WHICH CART AR YOU DRIVING?

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”
(Isaiah 55:8, 9).

I would love to share an analogy with you today. In 2 Samuel chapter 6 it tells the story of how David prepared a new cart to bring the ark of God back to Jerusalem. I am sure it wasn’t any new cart. He would have had it made especially for the purpose. This cart was to carry the presence of God. They could not have anything but the very best.

And they did it with all their hearts. The worshipped, sang, and played musical instruments before the Lord all the way.

However, along the journey the oxen carrying the cart stumbled and Uzza put out his hand to steady the ark. What happened? “The LORD’S anger burned against Uzziah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there next to the ark of God” (2 Samuel 6:7 HCSB). David was angry and afraid of God. “How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?” he cried out.

David’s heart was perfect before the Lord. He was not rebellious. He did it with the very best intentions and the wisest way he could possibly think of, knowing it was the ark of “the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims” (v. 2).

In the meantime, David left the ark in the home of Obed-edom and “God blessed Obed-edom, and all his household” (v. 11).

Obed-edom was getting blessed and David was desperate for the ark. He had to get it back to Jerusalem somehow. This time, he searched for the way GOD wanted His presence carried. The previous time he did it the way he thought was best. Now he discovered that God had commanded in the beginning that the ark was only to be carried on the shoulders of the priests (Exodus 25:10-15 and Joshua 3:8).

This certainly was not as glamorous and prestigious as David’s first idea, but He obeyed God’s original command and ark of the covenant came safely back to Jerusalem.

I use this analogy regarding motherhood and homemaking. God’s original decree is for mothers to embrace mothering and child-rearing in their homes. The older women are to teach the younger women to love their husbands, love their children, and to be keepers at home (Titus 2:3, 4). The picture God gives of a family is of the mother in the heart of the home and all the children sitting around the table (Psalm 128:3).

However, many mothers today do not embrace this mandate. The norm today is for mothers to go out to the work force and leave their children in daycares. This is the new cart. Some do it in rebellion to God’s ways. But many, like David, do it with good intentions. They think it is the best and wisest way. It’s the way they are educated to do it. It’s the way their in-laws and out-laws tell them it should be done. 

But it is not good enough to do what we think is the best way or even the wisest in our eyes. We must do it God’s way. We must search His Word to know His way, for His way is always the best way. His way brings the presence of God. His way brings His blessing. His way is for our safety.

You may even be despised for doing it God’s way, just as David was despised by his wife (v.16) but it didn’t work out too well for Michal.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father God, God of truth and wisdom, please help me to be one who is prepared to walk Your way even if it is different to the way of society. I acknowledge that Your way is always the best way. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am living the “higher” way.

PRESSING ON TO HIGHER GROUND
Part 8

“And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as stones of a crown,
lifted up as an ensign upon his land”
(Zechariah 9:16)

We ended yesterday about flying the banners of truth from our homes. For too long we have allowed our banners to drag in the dust. We have been silent while the deceiver has used his operatives to brandish his deception across our nation.

In the media we are bombarded with more fake news than ever in the history of the nation. In our education system our students are brainwashed with extreme socialism and alternative lifestyles. And even in the church most Christian couples limit their families to two children and God’s mighty home army have left their post in droves.

Let’s rally to the truth. Let’s not lower it to half-mast but wave it high. Speak it out at every opportunity. Write it to the world. Are you on social media? Don’t waste time on Facebook etc. but use it to proclaim God’s truth. Every day you can send a little nuggest of truth out into the world.

Isaiah 13:2 (GNB) says: “On the top of a barren hill raise the battle flag!”

Now for our last point about lifting up as we press on to higher ground.

10. LIFT UP MOTHERHOOD

God lifts up motherhood and He wants us to lift it up too. In Ezekiel we read an allegory where God talks about the tribe of Judah and likens her to a mother. As we read this passage, we understand God’s value of motherhood.

Ezekiel 19:10, 11: “Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.”

The Hebrew word for exalted is gabah. It means “to soar, to mount up, to lift up, to raise up to great height.” That’s what God wants us to do with our career of motherhood. He places it high in society. Higher than all other careers. It is manifold. God made men to be focused; they like to concentrate on one thing at a time. However, God created women with the ability to do many things at one time. He gives her this capability in order to care for several children at once.

Dear mother, God wants you to soar in your great role of motherhood. He wants you to mount up above the petty things that often pull you down and the trials that make you despondent. He doesn’t intend you to be flapping around like a chicken. He wants you to soar like the eagle.

Sadly, this allegory in Ezekiel 19:12-14 ends on a bitter note: “But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; and the fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”

This passage is an up-to-date picture of motherhood in our society today. God exalts motherhood to a high place but do you notice the “but” in the above Scripture? Angry hands seek to pluck mothers out of the home. They downplay motherhood but God lifts it up!

As women are wooed out of the home they end up in the wilderness. The wilderness in this passage literally speaks of Babylon which is a type of confusion, deception, and delusion.

This is where many mothers are planted today. They are misplaced! God purposes for them to be in the home but they are away from their children. Their wombs are “dried up” (v.12) because they no longer have time to have children. The children they do have are “devoured” (v. 14) by the enemy because they have vacated their post. They are not home to care for them. They have, often ignorantly, been sucked into the sly strategy of the enemy of our souls who wants to rob children of their mothers and mothers of their children.

Satan knows that if he can get mothers out of the home, he can get his hands on the children and consequently steer the course of the nation. He is terrified of mothers who understand their divine calling and who will not be pushed out of the home, no matter what the situation. He is afraid of mothers who are prepared to sacrifice new homes and many material things to stay home with their children.

One of Satan's biggest threats is godly mothers who have a vision to raise godly children and diligently teach and train these children to be pure and ardent in God's truth.

One woman writes: “Women can give up their jobs as clerks, engineers, doctors, etc., and other people will step in, and the world will go as smoothly as before . . . not so with mothering. When we leave this job, the world does not go on as before. It falters and begins to lose way.”

The world cannot do without mothers! When mothers abdicate their role of mothering in the home, they lay down their power to lead the nation in God's ways!

Dear mother, lift up your role of mothering. Lift it up in your mind. Lift it up to where God wants it. Never be ashamed of your God-given career. It is where you will soar into the fulness of all that God created your for.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear God, please save me from society’s deceptions about motherhood. I want to embrace motherhood as You have mandated it for me. Help me to always lift it up in my own home and lift it up in all my conversations with other women. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am lifting up motherhood in my home and wherever I go.

More Scriptures about lifting up our banners:

Isaiah 5:26; 11:10, 12; 13:2; 18:3; 30:17; 31:9; 49:22; 57:14; 62:10; Jeremiah 4:5, 6; 50:2; and Zechariah 9:16.

God wants every home to have its own banner:

Numbers 1:52; Numbers 2:2, 18, 25; 10:14, 18, 22, and 25.

PRESSING ON TO HIGHER GROUND
Part 7

“In the name of our God, we will set up our banners.”
(Psalm 20:5).

We are now up to Point No. 7 as we press on to higher ground.

7. LIFT UP YOUR HEART

Lamentations 3:41: “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.”

I love that this Scripture talks about lifting up our heart and our hands. To lift up our hands without our heart being involved is meaningless. But to lift up our heart with our hands is very meaningful. It gives action to what is in our hearts and God loves to see that.

Job 11:13 (NLT): “If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer!”

8. LIFT UP YOUR PRAYERS

What does it mean to lift up our prayers? We pray quietly in our hearts of course and we do this so many times throughout the course of the day, don’t we? Especially as mothers we are continually praying for wisdom and seeking God’s guidance as we mother and nurture our children.

But there are times to lift up our prayers. We are so desperate that we must give voice to them. We also lift up our prayers when praying with others so they can join with us and say Amen to what we are praying.

Isaiah 37:4: “Lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.”

1 Timothy 2:8: “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath or doubting.”

In the Bible, lifting up the palms or hands is a metaphor for prayer.

9. LIFT UP YOUR BANNERS

A banner is not meant to drag in the dust. It is meant to fly high! It is a sign of victory. It is a warning to the enemy. It is a proclamation of truth.

Psalm 60:4 says: “Thou has given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.”

God has given us truth in His word, and He wants us to display it, not hide it under a bushel. We must continually lift up the banner of God’s truth—to our children and to whoever will listen to us.

Isaiah 13:2: “Lift up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them . . .”

Jeremiah 50:2 (BSB): “Announce and declare to the nations, lift up a banner and proclaim it, hold nothing back . . .”

Isaiah 59:19: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”

We read an amazing description of the bride of Christ in Song of songs 6:10: “Who is this that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners.” This is not the picture we would equate with a bride, is it? But this is how God sees His church, the bride of Christ. This is a picture of an army marching to battle with their banners lifted high. They are not retreating. They are on the attack. They are a scary sight as they push back the enemy.

Let’s look at some other translations:

HCSB: “awe-inspiring as an army with banners.”

CJB: “formidable as an army marching under banners.”

ESV: “awesome as an army with banners.”

Banners are a sign of victory. They reveal what we believe and what we stand for. God is a banner holder. One of His salvation names is Jehovah-Nissi, The Lord is my banner (Exodus 17:15).

He wants us to hold up our banners too. We must be banner holders in our homes. Holding God’s truth high. Never letting it fall to the ground. Are you holding the banner of truth high, mother? This takes purpose, tenacity, and strength. Never let the enemy grab your banner, carrying it off and laughing in your face. Keep standing strong in this evil day and “having done all, stand” with your banner lifted high.

You are the protector of your home front. You are not cowardly hiding from the enemy. You are waving your banners high. You will not allow the enemy to come against your marriage, to woo your children from the truth, or to enter your home. The only way you see the enemy is a foe to be utterly defeated and routed.

Let’s be banner waving mothers . . .

Holding up the banner of truth against all deception.

Holding up the banner of love against all bitterness and hate.

Holding up the banner of righteousness against all evil.

Holding up the banner of purity against all immorality and uncleanness.

Holding up the banner of unity against all dissension and strife.

Holding up the banner of contentment against all discontentment.

Holding up the banner of faithfulness against all faithlessness.

Holing up the banner of motherhood against all counterfeits of Satan.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, please help me to hold the banners of Your truth high. Save me from compromise. Give me courage to stand strong even when others are caving in all around me. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am a banner holding, banner waving mother. Look out world!

PRESSING ON TO HIGHER GROUND
Part 6

“And one of them some the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear and healed him”
(Luke 22:50,51).

We continue discovering Scriptures about lifting up our hands.

e) We lift up our hands in affirmation to truth

Ezra 8:6: “And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And ALL THE PEOPLE answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands . . .”

Do you find you like to do this? I love to raise my hands in agreement when someone is speaking the truth, don’t you? Oh yes, we can agree in our hearts and nod our heads, but did you know that you are allowed to raise your hand? It’s biblical. And there’s something about doing some action! Why don’t you try it in church one day? You can even shout Amen as the people in Jerusalem did! You’ll only have a riot or a revival. More likely a revival!

f). We lift up our hands to bless others

Leviticus 9:22: “And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people and blessed them.”

1 Kings 8:54: “And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD from kneeling of his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying . . .” Read also 2 Samuel 6:7-20.

Luke 24:50: “And Jesus led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.”

It is a lovely thing to lay your hands on those you pray for and bless in the name of the Lord.

g) We lift up our hands to bless our children

Don’t you love this Scripture in Mark 10:16: “And Jesus took them (the little children) up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.” The Passion translation says: “Then he embraced (caressed) each child, and laying his hands on them, he lovingly blessed each one.” Read also Luke 18:15, 16.

h) We lift up our hands to serve others and help those in need

I love the way God’s Word is so practical and tangible. God writes words to us that get right down into the nitty gritty of how we live. 1 Peter 4:8 says: “And above all things have fervent love among yourselves.” The word fervent in this passage is “ektenes” and means “to stretch out, to extend the hand, intense.”

Love is more than a feeling. Love is action. If we have fervent love, we’ll be stretching out our hands. Of course, we do this all day long as mothers, don’t we? We are always reaching out for babies. We nurse them, hold them to us, or wear them in a baby carrier more than we leave them lying on their own. We continually reach out our arms to touch, caress, and hug our children. We cook for them and serve them food. We clean the house. This is love in action.

We extend our hands in hospitality. Immediately after reading “fervent love,” we read the admonition to “Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” Hospitality doesn’t just happen. You have to cook. You have to prepare a table. Yes, you have to extend your hands. Get them working. But this is fervent love. It is biblical Christianity. It is the lifestyle of the early church. It is part of our “one anothering faith (Romans 1:12).

Our God is an hospitable God. He loves to reach forth His hands to bless people, but He is looking for our hands to use here on earth.

The virtuous woman “STRETCHES out her hand to the poor; yea she REACHES forth her hands to the needy” (Proverbs 31: 20).

When God reveals the picture of the lifestyle of the godly woman, we read that she reaches out her hands to embrace children, practice hospitality, wash the saints’ feet, relieve the afflicted and help those in distress, and continually stretches out her hands to all kinds of good works (1 Timothy 5;10). Nothing happens without reaching out our hands.

i)  We lift up our hands to pray for the sick

We reach out our hands in fervent love when we pray for the sick. The word is used in Matthew 8:3 when Jesus touched the leper: “And Jesus put forth (ekteino) his hand and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” Jesus was willing to touch the leper.

We should always be ready to touch or lay our hands on those who are sick and pray for them, beginning in the home with our families of course. God loves to “stretches forth His hand to heal (Acts 4:30).

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, Please help me to be always ready to reach forth my hands. You want me to reach forth my hands in praise to You. You want me to reach forth my hands to bless and pray for others. You want me get my hands working and reach them forth to serve others. Please anoint my hands to be “reaching forth” and “stretching forth” hands. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION: