PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 348: FOOD TWINS, Part 6
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 348: FOOD TWINS, Part 6
The last of the Food Twins today—food and leisure, food and a merry heart, food and prayer and praise, food and the presence of God, food and prophecy, food and protection, food and provision, food and motherhood, food and strength, food and teaching, and food and work! Wow. God associates all of these things with food. Check out what God has to say about them.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We are still working through our food twins. Remember, I found 25 different things that God associates with food.
Today we are up to . . .
No. 15: FOOD AND LEISURE
Let’s look at the Scriptures, shall we? In Mark 6:31, Jesus was with His disciples: “And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.”
That’s a very interesting Scripture. It was time for the disciples to eat some lunch, but life was busy. Everything was happening. People were coming and going. And Jesus said, “No, we can’t eat lunch here. We’ve got to get away to a leisurely place, to a quiet place where we can sit and eat and sit and fellowship together.”
We see here another principle in the Word of God, that once again, as I have shared with you before, we are not meant to eat food on the run. We’re meant to sit down. We’re meant to take a little leisure time and sit and eat. And preferably not on our own. Preferably with others, because as we know, food and fellowship go together. Of course, when you're in a family, you've got it all there. You’ve got your table, you've got your children around you, and your husband, and you can sit together and eat.
But make the time, dear mother, to make your meals a leisurely time. Now, of course, you can be so busy throughout the day, and you've got so much to do. But when you sit for your meals, don’t hurry through them! Or maybe there’s times when we do, when we’re going out somewhere. You’ve got to get something in the tummies and get out.
But from day to day, usually when you are home, try to make your mealtimes leisurely times, especially, I think, the evening meal when Daddy comes home. You’re all sitting around the table together. Don’t just eat and rush off. Make it a time where you talk together, you discuss together, and you enjoy one another’s company. That is so important.
No. 16: FOOD AND A MERRY HEART
I’ll read in Ruth 3:7: “And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down.” We see here that after he’d eaten that his heart felt merry.
That word “merry” is the same word that’s used in Proverbs 15:13 where it says: “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.”
And in Proverbs 17:22: “A merry heart doeth good, like a medicine.”
So, food, yes, it makes your tummy feel good, but it also makes your heart feel good. It puts you in a good mood. I think this is why it’s such an important thing, dear mothers, to always make sure that you have the meal ready for your husband when he comes home. I think this is a very important thing in our married life. I’ve always sought to do this, so that when my husband comes in, I have the meal ready for him.
Of course, we all go through different seasons in our lives, and different things happening. Of course, you will have to change things according to your husband’s work pattern at the time and so on. But, when possible, when you know about what time he is going to come home, stop in plenty of time before that. Stop what you're doing and begin to prepare the meal so that you know that when he comes in the door, you’ll be able to sit down together.
If you don’t do that, you’ll find your husband comes in and supper is not ready, so what’s he going to do? He’s going to go off and find his own thing to do. Maybe he’ll sit in front of the TV and then how do you get him up from that? Or maybe he goes out to his man shed to do whatever he wants to do out there. Then he gets involved and how do you get him back for the meal again?
There’s something about having that meal ready. When he comes in, and you all say your wonderful hellos and welcome, and the children are all excited to see Daddy, then you can say, “Just go and wash up. The meal is ready. While you're freshening up, we’ll put it out on the table.”
You all sit up together and Daddy sits at the head of the table, and what happens? While he is eating, he relaxes. He gets in a good mood. His heart becomes merry, especially as you prepare a lovely meal. Also, you think of what you're going to talk about at the table and you all dialog together. Your husband is being blessed, and he’s releasing oxytocin, because we do release oxytocin in a small way when we’re eating. It helps to make us relaxed and have a merry heart.
It’s true. The Bible says when we eat, it will make our hearts merry. Remember that dear mothers. That’s a real secret in your family life, to get that meal ready, have it on time, ready for when your husband comes home, so you can all sit up and eat together, and have happy hearts. Amen?
No. 17: FOOD AND PRAYER AND PRAISE
We usually separate these two things. We think of having food, and then we think of maybe going to a prayer meeting, or having a worship meeting, and so on. But in the Bible, God combines them together. We have quite a few verses. I will give you all the Scriptures in the transcript. I’m not giving them all here.
Let’s read Acts 2:42: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
In verse 46: “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people.”
We see there that they were eating their food, and they were praising the Lord too, from their hearts, as they talked with one another. But of course, at our mealtimes also, morning and evening, we love to always have a time of worship, either singing a hymn, or a worship song, at our family devotions. That is part of our devotion time, to read the Word and to pray, and to worship. Don’t forget the worship part.
Some of you are more musical families than others. Some of you will just sing a capella together. Others of you, if you have children learning instruments (you don’t always have time for this) but you can make certain times when they can all bring their instruments and play them. You can sing and worship together.
Yes, Joel 2:26. Let’s check this Scripture also: “And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be ashamed.” In this Scripture we see food and praising the name of the Lord together. They are also twins.
No. 18: FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF GOD
Let me take you, ladies, to a couple of Scriptures in Exodus. To me, these are some of the most wonderful Scriptures in the Word of God. I love them.
Exodus 18:12: “And Jethro” (remember, Jethro was Moses’ father-in-law. He came to visit Moses in the wilderness) “And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.” Other translations say: “In the presence of the Lord.”
Once again, we don’t disassociate our eating with being in the presence of the Lord. They are all a part of one another. When we eat, when we gather around our tables, we do it in the presence of the Lord. God loves us to eat our meals in His presence. He is the One who designed food. He is the One who designed tables.
I’ve shared with you before. Where do tables originate? They originate in heaven. God was the One who had the first table, and He loves families sitting around the table as it says in Psalm 128:3, giving the picture of the family sitting around the table with all their children.
A lovely idea is when you give thanks for the food, to also ask the Lord to come and sit with you at your table. Remind your children. Sometimes the table can be a hair-raising experience, especially with little ones, as you're training them. But remind your children, and even your little ones, “Children, God is here at our table. We are eating our food in the presence of the Lord. Let’s remember that.” That will make such a difference to their understanding of eating their food.
Then we go over, also, to Exodus 24:10-11. This is also when Moses went up to the mount. When he came back, in verse 8: “And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.”
Then, after that, Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel, “saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also, they saw God, and did eat and drink.”
Can you take in those words, dear ladies? “They saw God, and they did eat and drink.” Here we see food, eating and drinking and fellowshipping together in the presence of God. Here Aaron and his brother and the 70 elders actually saw God. Well, they didn’t see God face-to-face, because the Bible also says that if a man saw God face-to-face, he would not live. But it says they saw part of God. Maybe it was just the feet of God.
Here it says: “And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under his feet as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone.” They saw something of the glory of God under His feet. That was enough to know that they were just getting a glimpse of the awe-inspiring God of the universe. That happened while they were eating and drinking and fellowshipping. So, lovely ladies, remember that eating and fellowshipping together is coupled with the presence of God. Remember that at your family mealtimes.
And when you're showing hospitality too, always invite God to your meal tables, at your table. You will be amazed at what a difference it makes, just knowing that He is there with you, and how He loves and longs to be with you. Not just in church, but in these beautiful times of family fellowship around the table, because this is something that is so dear to the heart of God.
I think too of that little illustration, well, it’s a huge illustration really, because the first time we read the word “table” in the Bible, it is the table of showbread. The table of showbread was made according to the heavenly pattern. Everything in the tabernacle was made according to the heavenly tabernacle. We know God had tables in heaven before we ever had them on earth.
The table of showbread in the tabernacle was made of acacia wood. That was wood that was very common. It was all around where they were. It was a common kind of wood. That speaks to us of our earthliness, and who we are. We’re just sinful people. But there was more than that. That table was overlaid with pure gold, speaking of the glory of God.
When we come to the table, often everything is not perfect, especially when you're training little ones. But in our earthliness, God comes, and He covers us with His presence, and with who He is, and with His glory. Remember that dear ones, even when your table seems to be so earthly. Remember that God covered that first table we read about with pure gold. He wants to cover you too, at your table, with the glory of God.
No. 19: FOOD AND PROPHECY
We read in 1 Kings 13:20 about this man: “And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet.” He wasn’t in a synagogue. He wasn’t in a church. He was sitting at the table. They were eating together, and the word of the Lord came upon him.
I do believe that our tables can also be places of prophetic words. It’s amazing when we’re sitting around together at the table. I think it especially happens when we’re showing hospitality, and we have invited people to our table. Sometimes we invite sinners. Sometimes we invite people who need so much help and encouragement. Other times we might invite some very godly people to our table. Sometimes we may have angels unawares. We never know.
But there was always that moment when someone may speak the word of the Lord. Or someone is just sharing something, and you know, “This is a word for me. This is what God is actually saying to me. It’s an answer to my prayers. It’s an answer to something I’ve been thinking about.” This happens so often at the table.
Elevate your table to a higher place, dear mothers. It’s not just a place to sit and eat. It’s a place where God wants to come and visit you with His presence. It’s a place where He wants to speak to you. Of course, when we end a meal with our family devotions, and we’re opening the Word of God, we are always open to God speaking to us, speaking to me, speaking to my husband, speaking to each one of our children. Oh, it’s so incredible that the table is a place where God speaks!
I think of another illustration of where God aligns food with speaking. It’s a beautiful story in John 21. You’ll remember this story in the last chapter of the Gospel of John. This is where Jesus had already risen from the dead. He wanted to see His disciples again. He goes down to Lake Galilee. He knows that’s where they will be. They are out on the lake fishing.
So, what does Jesus do? The Bible tells us that He began to make a fire of coals upon the shore. And then upon that fire, when He got it all ready. He most probably had it big in the beginning. It had to settle down. Then in those embers, He put bread, and he put fish. He began to cook breakfast for His disciples.
Now, we read that and think nothing of it. But when we really realize what is happening, mothers, it is awesome. Who is this One who is cooking a meal for His disciples? It’s Jesus, Jesus, the One who has just risen from the dead. He is King of Kings. He is Lord of Lords. He has defied death, and He is alive again!
And yet, what is he doing? He’s cooking. Sometimes, ladies, you may think, “Oh, goodness me! I’ve got more important things to do! All this cooking seems to be all I do. Cook, cook, cook!” Ladies, cooking a meal is a powerful thing. It is one of the first things Jesus did after rising from the dead!
Here he is, cooking this meal, and His disciples come in from the lake. They’ve had this great big catch of fish, 153 fish they caught. And Jesus says to them: “Come! Come and dine!” They come over and the Bible says that Jesus began to serve them. He waited on them, and He gave them fish, and He gave them bread to eat. We could think that someone who has just risen from the dead, and all the glory of who He is, could say, “Now, will you wait upon Me?” But no. Jesus served His disciples. Can you imagine that beautiful meal they had together?
But it wasn’t finished yet. After they had fellowshipped and talked together, I’m sure they spoke of so many wondrous things. But then, Jesus singled Peter out. I’m not sure whether He took him away by himself or whether He said it in front of the others. But Jesus had a word for Peter. It was a special word He had to give to Peter, a personal word.
He didn’t just come down to Lake Galilee and call out for Peter. “Hey, Pete! Come, come, I’ve got a word for you!” No. Before Jesus gave him that word, He cooked a meal. He prepared Peter to receive the word, because there’s nothing like having some food in our tummies that makes us feel good, relaxed, and more open to hearing the Word of the Lord.
So, Jesus prepared Peter’s physical body. He wasn’t hungry and uptight, because he needed some food. No, Jesus made sure that he was first filled and satisfied with food. And his heart was merry and relaxed. Then He gave that word to him: “Peter, lovest thou Me?” And then: “Feed My lambs.” He asked again: “Peter, lovest thou Me? Feed My sheep.” And again, He said it to him the third time. But Jesus never gave that word until He had first prepared the meal.
Ladies, this is a huge principle for us, because if we want to see wonderful things happen at our table, if we want our children to hear the Word of the Lord, and hear God speak to them as we open the Word at the end of our mealtime, we need to prepare their bodies and their hearts first. We do that by preparing a meal.
That’s why I often say the family worship time is perhaps 99% more the wife’s responsibility than the husband’s. We have to prepare the way. We set a beautiful table with the help of our family. And we prepare a lovely, nutritious meal, and we prepare the way for the fellowship and the dialog. We think about all these things, because we know it’s all preparation for the greatest feeding, to hear the Word of the Lord.
I have some mothers say to me, “Oh, I don’t know. My husband never remembers to take devotions. He’s just not interested.” But really, if we do our part, we will make it so much easier for our husband. And he’s already with a merry heart, in a good mood, ready to do it, too. And so, this is such a beautiful principle.
Let’s move on, lovely ladies.
No. 20: FOOD AND PROTECTION
Psalm 23:5: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Yes, that’s a wonderful promise.
No. 21: FOOD AND PROVISION
That goes together. Sometimes we think, “Wow! How are we going to survive? Are we going to be able to have enough food to feed our big family? And goodness me, how could we ever have another baby? Help! We’re hardly surviving as it is!” But God always provides according to the blessing of children.
Let’s go over, shall we? I love this passage in Deuteronomy 28: Let me read it to you from the Berean Study Bible. “Now, if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, and are careful to follow all His commandments I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth, and all these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you if you will obey the voice of the Lord your God.” Listen to the blessings. “You will be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country.”
That is such a wonderful blessing, ladies. I believe that wherever God has placed you, He will bless you. When we were raising our children, we raised them in the city. In fact, when our children were teens, we lived on the Gold Coast of Australia. We were pioneering and pastoring a church there. Our home was right under the casino. Our church looked out on the casino. This was the environment in which we raised our children.
Well, I can tell you that this environment caused me to spend hours in prayer. Every day I would walk down to the beach on the Pacific coast and cry out to God as I walked along the sand with the breakers roaring in. They crowded out my voice. I cried out for our children, but God was faithful, and He blessed them in the city, and kept them following Him. Now our grandchildren have had the blessing of growing up in the country. I think that is such an amazing blessing. Of course, they have been blessed too.
We carry on: “The fruit of your womb will be blessed.” And listen to this: “As well as the fruit of the produce of your land, and the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herd, and the lambs of your flock. Your basket and your kneading bowl will be blessed.”
The King James Version says: “blessed shall be thy basket, and thy store.” Well, the word for “store” is “kneading trough.” And then it ends: “You will be blessed when you come in, and blessed when you go out.”
We see here, dear ladies, that the first blessing . . . what was the first blessing? The fruit of your womb. And then God promises all the blessing from our livestock, and our kneading bowl, and our basket. All the provision of food, and whatever we need, that comes after the blessing of the womb. When God gives you another baby, He will give you more blessings to provide for that baby.
I love Psalm 37:25, where David says: “I have been young, and now I am old, but I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging bread.” Oh yes, there can be times when you go through very lean seasons. But we always survive, and then we can go through seasons of greater blessings. But God is always there. He has promised to provide, and He will provide our food.
I remember a dear friend of mine. She lived opposite me when we lived in New Zealand. She was part of my ladies’ Bible study group that we had each week. We were talking about hospitality. I was encouraging the ladies to reach out in hospitality. This precious lady said to me, “Oh, Nancy! I so want to do that but I just don’t know how we can do it! We just manage on our budget. We just don’t have any more.”
I said to her, “Look, Sue, forget your budget. Trust God. Just go out by faith, and ask the family, or someone who is on your heart for a meal and see what God will do.” So, she plucked up great courage and she invited this family to come to their place for a meal. Well, she said she just could not believe it. Before this family arrived, and a few days after she had asked them, she came home one day, and on her doorstep was this great big box of groceries. Someone had left it there for her. She just saw . . . she got a glimpse of God’s provision.
Well, she was hooked. She began to show hospitality from then on. She always saw the blessing of God. In our own lives, I know that there are many people who find they need to live on a budget, and that is just the way they are. I think we tried that at the very beginning of our marriage, but it never, ever worked because we have always been open to hospitality.
We found that when we were inviting people, and people were always coming and going, and having meals, that wow, it went above our budget. What were we going to do? In the end, we forgot about budgets. In fact, we’ve never, ever even had one in our lives since, in our 62 years of marriage! We just trust God and He always provides.
OK, time is going!
No. 22: FOOD AND MOTHERHOOD
Oh, dear lovely mothers, you cannot separate food from motherhood, or motherhood from food! Because one of your biggest tasks in your home is feeding your family. You can never get away from it. Every single day, every single week, every single month, every single year, you're going to be feeding your family.
1 Timothy 5:10 talks about this woman and her lifestyle. The first thing she did was that she brought up children. The words “brought up” are teknotropheo, which mean “to nurture with food.” One of the biggest things of our mothering is feeding our families. Dear mothers, please don’t despise cooking, preparing food, or feeding. It is who you are as a mother.
You begin by putting your baby on your breast, nurturing and nourishing that little one. And then, as that little baby weans, you begin to give it solid foods. Then you continue to make more and more food, until it’s eating big steaks, and you're growing these great big teenage boys, and you can’t even fill them! But that’s all part of mothering. Embrace it! Enjoy it! Do it to the fullest of everything within you. As God has told us to do everything with all our might (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Be a mother who feeds your family with all your might because motherhood and food are twins.
No. 23: FOOD AND STRENGTH
Psalm 104:15 tells us that food strengthens a man’s heart. It doesn’t only strengthen his body; it strengthens his heart too.
No. 24: FOOD AND TEACHING
We see so many examples in the Word of God, of how Jesus taught when He was sitting at the meal table, not just in the synagogue but at the table. This is where He loved to teach and tell His parables. I’ll give you all the references in the transcript.
The last one I have is . . .
No. 25: FOOD AND WORK
Yes, our husband has to work to provide for the food. We, as mothers, have to work to prepare the food. We’re both working. It has all to do with food. This is how God planned it. He planned this beautiful joy of eating. We all love to eat. We all love the taste of food. We all love the fellowship of sitting around the table eating. Food and fellowship are part of life.
But they also mean that we have to work for it. God has established work. In fact, He established work right at the very beginning when He put Adam in the garden to work in the garden. Once again, ladies, I know it takes extra work when you're having to prepare food. Often, you've got your own project and you're doing this or that. “Oh dear, it’s time to prepare food again!”
But now, this is important, and even if it takes work, just embrace it. In fact, it takes less work these days than it used to, way back in past days when they really had to work for their food. In fact, they didn’t even have supermarkets where they could go down and buy some food. They had to grow it. They had to prepare it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t eat at all.
Don’t despise getting back to basics. Don’t always take the easy way out and grab some packaged food or just grab some fast food. No, get back to basics and start to prepare your meals from scratch, from the original food that God gave for us. Oh, it will be so much healthier for you and for your family. You will be blessed as you're doing this because it’s what God intended. Amen?
Well, I can’t believe it. I got through our 25 points today. Next week ladies, I’m going to begin something very, very important, to share with you. Don’t miss out. Don’t miss next week’s podcast, will you? Let’s pray.
“Dear Father, we do thank You with all our hearts for Your precious Word and showing us Your heart. Lord, we read so much about food and how it’s so much part of our lives. We thank You for showing us the way.
“I pray for all the mothers listening today, that You will give them a new vision for cooking, for preparing their meals, for blessing their families, and preparing the way for great things. We thank You, Lord, that food prepares the way for You to come, and for You to speak into our hearts, and, Lord, for You to do great and wonderful things. We thank You for this, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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Further Scriptures:
No. 17: FOOD AND PRAYER AND PRAISE
When the disciples met together to eat, they also prayed and praised God: Acts 2:42, 46, 47; Deuteronomy 8:10; and Joel 2:26.
No. 21: FOOD AND PROVISION
Deuteronomy 7: 13; 28:4-13; 1 Kings 17:2-6, 8-16; 19:4-8; Nehemiah 5:17, 18; Psalm 34:10; 68:19; 37:25; 78:19-22; 103:5; 107:9; 145: 15, 16; Proverbs 10:3; Joel 2:26; Matthew 6:11, 31-33; Luke 12:24; and Philippians 4:19.
No. 24: FOOD AND TEACHING
Jesus used the mealtime at the table or teaching time: Mark 16:14, 15 and Luke 5:27-32; 7:36-50; 14:1-24; and 24:41-49. Not at the synagogue but at the table.
No. 25: FOOD AND WORK
We cannot expect to eat if we don’t work for it: Genesis 2:15; Psalm 128:2; Proverbs 10:4; 12:14; 20:4, 13; 21:5; Acts 20:34, 35; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; and 1 Timothy 5:8.