LUSH PASTURES
PART 1

“Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name . . .
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
(Psalm 103:1, 5).

There is hardly a person who doesn’t know Psalm 23, the shepherd’s psalm and we invariably read it to receive comfort from our Good Shepherd. However, we can also learn from this beloved psalm how to mother our own little or big flock. Mothering is very similar to shepherding and encompasses all the aspects of shepherding and tending to a flock.

We can all recite the first verse: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Or we could say: “I lack nothing.”

Mothering is not a little task. It is HUGE. We minister to our children—body soul, and spirit. Can they say they lack nothing, not only being clothed and fed bodily, but spiritually and mentally? We constantly tend to the physical needs of our children but what about the inner man. That’s even more important than the outer man.

Many mothers feel they can manage motherhood, providing food and clothing for their children. But oh, there is far more to mothering than this. It is feeding the soul, the mind, and the spirit. This takes far more time than the physical needs. Many children are adequately provided with food and clothing (most probably far more than they need), yet they starve spiritually.

Verse 2 in the New Living Translation says: “He takes me to lush pastures.” Where are you taking your children today dearest mother? The true shepherd leads his sheep to “green and lush pastures.” Do you notice that the Shepherd leads them? He doesn’t let them go where they want to go for the sheep don’t know what is best for them.

Are you leading your children? Are you taking them to what is best for them? So many children and teens today are left to the devices of the Internet and Social Media. Those are the “pastures” they feed on. Their iPhones are hardly out of their hands. The sad thing is that they get so full on all this junk that they have no appetite for what is good.

It’s the same with food. When we feed up on junk foods, sweet foods, and fast foods, we fill up on this “dead food” and have no desire for the good, wholesome foods of vegetables, fruit, and home-cooked meals.

The word for food in the New Testament is trophe (pronounced trophay) and means “nourishment, both literally and figuratively.” Therefore, if the food we give our children doesn’t nourish them, it’s not real food. It’s the same for their souls. Is what they are feeding on nourishing their souls and spirits?

We must guard that our children don’t get filled up on all the junk that is available today. When they get filled up on the junk of this world, then they have no appetite for the spiritual. They need to be starved from the junk, so they’ll get thirsty for good food for their bodies, souls, and spirits. We must reawaken ourselves and our children to hunger and thirst for the good and the spiritual. Jesus said in the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

God promises in Isaiah 44:3: “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” Do you notice that this promise is to the thirsty! If they are not thirsty and instead are filled with all the junk of this world, they will not be ready to receive what God wants to give them which is the good food. It is our responsibility to keep them thirsty for the good food of wholesome truth and lead them to the lush food God wants to pour into them.

The Shepherd chapter in Ezekiel 34: 14, 15 says: “I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.”

Are you leading your children to lush pastures?

Blessings from Nancy Campbell
www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father God, I want to be hungry and thirsty for You. And I long for my children to also be hungry and thirsty for You. Please give me wisdom to save them from the foolish things of this world so they will be hungry and ready to receive the fullness of truth You have for them. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am cracking down on all the junk in my home that deadens the spiritual life of my children. I am awakening them to the rich foods that will feed their souls and spirits.

MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH . . .

“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your able”
(Psalm 128:3 NKJV).

A mother’s job description is enormous. I don’t think there is another career in the nation that imbibes so many profiles. In Chapter 15 in my book, “The Power of Motherhood,” I list just on 100 different profiles of motherhood, and I know I haven’t exhausted the list.

However, there are a few basic things with which we equate motherhood.

* MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH HOME. Mother is the heart of the home. God created her for the home. A home is not a home without a mother.

* MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH PREGNANCY. I know there are some mothers who don’t like to hear this. They don’t want to be relegated to childbearing. They believe they were ordained for much more than this. It is true, we will do a lot more than childbearing in our lives. Childbearing is only for a certain season—until we reach menopause. However, it is very much part of being a mother. True motherhood embraces childbearing (1 Timothy 2:15 and 5:14).

* MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH BREASTFEEDING. We were physically created for this beautiful role. Did you know that one of the words for “female” in the Greek is a word that means a suckling mother? In fact, it’s the word that Jesus used when talking to the Pharisees and said: “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them  male and female (suckling mother)” (Matthew 19:4).

* MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH THE KITCHEN AND COOKING. This is another area that many women would rather reject. They feel it is too insignificant. But we’ve got the wrong mindset. Nurturing, feeding, and pampering with food is very much of mothering. 1 Timothy 5:10 gives a description of a mother. The first description is that she has “brought up” children. It means “to fatten, feed, and nourish children.” It’s all about feeding. And feeding means cooking! And cooking means being in the kitchen!

Dear precious mothers, can I encourage you to stop complaining about cooking and preparing meals? It’s part of your mothering role. A true mother loves to feed her husband, her family, and everyone who comes to her home. Nourishing food. Served with love. Served with joy. Bringing healing to body, soul, and spirit.

There are two main words used for food in the New Testament:

1. trophe (16 x) which means “nourishment, both literally and figuratively. “

If the food we prepare doesn’t nourish the body, it’s not real food.

2. Trepho (8 x) meaning “to fatten, to cherish with food, pamper, bring up, feed, nourish.”

That means to nourish our children body, soul, and spirit. We nourish them with healthy food for their bodies. We also encourage them with healthy food for their souls, and especially their spirits. That’s why I like to think of the table as a place where we feed the whole man. It’s not just the food, but fellowship and dialogue, and then the precious Word of God. We will never let our children leave the table until we have read God’s living Word to them to feed their inner man.

Embrace who you are as a mother. Embrace your nurturing anointing. Be a mother, not just in name only.

I know there are some mothers who have not been able to have children of their own. They are still mothers. God not only created us physically for the great task of mothering, but innately. When women embrace the beautiful instinct that God has divinely put within them and reach out to others with their compassionate hearts, they fulfil their great role of mothering.

We are the pourers forth of God’s maternal heart to our families and to the world. Let’s be who God created us to be.

Blessings to you, Nancy Campbell

www.aboerubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father God, I thank You with all my heart for Your wonderous pan for me as a woman. Your plans are the best and all Your ways are perfect. Thank you that You have chosen me to be in the home and to make my home a place of nurturing and nourishing to all those who live within. Please anoint me in this great task of nourishing them body, soul, and spirit. I long to fill my home with Your joy and Your presence. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I delight in God’s plan for me as a wife, a mother, and a homemaker. I am embracing it with all my heart.

WHAT DO YOU CALL A PREGNANT MOMMY?

“As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all”
(Ecclesiastes 11:5).

What word do you use to describe your pregnancy? We usually say, “I’m pregnant.” Some say, “I’m expecting.” You sometimes hear, “I’m in the family way” which is a phrase dating back to the 17^th century. Polish words for pregnant can mean “with hope” or “blessed state.”

I remember reading about a mother who was asked to get involved in a church project, but she answered, “Sorry, I am full-time gestating.” Now, there’s a good excuse for a pregnant mother. It is true. There is nothing more important that you could be doing than growing a child in your womb, an eternal soul that will live forever.

I think we should use the most beautiful words possible to describe the awesome wonder of God creating a child in the womb, don’t you? The Bible tells it plainly and truthfully. It states that the pregnant woman is “with child.”

Ecclesiastes 11:5 talks about “how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child.” The Hebrew for “with child” in this passage is male and means “full, filling, fullness.” It is the picture of the womb filled with a growing child. If this phrase was more popular, society would become aware of the truth that the baby is not a blob of tissue, but an actual human being growing and filling the womb—a human being that has the same DNA it will have when he or she is 70 years of age or more.

The Hebrew word hareh is also translated “with child.” This word is used for conception as well as the child growing in the womb. It’s the language of angels. When the angel of the Lord came to Hagar he said, “Behold thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael” (Genesis 16:11).

In Genesis 21:2 the same word is used when it says: “Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age.” The Bible makes it clear that life begins at conception. This word is used for the moment of conception, the child growing in the womb, when the baby is “great” and ready to be born, and then coming into the world. A similar word, harah, is also used for both conception and being “with child.”

Here’s another thought-provoking point. Exodus 21:22 says: “If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her . . .” “With child” is hareh. But what is the word for fruit? It is the Hebrew word yeled which means, “something born, a child, a young man.” That’s talking about a person who is alive and walking around. But God uses that word for the baby in the womb, confirming that the babe in the womb is just as much the person they will be when they are a child or even older.

Let’s go to the New Testament where it speaks of Mary being “with child.”

Matthew 1:18: “When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” And Matthew 1:23: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” The Greek word gaster is used here.

The Greek word brephos is also used for “an unborn child, a new-born child, an infant.” In Luke 1:41 it tells us that “when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe (brephos) leaped in her womb . . .”and verse 44 where Elisabeth exclaims: “For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe (brephos) leaped in my womb for joy.”

Let’s answer this question: who was the first person to acknowledge that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Yes, you are right. A baby, John the Baptist in his mother’s womb! He not only acknowledged, he leaped!

The word brephos is also used of a newborn babe in Luke 2:12 and 16 when the shepherds found Jesus “the babe (brephos) lying in a manger.”

Don’t you think it is time we acknowledged Bible truth rather than listening to human reasoning?

By the way, what words do you (or did you) use to tell people you are pregnant?

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, I thank You that Your word is truth. Thank You for making Your truth so clear to me in Your living word. Help me to resolutely stand for truth and never waver, no matter what society is saying around me. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I believe that life begins at conception and therefore it is murder to kill a baby in the womb.

Other hareh (“with child”) references: Genesis 16:11; 38:24, 25; Exodus 21;22; Judges 13:5, 7; 1 Samuel 4;19; 2 Samuel 11:5; Isaiah 7:14; 26:17; Jeremiah 20:17; 31:8; Hosea 13:16; Amos 1;13; and 2 Kings 8:12.

LEARNING SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY?

“Giving all diligence, ADD to our faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love”
(2 Peter 1:5-7).

I have always loved the lines from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “A Psalm of Life.”

“But to act that each tomorrow

Find us further than today.”

I love to learn something new every day, don’t you? Recently I learned the difference between a Shepherd’s Pie and a Cottage Pie. How come it has taken me so long to know the difference?

A Shepherd’s Pie is made with ground lamb whereas a Cottage Pie is made with ground beef. I guess the reason I didn’t know is that growing up in New Zealand we always cooked our Shepherd’s Pie with ground lamb as lamb was the meat we lived on in New Zealand.

I also learned recently that The American Life League estimates that “Using formulas based on the way the birth control pill works, pharmacy experts project that about 14 million chemical abortions occur in the United States each year.” Wow, that bit of information is just about too much to take in. More abortions through the Pill than Clinic abortions!

Another interesting fact I learned recently was the loudest sound that has ever been heard by human ears. It was when the volcano Krakatoa erupted in 1883 at 310 decibels. People in Alice springs, Australia, 2,233 miles away heard it!

Anyway, I think it is a good thing to encourage your children to learn something new every day. I think this is more important than making sure your children get through all their lessons each day. They can finish their lessons and yet often not remember anything. But if they learn one specific new thing every day, they will become very knowledgeable.

A good idea is to check how everyone is learning in the family at your evening family meal table. Here’s a good question for your children: “Children, what is something new you learned today?” Start with the first child and go around each one to ask them one new thing they learned. You and your husband must participate too. Your children love to hear something new that you have learned too.

This is a good way to check if your homeschooling is effective. If there is silence and they can’t remember anything, maybe you could try teaching them differently!

This is true education. Learning something new every day. It inspires excitement for learning. When you give your children this challenge, they’ll start looking for things to really remember. And you will too.

And even more than learning something new every day is to have the vision to grow a little more in Christ every day. We should never stay the same, but each new day seek to be conformed to the image of God’s dear Son. 1 Timothy 4:15 tells us that we are to immerse ourselves in the teachings of Christ and the Scriptures “so that all may see your progress.”

Other people should see that we are changing day by day. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lod, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

We’ve got to keep growing in the Lord each new day. Our Christian life is not a stay-at-the-same-place walk, but a MORE AND MORE walk.

Proverbs 4:18: “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth MORE AND MORE unto the perfect day.”

Be excited to learn something new today.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell
www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, I ask that You help me to continually grow in my walk with You. I don’t want to stay the same. I want to learn more of You as I read Your precious Word each day. I long for new understanding and insight. I want to grow stronger and stronger in my faith and my trust in You. Please help me to inspire my children to grow daily in the Lord also. I don’t want them to stay babies. I want them to mature and grow strong in the Lord. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus!

P.S. More Scriptures to check out: Psalm 92:12-14; Proverbs 4:18; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 4:11-16; Philippians 3:12-14; Colossians 2:6, 7; 1 Timothy 4:11-15; Hebrews 5:12-14; 6:1; 12:1, 2; 1 Peter 2:2, 3; 2 Peter 1:5-8; and 3:18.