PRESSING ON TO HIGHER GROUND
Part 1

“LOOKING UNTO JESUS the author and finisher of our faith;
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the same, and is set down
at the right hand of the throne of God”
(Hebrews 12:2).

Are you familiar with the words of the hymn by Johnson Oatman, Jr.? I’ll print them in full at the end of this devotion in case you are not familiar with them. The chorus says:

Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

This is my prayer. I am sure it is yours too. God wants us to walk in an uplifted spirit. He does not want us to be “down in the dumps” and depressed. He wants us to be a “lifting up” and an “uplifting people,” in our homes and wherever we go. And because of this, God gives us lots of encouragement. The Bible speaks of ten areas He want us to lift up in our lives. Shall we look at these together?

1. LIFT UP YOUR EYES

Where are your eyes today? Your physical eyes and the eyes of your heart? Are you looking at all you must accomplish today? Are you looking at your problems and dwelling on them?

Can I encourage you to change the direction of your eyes? When you look down, when you look at your problems, and you look at the mess around you, life seems overwhelming. But this is not the right place for your eyes. Lift your eyes, dear mother. Look up to Jesus. It’s amazing what happens when you look up to Him. Your circumstances may not change, but your attitude changes. Instead of living under your problems you will live above them!

During scorning and contempt from people, the Psalmist confessed: “Unto THEE lift I up mine eyes” (Psalm 123:1). He didn’t get into depression because everyone was against him. He found his victory in putting His eyes upon the Lord.

I think of the tragedy in David’s life when he and his army came back from battle to find their city of Ziklag burned to the ground. And worse—all their wives and children taken captive! The people wept until they had no more power to weep. They wanted to stone David they were so grieved. David was at his wit’s end, but then he “encouraged himself in the LORD his God” (1 Samuel 30:6).

Before this, David didn’t know what to do. But when he lifted his eyes to the Lord instead of the devastation around him, God showed him what to do. He gave him a plan and with God’s help they were able to rescue every wife and every child.

When your eyes are fixed on your problem you can’t even think straight, let alone know what to do. But when you lift your eyes to the Lord, trust Him, and rest in Him, you will hear His voice speaking to you. He will show you His plan and give you His peace.

Don’t you love 2 Corinthians 4:16-18? “For which because we faint not; but though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a FAR MORE EXCEEDING AND ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY: while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Do you notice God gives five adjectives to describe the glory that He works in us as we go through our difficulties?

Psalm 34:5: “They looked unto him, and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed.”

Psalm 59:10,11 (KNOX): “TO THEE I LOOK, the God who strengthens me, the God who watches over me; my God, and all my hope of mercy.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, I want to keep my eyes upon You. The things of this world are temporal. Why should I waste my time groveling over them? Help me to constantly keep my eyes upon You and Your truths and Your eternal values. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

My eyes are ever toward the Lord!

I’M PRESSING ON THE UPWARD WAY

I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Refrain:
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where those abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.

I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.

I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

HOW DOES GOD SEE MARRIAGE?
Where Does Life Begin? Part 6

“And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee”
(Genesis 17:7).

More thoughts today from Malachi 2:14-16. We understood something of God’s heart last week when we read that God’s longs to see godly children come from our marriage.

What were the words again? “Didn’t the LORD make you one with your wife? And what does he want? Godly children from your union.”

The King James says: “That he might seek a godly seed.” The word “seed” is the Hebrew word “zera.” Did you know that God uses this same Hebrew word for sperm as He does for people?

The word “zera” is used for sperm in Leviticus 14:16-18 and 22:4. And then we read multitudes of Scriptures where God uses the same word for people.

Genesis 46:6, 7 tells how Jacob and all his family came down from Canaan to Egypt: “And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed (zera) with him: His sons, and his son’s sons with him, his daughters, and his son’s daughters, and all his seed (zera) brought he with him into Egypt.”

Did Jacob come down from Canaan with lots of little sperms floating down with him? No. This Scripture is talking about sons and daughters of all ages, and grandsons and granddaughters of all ages—babies, little ones, teens, and adults! And they are all called zera, the same word for sperm!

In Numbers 14:24 God says that because Caleb “followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed (zera) shall possess it.” Imagine if Caleb lived in our society today. There would be many people who God intended to be born but were not born and would therefore miss the blessings of possessing the land.

Because Phinehas was zealous for the Lord and stood against the adultery that was happening amongst the people, God said: “Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed (zera) after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God” (Numbers 25:12, 13).The blessing God gave him was also for his coming descendants. If they were contracepting as so many Christian parents are doing today, they would not have been born to inherit the blessings God gave to his future posterity.

Let’s go to the New Testament. Hebrews 7:9, 10 tells us how Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec while he “was yet in the loins” of Abraham who was his great-grandfather! He wouldn’t have even been a twinkle in Abraham’s eyes and yet God knew him before he was conceived. The Bible states that he literally paid tithes as Abraham paid tithes (because he was already in his loins)! Wow, God’s understanding is far beyond ours, isn’t it?

We understand that life begins at conception but God sees life coming from the sperm. He even sees the future generations. He sees far ahead of our puny thinking.

Serene and I were talking about life on one of my podcasts. One-year-old, Solly was sitting on her knee (she is now five), and she said, “Oh my goodness, imagine if I didn't have her! And look at her personality! God had a vision of her. Imagine if I had said, ‘No, God, I don't want her, I don't care for Your desire to have her in eternity with You.’”

What a powerful revelation! This is something to think about. When we say No to a child that God has planned before the foundation of the world to spend eternity with Him, we deprive that child of life. Not only of life in this world, but of the opportunity to enjoy the glories of the eternal world forever—glories that are beyond the scope of our human minds to comprehend! What a terrible thing to deprive someone of the glory of the eternal world.

Our minds are so limited. I constantly ask God to open my mind to think His thoughts and understand His ways—to save me from putting Him in a box, from bringing Him down to the level of my restricted thinking, of making myself a god instead of allowing Him to be God!

If we belong to the kingdom of God, we better be on God’s side. God is a God of life, and His kingdom is a kingdom of life. The devil hates life and his kingdom is a kingdom of death. John 10:10 says that he comes to “steal, kill, and destroy,” the anti-life trio. He does this through contraception, sterilization, and abortion. The devil wants to eliminate life before it is even conceived through contraception and sterilization and abortion is his back-up plan!

Did you know we can be against abortion and yet not pro-life? If we are truly pro-life, we will not take the Pill or any of its associated methods which have the potential to abort babies. If we are truly pro-life, we will believe in life from the very moment of conception. And . . . even before!

Blessings to your home from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, please save me from my own limited thinking. Help me to think like You think. To understand Your heartbeat. Help me to see children the way You see them. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am God’s side, not the devil’s side!

HOW DOES GOD SEE MARRIAGE?
Part 5: The Big Question

“Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee; he will also bless the fruit of thy womb . . .
Thou shalt be blessed above all people:
there shall not be male or female barren among you . . .“
(Deuteronomy 7:12-14).

We continue pondering the passage about marriage in Malachi 2 and we read a straightforward question. Here it comes: “What does God want from your union?”

We wait for the answer . . . God answers: “That he might seek a godly seed.” 

The New Living Translation says: “And what does he want?” Godly children from your union.”

The Berean Study Bible says: “Has not the LORD made them one . . . And why one? Because he seeks godly offspring.”

It is true that God ordained marriage for intimate companionship which God loves us to enjoy. He ordained the “holy estate” marriage to satisfy the sexual desires and intimate fellowship with one another. But ultimately, He ordained marriage for the brining forth of children. We see this in the very first words God spoke into the ears of man: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28).

Therefore, a young couple are not ready to marry if they are not prepared to embrace children. To go into marriage with a plan to stop children for a certain length of time is not God’s will. To stop God visiting you with His gift of life for any human reason (even “spiritual sounding” reason) is not God’s will.

I know more than one couple who stopped having children because they were in “the ministry” and wanted to serve God. These couples have the wrong concept of God and the Bible. The perfect will of God will never negate God’s existing commandments. Read that statement again! That means that if you have to stop having children to fulfil a certain ministry for God, it is not God’s plan but your own plan.

God desires and looks for children from the marriage union. If we don’t want children, we have a different mindset than God. We are not in step with Him.

And it is not just children He looks for. It is “godly” children. The word is “elohim.” This is one of the names of God. The very first name of God revealed to us in His word in Genesis 1:1.

God looks for godly couples who will bring forth His children and train them in righteousness, justice, and godliness (Genesis 18:19). Couples who will faithfully teach them God’s ways. Couples who will pray daily for them, that they will be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29) and reveal His image in this earth.

Sadly, because the devil has been very successful in deceiving the minds of Christian parents, the world is depleted of the godly. There could have been millions more godly people in the earth, filling the land with God’s image.

Oh, may more and more of God’s people begin to understand His heart and purposes for us.

Blessings from NANCY CAMPBELL

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, thank You for showing me Your heart and your purpose for us on this earth. You want Your image to be revealed in the earth. Please open our hearts to be obedient to Your ways and Your will. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

HOW DOES GOD SEE MARRIAGE?
Part 4: God is Watching

“The LORD, the God of Israel, be witness!”
(1 Samuel 1:12 ESV).

We keep looking more into the Malachi 2 passage about marriage. Verse 14 says: “The LORD hath been WITNESS between thee and the wife of thy youth . . . yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.”

We often move along in our marriages without ever realizing how much God is involved. Yes, He is involved even if we don’t notice Him. Do we realize that God is witnessing all our words and interactions with another? When we are aware of this, it certainly makes a difference to how we act and speak to one another, doesn’t it?

God was witnessing as we spoke our marriage vows, maybe similar to these words: “I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband, and forsaking all others, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, according to God’ s Holy Ordinance.”

We spoke our vows before God. We made a covenant. That’s why God uses the word “treacherous” because when we break covenant with our marriage vows, we also break covenant with God.

The Message paraphrase says: “GOD was there as a witness when you spoke your marriage vows to your young bride, and now you’ve broken those vows, broken the faith-bond with your vowed companion, your covenant wife. GOD, not you, made marriage.”

Proverbs 2:17 talks about the wife who “forsakes the guide of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.” Her marriage vows are called the “covenant of her God.”

The word “covenant” is “berit” and means “a compact (made by passing between pieces of flesh as God did with Abram in Genesis 15:17-21), a contract accompanied by signs, sacrifices, and a solemn oath which sealed the relationship with promises of blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience.”

Do you notice the words, “FORSAKING ALL OTHERS”? These words are part of our marriage vows. When we marry, we no longer have a “personal” male friend. Of course, we’ll have loads of male friends as couples and families with whom we enjoy fellowship. But never again will we go out for lunch or a cup of coffee on our own with another man. The covenant of marriage makes us “glued” to our spouse. We are one. No longer two. If we don’t understand this concept, we don’t understand God’s concept of marriage.

And remember, God is WITNESSING.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Lord God, You were with us on our wedding day when we said our vows to one another. You witnessed as we made a covenant with one another and with You. Please help both of us to be covenant keepers. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

AFFIRMATION: