DOES YOUR MINDSET LINE UP WITH GOD’S?

Part 1

“He increased his people GREATLY;
and made them stronger than their enemies.”
(Psalm 105:24).

As I read the Scriptures, I invariably find my thinking is opposite to God’s thinking. What should I do? I’ve got to change my opinion to God’s way of thinking. I think that many who call themselves Christians don’t really believe the God of the Bible after all. It’s so easy to believe in a God of our own imagination. Unless we constantly fill our minds with God’s Word, we can be deceived.

The other day I was checking out God’s attitude toward fruitfulness and realized the Bible is far removed from how the majority of Christians think today. The average number of children per family in America is only 1.9 children per family but God’s vision is much bigger.

If you listen to my podcast. LIFE TO THE FULL, each week you will know that I am continually discovering adjectives in the Bible. God’s Word is filled with adjectives. God uses adjectives because nothing about God is normal, ordinary, or status quo. He is beyond the normal. He is MORE THAN! So let me introduce you to a few more adjectives today.

The very first words that God spoke into the ears of man were “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:27). But then God continues to tell us HOW He wants us to be fruitful. The Scriptures tell us that God wants us to multiply . . .

1. ABUNDANTLY

Genesis 9:7: “Be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth ABUNDANTLY in the earth, and multiply therein.” The Hebrew word for abundantly is sharats and means “to swarm or abound.”

The MLB translation renders it correctly when it says: “Swarm over the earth and multiply it . . .” The TS2009 says: “Bring forth teemingly in the earth . . .”

The Knox translation of Exodus 1:7: says: “The race of Israel grew into a teeming multitude.”

1. EXCEEDINGLY

Genesis 16:10: “I will multiply thy seed EXCEEDINGLY, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.” The Hebrew word rabah means “to increase exceedingly, to be many, to be abundant.” We read this word over 30 times in the Old Testament.

1. MIGHTILY

Deuteronomy 6:3: “That ye may increase MIGHTILY as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee.” The Hebrew word is m’od meaning “vehemently, wholeheartedly, speedily, diligently.” We are not to fulfil this command reluctantly but with passion. The same Hebrew word is used in Psalm 105:24: “He increased his people GREATLY; and made them stronger than their enemies.”

There are two more Hebrew words for mightily. Exodus 1:7 tell us that “the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly and multiplied, and waxed exceeding MIGHTY, and the land was filled with them.” This word is atsam meaning “mightier and stronger.”

And in verse 9, Pharoah said: “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and MIGHTIER than we.” This time it is the word atsuwm meaning, “numerous, powerful, strong.”

1. GREATLY

Deuteronomy 26:5 tells us how the children of Israel in Egypt “became there a nation, GREAT, mighty, and populous.” The Hebrew word here is gadol meaning “great, exceeding, mighty, more.”

1. PLENTEOUSLY

Deuteronomy 30:9: “The LORD thy God will make thee PLENTEOUS . . . in the fruit of thy body . . .” The Hebrew word is yathar and means “to jut over or exceed, cause to abound.”

1. MULTITUDINOUSLY

Genesis 32:12: “I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.” The Hebrew word for “multitude” is rob meaning “abundance, huge, more in number, multitude.” There are many more Scriptures where this word is used again.

1. POPULOUSLY

Deuteronomy 26:5 tells us how Israel became a POPULOUS nation. The word is rab which means “powerful, great, mighty.”

Wow, that’s seven adjectives God uses to remind us how He wants us His people to increase in the land. Do you think God’s people are in line with His plan? Do you use any of these words in your daily vocabulary? Say each one aloud. They are Bible words and therefore should be part of our thinking and vocab. Do we use the language of our humanistic society or the language of the Bible?

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, please forgive me for thinking like the world rather than thinking like You. As I fill my mind with Your Word, please help me to change my thinking. Please help me to change my vocabulary to Your vocabulary. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am daily renewing my mind to think like God thinks. I am learning to speak the language of the kingdom of God rather than the language of the world.

Don’t miss the podcast for wives and mothers each week:

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

https://ARPoddy.buzzsprout.com

ONE FLESH MARRIAGE
Part 2

“Wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh.
What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder”
(Matthew 19:6)

Today we continue the points about the “one flesh” marriage.

9. SPIRITUALLY

Our bodies are only the house of the real person, the spirit--the part of us which was made for fellowship with God. God’s highest purpose for us in marriage is to become one together in spirit--connected to one another by our spirits and God’s Holy Spirit. We are to be glued together as one. That’s why prayer in marriage is such a powerful thing. We are together to agree and can therefore see mighty answers to prayer. Jesus said: “That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be cone for them of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19).

10. PURPOSEFULLY

God brings the male and female together to accomplish His purposes. God’s primary purpose for male and female is to have children. As husband and wife, and together with their children, they are to be fruitful, fill the earth, and “subdue it: and have dominion” (Genesis 1:28). Purposefully together they advance God’s kingdom in the earth, reveal His image and likeness, and bring more of His love, truth, justice, and peace to the earth.

11. UNDEFILEDLY

Marriage is called “holy matrimony” and the marriage bed is holy and sacred. At the beginning of the wedding vows, the minister says: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together in the sight of God to join this man, and this woman in holy matrimony . . .  Into this ‘holy estate’ these two persons come now to be joined. Therefore, it is not to be entered unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently and soberly.”

Marriage is God-mandated and to be enjoyed according to God’s pattern, but it is designed only for one male and one female. Hebrews 13:4 (ESV) states: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

God created the sexual act to be totally fulfilling without the use of “toys,” alternative ways that are not according to God’s Word, or anything that violates the conscience. God’s plan is already glorious beyond words and does not need “extras.”

12. UNENDINGLY

The traditional wedding vows state: "I take thee . . . to love and to cherish, till death do us part (or, as long as we both shall live), according to God's holy ordinance.”

Sadly, we don’t live in a perfect world and there are times when it is no longer safe to live in a marriage where one of the two continues in a despicable, ungodly, and unrepentant lifestyle. Jesus admitted when talking to the Pharisees that Moses allowed divorce because “of the hardness of your hearts,” but He continued, “From the beginning it was not so.” It was never God’s plan.

Jesus also forcefully stated: “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder (or separate).” Or, let no man or woman, no organization, no church, no Facebook, or anything at all separate a man and wife from each other. They are to be fused as one.

13. EXCLUSIVIELY

I totally believe in the exclusivity of marriage. A young wife should understand that when she gets married, she will no longer have personal friends with the opposite sex apart from with her husband. And the same goes for the husband. She would not think of going out for a coffee with a guy on her own, unless her husband is with her. Of course, married couples can enjoy friendships with the opposite sex as a couple or as families, but never on their own.

Proverbs 5:15-20 speaks of the marriage relationship. We notice how exclusive it is in the phrases used: “from your own cistern . . . from your own well . . . let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers . . .”

14. REVEALINGLY

The great mystery of marriage is that it reveals the picture of Christ and His bride, the church. How amazing that God chose marriage to reveal this glorious relationship. We read about this in Ephesians 5:22-33. I know you know this passage, but we should read it frequently. Here are a few highlights but please read the whole passage again in your Bible:

“For as the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it: That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church . . . So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies . . . This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

We all need to be reminded that this is the highest vision of marriage. As John Piper says: “There never has been a generation whose view of marriage is high enough.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Thank you, Holy Father, for your perfect design for marriage. Please help my husband and I to be a living picture of the relationship between You and Your bride, the church. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I embrace God’s highest design of a one flesh marriage.

FURTHER SCRIPTURES TO READ:

Matthew 5:27, 28; Mark 10:2-9; 1 Corinthians 6:16,17; 7:1-5; 11:8, 9; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:18, 19; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 3:1-6; and Hebrews 13:4.

Don’t miss the podcast for wives and mothers each week:

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

https://ARPoddy.buzzsprout.com

ONE FLESH MARRIAGE
Part 1

“Wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh.
What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder”
(Matthew 19:6)

The above words are repeated by Jesus from God’s original plan in the beginning in Genesis 2:24: “And they shall be one flesh.” This is God’s first description of marriage. Let’s look at it a little closer, shall we? God designed marriage . . .

1. DIVINELY

The Creator of male and female divinely designed His perfect plan. It is God who joins the man and woman in marriage: “What therefore God hath joined together” (Matthew 19:6).

2. PROPHETICALLY

God revealed His plan in the beginning for all future marriages: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Where were the father and mother? They were nowhere on the scene when God spoke these words. Adam and Eve had never seen a father and mother! God prophetically revealed His plan and how it would work for all future mankind.

3. INTENTIONALLY AND FACTUALLY

God unmistakably states His plan: “They two (the man and his wife) shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh” (Matthew 19:5, 6). It does not matter what mere man thinks. It is what God states! His Word is eternal. It doesn’t change from the beginning to the end.

4. EMPHATICALLY

The Bible says: “And God said” (Genesis 1:26). There are no “if, buts, or maybes.” Not man (the created), but God (the Designer and Creator) has the first and last say!

5. PHYSICALLY

The coming together of male and female to be “one flesh” in marriage is a perfect fit. The sexual organs of male and female are opposite, (the man’s external and the woman’s internal), but they fit perfectly by God’s design. Male and male or female and female are not a perfect fit. This lifestyle is outside the Creator’s design.

When Jesus answered the questions of the Pharisees He said: “Have yet not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, for this cause. . .” (Matthew 19:5). It was “for this cause” (because He created them male and female) that the man cleaves to his wife. Please notice the words “man and wife,” not two of the same sex.

6. GENERATIONALLY

The coming together as “one flesh” results in the potential procreation of children and children’s children. From the two come one, or many, each bearing genetic genes of both the father and mother. This is impossible in a homosexual relationship which is outside of God’s blessing. These relationships end in nothingness and future destruction.

It is the male and female oneness that God blessed: “Male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:27, 28). Children only come through the blessing of God on a “one flesh” relationship.

7. DELIGHTFULLY

God must have been filled with joy and delight when He designed the “one flesh” marriage. Who but our amazing God could plan for the man and his wife to experience such ecstatic joy, fulfillment, and wonder together? Proverbs 5:18, 19 speaks of the married couple ravishing and intoxicating one another with their love.

8. EMOTIONALLY AND MENTALLY

Human beings are not animals. We are created in the image and likeness of God. We are body, soul, and spirit. Because God created us with a heart, mind, and soul, the “one flesh” statement is more than physical. It is also a oneness of soul. I am not whole without my husband. He is not whole without me for “they are no more two, but one.” We complement one another and each one brings different strengths to the marriage to make it complete.

More next week.

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, I thank you for Your amazing divine plan for marriage. You created my husband and me for each other. Please help me to live in the full understanding of your plan. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am so blessed to be married and enjoy the “one flesh” marriage that God ordained.

Don’t miss the podcast for wives and mothers each week:

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

https://ARPoddy.buzzsprout.com

BIBLE LANGUAGE OR
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Part 2

“But I say unto you,
That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
For by thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned”
(Matthew 12:36, 37).

To speak a language fluently, it needs to be part of us. Part of our minds, our hearts, and to come freely from our mouths. God gives parents a mandate in Isaiah 59:21 (NRSV): “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD; my spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your children, or out of the mouths of your children’s children, says the LORD, from now on and forever.”

So, what is coming out of your mouth? What is coming out of your children’s mouths?

Let’s look at a few examples today. The Bible tells us to JUMP FOR JOY with ecstatic joy and delight, not just when everything is happy and great, but when we are going through trials. When people persecute us, revile us, and say all manner of evil against us falsely (Matthew 5:1, 12 and Luke 6:22, 23). What kind of language do we use when we go through trials? Grumbling and complaining and “poor me”? Or do we rejoice in God’s unfailing goodness no matter what we are facing.

What is our daily language? Pessimism, “down in the dumps,” negativity, and even self-pity? Or do we speak Bible language? Jesus came to not only give us life but life ABUNDANTLY. Over and over again, the Bible tells us to ABOUND in our lives – in joy, hope, love, faith, self-control, patience, thanksgiving, and so on. He wants us to “abound in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58), and of course the work that God has given us to do is our realm of motherhood.

The Greek word for abounding is “perisseuo” and means “more and more, to excel, to exceed, to go beyond that which is necessary, superabundant in quantity and superior in quality, over and above, enough and to spare.” This is Bible language, dear mothers. I know you don’t hear many people talking with this overflowing joy and cheerfulness.

I wonder how many Christians truly speak Bible language. Do the people around us hear our “kingdom” language or do we talk the same humanistic language as everyone around us?

This is how God wants us to live and the language He wants us to speak. It’s over the top! It’s beyond the normal. In fact, how can we be anything less when we are indwelt by the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Normal Christianity is abundant, abounding, and beyond the norm. It is sub-normal Christianity to be average, normal, status quo, and fitting in with the crowd. If we are not speaking an abounding language, we are not speaking Bible language.

What about the answer of most mothers of two or three children when asked if they are hoping for another baby? “Help, No. I’m done!” Christian men talk about “getting the snip” like having a cup of coffee.

Is that the language of the Bible? No, it is the opposite to God’s heart. It is opposite to the very first words God spoke into the ears of man Genesis 1:27, 28). Whenever God speaks of blessing His people He speaks of multiplication. The Bible is opposite to the language of the church today. Many Christians openly confess that they could never afford to have any more children. And yet the Bible says the opposite!

Deuteronomy 28:4: “Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.” All these blessings come AFTER the fruit of the womb.

Psalm 37:25: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

Philippians 4:19: “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” And so many more Scriptures.

Don’t you think it is time for us to line up our language with the Bible?

Love from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, You have brought me into Your kingdom. The least I can do is speak the language of Your kingdom. Please help me to be richly filled with Your Word. Even though I live in a humanistic society, please help me to see it as a foreign language. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’m practicing my Bible language daily. I want to be a fluent speaker of God’s kingdom language.

Don’t miss the podcast for wives and mothers each week:

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

https://ARPoddy.buzzsprout.com