PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 423: THE FLOURISHING MOTHER, PT 5

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 423: THE FLOURISHING MOTHER, PT 5

The Flourishing mother embraces the children God has for her, and she knows the power of her table!

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to the Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies, a magazine bringing strength and encouragement to families across the world.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Back to “The Flourishing Mother.” We were talking at the last session about THE FLOURISHING MOTHER HAS PURPOSE.  I didn’t have time to tell you a little acrostic I have about this. I have an acrostic with the word “purpose.” So, I will give it to you today.

The first letter is . . .

P PASSIONATELY loving my husband and ministering to his needs.

U UNFLINCHINGLY keeping my eyes on the goal of raising godly children for God’s kingdom.

R RESISTING all temptation to come down from my high calling of motherhood.

P PERSEVERING in building my marriage and home in the face of all obstacles.

O ODERING my home with diligence.

S SHAPING the character of my children to godliness and the destiny God has for them.

E EMBRACING with all my life-giving role of mothering and nurturing.

There it is, a little acrostic for the purpose of motherhood.

Today we are up to . . .

No. 6. THE FLOURISHING MOTHER EMBRACES THE CHILDREN GOD HAS PLANNER FOR HER

We see the picture of that in the Scripture we started with, Psalm 128:3. It says, as you know, I’ll repeat it again: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your home, your children like olive plants, all around your table.”

Do you get the picture there? There are all these little children, middling children, big children, all around the table. Yes, that means more than the 1.6-member family which is the average in America today. The latest statistics are that the number of children per family in the States is 1.6 per family. That is well below replacement level. We should be about 2.4, just to keep the civilization going. That’s why we have to have immigration. We are not doing what we’re meant to do.

Now, if we go back to the very beginning, the very first words that God ever spoke into the ears of man, it’s very interesting. You’d think, wouldn’t you, the very first words that God spoke into the ears of mankind and the first words that are recorded in the Bible from God, wow! You’d think we’d take notice of them, wouldn’t you? It’s amazing. Even God’s people today don’t even bother thinking about it. They disregard it.

But what does it say here? It says in verse 27 of chapter one: “God created man in His own image. In the image of God created He him. Male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and said unto them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion.’”

So, we see here the words that God gave. Do you notice that before He even said those words, it says: “And God blessed them”? It’s amazing. Every time we read about being fruitful, or multiplying, or having children, it first has the blessing of God. If you get my book, Be Fruitful and Multiply, I have a chapter where I give all the Scriptures of where it says: “And God blessed them,” and then He spoke about being fruitful. He always blessed them first. Fruitfulness comes out of the blessing of God.

Most people think that this Scripture, the first “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.” But no, that’s only halfway through the Scripture. It keeps going. It says: “And subdue and take dominion.” It is a progression. In fact, it is a divine law. The people who obey God’s words and who are fruitful and multiply and fill their nation, they are the ones who will subdue and take dominion. Multiplying causes a people to take dominion.

We see this happening over in the UK and in Europe. It is a tragedy that we are seeing the Muslim population overtaking the UK, and empowering them, and taking over so much of the leadership in that nation. The original people of the UK are being left behind. Now, the average number of people now in the UK per family is only 1.2. Amongst the Muslim population, it’s 4.5 per family. And so, they are multiplying beyond the English people.

Of course, ultimately, they’re going to take over. They’re going to take dominion. The sad part about it is that God’s plan is that His people will take dominion. Those who are revealing His image, revealing His salvation, revealing His love, His order, His judgement. This is what He wants to reveal in the world through His people.

This is why, when we go to Malachi 2. In the passage it talks about how God hates divorce. He says it’s “treacherous.” Three times we read the word “treacherous.” Of course, God loves divorced people, but He hates the spirit of divorce because it upsets the godly seed. In the middle of God speaking about this, it says: “and what does God want from your marriage?”

We continue reading, and the answer comes: “I look for godly offspring.” This is what God looks for from our marriage. He wants godly offspring to come forth, to reveal His image in the earth, to reveal who He is. He wants the nation filled with God, filled with His image, filled with all that is of God, all His goodness, His peace, His love, His judgement. Yes, He wants it in the earth.

But it happens through being fruitful and multiplying, bringing forth the Image of God. That word “godly,” “I look for godly offspring.” The word “godly” there, my, it was so very surprising to me when I read it. In the Hebrew, it’s elohim. Genesis 1:1. One, two, three, four! It’s the fourth word in the beginning of the Bible. “In the beginning, God.” And what is the Hebrew for God there? Elohim.

Elohim is a plural word. When the Hebrew goes to “-im,” it’s usually plural. So, it’s speaking of God there. God the Father, God His Son, God the Holy Spirit, the triune God. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” And now, He’s saying, “OK, I want godly, I want elohim children. I want children in My Image. I want children who will reveal My likeness in the world.” This is God’s plan.

But here we are having it, in many nations in Europe, and over in the UK, the Muslim people are taking over, just because they’re multiplying. I remember way, way, back. I think it must have been 30 years ago when we were in the UK. We have traveled there so many times, sharing this message of family. I was speaking to the lady who was the then-director, way back then, of Above Rubies in the UK. Her name was Ruth.

She told me about this incident, how she met this mother. Somehow, I just forget the details of how they got into this conversation. This Muslim mother told her outright, this was back 30 years ago, that “We are here to outnumber you, and we will take over by multiplying.” She told her straight, exactly their plan.

I have read about it. It’s call “jihad invasion.” They don’t really need to even invade us with war. They just come in, and many times they come in, and they’re not even legally coming in, I don’t know how. There in the UK, and in the USA, they’re coming in by the thousands illegally. It’s jihad invasion. They get here, and they will multiply, and continue multiplying until they overtake. That is their plan.

But actually, it is a divine progression. God said it in the very beginning. But He wants His people to be those who are fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue, and take dominion. Because that is God’s plan.

The flourishing mother knows who she is. She knows that God has plans through her to bring forth godly children. Wow! This is so powerful! Dear mother, to bring forth an eternal being into the world is so powerful, so awesome. And to raise this child to be godly, to know God, to be filled with God’s Word is the most powerful thing that you can ever do.

WE CAN DEPRIVE CHILDREN OF THE ETERNAL WORLD

I think this is a very radical thought, but it is so true, there are mothers who decide they don’t want to have more children. They think their 1.6 is enough, or maybe their two, or maybe even three children. They’ve decided, well, that’s it. They’re not open to God’s plan. Of course, God’s plan is not always a lot of children. Some mothers want many children, and they only have one or two. Others God will give more children.

But it’s not how many children we have. It’s about having our hearts open to God’s plan for us, what He wants. But just imagine. Stopping children, stopping children coming into the world so that they will never, ever, ever, ever have the experience, the joy, and the glory of the eternal world. Because every child is an eternal soul and has this possibility of being part of this glory.

Dear ladies, we cannot even fathom the tiniest little bit of the glory that awaits those who believe and trust in Him. The eternal realm will be glory, and it will be forever. And when we bring a child into the world, and we lead this child to God, we are preparing them for the joys and the glory of eternity.

But when we stop children, say, “OK, had enough, thank you!” Imagine, we are stopping. You think, “Oh, well, they’ll never know!” But why stop a child from one day having the experience of enjoying the glory of the eternal realm? One day, when we are there, and we are enjoying it, we will have wanted every child that we could have had to enjoy it with us.

When we stop a child, we’re not just stopping him coming into our family. No, we stop a child bringing blessings to our grandparents. We stop a child bringing blessings to the church. We are stopping a child bringing their destiny, and the image of God, and what He has for them to do in the nation, maybe the nations of the world. We stop them from ever having the opportunity to enjoy eternity.

Some mothers think that they can’t have another child because, oh, they couldn’t afford it. But you know, what did David say? “I have been young, and now I am old, but I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging bread” (Isaiah 37:25). God is a provider, and when He gives us a child, He will provide for that child.

Now, OK, we just found out, yes, another baby is on the way. And we think, “Oh, goodness me! We’re just surviving! We’re just managing. How will we ever survive having another baby?” But dear ladies, this baby hasn’t arrived yet. And God’s promise is true that when this baby arrives, God will provide.

We see this in Deuteronomy 28. Let’s go to it, shall we? Deuteronomy 28 is the “blessing chapter”, and it is the “cursing chapter.” Sadly, there are more curses than there are blessings. But I love to read the blessings, and they are from verse one to verse 14. “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments,” then it says we’re going to have all these blessings.

THE FIRST BLESSING

The first blessing, verse four: “Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb.” That’s the first blessing God gives. And then He talks about other blessings: “And the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.” In other words, you're going to have abundant provision.

What for? All to provide for the blessing of the fruit of the womb! If you don’t have the blessing of the fruit of the womb, you don’t need all these other blessings. These other blessings are to bless the fruit of your womb. And so, when this little baby comes, you’ll be amazed. You wonder how you will do it. But God will provide.

And even when it’s happening, you wonder how it’s happening, but somehow it happens. If we had waited until we could afford to have any children, we would have had no children! And yet, every child you have, God wondrously provides. In fact, He provides more along the way as He

IS YOUR GOD THE GOD OF THE BIBLE?

Let’s go to Psalm 78:19, speaking about the children of Israel: “Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, He smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can He give bread also? Can He provide flesh for his people?”

There, in just two little Scriptures, three times the children of Israel said: “Can God?” Is that our language? Is that what we say? “Can God provide for us?” What does it continue to say? “Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth.” He was angry. “So, a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; because they believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation.”

Isn’t that so sad? They didn’t believe Him. They didn’t trust Him. They didn’t believe that He could provide. And yet how wondrously He provided. He provided manna from heaven every single day for 40 years. He provided faithfully for them. He provided everything they needed. Their shoes didn’t wear out the whole time. God’s provision was so wonderful.

May God save us from saying, “Can God?” It comes back, dear lovely ladies to what do we really believe and in which God do we believe? When you say you believe God, do you believe the God of the Bible?

I remember talking to a gentleman one time. We got talking about children, and I said, “Oh, how many children has the Lord blessed you with?” He said, “Oh, we have four children.” I said, “Oh, are you thinking of having any more children?” He said, “Oh no, no! We could never, never afford any more children!” I said to him, “Oh, so you believe in a God who can only provide for four children?” And he looked at me.

But really, that is the bottom line, dear ladies. If you're stopping at maybe three or four, well, that’s the God you believe in! You think He’s a God Who can only provide for that little family? Oh, dear precious ladies, who is the God you believe in? The God of the Bible will provide for every child that He gives, because every child comes from Him. It’s ultimately His child.

So, it goes on, away down into verse 40. We read again: “How often did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.” I read that, and I thought, “Wow! What does that mean? How can you limit God?

So, I looked it up in the Hebrew. It doesn’t really mean the word “limit” at all. The word in the Hebrew means “wounded, hurt, pained.” So, what it’s saying here is that when we don’t believe God, we pain God. We wound His heart. We hurt his heart, because He looks, and He sees we don’t really believe Him. We don’t know Who He is. We don’t trust Him. And His heart is pained.

Precious ladies, just lift up your heart to see who your God is. He’s the God of the Bible, the God who can provide for every child that He will give you, so you can be who He wants you to be. What did it say? Psalm 128:3: “Your wife is like a fruitful vine in the heart of your home. Look at all those children, sitting around the table.”

All right, ladies. We’ll go on to point . . .

No. 7. THE FLOURISHING MOTHER KNOWS THE POWER OF HER TABLE

So, yes, we’re back to this Scripture. We started with this Scripture, and we’re reading it throughout this series. Here it is again in the Living Bible: “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.”

There are so many wonderful words in this Scripture, ladies. “You will be like a fruitful vine.” Yes, like a vine that has luscious bunches of grapes hanging from the vine, a fruitful vine, flourishing. And then it talks about these children sitting around your table. Your table.

Now, isn’t interesting that God talks about the table? I mean, here it is, just a very insignificant thing in our homes. Maybe you’ve got a rickety old table. Maybe you've got a beautiful, big, glorious table. Maybe you've just got a little middling table. Whatever table you have, it doesn’t matter. It’s the table.

And did you know, precious mothers, that God loves tables? Yes. Now, this is the picture that God reveals to the world about a family that is blessed. This is the picture that He gives. In fact, in the whole Psalm, it starts off with the husband and how the husband is being blessed by the labor of his hands, all that he’s providing for his family so his wife can be “a fruitful vine” in the heart of her home.

And then we see the picture of them all. It says “all.” Did you notice that? “All those children” sitting round the table.  Yes, that’s the picture God sees, the picture He wants. It’s manifested throughout the world of godly families, that together in families they’re sitting around the table. God knows the power of the table.

Do you know where tables first originated? Any children listening? Do you know, children, where tables came from?

OK, shall I tell you? Tables originated in heaven. Did you know that God had tables before we even thought of them on earth? In fact, when Jesus was here on earth, He talked about His table that was in Heaven. He said to His disciples: “One day you will sit with Me at My table in my kingdom.”

Yes, God loves tables! There will be many tables there. We will sit around tables and we will fellowship. We will fellowship with loved ones. We will fellowship with many Bible characters. Maybe we’ll fellowship with tribes and people we can never even imagine. But they’ll be in glory, and, oh, it’s going to take eternity to make it all happen. It’s going to be so amazing.

So, tables, yes. And the first table that was ever mentioned in the Bible was the table of showbread. That’s in the tabernacle. Everything in the tabernacle was a type, a pattern of the heavenly. The earthly tabernacle was made in the image of the heavenly tabernacle. So, it was a table (as a type) from Heaven that was put on earth. Ladies, when you are gathering your family around the table, you are doing something heavenly. Amen?

I know, it takes work to get your family around the table. It takes cooking a meal, because that’s what draws children to the table. It’s what draws people to the table. Food! We all love food. We get hungry. We want to eat. We love nourishing food. We love tasty food because God created taste buds. Aren’t taste buds wonderful?

I have to confess something a little naughty. Sometimes I think I eat more than I should because I love to taste food. I love spicy tastes. God has so many different foods and so many different tastes for us. It’s so wonderful! I do hate bland food. I have to confess I don’t like bland food. I love tasty food. I like to cook tasty food.

And so, we come to the table because of the aroma of the food. It’s going to be tasty and it’s going to fill our hungry tummies. It’s going to satisfy us. Oh, how wonderful! What a blessing! God could have thought of some other way of causing us to survive in this world, but He chose food, and all the amazing foods. In every country we live in we have different foods. So many different foods. If you don’t like one, there will be thousands of others you can eat.

God is so good. He wants us to sit around the table, to gather our families around the table. There is such power of being together at the table where we’re looking at one another. That’s why, by sitting around the table, we communicate together. We’re speaking face-to-face. We’re eye-to-eye and that’s what fellowship and communication is about. I like to call it face-to-face table fellowship. Fellowship and eating go together.

So, lovely ladies, don’t despise your table. Make the most of your table. You can make the most wonderful things happen at your table. Make it a habit, and make it happen, at least every evening. I mean, it’s lovely to sit for breakfast, maybe lunch, and supper, yes. But if you can’t do every meal together, at least make one meal where you are all seated together.

Often, that can be the evening meal when Daddy is home from work. Sometimes he may have to leave early in the morning and can’t be with you. But you can still sit with your children around the table. It is lovely when you can aim for the three meals around the table, but at least, at the very minimum, one meal around the table together, and that’s every day of the week.

Oh, yes, and then, make one meal of the week when you do something very special. You do something different. I do hope one day to write a book called Spice up your Mealtimes, where I will give you spicy recipes but also give you ideas of how to spice up your mealtimes so it’s not so boring.

Because a meal can be very boring, apart from eating, if you don’t come to the table prepared to talk about something. Bring a subject to the table to talk about or ask your children a question. “What do you think about this, children?” Get them to share their thoughts. Each one takes a turn. Go right around the table so nobody misses out. Everybody has a turn.

Often, when I was raising our children, we would have a COLOR NIGHT. I would say to the children, “OK, children, tonight we are having RED NIGHT. I want you to go down to your rooms and dress up in red. Find everything red that you can wear.”

I would close the door to their bedrooms, and then I would get the table ready. I would put on a red tablecloth, and red plates, just buy paper ones if I didn’t have that color. Red food. I would put coloring in the rice or the potatoes. Everything I could get that was red, red desserts. So, everything is red, and the children just love it. It’s so exciting for them. Children love things like this.

Often, I would also wrap up a little gift, something very tiny. It wasn’t expensive, but I wrapped it up in red paper. That would be beside their plate to get when they came to the meal. And then we would try different colors. I think we tried so many different colors, and they loved it all. So, you can do those different things.

Let’s see, what are some other lovely things you could do? Oh yes, you could, throughout the week, as you're preparing for the special night, you could say, “Children, we’re going to have a ‘Bless Daddy’ night, so I want you to start thinking about what you could say to Daddy. We’re going to all make a card each and you're going to write something special to Daddy.” So, you don’t have to make a great big, long letter. He won’t have time to read it all. But just a card they can make.

You get some cardboard, and they can fold it in half, and make their card beautiful with pictures they draw or pasting on them. Then they will write something in it, what they love about Daddy. So, you get them all ready throughout the week. You make sure you've got them ready and then this evening comes. Beside Daddy’s plate are all these cards that he can open and read out and be so blessed. And then the children also will be blessed in doing that for him.

All these wonderful ideas that you can do. I often used to make lots of cards and name place cards for my children. Not for every night, but maybe once a week, or perhaps even once a month, but especially for special occasions. I would take their names, make little cards, fold them over so they can stand up on their plate. I would write their name with something beside it that would start with the same letter of their name. Then I would have beside it, “Resolute for God.” So, his name starts with “R,” and then “Resolute for God.”

So, it’s just a little something, but it’s also putting something into their hearts. “OK, well that’s me. I want to be resolute for God.”

 OK, Steven, “Strong for truth.” So, that’s another powerful little phrase going into his life. “I’m going to be strong for truth.”

Other times, I would spend more time preparing and write a little couplet rhyme and have that for the children. Put that underneath their name, a little rhyme, something about them that would speak into their lives. These things take time, but you can do them. When you have them ready for each child, they come to the table, and each one has on their plate a special name place card.

Other times, I would write a limerick for each child, once again speaking into their life with something about them. And so, you’re doing something to bless them, to make them feel loved and encouraged, but you're also putting truth, and speaking life into their lives.

Lately, I have been doing something special. I’ve been having guessing games. I do this with my grandchildren when I go over to have a meal with them. Because we don’t have any children living in the house now, I like to do it when we have family over, or we have visitors, and they have children.

I will have all these questions ready. I’ll ask these questions, and they’ve got to guess. They’re usually things that they wouldn’t know, but they have to guess. The one who guesses, they get a prize, and it’s the greatest fun. Maybe next session, I’ll tell you a little bit more about it, and some of the questions that I give, so maybe you can try it in your home. But you want to make your family meal table fun, exciting, and powerful. Amen?

The time has gone by, so let’s pray.

“Lord God, we thank You that You chose, God, to speak about the table when You talked about a family that’s blessed of the Lord. Lord God, tables are precious to You. You had them in Heaven before we ever had them on earth. And Lord God, I pray that the table, Lord, will become very precious in every home, Lord, of those who are listening.

“Lord, I thank You for the power of the table, and I pray that beautiful things will happen at the tables in all these wonderful homes. I ask it in Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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