PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 431: GUARDING THE IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE, Part 2

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 431: GUARDING THE IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE, PART 2

God gives 20 different principles about guarding and keeping His Word. We keep them diligently, never turning aside to the right or left, never adding or diminishing from them, meditating on them continually, and being strong and very courageous to keep God's way in the midst of a crooked generation. And we are just getting started!

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, lovely ladies. Well, good evening! I am doing this podcast this evening. Usually, I’m doing it in the morning. Usually, I have it out for you by 6 AM on Tuesday morning. But we’re a little bit late this week. I’m recording it this evening, and hoping it will be out to you tomorrow, Wednesday you’ll be listening to it.

Before I continue today, I wonder if I could humbly ask you for your prayers. I have actually three prayers that I would love you to pray about if you would feel it in your heart to pray. I haven’t shared this with you on the podcast before, but four months ago, my beautiful husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which had metastasized into the bones in his back.

I think he had actually been having it for many years, but this is when it really showed up. It has been very aggressive. He has been in and out of hospital, and he is very weak at the moment. I value your prayers.

In the morning, early, we’ll be back at the hospital, where he will be receiving two blood transfusions because his hemoglobin is right down to 6.6. If you know anything about hemoglobin, you know that 6.5 is life-threatening. And so, I value your prayers. We are so believing God for a mighty miracle. I’d be so grateful if you would pray with me and believe with me for a miraculous healing for him. Thank you so, so much.

The other prayers I have are for Above Rubies. My poor, beautiful Above Rubies has been a little neglected in these last four months. I have been often at the hospital 12 hours a day with my husband. I’m also without help for the first time I can’t remember, about 20 years, 26 years, I think.

I’ve been having helpers, beautiful, gorgeous, lovely helpers who come into my home. My last girls left. It was their time. They usually come for about two months. I’ve hardly had time to even solicit getting any more but it’s getting to be such a need now. So, if you have daughters, or know of any lovely daughters . . . I usually like the girls to be about 17 years and up. I usually have two at a time so they can be friends with one another.

It’s a mission trip. They come to Tennessee instead of going to India, or Africa, or South America, they come to Tennessee. And they come to help in the office in Above Rubies. It’s such a beautiful ministry. They’re part of helping to bless families all over this nation and all over the world as they send out magazines and orders and just keep up the database, and so on.

If they love missions, as everything in Above Rubies is just a love offering, really. I have been doing Above Rubies now for 49 years. It’s been a love ministry. I’ve never taken finance for doing Above Rubies. Every single donation that comes into Above Rubies goes to printing the magazines. It’s my joy and my delight to give my life to encourage, and teach, and bless the wives and mothers of the world. But I do need help. So, if you know of anyone, please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Or call me on 615-924-4455. That would be amazing.

I was thinking though, at this time, with everything we are going through here, that it could even be nice to have an older single lady, someone who wouldn’t mind being here on her own, and who is mature. That would be a wonderful thing, too, so there may be someone in that category. If that doesn’t work out, well, then I would be looking for two lovely younger girls who could help. So, thank you for your prayers with that for anyone you know who may be in that position.

The other prayer we need for Above Rubies is for the finance to get out a new magazine. I’m desperate to get a new magazine out into the nation, out into the world. I have $30,000 in the bank, waiting. But, did you know, ladies, it actually takes $100,000 to print and send out each magazine? So, I’ve got to get more finance in yet before I can go to print. But that’s a big matter for prayer too, because we really need to keep getting this message out into the nation. So, thank you with all my heart for those prayers. That is so wonderful of you.

Now we’re back to our new series about the things that God wants to guard in our lives. We’re up to the one where God wants us to KEEP AND GUARD HIS COMMANDMENTS. As I was going through the Scriptures, I found, guess what? I found 20 different principles about keeping God’s commandments. Oh, there is always so much in the Word of God, isn’t there? It’s so amazing.

We started that last week, and now we’re up to No. 5, the fifth principle. And it is . . .

Number five. We must keep God’s word DILGENTLY!

God likes that word “diligently.” He uses it often in the Bible because in everything we do, He doesn’t want us to be lax about it. He wants us to be diligent.

Deuteronomy 6:17: “Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies, and His statutes, which He hath commanded thee.”

Deuteronomy 11:22: “Diligently keep these commandments.”

Deuteronomy 11:13: “Hearken diligently unto my commandments.”

Deuteronomy 28:1: “Hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe” (that’s shamar, meaning “to guard”) “to do all His commandments.”

Psalm 119:4: “Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.”

Yes, now that word “diligently” in the Hebrew, is the Hebrew word m’od. It has a very powerful meaning. It means “exceedingly, abundantly, greatly, mightily, vehemently, speedily.” That certainly doesn’t give a picture of us pathetically keeping His commandments, does it? Or perhaps, just doing them as we feel like.

No, He wants us to do them diligently with all those adjectives. READ THEM AGAIN! It’s amazing, you know. When you go to the Greek or the Hebrew, you find that there are all these extra words to describe that one Hebrew word. We can’t really get away with anything there, can we, with all those adjectives?

Number six. We MUST NOT TURN ASIDE TO THE RIGHT OR THE LEFT in keeping God’s commandments!

Deuteronomy 5:32: “You shall observe” (that’s shamar) “to do, therefore, as the Lord your God hath commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand, or to the left.”

Deuteronomy 28:14: “And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day; to the right hand, or to the left.”

We notice that it’s pretty strong. It says: “Thou shalt not go aside.” “Thou shalt not turn aside, to the right hand, or to the left.”

Joshua 1:7: “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou might observe to do according to all the law. Turn not from it to the right hand, or to the left.”

There are many other Scriptures as well.

Proverbs 4:25,27: “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee . . . Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.”

And so, we see all those Scriptures, plus others that remind us about keeping a straight course. God has given His course. He’s given His way in His Word and He doesn’t want us to turn aside. It’s very easy, isn’t it, to turn aside to our own ways, what we think is best.

But that’s why we have to continually be in the Word of God, to know what God is saying, so we can keep on His straight course. As it says in Proverbs 4, that we will keep our eyes . . .  “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” We’re not going to be deviating. No, we have a straight course. Amen?

All right. Now, don’t forget, lovely mothers, that you've got to pass on these principles to your children. As I share them with you, you could keep a note of them. Then you may be able to, in your devotions, your family Bible reading, or in your homeschooling, you can share all these amazing principles with your children, so they understand what God says, and how He wants us to keep His commandments.

Number seven. DO NOT ADD OR DIMINISH from God’s commandments!

Deuteronomy 4:2: “You shall not add unto the Word which I command you. Neither shall you diminish ought from it.”

Deuteronomy 12:32: “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it. Thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.”

Remember, we know another Scripture about that. Right over in the back of the Bible, in the last chapter, Revelation 22:18. You remember this Scripture: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this Book; if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this Book.” So, we are receiving many admonitions from the Lord, aren’t we? Yes.

Well, what’s the next one?

Number eight. We must be STRONG AND VERY COURAGEOUS in keeping God’s words!

That’s quite an amazing principle, because it is true. Many times we find that God’s word is the opposite to society. It’s opposite to the way of the world. And so, when we are going God’s ways, we are going to be walking a different step from the world.

Maybe we’re going to look a bit different, and often, we don’t want to look a bit different. It’s amazing how we want to fit in. But, lovely ladies, we’ve got to learn not to fit in with the world’s system but to fit in with what God says. We need to keep reminding ourselves about this.

And our precious children, because they’re going to face this as they grow up. They’re going to face that what God says in His Word is going to look different from what the world is doing and saying. And so, they’re going to have to be brave and strong and courageous to stand for God and not give in and choose what everybody else is doing.

So, let’s look at some Scriptures here, shall we? We go to Joshua 1:7: God is giving this wonderful admonition to Joshua: “Only be thou strong, and very courageous, that thou mayest do according to all the laws.”

Then we go over to Joshua 23:6: “Be ye therefore very courageous, to keep and do all that is written in this book.”

Now it doesn’t just say, “Be strong and courageous.” It says: “Be strong and VERY courageous.” That word “very” is also m’od which means, as we were sharing before, “exceedingly, abundantly, greatly, mightily, vehemently.” The word “strong” is chazak. That’s a great word too. It means “strong, resolute, to hold fast.”

What it’s saying here is that we’ve got to hold fast exceedingly, muchly, forcefully, abundantly, greatly, mightily, diligently. Now the lexicon of the Hebrew uses all those adjectives. Can I encourage you, lovely ladies, because often you face it, even as a mother, even as you come to that place in your life where you are trusting God for the children He wants to give to you.

And then we start to get flak, flak from maybe even your own mother. Flak from your mother-in-law. Flak from relatives. Flak from people around you because that’s not the way of the world. The way of the world today is to limit families. The average number of children per family in the States today is only 1.6. In many European countries today, it’s down to 1.2.

But that’s not what God reveals in His Word. He reveals the blessing of children, and how He looks for the godly seed. It’s His delight to give children, because these children are coming forth to bring His image into the world, and also, of course, for eternity. So, there we are. We’re just going opposite ways to the world. You have to be strong, and you have to be very courageous.

I remember some dear friends of ours. This testimony is from years ago, because their children are grown up now. But when we first met this lovely couple, they only had two children. Then God began to speak to them. It wasn’t through me. I don’t know. The Holy Spirit was speaking to this couple and giving them the revelation that, why did they stop at two children?

They had a boy and a girl, and, of course, they were going along with the way of the world. “We’ve got what we want, and we’ll be able to do whatever we like.” But the wife began to get this longing in her womb and in her heart for another baby, which so often happens, because it tells us about that in Proverbs, where it says there are four things that never say: “It is enough.” They are never satisfied. One is the barren womb.

The womb is always crying out for life. And often, when a mother has her first two or three children, she can feel overwhelmed, and think, “Oh, this is all I can cope with.” And they put a stop to having babies. But that doesn’t stop the cry of the womb. That longing that comes back, and oh, it becomes such a yearning and such a longing.

This was in the heart of this mother. First of all, her husband wasn’t very interested at all. He’d had a vasectomy. But anyway, God eventually worked on his heart and he had a reversal. So now, they were trusting God. Hallelujah!

Well, she conceived but had a miscarriage. Then they conceived again, had another miscarriage. They conceived again, and this precious baby grew in the womb, but this baby died at birth. And here they were, now they had become obedient to God, trusting God, walking in His will, and here all this was happening.

I remember the husband coming to my husband and saying, “I can’t do this any longer. I can’t put my wife though this heartache and this sorrow that she’s going through. I can’t do it.” My husband, in such love and grace, continued to encourage this dear man to continue trusting God. They came to the place where they did.

God gave them grace to trust Him and in God’s wonderful goodness, they then were blessed with five reversal babies. Those five children have now grown up and they are married themselves, most of them. So, God’s blessing came, but it was a trial at the beginning. Sometimes we have to go through those trials, those trials of faith. We have to be strong, chazak! Strong and very m’od, VERY courageous.

So, be encouraged. I know that not just in this area, but there can be many areas where you are facing a little bit of persecution. You have to be strong to stand with God. You know, I sometimes think, “Here we are. We get persecuted for our beliefs here. Just a little bit. People saying a few nasty things, a few sarcastic things.”

But literally, wow! We’re not really being persecuted. We’re not being tortured. We’re not imprisoned. We’re not being thrown out of our home. We’re not cold, and destitute, and suffering like so many are in this world. Did you know that the latest statistics are that there are 388 million believers being persecuted in the world at this time? Here we are, in the States. We may just get sarcastic remarks given to us.

But we don’t go through persecution like millions, millions of Christians are, and yet they are standing for God, standing in the face of torture, prison, and persecution that is real to their bodies. Oh, how we need to pray for them too! Do you pray for the persecuted church?

But we must remember that even in the little things that we face, when people speak against us, talk against us, or say nasty things, wow! That’s nothing to what so many are going through in the world today. So, be encouraged, lovely ladies, to stand strong.

I always think of that Scripture in Romans 3:4 where it says: “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” I’m always encouraged, well actually, I’m challenged. Am I prepared to stand for God’s way, even when everybody else is doing something different? “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” May God help us to be those who are strong and very courageous.

I love this passage in 1 Kings 2:2, 3. This is where David is charging his son Solomon. He’s going to be taking the throne, and David is charging him to build this house for God. He says to Solomon: “Be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord God, to walk in His ways, to keep His commandments.” And he continues on: “To do these things, and keep God’s commandments. Show thyself to be a man.”

It’s interesting. In the Knox Translation of the Bible, everywhere it talks about being strong and courageous, it’s translated: “Play the man.” Because that is a picture of being strong and courageous when it talks about “Show thyself a man . . .  Play the man.” A man is meant to be strong and brave and courageous. When it says that, it’s talking about the strength of manhood. But, of course, we all need that strength in standing for God’s truth, don’t we?

Number nine. We are to MEDITATE on God’s commandments day and night!

Joshua 1:8 is a Scripture that I memorized when I was a teenager. It’s been with me all my life. I was just talking to two of my grandchildren the other night. I was telling them about this Scripture, and I said, “This is a great Scripture for you to memorize.” I must check up on them to see if they’ve memorized it yet.

Joshua 1:8: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do all that is in there.” So, it talks about meditating.

Psalm 1:2: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law does he meditate day and night.”

The Psalmist says in Psalm 119:97: “Oh, how I love Thy law. It is my meditation all the day.”

The word “meditate,” we often think of it as, “Oh, yes, we read the Scriptures and we think about it,” and that is very true. But the word “meditate” in the Hebrew, which is the word hagah, actually has three meanings.

Number one. It means “to meditate, to muse upon, to imagine, to think on.” So, yes, that’s the first meaning that we think of first of all. We see that in Proverbs 15:28: “The heart of the righteous studieth to answer.” There it uses the word “study” but it’s really the same as “meditate.” So “meditate” is not some little pathetic thing. It’s studying and really taking time to think through.

It also means “to mutter,” or “to murmur,” or “to speak to yourself.” That’s interesting, isn’t it? People say if you speak to yourself, you must be mad. But I quite like speaking to myself. Do you do that? I often speak to myself.

But here it says that we’re allowed to speak to ourselves the Word. When we’re reading it, we can be sort of muttering it, and speaking to ourselves, and thinking, “Yes, that’s right, Lord. Just help me to put this into my life.” Or “Oh, Lord, thank You for this revelation. Help me to understand it more.” We’re just talking away quietly to the Lord and murmuring and muttering away. That’s part of meditating!

And then, the third point. We don’t think about this, but this is another point of meditation. It also means “to speak out loud and to speak to others of God’s commandments.”

We see this in Psalm 35:28: “My tongue shall speak (hagah, the same word that’s translated meditate) My tongue shall speak of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all the day long.”

Psalm 37:30: “The mouth of the righteous speaketh (hagah) speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of justice.” So, if we are meditating and studying and thinking and muttering away to ourselves as we talk to the Lord about His Word, as we’re doing that, well, then our mouth will speak out wisdom. Amen.

Psalm 71:24: “My tongue shall talk” (that’s also hagah) off Thy righteousness all the day long.”

Proverbs 8:7: “For my mouth shall speak (hagah) truth. And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.” I like that Scripture: “For my mouth shall speak truth.”

Now that’s a good affirmation, isn’t it? “My mouth shall speak truth.” Proverbs 8:7, now that’s a good Scripture for even your little children to memorize. You know, when you first start your children memorizing the Word of God, you start them on just little Scriptures. Yes, just little ones. Well, here’s a little one they can all remember: “My mouth shall speak truth.”

Of course, it’s good for all the older ones too. That’s a good Scripture to say in the morning, when you come together and you’re having Bible reading and prayer. Now here’s a good affirmation. It’s good to have affirmations. It’s good for all of you, the whole family, mom, dad, all the children, even to the little ones, to speak it out loud. So, here’s a good one to take: “For my mouth shall speak truth.”

Maybe you’ll have to bring that up throughout the day. Perhaps when, maybe they’re even telling a little lie. You’ll have to say, “Now, what does God’s Word say? ‘My mouth shall speak truth.’” That goes deep into their hearts, and they will know that anything that comes out of their lips must be truth. They dare not speak a lie. No, only truth.

And too, even for us, the more we meditate in the Word, the more we will be speaking truth, because we’re meditating in God’s Word, which is the truth.

“Thy Word is true from the beginning,” the Word of God says in Psalm 119:160. As we are filling our hearts with truth, well then, surely, it’s got to start coming out of our mouths, so we’ll be speaking truth. Truth will be coming out of our mouths, through our children, and to people around us, when we’re talking and when we’re fellowshipping.

 Oh, when we’re having maybe supper and inviting people over, I love to ask this question: “What has God been saying to you? What revelations are you receiving from the Word?” It’s so sad when some people have nothing to say. Obviously, they haven’t been in the Word because if we are in the Word, and meditating on the Word, well, it will be in us. It will be wanting to come out of us, and we’ll be wanting to speak truth.

There is one couple that we often have over to enjoy Shabbat with us. Oh, how we enjoy fellowship with this couple. Why? Because, I only have to say that question, “What’s God been saying?” And then they have so much they want to share, and I have so much I want to share and Colin has so much he wants to share. We all have so much we want to share. It is so stimulating, so encouraging, so wonderful when we’re all speaking truth, the truth that God has been giving us.

Isn’t that how it should be in our fellowship amongst the body of Christ? That’s why God speaks about fellowship. And fellowship and food go together. When we’re at the table, we’re eating, and enjoying our food, but we’re fellowshipping, and the greatest fellowship is talking about the things of God, and His truth, and His understanding of His Word. There is nothing that enriches your soul more. It is just so delightful.

That’s all part of meditation. Speaking out what God has given you in the Word. That’s why I believe it also says in Hebrew 10:25: “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but so much the more, as you see the day approaching.” It’s not only just meeting at church, but also the continuing fellowship. That’s why we love to have fellowship meal after church. Some churches are too big to do that.

But we can continue that by inviting a family home for a meal. In fact, all our lives, we have either had a fellowship meal in our church, or if the church that we’ve been pastoring has not done that, we would invite a family or families home after church to fellowship with. Oh, what blessed times they were! Just talking about the things of God, the things we’ve been meditating on during the week. And now we’re speaking them out because that is part of meditation. If we’re meditating, we will begin to speak it out.

Well, time has come again, precious, lovely ladies. May the Lord bless you. I am excited to continue telling you about all these wonderful principles of what God wants to do about His precious Word which are so important to pass on to our children.

“Dear Father, I thank You for all these precious wives, mothers, and children listening today, or this evening. I pray that You will bless them. I pray that You will, Lord, just give them such a delight, a delight in Your Word, and a delight to pray, and a delight to be in Your Presence.

“Lord, I pray that Your Word will become so precious to them, Lord God. Lord, that You will help them to live by Your Word, not by the ways of society, but by Your Word.

“Pour out Your blessing all over them. Over their home, and over their business, and over their children. I ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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P.S. The psalmist speaks about meditating on God’s Word six times in Psalm 119. Verses 15, 23, 48, 78, 97, and 148.