HOW DOES GOD SEE MARRIAGE?
Part 1: A Hard Heart is Dangerous

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them”
(Ezekiel 36:27, 28).

One of the most beautiful things in life is to keep a soft heart—

A soft heart toward God.

A soft heart in responding to God’s word.

A soft heart to people who speak against us.

A soft and tender heart toward our husbands.

Jesus said in Matthew 19:8 that “hardness of heart” leads to divorce. Those are very strong words, but everything begins with our heart attitude. The only way we can keep a soft attitude is by the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Our fleshly nature gets offended, hurt, bitter, and then hard. We must guard against these evils.

Instead, we must yield to the Holy Spirit to flood our hearts with His forgiveness and love. But what do you do when your love flies out the window and there is none left? You still have God’s love—His agape love that loves in the face of opposition and hatred.

Romans 5:5 says: “The love of God is shed abroad (poured into) our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

Offense leads to bitterness,

bitterness leads to hardness,

and hardness leads to divorce!

Stop the downward path to destruction now. Dear lovely wife, if you are offended by your husband, or anyone else who has hurt you, get on your knees before the Lord. Forgive—there is no other option. Unforgiveness not only hurts the other person, but you, and your family. But mostly YOU.

Every time your husband sends another arrow into your soul, retaliate with a blessing. That’s God’s way. Of course, it is the opposite to our way. But our way doesn’t work; God’s way does.

1 Peter 3:8 (NLT): ‘Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. This is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.”

The Knox translation says: “Not repaying . .  . hard words with hard words, but blessing those who curse you,”

And here is one more from The New English Bible: “Do not repay wrong with wrong, or abuse with abuse; on the contrary, retaliate with blessing.”

And while you are on your knees, don’t forget to open God’s Word. It always set us straight. I love Psalm 119:165: “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

PRAYER:

“Dear Holy Spirit, thank You that You live in my heart, shedding abroad God’s love and forgiveness throughout my being. Please move mightily in my heart to fill me to overflowing with love and sweetness. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am resisting all hardness of heart and embracing the soft, sweet anointing of the Holy Spirit in my life.

WHO IS THE HAPPIEST?

“Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments,
which I command thee this day,
that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee,
and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth,
which the LORD thy God giveth thee, forever”
(Deuteronomy 4:40).

Did you hear about the recent research, “The Ties that Bind: Is faith a global force for good or ill in the family?”? It was conducted in 11 different countries by the World Values Survey and Family Gender Survey? The New York Times published it and received a violent backlash from feminists.

Why? Well, they found that “Fully 73 percent of wives who hold conservative gender values and attend religious services regularly with their husbands have high-quality marriages.” They found that highly religious couples enjoy higher-quality relationships and more sexual satisfaction compared to less/mixed religious couples and secular couples.

A graph also showed that religious couples have more children than couples who rarely or never attend worship services and parents with four or more children were happier and more satisfied with their lives.

The liberalists couldn’t take these statistics. They did not want to believe them. But of course, they are true. We will always be happiest when we follow God’s plans. God divinely ordained a one flesh marriage, glued together physically, spiritually, and purposefully. He planned home and motherhood. When we embrace His ways with all our hearts, we find rest, joy, and happiness. Why? Because we are in the very perfect will of God. We are in the place where God intends us to be.

And what could be more wonderful than that?

Why would anyone trade this joy for leaving precious children in daycares and the public education system which has now been hijacked by the liberalists and the homosexuals? Why would they trade a beautiful home life for running around the city dropping children off and going to a career (deprived of their precious children) that only has temporary value? It has no eternal reward.

Oh yes, it may give a little extra cash. But they spend so much more too. It’s amazing how much you save when you cook from scratch and do things from home. It’s amazing how much gas you save and how much less you purchase that you don’t need because you are out always out and about.

And the adrenaline to make it happen! And the tension. And the overwhelmingness.

And all the time God’s wants you to experience His rest in your home.

Jeremiah 6:6 says: “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the OLD PATHS, where is the GOOD WAY, and walk therein, and ye shall find REST FOR YOUR SOULS.” To obey God’s way is the good way to walk and it always brings rest. More than physical rest. Rest deep down in our souls. Don’t you love that rest?

I was reading Deuteronomy chapter 11:18-25 again this morning (which is a repeat of Deuteronomy 6:4-9). What a beautiful picture of home life. It’s a picture of the family in the home—the mother teaching her children in the home and filling herself and her children with God’s Word so that it is entwined in every part of our lives.

And what is the result? Deuteronomy 11:21-23 says: “That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children . . . as the days of HEAVEN UPON THE EARTH. For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves . . .”

May you also enjoy days of “heaven upon the earth.”

Be blessed today, Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“I thank You dear God, that Your ways are best. You planned the best way from the beginning of time and it has never changed. It is still the best way even in our 21st century. Please help me to keep sticking closely to Your ways. Amen.”

AFFIRMATON:

I will never be ashamed of God’s ancient ways because they are the ways that work!

FOLDING YOUR FLOCK

“The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost . . .”
(Ezekiel 34:4).

I have been thinking much lately about the word “folding.” I’m not talking about folding clothes, although I’m sure you do plenty of that in your home. I’m not talking about folding papers, although we often do this when preparing for a celebration or doing a project.

I’m talking about folding your flock. The word “fold” is a noun and a verb. Our home is our fold. And in our home, we fold our flock. In Ezekiel 34 God uses this word allegorically. He talks about the literal people of Israel but likens them to sheep in a fold. He wants them to be in a “good fold” and “fat pasture” (Ezekiel 34:14).

The word “fold” is the Hebrew word “naveh” and is used 36 times in the Bible. It is used to describe home—God’s home, His temple. His holy habitation. A home for families. A home for flocks. A home for wild animals. God wants all His creation to enjoy a home. A lovely home. Yes, this word means “lovely, pleasant, satisfaction.” The mother who “tarries (naveh) at home” receives God’s blessings (Psalm 68:12).

Are you making a lovely fold? A fold where your children are safe. A healing home. A feeding home—feeding them good food, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. We cannot fold our flock part time. It is a full-time work. The true shepherd does not leave his flock. He is always with them—watching over them, protecting them, and feeding them.

God was angry with the shepherds of Israel because they did not feed their flocks. He says: “Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! (notice the exclamation mark!) should not the shepherds feed the flocks? . . . the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock” (Ezekiel 34:2, 8).

Where is your focus, dear mother? Are you feeding yourself? Feeding your own desires and ambitions? Feeding on material things? Feeding on that which is temporary? God wants you to put your emphasis on feeding and folding your flock.

He warns again in verses 3-8:

“You have not fed your flock,

You have not strengthened the weak,

You have not healed the sick,

You have not bound up the broken,

You have not brought back the strays,

You have not sought to go after the lost,

You have let your flock be scattered,

You have let your flock become a prey, meat to every beast of the field.”

All the above are part of our mothering and folding anointing.

Today, many precious children and young people are becoming a prey to all that is false and deceptive. They are brainwashed with feminism, humanism, and anti-God liberal agenda as they sit among the scoffers every day in public schools. They may have prayed the sinner’s prayer, go to church, but they think exactly like the secular humanists. All because we are not folding our flock.

Dear mother, among hundreds of descriptions, you are a nurturer, a nourisher, a feeder, a healer, and a FOLDER. Rise up in this anointing. Fold your flock today. Gather them around you. Gather them to your table to communicate with them, feed them, and pour God’s heart into them. Heal the gaps. Strengthen the weak areas. Draw them back from deception. Protect your gates.

Blessings and love from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, Thank You that you have given me a precious flock to protect in my fold. Help me not only to make a safe fold for my children but to fold my children with Your love and care. Help me to be a faithful shepherd, guarding them against all the deceptions and subtleties of this world system. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am strengthening the hedges of the fold of my home to give no place for the enemy to creep in.

YOUR TABLE IS AN ALTAR

“The altar of wood was three cubits high . . .
This is the table that is before the LORD”
(Ezekiel 41:22).

Three times the Bible calls the brazen altar where the priests conducted the daily sacrifices “the table of the Lord.” It is interesting that God calls it a table.

However, I think that if the altar is called a table, then our table is also an altar.

It is a beautiful thing to see our family table as an altar. It brings greater meaning to the table. I think we look upon our tables too lightly. We don’t understand the power and significance of the family table. God is very interested in tables. In fact, God had a table in His heavenly kingdom before He ever introduced them on earth. They are a heavenly concept. They come from God.

When God describes the family that is blessed of the Lord, He pictures them all sitting together around a table together (Psalm 128:3). This is God’s heart for families.

The altar in the tabernacle, and later the temple, was a place for sacrifices. I think our table is also a place of sacrifice. It takes thought, effort, and sacrifice of time to prepare a meal for our family. To prepare, eat together, and have family devotions at our evening meal often takes three hours out of my day! I must put aside other things that I could do, things that I might think are more important, but in God’s eyes they are of much lesser importance.

God sees our sacrifices to serve and bless our husbands and families with a lovely meal. It does not go unnoticed by our Heavenly Father who loves the meal table. I am sure that just as the aroma of the burnt offering upon the altar went up before the Lord as a sweet-smelling savor, so our sacrificial love comes up before the Lord as a sweet savor to Him. 

He loves to come and join us at our table. He loves tables. He loves the discourse at the table. So much of Jesus’ ministry took place on the way to a meal, during a meal, or after a meal.

The altar was where the people brought their offerings to the Lord. The people brought five different offerings which the priests offered upon the brazen altar.

As we prepare the daily meals for our families, they are also offerings unto the Lord. Yes, they are an offering to our families (hopefully not too many burnt offerings!), but ultimately to the Lord. Therefore, we don’t prepare meals with resignation and grumblings and groanings but with joy and happiness, knowing that we are serving the Lord Christ and making an offering up to Him.

The altar was also sacred. The Bible says that the altar was “before the Lord” (Exodus 27:21; 29:11; Leviticus 1:5; 4:6-24 and loads of other Scriptures). It means “in the presence of the Lord.” Ezekiel 41:22 says: “This is the table that stands in the LORD’S presence.”

Your table in your home is sacred. When you sit around your table for each meal, God longs to come and sit with you. He wants to bring His presence. Everything you do—all your conversation and interactions are in the presence of the Lord. That doesn’t mean it has to be like church. No, I am sure God loves to see us enjoying His food and enjoying one another. Laughing, talking, and discussing together, and then of course, ready to listen to His words at the end of our meal. For the table is not only a place to feed the physical man, but the emotional and spiritual too.

We never leave our table without my husband opening God’s Word and reading it to us. We then pray together. Everyone prays, from the oldest to the youngest! Our table becomes an altar as we connect with God to hear from Him and call upon His name.

Oh, what blessedness.

I pray that you will see your table in a new light.

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, thank You for showing me that my table is an altar where I daily sacrifice to You as I serve my family and the people I invite to my table. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION: