Do you love work? When I was a child, I used to think that God gave work as part of the curse! But of course, that’s a lie. God introduced work at the very beginning. As soon as God created the first home, the Garden of Eden, He put the man in it to work and guard it. The Hebrew word avad for work means “to serve, till, labor, to make weary.” That sounds like hard work.

Work is a blessing. Hard physical work saves us going to gym. Work releases creativity. In my last post, I shared how God created us to be creative beings with the anointing “to make.” But work precedes creativity. As we work, we think of better ways of doing things. More efficient. More ingenious. And then of course, when we think of these things, we get involved in more work. But that releases more creativity. Isn’t that exciting?

Let’s embrace work with a joyful and exciting attitude. Let’s have the right confession. Do you ever say, “I love work.”? I love to say these words.

Get your children to love work. This is a very important habit to instill in them while they are young. It breaks my heart to see lazy children who don’t want to work. They haven’t been trained. We must train our children to work. Not by nagging them. Not by yelling at them to stop being lazy. Not by punishing them. But by encouraging them. By thinking of ways to show them how to make it fun.

Work is part of human dignity. Work is an expression of the image of God. He is a Creator and therefore He works. He created the Garden of Eden and then He planted a garden. Yes, God, the ruler of the universe, prepared the soil and put His hands right into the soil and planted (Genesis 2:8)! Some people think they are better than God and they would rather not get their hands dirty.

Jesus said: “My Father is always working, and so am I” (John 5:17).

God looks upon all work as holy, whether it is sacred or secular. Working in your home—scrubbing toilets, changing diapers, vacuuming, preparing meals, and washing dishes are just as sacred as the pastor preaching on Sunday. We often think of the priests as holy men of God but the majority of them were butchers, slaughtering beasts and cutting them. They were tough and I am sure had well developed muscles. Others were bakers and cleaners and watchers over the temple (yes, they were bouncers!). And they were all holy and anointed for these “sacred” tasks.

Oh yes, something I didn’t tell you. I left it until the last. Another meaning of the word “avad” means “to worship.” Work is worship to God. When we do it with a willing and joyful spirit, we are actually worshipping God because He created us in His image to work! As you are busy working in your home, you are worshipping all day long.

Are you getting excited about work? Gather your children around and remind them how God created work for our blessing. It is holy and sacred. And when they do their chores with a willing heart, they are worshipping God. And if they try to do them to the best of their ability, God will show them better and quicker ways of doing them. And they’ll have more time for play!

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, I thank You that You created the principle of work for our lessing and for the advancement of mankind and this world. Help me to be like the Proverbs 31 woman who works WILLINGLY with her hands and JOYFULLY in her heart. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I love work. It gives me purpose for life.

Dear wives and mothers, you are created in the image of God to reflect His glory. As a female God destined you to reveal His nurturing and compassionate anointing to the world.

Our God is the Creator and loves to create. Because He created you in His image, you also have within you a desire to create. When God came to the sixth day of creation, He said: “LET US MAKE man in our image.” The essence of “let us make” is not only in God. He has also placed this attribute in His human creation.

Erick Gray writes: “Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she will make a baby. If you give her a house, she will make a home. If you give her groceries, she will make a meal. If you give her a smile, she will give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.”

It is true. Cooperating with God you make babies. Some women will say, “Is that all I’m good for? Making babies and keeping house?” Of course you are good for that. You were made physically and innately for motherhood. It is your glory. It is not only glorious, but powerful! Mothers are the greatest influence upon this generation, and therefore the nation, and therefore future generations, and therefore eternity!

But dear ladies, your whole life is creating. You were created “to make.” Because you are in the home you make it a beautiful home. You have the freedom to create it to be what you want it to be. Your imagination is limitless. You create a beautiful table to gather your family and visitors around.

You have complete freedom to develop the gifts and talents God has inherently put within you. Maybe you love to cook, so you make wonderful meals, not only for your family, but to invite others to join your table.

Do you love to bake cakes or homemade bread? You can even sell them. Everything you make can turn into a home business if you want it to. Although we have to guard that desire. There are seasons for everything. When we have little children around us, it is best to wait until they are older when you have more helping hands and when you have older children to help with the younger ones and even help with the home business you are creating.

You can make crafts and sell them. You can write books and sell them. You can paint pictures and sell them. Do you like to sew or knit? Oh I am sure you make the most amazing things with these abilities. You can create a wonderful garden. You can do whatever gift God has given you. Your creativity is boundless.

But here’s another thing to remember. You don’t have to make money out of everything you do! Yes, it can be a blessing (especially as you have older children) to help bring income into the family by selling your creative works. But we should never do everything for money. We do it for the joy of being creative. The joy of fulfilling the gift God has given to us. And the greatest motive of all—the joy of blessing others.

1 Peter 4:10 (HCSB) says: “Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God.” Do you notice those words, “to serve others”?  Yes, you may do it to make money, but the greatest purpose is to SERVE AND BLESS OTHERS. Firstly your family members, and then those around you. The Passion translation encourages us to use our gifts "to serve one another as faithful stewards of the many-colored tapestry of God's grace."

You don’t have to leave your home to be liberated! You are in your glory in your home as you bring forth babies and create a glorious home life for your family. But you are also free in your home to fulfill the gifts that God has uniquely and exclusively given to you. The sky is the limit. Please say Hallelujah!

John Garr writes: “There is no doubt that the term ‘image of God’ . . . refers to man’s inner charismatic endowment as a creative being. Man’s likeness to God expresses itself in man’s striving and ability to become a creator.”

Be blessed as you create in your home today,

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, thank You for the gifts You have put within me to bless my family and the people around me. Help me to use them for Your glory and the blessing of others. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am using my God-given gifts to bless and encourage everyone who comes across my path.

Pharoah’s daughter spoke these words to Moses’ mother when she found him in the bulrushes. These are literal words to Jochabed. However, I believe God speaks these words to every mother. When He gives a baby to a mother, He says: “Receive this baby from My loving hand. Nurse and nourish this baby for Me and I will reward you.”

When we nurse a baby at the breast, we are obeying God’s mandate. He has chosen mothers to nurse and nourish babies. This is very much part of who we are as women. And we are not of the deluded and deceived who do not know the answer to “What is a woman?

We know we are created by God to bring forth a baby from our womb and nourish this baby at the breast. We lavishly nurse our babies. We delight in this beautiful privilege. We are available to them whenever they need us. We nurse them until they are ready to wean, even if it is four years of age or more. We are a suckling mother.

Our nourishing does not end when our baby weans but continues throughout their growing years. We not only nourish with wholesome food but with godly wisdom and knowledge and understanding. We fill our children with God’s Word. We don’t only feed their physical bodies but their souls and spirits. It is so sad that many children grow up strong physically and yet their spirits are weak and starving.

This divine mandate from God takes commitment and sacrifice. It takes pouring out our lives. But God promises we will receive our wages. We will receive an eternal reward. This word WAGES is the same word in Psalm 127:3: “The fruit of the womb is his REWARD.”

We go to the New Testament and read the wonderful promise in 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, ALWAYS abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that YOUR LABOR IS NOT IN VAIN IN THE LORD.”

God has given to us the glorious work of mothering and training the future generation of the nation. We dare not do it lightly. God wants us to ABOUND in it. Let’s see what some other translations say:

“ALWAYS EXCELL”

“WORK VIGOROUSLY”

“ALWAYS BE OUTSTANDING”

“ALWAYS ENTHUSIASTIC”

“ALWAYS LETTING THE CUP RUN OVER”

When we pour our lives into our God-given work, we can be sure of our eternal reward.

Your mothering is never in vain!

Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Thank You, dear Father, that You created me to be female and have the privilege of bringing forth children to manifest Your image in this world. Thank You for your promises that my moments, and days, weeks, months, and years of mothering are not in vain. They count for eternity. And You have promised a reward. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

My mothering moments and days are not in vain. They are influencing the world around me, future generations, and eternity!

I am a freedom lover. But I also believe in boundaries. True freedom is only found in the boundaries that God assigns for us. A train running on its tracks is free to go anywhere the tracks take it. However, if the train decides it doesn’t want the confinement of tracks and veers off, it would be destroyed.

God puts boundaries on nature. God has put limits on the seas and the oceans. Psalm 104:9 says: “Thou hast set a bound (for the waters) that they may not pass over.”

Proverbs 8:29 says: “He gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment . . .”

God gave the angels of Heaven their boundary. Jude 1:6 (GW) tells us: “They (the angels) were held in darkness, bound by eternal chains. These are the angels who didn’t keep their position of authority but abandoned their assigned place.”

God masterminded the holy estate of marriage, the most beautiful estate on earth when we live it according to God’s plans. But God has placed boundaries on marriage. When a couple are joined as one on their wedding day, they enter into the exclusivity of marriage. We don’t share our marriage with anyone else. Oh yes, we open our homes and lives to encompass people, but our marriage is sacred. We will not embark on a personal relationship with someone of the opposite sex apart from with our husband.

God has given to women a powerful domain over which to rule. God planned for women to be queen of their homes and be the continuers of godly generations revealing the likeness and image of God. God does not intend us to enter the realm of the male domain. Of course, we can if we want, but it will not be to our detriment. God’s blessings are poured out in the domain that He gives to us. And our domain, mother, is a glorious domain.

I love David’s confession in Psalm 6:5, 6 (GW): “Your boundary lines mark out pleasant (delightful) places for me. Indeed, my inheritance is something beautiful.”

I love the CJB version: “Pleasant places were measured out for me; I am CONTENT with my heritage.” It is a beautiful thing when we are content within the boundaries that God assigns to us. In these boundary lines we have the greatest freedom because God is also the author of freedom. He wants us to live free.

The words of Jeremiah 5:22, 23 are challenging: “Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? But this people hath a revolting and rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.”

Wow, God uses the example of how even the oceans, although they roar and toss, cannot pass God’s boundary lines. And yet, unbelievably, His people do it. God mandated boundaries for His people Israel. He gave them laws and decrees, not to imprison them but to bless them, to make them healthy, and to make them His special and chosen people in all the world. But they didn’t want it. “They are revolted and gone!”

This is often our testimony of many women in the church today. They don’t understand that God’s truths do not inhibit us. They set us free. But they don’t want freedom within their boundaries. They want their own kind of freedom. God mandated for women to be in the home. But where are they? Most homes in America are empty today. The mothers have REVOLTED AND GONE!

This passage continues in verse 25: “Your sins have withholden GOOD THINGS from you.” We miss out on the “GOOD THINGS” when we move away from the boundaries God has assigned for us.

Let’s embrace all that God has for us and live in the fullness of the blessings He longs for us.

Drawing you back to His glorious ways, Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“I thank you, Father God, that You have planned for mothers to raise their children in the home. You designed the concept of the home. You love the home. Please help me to love my home and to remember that my home is the most powerful sphere You have given me to raise mighty sons and daughters for Your kingdom and for the eternal world. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

Home is my favorite place!