TWO ESSENTIALS

I woke up this morning with the phrase “the Spirit and the Word” upon my heart. It is not good to have one without the other. I love the quote:

If you have all Spirit, you’ll burn up,
If you have all Word, you’ll dry up,
But if you have the Spirit and the Word, you’ll grow up.

This truth applies to us individually and as families.

God’s mandate to families in Isaiah 59:21 states two things—He wants to pour out His Spirit upon us and He wants His words to be in our mouths: ”This is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, not our of the mouth of thy seed (thy children), nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed (children’s children), saith the LORD, from henceforth and forever.”

These two things are at the top on God’s priority. Are they your top priority too?

God not only wants His Word to be in our hearts and the hearts of our children but also in our mouths! Is the Word of God in the mouths of your children? It saddens my heart that most young people today seem to know more about movie stars and sports than they do of God’s Word. If you repeat a common Scripture and ask them to finish it, many of them don’t know it. It’s not even in their hearts and minds, let alone their mouths.

Are you reading God’s Word each day to your children? Are you getting them to memorize the Scriptures?

How we need the power of the Holy Spirit flowing in our homes. In fact, how can we mother without the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit? I cannot do anything effectively in my own strength. In fact, the prayer I pray more than any other is from Zechariah 4:6: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the LORD of hosts.”

We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to open God’s Word to us too. When you read God’s Word to your children, read it with passion. Ask the Holy Spirit to come and illumine it to you. Get your children into the habit of relying on the Holy Spirit to give them understanding of the Word.

Do you remember that story in Luke 24:27-32 where Jesus spoke to the two disciples as they walked to Emmaus? Jesus expounded the Scriptures to them and when they eventually realized it was Him, they said: “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:27-32). When you feel that burning inside you, that witnessing to truth, it is the anointing of the Spirit confirming the Word.

I love the words of Ray Stedman: “The Word is interpreted by the Spirit, and the Word becomes fresh and vital as you look to the Holy Spirit to make Jesus Christ step out of the pages and stand in your presence in living flesh.”

We see this principle in the beginning. “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light” (Genesis 1:2, 3). The Spirit of God moved and God spoke—the Spirit and the Word working together.

Dear precious mother, I know you are so busy and there are so many things to do. If you are like me, you never accomplish everything you have planned in one day. My lists carry on to the next day and even the next day. But of all the things we feel we must accomplish the greatest is to seek the anointing of the presence of the Holy Spirit to flow in our homes and to richly fill our children with His living Word.

Can anyone say Amen?

Love from Nancy Campbell