older people in our community, the over seventies. So, I got with a few friends of the other mothers with their little children, and said, “Hey, let's do something! Let's reach out and bless the older ones, shall we?”

This time it got so big that we couldn't even do it in the home. I’ve since done others for older people in the home, but this one turned out so big that we had to do it in our church hall. We got everybody involved. We got young people involved, going out in their vans and in their cars to go and get these old people from the nursing homes. Everyone who was able enough to get into a car, we invited them to this beautiful luncheon.

Oh, and then we got people in the church excited. We'd gotten to cook the most beautiful food, the most beautiful cakes, and we put on a spread, like a wedding feast! And then when it was all spread out, I said, “Oh goodness me, what are we going to do with all this food? We will never eat it all!”

But you cannot believe it. All those dear old people, oh, they had never seen a feast like it for years! And you know what? They ate every little bit. It was all gone! They just loved it, and then we put on a little concert for them. We got our children to do put on talent for them. They could sing, or they could get up and recite memory verses. They could play their instruments. Old people love to see the young children doing things. So, we put on a beautiful concert for them.

But you can do that in your home. Invite a couple of older people to your home for a meal. Then you could have your children practice up some songs or musical items for them. Sing a song, say a poem, whatever. These are beautiful things you can do to bless others outside your home.

So always be thinking of new ideas, creative ways to do special things as a family, and special things to reach out beyond your family. I think of that wonderful Scripture, and I'll close this session with this Scripture, 1 Timothy 5:10.

Here Paul is writing to Timothy, and he's talking about all the widows, there seemed to be many widows in the church, and Timothy didn't know what to do with them. So, Paul said, “Okay, here is what you do, Timothy. All the widows who have children or grandchildren, they must care for them. They must look after them.”

That's still God's plan today, not pushing our old people off in homes where we don't have to worry about them, but looking after them, bringing them into our own homes. But there were still some widows who had no one to look after them.

So, he said, “Okay, if they are true widows of 60 years of age and older, and they have lived a certain lifestyle, I want you to look after them. You can care for them and provide for them from the church.”

So here it says that if she has lived a lifestyle that is “Well reported of for good works, if she has brought up children.”

God always puts first things first. The first thing is: “if she has brought up children.” Has she embraced children, welcomed them, fed them.” Actually, that's the word for “brought up.”

The word in the Greek is:

teknotropheo.

teknon = child

trepho = to feed, to nourish, to pamper with food.

It's all part of our mothering—feeding, feeding, feeding, cooking, cooking, cooking. Never despise it. It's fantastic, it's part of what you do.

But then it goes on to see the heart of this woman, that reached out even beyond her children.

“If she has loved strangers.” Her heart was open in hospitality. Her doors were open to invite people into her home, to sit around her table for a meal, to stay the night. She had a big heart.

And of course, once again, hospitality entails feeding. You can't invite people to your home without feeding them.

And then it says: “If she has washed the saints' feet.” Well, back in Bible times, when they came into the home, they washed their feet because they'd been walking the dusty roads with their sandals. So, it was the custom when they came into the home—feeding them, washing the saints' feet. This talks about reaching out to the lowly ones and the needy ones.

It goes on to say: “If she has relieved the afflicted.” You can't relieve those who are needy and poor and afflicted without giving them food.

In blessing people, in opening your home, making things happen, it all entails food. So, just enjoy making food! It's part of what you're meant to do. It makes wonderful memories, and you can make your home so exciting.

Let me pray.

“Dear Father, I thank You for all these precious ladies listening. I pray that You will give them a vision for their home. I pray that You will put on their hearts the creative ideas, things they can do in their homes to bless their families, to bless so many needy people outside their families. And Father, that You will make their home a place where people feel Your presence, where they find You, and where they know that You are real. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris