Matthew 25:21,23,25, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Read also Luke 16:10.
 

God not only wants us to be faithful to our marriage, but to our mothering. What does the word ‘faithfulness’ really mean? The Hebrew Word for ‘faithfulness’ in the Bible is ‘aman ’ which means ‘to stand firm, to be enduring, of long continuance, to be reliable, trusty’. Faithfulness is not a flashy thing. It is not always exciting. It’s part of the drudgery of life.  As we mother in our homes, we often to do the same thing day after day. Life may feel boring compared to the exciting life that others are leading outside the home. But dear mother, you are fulfilling the most far-reaching and influential career in the nation!

Can I encourage you to be faithful – even in the drudgery? Even doing the menial tasks? Yes, even when you have to the same old thing every day.  Hang in there. Endure. This is where God has placed you. You are in His very perfect will.  Rejoice in it.

And remember – your daily moments of faithfulness add up. They add up to a life of faithfulness. They add up to the reward of those wonderful words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant Enter into the joy of thy Lord.” (Matthew 25:21)

I think of the most beloved men of the Bible – Abraham, Moses, David and Daniel. God chose each one of these men because of one special character trait – faithfulness.

¨God blessed Abraham because he found His heart faithful before Him. (Nehemiah 9:8).

¨Moses was faithful serving the Lord in God’s house. (Numbers 12:7).

¨David was faithful and honorable as he served in Saul’s house. (1 Samuel 22:14)

¨Daniel’s enemies could find no fault in him because was faithful. (Daniel 6:4).

Catherine Booth (wife of William Booth who founded the Salvation Army) challenged me as a young mother when she wrote, “I intend to make myself fit to be a mother, and being that in every sense, I shall be ready for any destiny God has for me.”  Be faithful to your career as a mother first and foremost. Be faithful in your home. Be faithful in the little things. Be faithful in the daily grind of life. This is your greatest training for life and eternity.

Paul wrote to his dear friend, Gaius and said, “Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for the strangers.” (3 John 5) Could these words be written of you? “Whatever you have to do in your home, you do faithfully.” What do you have to do today, dear mother? Laundry, cleaning, teaching and training the children etc.? Do each task faithfully, Do it as unto the Lord. Do it to the best of your ability. Do it with a good attitude.

I received an email recently from an Above Rubies reader. She wrote, “Since reading your magazine I have begun to establish several new life-mottos (which have been replacing my old sub-conscious thoughts like "I'm so stressed,” "I can't do this,” and “I've had enough!" - because I was trying to be a whirlwind perfectionist).  Now, when it all seems out of control, I to say to myself, "Plod on.  Be a plodder. Just one step at a time.  Keep going, and you will get there."

That’s the way to go, dear mother. Often people say to me, “How do you do everything, Nancy?”

“I just keep plodding on!” I answer. I’m not a great efficiency person. I have many weak points. But I have a vision, I am faithful to it, and I keep plodding on.

PRAYER:

“Oh Lord, I thank you that you are a faithful God. I can depend upon you totally. I ask that you will please work your attribute of faithfulness in me. Help me to be faithful in my home and even in the mundane things that I have to do each day. May my children be able to depend on me, as I am able to depend on you. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION: 

In the face of monotony, hardship and sacrifice, I will be faithful to my high calling of motherhood!

Hosea 14:5-6 TLB, “I will refresh Israel like the dew from heaven, she will blossom as the lily and root deeply in the soil like cedars in Lebanon. Her branches will spread out, as beautiful as olive trees, fragrant as the forests of Lebanon.”
 

Today we return to the descriptive picture in Numbers 24:5-7 that God gives us regarding our homes. Remember, He calls them “lovely homes.”

He wants our marriages and families to be…

FAITHFUL AND ENDURING

“Like cedars beside the waters.” Numbers 24:6

The cedars speak of majesty, beauty and faithfulness. They are called “excellent” trees in Song of Solomon 5:15.

Strong and rooted

Cedars are strong and firmly rooted. Because of this they can grow to 120’ high and 30’ to 40’ in girth. In Psalm 80:10 TLB God likens His people to the “mighty” cedar trees.” The word “mighty” is “el” in the Hebrew, meaning “strong”, a word that is also used of God. Psalm 92:12 MLB tells us that the “righteous… shall become mighty like the cedar of Lebanon.” 

The Hebrew word for “cedar” is “erez” and the Strong’s Concordance gives the meaning, “from the tenacity of its roots.” God wants our marriages to be strong. He wants them to be strongly rooted in God’s principles and the covenant we made on our wedding day. He wants them to be strongly knitted together in commitment, faithfulness, morality, unity and love.

Durable and lasting

Cedars have remarkable lasting qualities and are noted for their durability. In fact, there are some cedar trees that are estimated to be two thousand years old! This is how God sees marriage - durable and lasting. When we make the covenant of marriage before God and witnesses, we are in for the long haul! It is “until death do us part.”

We are living in an unprecedented hour in history when divorce is as rampart in the church as it is in the world. Oh how God’s heart must be hurting as the beautiful institution of marriage, which God ordained, is being attacked and torn apart by the devil. This is not the vision of “lovely homes” which God designed.

How can our marriages last? Only by doing it God’s way. Our selfish flesh continually puts a spanner in the works! ‘Self’ and ‘selfishness’ are the root of all problems in marriage. We need to lay down our own rights and embrace the same attitude of Jesus who did not cling to His rights as God. Instead, He made himself of no reputation, He became a servant, and He humbled Himself and was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:6-8) The outworking of this truth in our lives is sufficient to keep a marriage unto the end.

Too many people think that love is a feeling. When the feeling dies, they think love has finished. Love is a commitment. It goes beyond feeling. It goes beyond circumstances. Even when we have no vestige of love left within us, God’s inexhaustible love is still available to us. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes the kind of love we need to survive marriage. It is agape love, which starts with - “Love endures long” and ends with - “love endures without limit.”

King Solomon used cedar timber to build God’s temple and also his own palace because of the durability of the wood.  God wants our marriages to be built of cedar too, not poplar or untreated pine that will not stand the tests of time.

Resisting decay and Repelling pests

This is another wonderful feature of the cedar. This quality is an important part of our marriage, too.  Perhaps you are having a self-pity trip and dreaming that you deserve someone better than your husband. Resist this evil thought in the name of Jesus! Perhaps you are thinking that you may be better on your own. Repel this deceiving thought in Jesus name! Resist and repel all resentment and all negative thoughts about your union. The devil roams about seeking to devour your marriage. Don’t be deceived by his seducing temptations.

Fragrant

The cedar exudes a gum, which gives off fragrance. Does your marriage exude fragrance like the cedar? Fruitfulness and fragrance are the theme of each description God paints of our homes.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh God, sometimes I feel as though I don’t love my husband any more, but Lord, I know that my love is deceptive. Please fill me with your agape love that loves even when it does not feel like loving. Help me to realize that my marriage is a commitment to a covenant that goes beyond my feelings and desires. Save me from being a chopped-off cedar tree, but one that grows to full height. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

2 Corinthians 2:14 J.B. Phillip’s translation.

“Thanks be to God who leads us, wherever we are, on his own triumphant way and makes our knowledge of Him spread throughout the world like a lovely perfume! We Christians have the unmistakable “scent” of Christ, discernible alike to those who are being saved and to those who are heading for death.”

We continue looking today at the picture God paints of our homes. He wants them to be…

FRAGRANT

“Like aloes planted by the Lord.” (Numbers 24:6)

In the Word of God, aloes are always associated with incense, scent or perfume. God wants our lives and our homes to be filled with worship and overflowing with the fragrances of Christ. Do you remember when Mary anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair? The whole house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Along with spikenard, aloes would have been one of the ingredients used in that anointing oil.

In Bible times, the oriental women perfumed their clothes with oils and spices so that even their slightest movement would release sweet odors to everyone around. Oh that we could duplicate this in the spiritual realm. Oh that every word, every movement, and every look would be like lovely perfume to the Lord and to everyone in the house.

Psalm 45:8 gives us a beautiful picture of our Messiah, coming forth from the heavenly “ivory palaces” with His “garments scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia”. But He wants us to be filled with His heavenly scent in this world and in Song of Solomon 4: 13-14 it describes the bride of Christ emanating the beautiful fragrances of Christ, aloes being one of them of course.

Do you notice that in Numbers 24:6 these aloes are planted by the Lord? It is only that which the Lord plants that will give off lovely fragrance. It is only as we walk in the Spirit that we will have about us the “unmistakable scent of Christ.”

We cannot give off any fragrance of our own flesh. In fact, our flesh stinks. What kind of aromas do you have in your home? Do your family inhale the sweet fragrances of the fruit of the Spirit, or the bad smells of the flesh? We certainly don’t want the testimony of God’s people in Isaiah 3:24, “Instead of a sweet smell, there will be a stench.”

Tension and strife give off bad smells. So does unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, bickering, arguing and bad moods. Self pity is a stinky one too. Everyone in the home is affected by it. Gloom, despair and negativity fill the house with bad odors.  Ungratefulness and unthankfulness give off awful smells. And what about the “silent treatment” when a husband and wife will not talk to one another? The children hate that stench!

Are any of these bad smells lurking in your home? Perhaps it is time to have a clean out. Let go off your fleshly “rights” and ask the Holy Spirit to come in and work in your heart. Abide in Him and let Him abide in every area of your life. As you do, He will plant in your life and your home with be filled with fruit of heavenly fragrances.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh God, please convict me of anything and everything in my life that is making a bad smell in my home. Lord, sometimes I get so used to my own bad smells that I don’t realize how offensive they are and how they are affecting my husband and my children.  Lord, I yield my life to the working of your Holy Spirit within me. Plant in me the beautiful fruits of Your life so that my home will be filled with heavenly fragrance. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

“Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,

All His wondrous compassion and purity.

Oh Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,

‘Til the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.”
 

P.S. References to aloes in the Word of God.

Numbers 24:6; Psalm 45:8; Proverbs 7:17; Song of Solomon 4:14; John 19:39.

Proverbs 14:11, “The tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.”

We continue God’s description of our homes. He wants them to be…

FLOURISHING AND FRUITFUL,

“Like gardens by the riverside.” Numbers 24:6, Isaiah 58:11

There is nothing more delightful to the eye than a beautiful flower garden. There is nothing more satisfying to the soul than a flourishing vegetable garden. A garden gives pleasure, but it also provides sustenance. God wants our homes to be a delightful place to live and a wholesome place for our children to grow and for our husband to return each evening. Who is the one who can make it a delightful?  It is the mother of the home, of course.

In Ezekiel 19:10 NLT God likens mothers to “a vine planted by the water’s edge” with “lush, green foliage because of the abundant water.”  Psalm 128:3 NLT gives us the same picture - “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine, flourishing within your home. And look at all those children! There they sit around your table as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees.”  Growth is not enough. We must also be fruitful. What is the good of a plant that grows prolifically and yet produces no fruit? 

Can you see God’s picture for your home? A garden where the fruits of the Holy Spirit grow in abundance – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)  A life-giving garden, not only to those in the home, but providing nourishment and healing to those outside the home.  A garden where the fruit of the womb is received with joy – new olive shoots sprouting up to bring more life and blessing to the home.  Isaiah 44:4 promises that our children will “spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses.” The allegory in Ezekiel 19:10-14 tells us that we should have a funeral dirge when the fruit “dries up”.

This all sounds like a nice dream. But let’s get to reality. How can we produce this fruitful garden? God gives us the secret. We have to live close to the water! It’s the water that produces a flourishing garden. You can have the best soil and the best plants. You can be the most industrious gardener, but without water the garden will die. My big garden is flourishing, but it takes a lot of watering. It usually takes me over an hour to water my garden each evening. We have also planted a number of fruit trees on our land, but there is one tree that is bigger and greener than all the others. I wondered why until I realized that this tree is planted near the water tap. Every few days I give a drink to all the trees, but this tree constantly receives water – and so it flourishes.

In God’s Word, He likens water to two different things – the cleansing power of God’s Word (John 15:3, 17:17; Ephesians 5:26; 1 Peter 1:22) and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. (Isaiah 44:3-4; John 4:14; John 7:38-39; Acts 2:17) We can’t make our homes flourish by our own strength or our own intelligence. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit. I am looking forward to the day when I can get soaker hoses for my garden. This will save me a lot of valuable time but it is also the best way to keep the garden watered.

Mothers, to keep our home flourishing, we need to daily soak ourselves in the Word and in the Holy Spirit. You may not have time to have long Quiet Times when you have little children around, but you can read a few verses when you are nursing the baby. Put your Bible on your windowsill, opened at Psalms or Proverbs so you can read a verse here and there as you are doing the dishes. Have a Bible on the table and one in the bathroom. These moments will keep you nourished and cleansed. 

When we receive Jesus Christ into our lives, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us. Don’t quench the Holy Spirit. Allow Him free reign in your heart, in every area of your marriage, and in every room of your home. As you keep a soft and yielding heart, He will come like the dew to refresh you each morning. As you cry out to Him with a thirsty heart, He will come to you like the rain, bringing cleansing and new growth.

Keep the garden of your home well watered.

LOVE FROM NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Father, I don’t want my home to be a dried up garden. I want it to flourish with fruitfulness. Open my heart to fruitfulness.  I know it can only happen as I live by the water. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Fill me to overflowing. Teach me how to live in the Holy Spirit instead of living in the flesh. Thank you, Lord. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION: