PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 209: THE LAND OF MOTHERHOOD, PT 20
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 209: THE LAND OF MOTHERHOOD, Part 20
Today I continue the 15 points of when God wants us to rejoice! Most of these situations are when we are going through difficult and challenging times. The joy that God give is not just for happy times but a deep joy that undergirds our lives even in the most trying and sorrowful times of our lives. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:10: "Our hearts ache, but we always have joy."
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! We are continuing our journey through the land, and we are still on point No. 15, IT IS A JOYFL LAND. Last week, I began giving you some points about when do we rejoice? I actually have 15 points, so we’ll continue them today.
To recapitulate, last week,
No. 1 was, WE ARE TO REJOICE ALL THE DAY.
No. 2. WHEN A BABY IS BORN.
No. 3. THAT OUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN.
No. 4. EVEN WHEN PEOPLE PERSECUTE US, HATE US, AND SPEAK AGAINST US.
Now, we are up to point number five.
No. 5. WHEN YOU GO THROUGH A FIERY TRIAL
Though the Word of God speaks so much about joy, it doesn’t only speak about joy when everything is going great. It speaks about joy in the difficult times.
1 Peter 4:12-14: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.
Now we see in this passage, when Peter was writing to the early Christian believers, many of them were facing persecution. They were facing hard times. And yet, he gives three different Greek words here about rejoicing. Some of them we looked at yesterday because they are repeated in different Scriptures. But let’s look at these ones.
“But rejoice,” even when you’re going through a fiery trial. That’s the word chairo. It means “cheerful, happy, joyful.” So, then we go down to that “ye may be glad,” that’s chairo, too.
Also, “with exceeding joy.” Now, that’s a Greek word. Let me see if I can pronounce it for you: agalliao. It means “to jump for joy, to exult, to be exceeding glad, rejoice greatly.”
We were talking last week about how it says the same thing in Matthew chapter 5:11, 12: “When men shall revile you and persecute you and speak all manner of things against you,” to rejoice, to jump for joy. Now, that’s not something we’re used to doing when we’re going through hard times, is it? But that’s what the Bible says. And then it says: “if you are reproached for the Name of Christ, happy” (supremely blessed) are you because when you’re going through times like this, the Spirit of Glory and the Spirit of God rest upon you.
No. 6. WHEN YOU GO THROUGH MANY TEMPTAIONS
1 Peter 1:6-7: “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”
Sometimes we find it so hard to go through the challenges, the difficulties that we face in life. But we have to look at them, dear friends, we’ve got to look at them in the light of eternity. Because what does it say here? That when we are “tried by fire,” that going through this, it will “be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”
As I’m reading this Scripture, I’m thinking of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment. . .” We rarely think of it like that, do we? We think of “our light affliction”? Oh, no, it seems so heavy to bear. “Which is but for a moment”? Well, oh my. We think it’s going on forever! When is it going to end? But this is how we’re to look at it, in the light of eternity.
Let’s read it again: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
So, dear ones, you’re going through a difficult time, a hard time, it seems so heavy, it’s just weighing you down and you wonder how long you have to go through it, I want you to put it on God’s scales.
OK, let’s put our burden on the scale. We think it’s so heavy, but when we put it on the scales, then we see God’s scales. We see what it does for us. Did you notice what it works for you? An “eternal weight of glory.” God uses five adjectives to describe what our prize, our crown, what we will receive in glory. It says: “it works for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Five adjectives to describe the glory that will be revealed in us.
When we put our burden on God, on the scales, it goes up and becomes a light burden as we see the glory, the weight of glory, the heavy glory that will be worked out in our lives. Be encouraged. Don’t just look at your problems and your heartaches. Look up to the Lord. Trust in Him. See what it is working in you, and working in you for glory, for the eternal world.
When we’re going through these fiery trials, what does it say here? You “greatly rejoice.” Once again, it’s that word that means “to jump for joy.” Wow! That’s not our natural language, is it?
No. 7. WHEN YOU GO THROUGH TRIBULATION
Paul confessed in 2 Corinthians 7:4: “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.” Wow! Have you ever said those words? I don’t know how often I’ve said them. We don’t really talk Bible language very much, do we? We are usually more, “Well, how can I get through this? Poor me! Why do I have to suffer this?”
And yet, Paul, who went through more suffering than any of us have ever faced. He was shipwrecked three times and beaten with stripes. I think it was five times, 39 lashes each time! Help! Their body and their back were just one big mess of blood and open flesh. We’ve never faced persecution like that. And all the lists . . . he talks about the lists of things that he had gone through, suffering for Christ, and yet he says: “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.” Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-33.
You see, true joy is not dependent on how we feel when everything is going great. That’s happiness. Everybody, even the agnostic, the atheist who doesn’t believe in God, he can be so happy when everything is going great. But it’s only the believer who can know that deep joy when everything is going wrong.
It makes me think of this Scripture I read the other day, ladies. I was reading in Nehemiah 13. I have read through Nehemiah so many times because I love this book. It’s about Nehemiah coming back to build up the gates that were broken down and build up the walls because Jerusalem had been rummaged to the ground. They wanted to build it up.
I often love to read it because we, as mothers, we also are builders.
Proverbs 14:1: “Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”
We are builders. We are building a strong marriage, building a godly family, building a godly home. As we do that, dear mothers, we are building a godly nation. A nation is only what it is according to the homes of the nation. The homes of the nation are only what they will be according to the mothers of the nation. We have got to be those who are builders.
I always love to come back to Nehemiah, read about him building. Of course, he had so many attacks against him, people trying to stop him, and persecution. You’ll remember how his enemies, Sanballat and some other guys, were always after him.
I love that Scripture in Nehemiah 6. This is when he’s got these enemies, Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem. They are after him, and they are using every kind of sneaky thing they can in the book to try and get him to come down from the work that he is doing and to stop the building.
You see, that’s what Satan wants to do, dear mothers. You are building, but you know, Satan is at work to try and stop you building. That’s what he wants to do. He doesn’t want you building a strong, godly home and family. No. He brings temptations to stop you building.
But I love how Nehemiah answered these messengers. In fact, they sent messengers to him. They wanted him to come down and meet in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But Nehemiah says in Nehemiah 6:3: “I sent messengers unto them.”
He didn’t even go himself. He did not stop for one minute his work on the wall of building up the wall. He never stopped. He didn’t come down to the enemy. It says:
“I sent messengers unto them, saying,
I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down:
why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?”
That should also be our response, dear mothers, when the enemy wants to tempt you and pull you away and put all these temptations in front of you, or make you feel overwhelmed, and in despair and despondent. send that message to Satan: “Get behind me, Satan! I resist you, Satan, in the Name of Jesus! I cannot come down. I am doing a great work, and I haven’t got time to come down to you.”
That’s a great Scripture to write in big letters and pin it up on your wall so you can see it.
But anyway, I was reading Nehemiah 13, and I can’t believe it that I had never ever noticed this before. Let’s see. There are amazing things here in Nehemiah, but I’m just going to talk about this one.
Nehemiah 13:23, 24: “In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.”
Wow! Can you believe that? That these Jews, they had totally disobeyed God’s Word that they were never to marry people of another race. They were only to marry their own people because God did not want to bring into them the influence of their following other gods. But they had married all these women of Ashdod, and Ammon, and Moab.
Now, their children couldn’t even speak their own language! Can you believe that? Hebrew children could not speak Hebrew! They spoke the language of their mothers. Did you notice that? The language of their mothers. Their mothers taught them their own language so that they didn’t even know the language of their heritage! Wow! Now, Nehemiah was absolutely mad.
Nehemiah 13:25: “And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair.” Wow, can you imagine anybody doing that today? Today, most pastors are too scared to even get up in the pulpit and speak against the evils of the day! Like abortion and homosexuality, and so on. They don’t want to offend one person in their congregation.
But here’s Nehemiah, goodness me! He was just getting into it. He could not stand the fact that they were bringing this into the people of God. He “made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.” He goes on.
But the most powerful thing about this, ladies, is that it was the mothers who taught them this language. We, as mothers, have such power. We, as mothers, have such influence. I want you to realize the influence you have, dear mother. You have a powerful influence in what you teach your children and how you teach them to speak.
Of course, I know we’re all speaking the English language if you’re listening to me because I’m speaking English. Yes, we’re speaking English but of what kingdom do you speak? Do you speak the language of the kingdom of God to which you belong? Or do you speak the language of the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of darkness?
I hear many mothers speaking the language of the kingdom of the enemy. They are speaking more of the language of this society today, which is a humanistic, socialistic society, which does not actually even, they don’t even believe the words of God. In fact, sadly, there are so many, even in the Christian church, who even confess they’re believers, who don’t actually talk the Bible. They don’t say what the Bible says. They don’t even really know it.
They have more knowledge of the kingdom of darkness and this humanistic world all around us than they do of God’s Word. The children growing up in so-called Christian homes, even many in homeschooling homes, know more . . . they have more knowledge of movies, and actors, and stuff on social media than they do of God’s Word.
Dear lovely ladies, what language are you teaching your children? Is it a strange languagelike these mothers were teaching? Why am I saying this? I’m talking about these Scriptures. They tell us to rejoice, even in difficult times, even in times of tribulation.
But what is your language when you’re going through tribulation? Is it joy? Is it, “Yes, I’m going through this but I’m walking in the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. God, who is my exceeding joy, I’m trusting Him.” What is your language?
Or is it, “Oh, poor me! Help! I know God’s forsaken us!” I even hear people, I cannot even believe it, I hear people say they are angry with God. I beg your pardon? I beg your pardon? Who are we, the ones He created, speaking against our Creator? Angry with Him who is a good God? Who always does that which is good? Who knows the beginning from the end, who has our lives planned? Who is watching, even though often we don’t know it? He is watching over us at all times.
He is God. He is God, and who are we, that we should speak like this? And yet, this kind of language comes out of people who are supposedly believers. When we speak this way, our children hear us. We are teaching them, just by, we’re not sitting down, “Now, this is what we speak, children.” No, they listen to us! And they’re going to learn to speak what we speak, the kind of language we speak.
Is it the language of the Kingdom? Is it the language of the Word of God? This is the big challenge to us. We, as mothers, we’re the ones who teach our children what they will speak, what they will grow up speaking. The kind of things that come out of their mouths.
Hosea 8:12, God writing: “I have written to him the great things of My law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” Interesting, isn’t it? There are many things in the Word of God that believers count as strange. You can talk to many believers, and you’ll see a young mother, maybe even at church. She has two lovely little children with her. “Oh, what precious, beautiful children God has given you! Are you hoping for any more?” “Oh no! I’m finished! I’m done!”
I beg your pardon? Where did that language come from? It’s not the language of the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible do you find that language. The language of the Bible is:
“And God blessed them and made them fruitful.”
“And God blessed them and gave them another child.:
“And God blessed them and multiplied them.” God’s blessing is always fruitfulness. And yet we speak the opposite of the Bible.
Let’s get on with a few more of these Scriptures, shall we, dear ladies? Let’s see if our language is lining up with the Scriptures.
Paul’s confession in Acts 20:24: “None of these things move me,” and he’s just told and mentioned many of the things that he has been facing. “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.”
Again, he says in Colossians 1:24: “Whereof I am made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake.”
No. 8. WHEN YOU SUFFER AFFLICTION
In 2 Corinthians 8:1, it is talking about the churches of Macedonia. “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God . . .” Wow! That’s real King James language, isn’t it? “. . . Bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” Wow! Can we look at that again, ladies?
Yes, how that in “a great trial of affliction,” that’s what they were going through, “and deep poverty.” But in the midst of all that, it talks about how “the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” Even in their deep poverty, they gave out of their poverty. God saw that as great liberality. It may not have been as much as some rich person would give, but it was so liberal, as they gave out of their deep poverty.
Let’s look at a couple of other words here: “how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy.” Now, that word “abundance” is one of the perisseuo words. It’s perisseia, and it means “surplus, super-abundance.” So, out of the surplus of their joy, their joy was not just joy. Their joy was abundance, super-abundance.
DOWN TO EARTH BIBLE LANGUAGE
You see, lovely ladies, I’m not just going over the top. I’m talking down-to-earth Bible language. The sad part is, is that we’re so, we’re not really down to earth. We must be under the earth or something because we’re so below even the down-to-earth Bible language. Wow! And that Bible language is that they had abundance of joy even in their deep poverty.
I know there could be many of you listening. You’re facing difficult times financially. Whoo! I know that’s not easy. We’ve faced that in our lives too. But we can go through it two ways. You can go through complaining and in misery, or you can go through it in joy, continuing to trust God. No matter what, He will not forsake us.
Then it goes on: “And their deep poverty abounded.” There’s the word perisseuo, which I have talked about so many times on this podcast, because it pops up so many times in the Word of God. It’s why I changed the name of this podcast. It used to be, what did it used to be? Oh, From My Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell. But really, oh, we were just talking so much about these wonderful words that we find as we read the Scriptures that I changed it to LIFE TO THE FULL.
What does this word mean? It means “excess, superabound, excel, nothing to spare, over and above.” Of course, that’s Bible language.
All right! We’ve got to get through these quickly.
No. 9. WHEN YOU SACRIFICE YOUR LIFE
Philippians 2:17-18: “Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.”
No. 10: WHEN YOU FACE THE SPOILING OF YOUR POSSESSIONS
In Hebrews 10:34, the writer says you “TOOK JOYFULLY the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.” Obviously, through persecution, all their goods were taken away, or spoiled, or ruined. But what did they do? They took it joyfully, chairo (with calm delight, cheerfulness, gladness). Yes. Do you think we can get with the Bible language, dear ladies?
I can remember way back in New Zealand days, when I had all my little ones around me. I had a Bible study for mothers in my home. Every week all these mothers and children would come. My husband had made me a beautiful plant holder. It was a very great big one with three tiers. It was filled with glorious plants.
I just loved these beautiful plants. They were inside my home. Every week, these little toddlers would come, and they’d jump on it and they’d trample them down. “Oh, oh, my poor plants!” But you know what? God was so good! I didn’t stop having my mothers’ meetings because my plants all got trampled. Every week they somehow grew up again, ready for the next trampling! But they actually did survive. You would never believe it!
No. 11: WHEN YOU ARE WEAK
You all know this one, don’t you? 2 Corinthians 12:9: “And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
No. 12: WHEN YOU ARE CAST OUT
Well, in this particular Scripture, Acts 13:50-51, it tells how the people “raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.” What did they do? “Oh, poor us! They just got rid of us!” No. “But they shook off the dust of their feet . . . and the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.”
Well, maybe you’ve been cast out of your family. Maybe you’ve been cast out of your church. Maybe you’ve been cast out from somewhere. It’s not the end. Don’t worry. Just rejoice! Be “filled with joy and the Holy Ghost.” Instead of getting through it miserably, get through it with joy. Yes, I’ve had the experience of being cast out of a church, way back, years ago. The thing is, everything that happens in your life moves you onto greater realms and into larger places.
No.13: WHEN YOU ARE IN SORROW
2 Corinthians 6:10: “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” I love that. Paul doesn’t say to the people, “Now, come on, just rejoice!” No, he says: “As sorrowful.” He knew what it was to have sorrow, but still rejoicing, always rejoicing.
I love the New English Translation: “Our hearts ache, but we always have joy.” That’s very powerful. You can be going through a time of such heartache. Your heart can hardly, hardly take it. But underneath that heartache, you can have joy when you have Christ dwelling in you.
The J. B. Phillips Translation says: “We know sorrow, yet our joy is inextinguishable.”
No. 14: WHEN YOU GO THROUGH HARD TIMERS AND EVERYTHING IS TAKEN AWAY
Habakkuk 3:17-18. This Scripture always challenges me: “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
Whoo! That was a testimony of total wipe-out! Nothing left, and yet, still he rejoices in the Lord. And joys in his God.
Time is gone, so here’s the last point.
No. 15. WHEN RECEIVING CHASTENING OF THE LORD
We chasten our children, and they don’t like it but it’s for their good. But as we walk with the Lord God, still He chastens us. Sometimes He uses people. Sometimes He uses our husbands. And we don’t ever like it, but we have to realize, if we will receive it with meekness, that it will bring joy into our lives.
Hebrews 12:11: “Now all discipline,” this is the New English Translation, “seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it.”
Well, there you go, dear ladies, incidents in the Word of God, where we are to be filled with joy. Most of these are talking about hard times, difficult times, challenges, poverty, suffering, heartache, persecution. All this stuff, none of it we like. But in all of it, every Scripture says to receive it with joy.
May the Lord help us to become Bible-believing people, Bible-speaking mothers, who speak the language of the Bible, the language of the Kingdom, and we pass it on to our children.
“Dear Father, please help us. Please bring us up to Your ways. Lord, You say Your ways are far above our ways. Your thoughts are far above our thoughts. Lord, we don’t want to stay down, Lord, just in the rut of our own ways. We pray that You’ll bring us up to Your ways, and to your language, Lord.
“Help us to get to know the language of the Bible and that it will be the language that comes out of our mouths. It will be the language that we automatically pass on and speak to our children. We ask it in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”
By the way, ladies, I have a PS for you. The next three sessions, the next three podcasts, I am getting my daughters to come and be with me. I know you’re going to just love it! Don’t miss them. I’m going to get Pearl, and Serene, and Evangeline.
We’re going to continue speaking about joy. But with them, we’ll be getting down to the more nitty-gritty and practical. How do we really have it in our lives, even when we go through these difficult times? Don’t miss these coming sessions. Love you!
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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