1 Kings 18:3, “Obadiah feared the Lord greatly.”

We continue to look at how Obadiah’s parents prepared him for his life’s destiny.

2.  They raised him to stand for God and for truth, even if he had to stand alone.

Obadiah lived and worked in the midst of evil all around him. He lived in the midst of temptation. All of the king’s court worshipped Baal. It was popular. It was the current trend. Obadiah was on his own as he gave his allegiance to the one true God. He had no encouragement, but he was not deterred. He was raised with an awe of God. He knew that God was the true I AM, even though he was the only one who continued to believe. To “fear the Lord greatly” in the midst of Jezebel’s court, who sought to massacre all the prophets of the Lord, was certainly a great testimony.

Pray that God will empower you to raise children who will stand for God and His truth even if they have to stand alone, children who will confess, “Let God be true but every man a liar.” (Romans 3:4)

3.  They raised him to walk in integrity and to do a job well.

Obadiah was the Lord High Chamberlain.  I am sure that Jezebel hated Obadiah. She wanted to eradicate all those who served God, but she had to put up with Obadiah, because King Ahab could not do without him. The king’s court ran smoothly under Obadiah’s jurisdiction. No one else could do the job as well as he could. When you read verses 5 and 6 of 1 Kings 18 you will see that Obadiah was next to the king in organizing the important matters of the land. Spurgeon comments that he “neither compromised his conscience nor jeopardized his position.”

Don’t accept mediocrity. Raise your children to excel in the gift that God has given them. Of course they don’t have to excel in everything. God has made each one totally different. We must encourage them to be the very best in that which God has given them to do.

4. They raised him to be courageous, even in the face of death.

When Jezebel ordered all the prophets of God to be massacred, Obadiah, at great risk to himself, hid 100 prophets in two caves. He went against the edict of the queen to do that which was right. Obadiah’s parents did not raise a weak jellyfish, but a warrior for God’s army.

Pray that God will anoint you to raise sons and daughters who will be courageous men and women who will do that which is right, even if they have to risk their lives. May they be young people who will answer God’s call to, “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 94:16)

5. They raised him to be generous.

Obadiah not only hid the prophets, but he fed them bread and water from his own finances. This was in a time of severe famine when food was scarce and of course very expensive.

Pray that God will help you to raise children who will not be interested in accumulating wealth for themselves but whose passion is to advance the kingdom of God.

6. They raised him for greatness and prepared him for his destiny.

Obadiah may have been born and raised in a humble home and yet he ended up in the king’s court.  His parents trained him thoroughly in every area of his life. They tutored him seriously. They prepared him to be ready for whatever destiny God had planned for him.

God has a destiny planned for each one of your children and whether this task is large or small, it is great in the eyes of God. God has given you the awesome task of preparing them for this purpose. You don’t have to have a big luxurious home to raise great children. You may only have a humble home. You may not even have all the things you think you need for teaching your children. Don’t despair. You have enough when you have God, His power and His powerful Word.

I remember visiting the home in Kentucky where Abraham Lincoln was born. It was a tiny cabin, no bigger than many kitchens today. It had a dirt floor and an open fireplace to cook. But out of this humble abode, a home that would be condemned today, came one of the greatest presidents of the United States.

Lift your vision high. Raise your children for greatness. Encourage them to believe that they can do anything that God gives them to do. They were born to fulfill the purposes of our mighty God. Raise them to believe that nothing is impossible. Give yourself totally to preparing them for their destiny and then stand back and watch what God will do. You will be amazed at where he will take your children to influence this world for God.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh God, I am aware of the mighty task you have given me to train and prepare my children for your purposes. I know I cannot do it on my own, but I thank you that you are with me. Please anoint me mightily for this task. Grant me your wisdom which you have promised to give liberally to those who ask for it. And let me never lose the vision of what I am doing. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

1 Kings 18:12, “But I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth.”

Who was the mother of this young man? Who were these godly parents who raised a son to walk in righteousness in the midst of an evil society. Obadiah lived and worked in the courts of the palace of Ahab and Jezebel – a wicked king and an even more wicked queen. Israel was no longer a God-fearing society at this time. Instead they worshipped Baal and golden calves. But in the midst of this godless, Baal-worshipping society these parents raised a God-fearing young man.

How did they do it?

1. They raised him to fear the Lord.

Obadiah feared the Lord from his youth. This is why we know he had a God-fearing mother, a mother who had a vision to raise godly sons in the midst of godlessness. I know, dear mother, that you often look at the evils in our society today and wonder how you can raise godly children. Be encouraged. You can do it. God is behind you and backing you all the way.  Keep this vision before you. This is His purpose for your children. You do not raise them to be kept forever behind closed doors but to go out as lights into this dark world.

Obadiah not only feared the Lord from his youth, but 1 Kings 18:3 tells us that “Obadiah feared the Lord greatly.” This was the testimony over his life. He didn’t have this testimony in church. He had this testimony in the midst of wickedness and idolatry.

I have to confess that I have never been able to get up and give an ‘exciting’ story about how I came to Jesus Christ. All I can testify is that I have known and walked with Him all my life. It only takes one minute to give this testimony, but I know it is the greatest testimony I can give. Let us pray, as we build godly generations, that this will be the confession of all our children and grandchildren.

Timothy had this testimony. From a child he was taught the Holy Scriptures from his God-fearing mother, even though his father may not have been a believer. Paul, the apostle, acknowledges that Timothy’s strong and genuine faith, which he walked in as an adult, was because of the input of his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois. (2 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 3:15)

Samuel had this testimony. When Samuel was addressing the children of Israel, he said, “I am old and gray-headed… and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.”

The aged man in Psalm 71:5,17 had this testimony. He confesses, “For You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth… O God, you have taught me from my youth and to this day I declare your wondrous works.”

How do we fear the Lord?

If we fear the Lord, we will love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

If we fear the Lord, we will love His Word.

If we fear the Lord, we will obey His Word.

If we fear the Lord, we will obey God rather than man.

If we fear the Lord we will love to pray.

How do we teach our children to do this? We teach them in the spirit of life, not in legality. It is not so much what we say and teach but what they see in our lives that will steer them in the right direction. We must pray and seek God that our children will come to know and experience God and His reality for themselves. We must pray that they will know God in such a way that they will be able to go out into the world and walk in the midst of evil and yet not be lured by it.

We will continue this devotion next week…

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh God, I wait upon you for your wisdom and your anointing. Please anoint me to raise children who will fear you all their lives, children who will never walk away from you for even one day. Oh Father, I pray that you will pour out your spirit upon my children and reveal yourself to them. Cause them to know your salvation. Cause them to experience your power in their lives. Cause them to know the reality of your powerful presence in their lives. Thank you Lord, Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

Matthew 6:19-21 RAV, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I received a phone call from an Above Rubies reader. “God has visited us,” she told me with excitement. She was bursting with the news of the conception of their tenth baby! It was her seventh conception after a reversal.

As we chatted together, she shared how her and her husband feel sorry for their friends who were all sterilized at the same time as they were after having two children. When they meet up with them from time to time the notice the boringness of their lives. All of their “two children” have grown up and they have to find things to fill their uninteresting lives. The wives go out to work each day and then they have to find entertainment to fill their lives for the rest of the time.

“But our lives are so full,” she exclaimed. “We have these six extra precious children filling our home, children that we may not ever have had if God hadn’t revealed to us the error of our ways. We are filled with joy every day. We are never bored. Our lives are full and complete. God is so good.”

This mother is not only filled with joy. She is employed full-time by God. She is doing a lasting work. She is involved in an eternal mission to mold her children for heaven. She is not deceived by the things of this world that will one day pass away.

Another mother and teen daughter were visiting with me this morning. They had stopped at two children, but later the husband had a reversal from his vasectomy and now God has blessed them with three little ones. As the 18-year old daughter held the youngest baby, she exclaimed, “We were such a boring family before we had these children. Now we are constantly laughing at the things they do and say.”

A young mother shared with me recently how many of her friends waited a number of years before having children after they married. Now that they have their “two” children, they constantly talk of the fun they had before they had children and confess that they can’t wait for their children to be off their hands so they can enjoy their own pleasures again.

Unfortunately this attitude subconsciously tells the children they are a nuisance. This in turn affects their behavior so they become difficult to handle. Because they have more behavior problems, the parents begin to dislike parenting and want to vacate the home more than ever. It is a vicious circle.

On the other hand, I think of a lovely family of seven children who lived in our home recently. The children are well trained and beautifully behaved. Each morning the mother would get up and exclaim, “How come I am so blessed to be the mother of these children?” She is awed at the privilege of being their mother.

You cannot find satisfaction and freedom by being released from your tedious circumstances. You cannot find true freedom by making sure you cannot have any more children. Oh yes you may be free of more children, but other things in life will dominate you instead. We all fill our lives with things. We have a choice.

You can fill your life and your home with precious gifts from God. Or you can fill your life with your own interests and career. You can invest in material pursuits and temporal pleasures. I’m sure you will enjoy yourself but it will only be for this life. Every temporal thing we invest in will one day be forgotten. Every material possession we spend time acquiring will be left behind. But children will live forever. They are a lasting possession.

Why not fill your life with the lasting treasures?

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh God, show me what is real and lasting. Please lead me back to your way when my life gets entangled with the things of this world. Lead me back to the true riches. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

John 14:21, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Every one of us desires peace. We want peace in our mind. We want peace in our marriage. We want peace in our circumstances. We want peace in our home. “Peace at any cost,” we cry out.  But what kind of peace are we looking for? Is it God’s idea of peace or ours?

“I feel God’s peace in my heart,” says a wife who is leaving her husband. Perhaps her marriage has been a battlefield of wills and constant stress. What relief to get out of the situation! But is this God’s peace? No, the good feeling is a relief from the battle.

“I feel such peace now,” exclaims a mother who has just had a tubal ligation. Is this really the peace of God? No, it is relief! Great relief!  This mother no longer has to put up with the pressure of family and friends to stop having children. Stress between her and her husband is alleviated. She no longer has to worry about having any more babies. No more sleepless nights.  No more bother! Relief – yes, but it is a false sense of peace. The true peace of God does not counteract His commandments or His basic design for our lives. We cannot have God’s peace when we willingly interfere with the way that He divinely created us. It is playing God.

“We feel peace about our decision,” a couple acknowledge as they leave their church. Maybe their church has been going through difficulties and strife. The easiest way out is to leave! This seems to be normal behavior today. If there are problems in the marriage, walk out. If things aren’t going “my way” in the church, walk out! And then they feel a sense of relief that can be interpreted as peace.

But God’s peace, the peace that passes all understanding, is not relief from stress. It is not walking out on the battle. It is not taking the easy way out.  It is finding God’s grace and rest in your circumstances. When our daughter, Evangeline, was hemorrhaging inwardly for many weeks and pregnant with her seventh baby (it was the biggest hemorrhage the ultra sound guy had ever seen), when her life and her baby’s life were at stake, she lived in a state of absolute peace. I have to confess that we were in a state of concern but her confidence was in God who is the God of peace. Later God miraculously healed her, but she lived in peace and rest even when she did not have her healing.

It is not necessarily God’s peace just because we have a good feeling. We experience God’s peace when we walk according to God’s divine laws and His commandments. Isaiah 48:18 says, “Oh that you had hearkened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river.” If what we are doing does not line up with God’s Word, it is a false sense of peace. I love the words in Psalm 85:10, “Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

It is very easy to bring God down to our level of thinking. We are prone to walk humanistically and this is where we can be deceived by a false peace. God speaks to us in Psalm 50:21 and says, “You thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.” God is not like us. He is God. We cannot bring Him down to our level. We can’t make Him fit into our circumstances. We have to live on His terms.

May God help each one of us, including me, to discern what is true peace.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh God, the God of truth and peace, please help me to discern your peace in my life. Save me from falling into false peace because of getting my own way. Help me to discern between relief and peace. Thank you, Lord. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION: