LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 182: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 4

Today we talk about THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. A quality of character that does not allow one to surrender. William Barclay says: "Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to TURN IT INTO GLORY."

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We’re now up to session four in our series, “Five Qualities We Need for the End Times.” Now, I’m not saying that we are in the end, end times. I don’t know when that time will be. It may be in our lifetime, or it may be in our children’s lifetime.

But we don’t wait until we are facing the end to have these qualities in our lives. We must get them part of our lives now. They must be habitual in our lives now so that whenever we may face these more difficult times, and the things that we read about in the book of Revelation that are to come upon the earth, that we will be ready.

Now, if they don’t come in our lifetime, we are preparing our children to have these qualities in them so that if it comes in their lifetime, they will be ready, or they will pass it on to their children. This is what we’re talking about. These are powerful qualities that we want to establish now in our lives.

The five points are F F P P and K. We’re now starting the first P. We’re going to find that in Revelation 13:10: “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

PERSEVERANCE

In the King James Version, it says “patience.” OK, P for “patience.” But most translations of the Bible translate it with the word “perseverance.” So, this is the word that I’m taking, P for “perseverance.”

The Berean Study Bible, The New Revised Standard Version, and the English Standard Version, and many others say: “Here is the call for the perseverance and faith of the saints.”

The Holman Translation says, “THIS DEMANDS THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS.”

Now, this Scripture is in the context of the time when people will face the mark of the beast. That, if they take the mark of the beast, well, that’s the end for eternal salvation for them. But if they don’t take it, they will not be able to buy or sell. I think many will end up being martyred.

So that will be a pretty trying time. It says: “This demands,” or “This calls for the perseverance of the saints.”

It also is repeated again in Revelation 14:12. It says again: “This demands the perseverance of the saints, to keep God’s commands, and their faith in Jesus.”

Now, what is this word, “perseverance”? We’re going to look at it. The Greek word is hupomone. It comes from two Greek words:

hupo, which means “under,”

meno, which means “to remain.”

It literally means “to remain under trials with a cheerful and hopeful endurance.”

Spiros Zodhiates, in his Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, says this about this word:

“It is a quality of character that does not allow one to surrender.”

Do you like that? That’s powerful, isn’t it?

Spiros Zodhiates is the editor of the Bible that I use. I use the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible. I love this Bible! I keep wearing these Bibles out. I just had to order another one because this one, even the first few pages are missing!

But it’s such a wonderful Bible. If you’re looking for a good study Bible, I can’t recommend one more than I recommend this one. It has the Strong’s Concordance in the back. But I rarely refer to that. It also has the Strong’s numbers. If they are in bold, you can go to the LEXICON in the back which gives a fuller understanding of each Hebrew or Greek word.

So, it’s a wonderful way, just as you’re reading the Word, and oh, you want to know what does it really mean? You can look it up and find out just a greater understanding and meaning. I love it.

Let me give you his definition again of “perseverance.” “A quality of character that does not allow one to surrender.” We certainly need to get this quality, this character quality into our lives now. To me, it is very sad that I see many people, and even Christians, caving into take this current mandated vaccination, which is, or could be, a death shot. So many people have died already. They predict that many yet could die.

I read some time back, a letter, not a letter that’s published over the housetops, but I found this letter in some writings. A letter written by Bill Gates, writing to one of the vaccination people who are doing the vaccinations, I forget which one. It may have been Johnson and Johnson. But I’m not sure.

Writing in there, this was a number of years ago, because they have been planning this for many years, how that they did not want people to die immediately from this vaccination, although many have. But that it must come later, so people will not put it together that deaths really don’t relate to the vaccination.

It is so sad, because this thing is not about health. It’s about tyranny. It’s amazing how many have caved in. Well, of course, in the natural, they feel they have reason to. They’ll lose their job if they don’t, or they have other things that they’ll face if they don’t.

But, you see, we’re practicing now for a time where we cannot give in, where we cannot surrender, for when that time does come when we face the mark of the beast, we dare not surrender, we dare not cave in. The Bible clearly warns us that we must never take the mark of the beast, or we will be siding with Satan.

But you see, this is preparing us now to not surrender, to not cave in, to stand even in the face of persecution. There are many who have lost their jobs. But I believe that God honors those who honor Him. He will provide a way. I do believe it. Even if we are facing difficult things, we have still got to stand on the side of right.

Well, other meanings of this word of perseverance: it means “endurance, continuance, not giving up, steadfastness, courageously enduring,” and also “cheerfully enduring.” That’s an interesting one, isn’t it? “Remaining faithful to God and His purposes for you through trials and through suffering.”

You see, precious ladies, we can endure in either of two ways: we can endure cheerfully. That’s part of the meaning, the Greek meaning of this word, “to endure cheerfully, trusting in God, and to endure courageously.”

But we can also endure with groanings and complainings and bitterness. It’s so easy to do that, isn’t it? We’re going through a trial, and we do nothing but complain and groan about it. “Poor me!” We’re full of self-pity. We even get bitter through the trial. It is sad that many people come through trials with bitterness. You see it all over their face. It destroys their lives and the lives of their children.

Yet others can come through incredible trials cheerfully enduring, because they trusted in God. They’re looking to Jesus, and they come through without the smell of that fiery trial upon them. That’s what happened to those three young men there in Babylon, wasn’t it? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They would not bow down to the image. They were the only ones who would not bow. They were threatened with being thrown into the fiery furnace. Well, they trusted God. They said, “God will deliver us. But even if He doesn’t, we’ll trust him!”

They kept bowing. The king, you know the story, how he was so mad that they would defy him, that he got the fire to be heated seven times hotter, and even the people who threw them into the fire were burned to death.

But then, God did deliver them. And God, Jesus Christ, obviously it was a Christophany of Christ Himself being with them in the fire, the fourth man in the fire. And He did deliver them. But their confession was, "Even if He doesn’t deliver us, even if we die, even if we’re burned to death, we will not cave in!”

They came out from that fire, and the Bible says they didn’t even have the smell of the fire upon them. Isn’t that amazing?

As we go through our trials and difficulties and hurtful experiences, let’s seek to trust the Lord, and to come through cheerfully without the smell of the fire upon us. Because that’s such a horrible thing, to smell the fire on people, and see bitterness and hurt over their lives.

Other translations: The New English Translation says: “This requires steadfast endurance.”

The Complete Jewish Bible says: “This is when God’s holy people must persevere and trust.”

God’s Word Translation: “In this situation, God’s holy people need endurance and confidence.”

Even The Message Bible, which is a paraphrase, is very good. It says: “Meanwhile, God’s holy people passionately and faithfully stand their ground.” Yes, that is the meaning of the quality of not surrendering.

And then, there’s that famous quote by William Barclay, an expositor of the Word of God. He says:

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

Isn’t that amazing? That would be a good quote to pin up on your wall, don’t you think? “Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

That’s what Paul did. Remember how he said, “I glory in my tribulations” (Romans 5:3). I often read that and think, “Oh, help! How do you actually do that? How do you make it glory?” But it was possible. He made it into glory.

So, we need to seek to do these things in our lives when we’re facing something so tough. But we’re going to turn it into glory because we’re going to trust God! We’re going to trust Him, no matter what! Yes, because we believe God that He is faithful.

I know some of you, maybe you’re in this position. Your husband’s lost his job because he wouldn’t take the jab. But don’t get bitter. Don’t get into self-pity. Don’t think, “Oh, what will we do? How will we survive?” No, look to God. Trust Him. Turn it into glory.

I believe in these times that so many amazing, incredible people have lost jobs. Some of the best people. But I believe that because of who they are, God can give them ideas, incentives, inventions, things to begin other things. From these hard times, greater things can even come.

This last weekend, we had the Hartman family staying with us for over Thanksgiving. We had a glorious Thanksgiving as usual, packed out, a sit-down meal for over 80 people or so. It was such a glorious time. But Allison Hartman (I hoped to do a podcast with her while she was here, but we never got time. We were just so busy. Everything was happening from one minute to the next).

But she was sharing how that down in Pensacola where they are, she is friends with a doctor at Sacred Heart hospital. He’s perhaps the head doctor there. His picture is all over the city. He was given the mandate that he had to leave if he didn’t take the jab. This doctor actually does vaccinate all his children, but because he is seeing so many negative things happen, coming into the hospital, that he is so against this vaccination. Refused to take it, and even though he was the head doctor, he was fired.

It was a very sad thing for this man who’s given his life to his work for all these years and years and years. As his wife and children and grandchildren came to be with him as he was fired, they wouldn’t even let them come over to him at the hospital. They said they had to stay on the other side of the road.

But God worked on his behalf and the governor of Florida, DeSantis, called a meeting. And he turned all those mandates around and said that organizations and hospitals would be fired for firing their people. Miraculously, after that, he was reinstated. Isn’t that wonderful? Praise the Lord! Yes.

Also, this word includes conviction with perseverance. You can’t really endure if you don’t have conviction about the truth. That’s such an important thing. We’ve got to have convictions. If our convictions are not strong, we won’t persevere. We’ll cave in so easily. I think that’s why so many people do cave in, because their convictions are not strong.

Now, in persevering, I think we’ve got to even practice, even in the little nitty-gritties of life, even in the daily activities of life. There are many things we face that are boring and mundane, but we persevere. We keep on. Also, even in our marriages, we persevere. Sometimes a marriage can go through a difficult time.

THE TIDE ALWAYS COMES IN AGAIN

I never forget. Years and years ago, a dear friend of mine shared this thought. She was talking about marriage, and she said, “You know, we must take this eternal principle that although the tide goes out, it always comes in again.”

If you’ve been to the beach, as I love to go to the beach, you see the tide go out. Sometimes when the tide goes out, you see all the stuff, if there’s been a storm, all the junk that the waves bring in on the beach. I’ve been to the beach sometimes, and it brings in all the seaweed. The whole beach is filled with seaweed, and you can hardly walk.

Sometimes it brings in poisonous things and poison jelly fish, and they’re all on the beach. You can hardly walk either. Sometimes it brings all kinds of junk and stuff. You see all the horrible junk on the beach when the tide goes out. But there is an eternal law. God stated it. The tide always comes in again.

When the tide comes in again, it washes all that junk away again. It’s a beautiful thing. We can take that principle in our marriage. You may be going through a difficult season, a difficult time. Persevere. Don’t surrender to giving up. You may be looking at all the awful things, and oooh, you don’t like it at all. It’s too tough.

But think, remember. The tide comes in again. And wait for that tide to come in again. Trust God. Release the spirit of forgiveness and love and wait for that tide to come in again. It will wash away all that horrible junk.

I have seen that happen in many marriages. I have a very dear friend, a contemporary of mine. Of course, we’re all in our 80’s now. But I remember in the early days of her marriage. It was very tough. They went through a very, very difficult time. But they did not believe in divorce, and they did not give up. Even though it wasn’t very “enjoyable,” we need a worse word for that.

But they stuck it out. And as the years went on, the tide came in again. Now today, goodness, they have been for the last many, many years, many years, they’ve just had a beautiful life together. They’re just so happy, just loving one another together. What a sad thing it would be if they were separated. They wouldn’t be living the beautiful enjoyable life that they are living now.

So, we see there are many, many Scriptures with this word in, but I won’t give them all to you today. Just a couple here, maybe two or three.

Matthew 10:22: “And ye shall be hated of all men for My Name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

Matthew 24:11-13: “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

And then we see this word again in this passage, Hebrews 10:32-36. I’ll read it from the English Standard Version this time: “But remember the former days when you endured a harsh conflict of suffering after you were enlightened (when “you endured”). At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction. And at other times, you came to share with others who were treated in that way. For in fact, you shared the sufferings of those in prison, and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy.”

Wow. That’s a pretty tough thing, isn’t it? Even though their belongings were taken away, they accepted it with joy. “Because you knew that you certainly had a better and lasting possession. So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward. For you need endurance (there’s the word perseverance, steadfastness) in order to do God’s will, and so receive what is promised.” Amen?

One more Scripture: Hebrews 12:1: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.” Now it’s interesting, ladies, that that word “witnesses” is martus, which means “martyrs.” Do you remember we talked about that last podcast; I think? So, here we are.

We are compassed about, ladies, with this great cloud of martyrs who are up there in Heaven already waiting for us. And they’re watching on, they’re cheering us on. “Come on, persevere! You’ve got a great reward awaiting! No matter what you go through, this life is so fleeting! It’s just a blink of an eye. It’s just a vapor and it’s gone! And you’re preparing, you’re persevering for the eternal world, which is the real world, which is forever!”

And even if one day, if we face the real end time, and we’re martyred, wow. It’s worth it for the eternal realm. And yet, all over the world today, there are more martyrs for the faith than there ever has been in the history of the world. In so many Muslim countries, and North Korea, and places all over the world, Christians are being persecuted. They are suffering. They are being martyred, even now for their faith.

But we have this great cloud of martyrs watching us. And it says: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience (there’s the word again, hupomone, and it’s the word “perseverance, endurance, never giving up. So, we run with perseverance the race that is set before us).

And how do we do it? Hebrews 12:2: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” That’s the word again, enduring, persevering. “Endured the cross.” How did He endure it? With joy. “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So, precious lovely ladies, we are getting in practice now to persevere. Amen?

All right, we are getting to the end of our time, and I’m ready for our second P. We’ll start it today, and we’ll finish it next week. We won’t get it all done today.

PRAYER

But the next P is “prayer.” This is also a very important character quality we must have operating in our lives. Let’s go and see what it says, because it’s all in Revelation for the end times. So, we’re going to go to Revelation 5:8: “And when he had taken the book,” (this is, well, I should just give a little bit of understanding of where we’re reading).

It is John, the apostle John, who is looking into the eternal world. God is giving him visions of Heaven and also visions of many things that are going to take place on the earth in the end time. But in this passage in chapter 5, we should go back.

It says here, in Revelation 5:4, how he was weeping because nobody was found worthy to open the book. But one of the elders said: “Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.”

And we come down to Revelation 5:8: “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors.” Or it really means “full of incense.” I think your modern translation will say “incense.” Yes, in my margin of my King James Bible, it says “incense.”

So, they were holding “golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.” OK, incense always speaks of prayer in the Bible. We are seeing prayer here.

We go over to Revelation 8. John is looking into heaven again.

Revelation 8:1: “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar.”

Now, some commentators believe that this angel was actually Christ Himself, who is now our high priest, interceding before the Father for us, 24 hours a day, continually. The Bible says that He is continually interceding for us.

So, “another angel,” it wasn’t one of the seven angels that we read about in Revelation. But it was “another angel,” most probably Jesus Christ Himself. “And He stood at the altar.” Now, this was the altar of incense. “Having a golden censer; and there was given unto Him much incense, that He should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”

And so now we’re reading again about this altar of incense. Now we first read about the altar of incense way back in the Old Testament, way back in Exodus. And there in Exodus, God is speaking to Moses and telling him that He wants him to establish this tabernacle. In this tabernacle there would be all these special pieces of furniture. One of the pieces of furniture was called “the altar of incense.”

MORNING AND EVENING

It’s also called “the golden altar.” It’s also called “the altar of sweet incense” because God also gives the recipe for the incense. It was made up of sweet spices. The incense was to give off this glorious, beautiful, sweet perfume that filled the holy place of the tabernacle. God wanted it filled with this beautiful, sweet aroma, night and day. Yes, night and day!

That’s why they had to light the incense every morning and every evening. When they lit it in the morning, it would fill the holy place. As the day was coming to an end, it would begin to dissipate. So, the priest would come again and light it again so it would be all night. It would be filled with that beautiful, sweet aroma.

Now, here in Revelation, it’s called “the golden altar which was before the throne.” The amazing thing, ladies, is that we read about this altar of incense back in Exodus. As we read about the tabernacle there, (many people don’t know very much about the tabernacle) but it’s something we should know, because, oh my, it’s not some bit of history a way back there in the beginning of the Bible.

No! It is something that is alive and real, right now! And when John looked into the heavenly realm, he wasn’t seeing some altar of incense back in the tabernacle. He was seeing Heaven, and he was seeing the altar of incense right there in heaven itself! And where was the altar? It was before the throne of God, right before the throne of God.

Where was the altar of incense in the tabernacle? It was right next to the Holy of Holies. It was the last piece of furniture before you went into the Holy of Holies. It was right next to it! Next to the glory of God.

This altar of incense, we’ll get to speak about it more next time. Because this is something that needs to be part of our lives in our homes. It’s not just something, “Oh, well, that was something I read about in the Bible.” No, this is reality that needs to be part of our lives now. Also, part of our lives as we prepare to be those who can face whatever happens to us in life, whatever comes into our lives, and whatever difficult times will come, or if we will face end times in our lifetime, or in our children’s children’s time. Whatever.

But we are going to be people who will be prepared. We are going to be people who have these qualities in our lives now, for these are the qualities that we’re meant to have, to even face life, right now. And prayer is a very big part of it.

Oh, I have some exciting things to tell you about it for next week. So, don’t miss out! Come in again next week. Don’t miss out. Let’s pray.

“Dear loving Father, we thank You so much for the way You teach us from Your Word. And we pray that You will help us to be those who know how to persevere, who never cave in, who never surrender, who never give in. But Lord, that we will go through and endure and persevere with joy, with cheerfulness, with courage. We ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 181: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 3

We continue talking about FAITHFULNESS today. Faithful to our word, faithful to church attendance, faithful to be on time, faithful in the daily etiquette and courtesies of life, and faithful to the end. "Continued acts of faithfulness add up to strength of character, to resiliency and preparation for end times."

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We’re up to number three in our series on five things we need to prepare in our lives as we prepare for the end times. We are talking on faithfulness. Last week we talked about being faithful in our marriage, and in our mothering, and in the very mundane, little things of being a wife and a mother.

I do hope that this last week you began to enjoy doing even the mundane things with joy and delight, and with faithfulness. Oh, ladies, faithfulness is such a great thing. It’s not something to be despised. It’s a great thing, and the more you are faithful, the more faithfulness will become part of your life. Remember, it means “trustworthiness.”

All right. Well, I ended last session with the Scripture, Luke 16:10-12. Let me read it again. “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large things. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with the things of your own?”

Now that’s quite a good challenge, isn’t it? Something I do think we need to think about. Many times, we will be using, well, I hope it’s not many times, but we could be using somebody else’s property, something they own. We’ve borrowed it, and we break it!

Well, what do we do? Well, of course, we reimburse it, don’t we? If we break something that doesn’t belong to us, well, we’re going to reimburse it. If we borrowed something from someone, and we break it, we’d better reimburse it. Maybe we lose it. Well, we’d better buy another one. That is faithfulness. That’s etiquette. So, let’s go on to our next one.

No. 3. KEEP FAITHFUL TO YOUR WORD

I said we’d talk about seven different little practical things in our lives. Number three: keep faithful to your word. That’s part of the Greek word pistos, “to be faithful and trustworthy, to keep to your word, to keep to your promises.” It’s so easy to say things, isn’t it, and not to keep them. We have to really watch what comes out of our mouths. “Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay” (Matthew 5:37).

If we are not sure that we are going to be able to do something, well, let’s not say we’ll do it. Because when it comes out of our mouths, we should keep to it. That’s etiquette. That’s faithfulness. I think it’s something we need to get into the habit of.

Like even for functions. Weddings, parties, birthdays, invitations. Many times, we can say, “Oh, yes, I’ll be coming!” And then, something may happen, and it just works out that we can’t come. But we should always call the people. If something happens, and we can’t fulfill our obligation, at least call and say, “Oh, look, I said I was coming, but so sorry this has happened. And we’re not able to. We’re so sorry about this.” But always communicate.

Because we are a hospitable home, I’ve had so many functions and parties and things, dinners in my home over the years. I couldn’t even count them, there’s so many. And it’s amazing, different parties that we’ve had here, people say, “Yes, I’ll be coming.” And then, they don’t come!

Well, if people call me, that’s fine. That’s understandable. You know that something has happened. But when they don’t call, you think, “Wow! What’s happened? They didn’t turn up. And they didn’t even have the decency, the faithfulness, to call and say they couldn’t come.”

These are very important things. When we say something, we must keep to it. Or if it’s impossible to keep to it, we must let the people know. Train our children this way. I believe it’s so important to train our children in faithfulness.

No. 4. FAITHFULNESS AND ETIQUETTE

Many young people today don’t really even know the normal courtesies and etiquette of life, which takes me on to point number four: faithfulness and etiquette. I believe we should teach our young people, when they go to visit friends at another home, because young people love to get together, they will ask one another to each other’s homes.

Now, tell your young people, if they’re asked to another home, they’re not only going just to hang out with the young people. Remind them to go and speak to the parents. They’re going into their home. Therefore, they need to say, “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so. Thank you so much for allowing me to come into your home and enjoy friendship with your children.”

Teach them that when they leave, that they don’t just leave. They go and say goodbye, not only to the young people, but they also go to the parents, and they say, “Thank you for allowing me to be here. It’s been wonderful. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.”

Now, that is normal courtesy. That is faithfulness. But who does that today? Oh, I’ve had so many parties, as I have said, in our home. I have young people coming in. Many times, those young people don’t even say hello. I might as well not be in the house! Nor do they say goodbye. I’m sure it really isn’t their fault. They haven’t been taught.

Now, we must teach our children these things. It’s part of teaching them how to be faithful. Colin and I have always made it a precedent in our lives that whenever we go somewhere to someone’s home, or we’re invited to a party, or even a wedding, we would never even think of leaving the wedding or whatever it is that we’ve got to without going to the host and hostess and thanking them for inviting us. And telling them how we enjoyed it.

Many times, it comes times to go, and my husband says, “Look, darling, we’ve got to go now. I’m getting tired.” I’ll say, “OK, well, we’d better go find the host and hostess.” We’ll both go around to find both the husband and the wife, to let them know we are leaving, and to thank them for the lovely time.

Now, they have done a big job! They have put on this dinner, this wedding, this party, whatever it was. It is only right that we would let them know.

Once again, why am I saying this? Because of all the hundreds of parties and things that I’ve had in our home, rarely do people ever come and say goodbye! I can’t even believe it. It comes to the end of the night, and gradually everyone’s gone out the door. Nobody comes and says, “Well, thank you for inviting me. It was a great time. Great to be here.”

That’s etiquette! There was a time when nobody would ever think of leaving the house without doing that. They wouldn’t think of it! What has happened? Somehow, we’ve dropped the baton, and parents have not passed on this act of courtesy and faithfulness to the next generation. Can I encourage you to train your children this way? We’ve trained our children. And even now I say, “Don’t forget to do that.”

Recently we had one of our family weddings. Addie and Isaiah were married, Serene’s son. He was married to Addie. Actually, you’ll see their picture on the front cover of the new Above Rubies Magazine that is coming out.

Serene and Sam put on the most beautiful wedding. Sam has got this vision to build this wonderful big barn. We’re already calling it “The Wedding Barn.” It’s going to be such a great place. Well, we had Isaiah and Addie’s wedding there. It wasn’t finished. All we had was the concrete, and the roof, and all rough. The wood that holds up the roof, but nothing was filled in.

But it didn’t matter because it was summer, and it was a glorious, glorious day to have the wedding. But now, their daughter Cherish is getting married to Ben on the 5^th of February. So, Sam says he’s going to have The Wedding Barn ready. It will have to be closed in, because it’s going to be winter.

But anyway, I was talking to Serene afterwards, and I said to Serene, “Serene, just for interest’s sake, how many people came and thanked you before they left? Who came up and said goodbye?” Well, she said, “Not many.”

Actually, I had watched people who had been invited, not family, but other friends. I watched couples; young couples walk out. I knew that they hadn’t gone to Serene and Sam, and I thought, “How sad! They haven’t been taught. They could come to a wedding, enjoy, feast on all the wonderful food, then just leave! Without telling anybody! Without going to the ones who invited them.”

So, let’s change things, shall we? And get back to these little acts of faithfulness. They are so important. These little things add up. These little things add up to great things.

Now, we have a family in our fellowship. Nadia, and they have seven children. I remember talking to Nadia about this one day. There’s something about Nadia. She receives instruction. So, she received this, and she obviously decided she was going to tell her children about this. It’s amazing. Every Sunday when they come to church, and we have fellowship meal, and we hang out. It’s such a glorious time.

But every Sunday, before they leave, in the afternoon sometime, these children will come individually, and they will come up to me. They will say, “Thank you, Nana. Thank you for having us here. We really appreciate it.” It’s so wonderful! I mean, I don’t need that, but I’m so glad that they are doing it. Because they are getting into a habit now, as children, that this what you do! It’s so beautiful, and it’s such a wonderful character trait that’s being added to their lives. It’s really beautiful.

All right. Another meaning of faithfulness is “loyal and loyalty.” I like that. In 3 John 1:5, John is writing to Gaius. He says, “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to the strangers.” John was talking to him about the ways he showed hospitality to the preachers who were traveling through, and to whoever came to his home. He said, “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest.” What a wonderful testimony to have over our lives.

No. 4. FAITHFUL TO CHURCH ATTENDANCE

Here’s another one. Number four. I believe that we should be faithful in church attendance. In preparing, this is actually, this Scripture, you know this Scripture, Hebrews 10:25. Let’s read it this time from the Amplified Classic Translation: “Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together as believers, as is the habit of some people, but admonishing, warning, urging, and encouraging one another, all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.”

This Scripture is encouraging us to get into the habit of faithfully attending church fellowship, whether you go to church on Saturday, or you go to church on Sunday, or whatever church you go to. It doesn’t matter, but we should be faithful, because this Word here, the writers of the Hebrews is saying: “Be faithful now, especially as you see that day coming.”

Well, we’re closer to that day now. And the closer we get, the more faithful we should be to the assembling of ourselves together. Because we’re going to need one another more and more. And it is important to establish that fellowship amongst the brethren now, because church is more than going to a building, and hearing a sermon, and going home.

No, church is the body of believers. Church is the assembling of the saints. It’s the assembling together. It’s the togetherness. God wants us to be a togethering people, because we encourage one another. Our faith is not just a personal faith. It’s a together faith. It’s a you-and-me faith.

This is what the Word of God says in Romans 1:12. It’s a togethering, one-anothering faith. And so, God wants us to establish that. As we do, we will have an assembly. We’ll have people around us who will be there for us when times get more difficult. That’s a lot of what church is about. It’s not only going to hear a sermon.

I was absolutely astounded. I still haven’t got over it, that when this whole thing started last year, and this so-called covid thing began, churches actually stopped meeting. I could not believe it. We were never commanded in the Word to stop meeting, no matter what was happening, no matter what persecution.

What about faith? All around the world, there are Christians who are in countries that have for years had to meet underground. They didn’t stop meeting! And here, people stopped meeting! I can’t believe it! Of course, they had Zoom. “Oh, we’re having Zoom! Oh yes! We’re still getting our messages.”

Well, that’s true. It’s good. You can get a good . . . nothing wrong with Zoom. Get a good message. That’s great. In fact, I’m giving you a message now. I’m not with you, unfortunately. I’d love to be sitting down with you. But that’s not church. Yeah, it’s a Zoom meeting, but it’s not church.

Church is the assembling of yourselves together. And we are commanded not to give it up, that it is to become a habit. To do it more faithfully, even as we approach the end. So, make that a habit in your lives, precious wives and mothers.

You know, there’s always things that happen. Excuses can come. “Oh, this happened. Oh, we won’t make it this morning.” I beg your pardon! No. You decide.  We are people, we are a family who go to church! We meet with the believers at least once a week. These other things that are coming . . .  “Oh, this is happening. This is. . .”

No. We don’t take notice of them. We do the priority. We do what we have to do. I just cannot believe. . . I mean, they’re not hardly valid excuses! They’re just, “Oh, someone came to visit. Oh, I’ve got to go here. Oh, I’ve got to get this done.” People, they don’t come to church, because “Oh, I’ve got to get this done around the house.”

I beg your pardon?? Are we believers, or are we not believers? Do we believe the Word of God, or do we not? The Word says that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together! And yet, so many believers, “Oh, well, a beautiful day. I think I’ll just get out in the garden today or get this done around the back. We need to get this finished.”

Oh, I understand. Life is busy. My, often you don’t get time, but let me tell you, the Word of God says: “Them that honor me, I will honor” (1 Samuel 2:30). You honor the Lord. He will honor you. You’ll get those things done some way. God will enable you when you do what is right.

We show to our families, when we just allow things to come into our lives, “Oh, we won’t be able to go today.” What do our children see? You can say it all you like, “Oh, Lord God, You are the pre-eminent One in our lives. Oh, we love You! Lord God, we worship You!” And your children see, well, you’re not even going to church because, just some excuse, or something you want to do that’s more important.

We show to our children the real priorities in our lives by our actions. So, let’s be faithful. Faithful. Faithful now, ladies. Let’s get into the habit of being faithful, faithful now, and we will be much more ready for the end time. I believe it with all my heart.

No. 5. BE FAITHFUL TO BE ON TIME

Number five: be faithful to be on time. On time for church. On time for functions. On time for appointments. That’s being trustworthy. The meaning of “faithfulness.” Are we trustworthy? Can people trust our word? Can they trust us to be on time? Oh, I know that’s not always easy. And there’s often things that cause us to be late. And I’m not perfect either.

But I believe we should seek to be on time. I grew up with a father who believed in being on time. He didn’t only believe in being on time, he believed in being early. He was never late. He was always early for an appointment. He was always early for church. He would be making sure we got ready in time to be there early for church.

That wasn’t easy, because my mother was always late. We used to have this saying, “She was late for her wedding, and she was late ever since.” But he would always be hurrying her along. She was always finishing dishes and trying on this hat to make sure it matched that dress, and so on.

But anyway, he made sure she got there on time, even though he would rather get there early, because he had things that were holding him back. But that was his premise in life: be early. It is a good thing.

I know some mums who will set their watches for half an hour ahead for Sunday. They do it the night before. They’re just half an hour ahead. If they were going to be half an hour late, well, actually they will get there on time. That’s a good idea. You might like to try that one.

But being late is actually selfish, isn’t it? Except, I’m not talking about mothers with little children. Oh, my, I know it’s not easy. That’s why it’s quite a good idea to set your watch ahead, so that you will make it.

Back in our day, can I tell you? I’m really back in the old, old days. So, I can give you a bit of history. But when we were growing up, this was normal. Not just in our home. It was normal in the homes of all the believers. What we would do, going to church, didn’t start on Sunday. It started the night before.

Always the night before. So, Saturday evening everybody would have a bath. Oh, we didn’t have showers in those days. So, we’d all have our bath, all washed our hair. We were all beautifully clean for Sunday. And before we went to bed, we had to lay out all our clothes for Sunday.

Back then, that meant not only your dress, but your hat, and your handbag, and your shoes. Of course, we would wear shoes. But everything to go with it. So, you had it. You didn’t go round Sunday morning, looking round, “Whoo, where is everything? Can’t find it!” All the little children, you can’t find any socks, and you can’t even find shoes! Help!

But no, you do it the night before. So, everything is done. And then, of course, we would even cook on the day before, ready for Sunday, so we didn’t even have to cook on Sunday. We started the day before.

I think that was because it was a priority. They didn’t suddenly think, “Oh, goodness me, it’s Sunday! Here, church, help!” OK. But no, they were gearing up to it, looking forward to it, and preparing for it. I think that would be a good habit to get back into. Don’t you?

Then, of course, we would put our Sunday best. Have you ever heard of that phrase in your life?  “Sunday best”? Well, that’s what we used to call it. Because we would always have clothes that were specifically for Sunday. The best clothes in our wardrobe, usually just one special dress that was our Sunday dress. Or maybe we just might have a couple of others too.

But many times, people only had a Sunday dress, because we were not quite as affluent as we are today where nobody would understand “Sunday best,” because help, you go to your wardrobe, and you think, “Oh, what will I wear?” You’ve got about twenty dresses, and you don’t know which one to wear!

We’re living in a totally different era. Also, people don’t even usually wear their Sunday best today. They wear whatever they feel like. Sometimes you think they were getting ready to go to the beach! Or just so casually.

I do believe, I do believe that we should dress up for Sunday, because it’s that reverence. We are going to worship God. We read in the Old Testament how the priests were not to come into the Holy Place with the clothes they wore outside. They had to change their garments before they came in. They changed their garments to minister unto the Lord.

Then we read about how when Jehosophat was coming against that great army. He sent out the worshippers to go ahead. They got dressed in “holy attire,” in their beautiful worship robes, when they were worshipping the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:21). They didn’t use the same clothes they wore to hang out in. No, they changed them. I think there is something about dressing nicely for church.

No. 6. FAITHFUL IN COMMUNICATION

OK, time is going, so let me carry on here. Number six: faithful in communication. Oh, that’s so important, isn’t it, too? It’s another etiquette thing, really. Communicating with your husband. That’s so important. Families communicating together.

We raised our children to always, especially as they got older. Of course, when they’re young you know where they are every moment. But as they get older, and they’re going out to do their own things, we always told our children they must not ever leave the home until they tell us where they are going and what time they will be home. That is etiquette, and it’s also learning to be faithful to one another.

In a home, we’re a family, and we communicate together. That is something also very important we must train our children in so that becomes part of their lives. When they get married, they will also still be communicating. They don’t just go and do their own thing.

OK, so many people do that today. Just, oh, do their own thing, whatever they’re thinking of doing. Off they go! But no, we don’t live unto ourselves. We are to live for one another. In a marriage, we communicate to one another where we’re going, what we’re doing. In a family, we teach our children the same, so they will always tell us.

It becomes a habit. See, these things become habit. Habits of our lives. These beautiful faithful habits.

No. 7. FAITHFUL TO FINISH WHAT WE START

That’s an important thing, too, isn’t it? So easy to start some project with a hiss and a roar and then to peter out. It’s a good thing in faithfulness to seek to finish. Keep plodding on.

I read once that to get a vision for something is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. I guess that would be my testimony of doing Above Rubies which I started well over 44 years ago, with this great vision that God put upon my heart. It was so strong. It was such a burden. So, I just started it. Wow!

I didn’t think of the future. But as I kept going, because I’ve always felt and thought to have this attribute of faithfulness in my life. Because I started that, I just kept faithful to it. It has taken much self-sacrifice and pouring out of my life. But it’s been my joy also.

I just kept going. I’ve just kept plodding on, and here I am, over 44 years later, still doing it. I’ve known so many other Christian magazines that have started and have finished. So many of them! I guess it’s just by God’s grace I have kept going.

But I know it’s only because I have kept plodding on. I could have stopped a thousand times, but I just kept plodding on. It’s not for any ability of mine. I don’t really have any great abilities at all. Really, all I have, is I keep plodding on. I think this is a very important part of life, to just keep plodding on.

Paul, what was his testimony? 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” He was faithful to the end.

Revelation 2:10: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

In Revelation 2:13, it talks about Antipas. Jesus said of Antipas, “Antipas was my faithful martyr." Faithful, pistos. Martyr. Once again, it’s amazing how many Scriptures there are about when John looked into the heavenly realm. And he saw those who were there. So many of them were there because they were martyred.

I’ll give you these references. We haven’t got time to read them: Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 17:6; and Revelation 20:4. They all talk about those who were there. But they were martyred to get there. But they were faithful unto the end. I think of that Scripture in Hebrews. It’s talking about all those witnesses who are looking on. Those witnesses, that is “martyr” again. It’s the word martus, martyr.

The Bible talks about those witnesses in heaven who are looking on. It’s the word “martyr.” They all got there by being martyred. *

Matthew 10:22: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

Matthew 24:13: “He that shall endure to the end shall be saved.”

Hebrews 3:14 (New Living Translation): “For if we are faithful to the end, trust in God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.”

I just wrote down this quote:

“Continued acts of faithfulness add up to strength of character, to resiliency, and preparation for the end times.”

Let me say it again. “Continued acts of faithfulness add up to strength of character, to resiliency, and preparation for the end times.”

My prayer for you lovely ladies is Jesus’ prayer for Peter when He said, “I have prayed for you, that thy faith fail not.” (Luke 22:32).

Keep being faithful, dear mother, in your home, in the little things of life. As you are faithful in them, they will add up to great things.

“Dear Father, we pray that You will help each one of us to be faithful, to be faithful in the few things, to be faithful in the things that we face each day. We ask that we will become strong in faithfulness. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 180: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 2

We continue our series of F F P P and K. Today we talk about FAITHFULNESS - faithful in our marriages, faithful in our mothering, and faithful in the daily grind of life.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Today we are continuing our series about the five attributes we need to have in our lives as we prepare for end times. They are F F P P and K. Last week we talked about FEARLESSNESS. Today our next F is about FAITHFULNESS. So, we’re going to talk about that today.

I find it easy to remember when we use some letters like F F P P and K. You’ll be able to remember them. The five things that you need, and we’ll continue to find out what they are in the next session

This is something that my husband often does when we’re having our family devotions together, and he’s reading the Word of God. He’ll come across a Scripture, and he’ll ask the children or whoever’s in our home, a question. He’ll say, “OK, do you know what this is?” Let me give you an example.

For example, Philippians 4:8. You all know that Scripture where it tells us the things that we are to think upon. If he was reading this Scripture, he might do something like this.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are. . . Ok, who can tell me what the first one is?” Now, they most probably don’t remember, so he’ll give them a clue. He’ll tell them the letter. “OK, it starts with T, children. Who can guess?” And children love guessing.

Of course, you don’t let them all scream out. You get them to put up their hands. So, they put up their hands. “OK, Bobbie, what do you think it is?” And maybe he says, “Tenderness!” “No, that’s not the one. Who can think of another one?” And someone says, “Truthfulness!” “That’s right, it’s truth. That’s the first one. OK, who can remember the next one? It starts with H. OK.”

Then maybe someone says, “Humble!” “That’s a good one, but it’s not the one for this verse.” Maybe someone else says, “Happy!” “Well, that’s a good one, too, but that’s not the one.” Then someone will eventually get it. “It’s honest.”

So, then we keep going through and give the first letter of the word so they can guess to see what it will be. As they do that, it gets them to be familiar with the things that God wants them to think about. Then we can all say them over together.

Let’s take another example. OK, he’s reading in Titus. Titus 2:10-12: “For the grace of God which bringeth salvation has appeared to all men. Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live. . . OK, children, do you how God wants us to live? There’s three ways, three things it says. Now the first one starts with S. OK, who knows what it is? Put your hand up if you think you know.”

So, maybe they have a try. “Does it mean sweetly?” “Oh, that’s a good answer, but no.”

“Ok, Johnny, what do you think?” “Selflessly!” “Oh, that’s another good answer, but no. OK.”

Then someone hopefully, hopefully someone will be able to guess. The word is “soberly.” Then you’ll have to tell them what it means, because it means more than just not getting drunk. “Soberly” in the Bible means “to live, having a good understanding in your mind of what is right.”

“And then the next one is R.” So, they keep guessing until they get “righteously.”

 “The next one is G.” “Godly.”

But rather than just reading them, “We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world,” they most probably will never ever remember the words. But when you give them a little competition and give them the first letter of the word, and they’ve all got to have a guess and see what the word is, they will remember it.

When they get the right word, “OK, let’s all say it together! Soberly. OK.” And then they guess “righteously.” “Righteously! And then, we can all say it together. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world."

So, they’re really getting to know the Scripture. It’s getting into their hearts, all by having a little fun guessing game.

Often, my husband will do this as he’s reading the Word in our family devotions. That’s just one little trick you can play with the children to help them keep their attention and help them to get the Word into their hearts. 

In the book The Daily Light on the Daily Path, which are Scriptures for every morning and evening from different parts of the Bible. So, it’s rather lovely. You get New Testament AND Old Testament Scriptures on a certain theme for every morning and every evening. But I published one of those books and added at the beginning of each month an idea that you can do with your children to keep them listening and keep them on their toes. So, there’s other ideas in that book, too if you want to order it.

FAITHFULNESS

Anyway, let’s get back to our series. We’re on to the second F, which is Faithfulness. All right, so, we go to Revelation, because we are finding out this from the book of Revelation. Of course, Jesus Himself is called “faithful” in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 1:5: “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.” He is the chief ruler of all kings of the earth, all kings are in subjection to Him.

Well, they may not think they are, at this time, but there is coming a day when all kings and all dominions, and everything in earth and in heaven and under the earth is going to bow to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But did you notice it says: “The One who is the faithful witness.” That word “witness” in the Greek is the word martus. Do you know what it means? It means, “martyr.” It’s the same word that’s used in Acts 1:8 where Jesus told them to wait until they received power from on high. And then they would become “witnesses unto him in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the world.” That word “witnesses” in that Scripture is also martus, which means “martyr.”

Many times, it doesn’t really happen here in the USA, but in many countries of the world, even today, when they witness boldly for Jesus, they can be martyred. There are many martyrs for the faith at this current time, around the world.

Revelation 3:14: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness.” Once again, that word is “martyr.”

Revelation 19:11: “And I saw heaven open.” Revelation is so wonderful, because John keeps saying, “And I saw. And I saw. And I saw.” And he reveals what he saw in heaven, or what he saw as it’s going to come in the end times. In this Scripture he says: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”

It’s interesting that Jesus is called “faithful” many times in the Book of Revelation. The words of the Book of Revelation are also true and faithful.

Revelation 21:5: “And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new. And he said unto me, write: for these words are true and faithful.”

Revelation 22:6: “And He said unto me again, these sayings are faithful and true.” But we also notice something else, ladies. We notice that not only does it state that Jesus is faithful, but that He also wants us to be faithful.

Revelation 17:14: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” This is the criteria of those who will be with Christ in this end time. The ones who He wants to be with Him will be those who are faithful, “called, and chosen, and faithful.” Therefore, it is important, precious ladies, that we have this attribute in our lives.

Now, we are not right yet at the end times, but we are preparing for them. And so, these characteristics, we’ve got to get them into our lives now, so they are part of us. We don’t suddenly think, “Oh, wow! The end time’s come! I’m facing all this persecution. I’m facing incredible things. How am I going to do it? I’d better be faithful.”

Well, if you haven’t had practice in being faithful, it’s not the time to start then. We have to start NOW. This is why I feel this message that I am sharing with you is so important. Share these series with others. Encourage others to listen. Share it with your children. Let them listen too. Or at least share the truth with them, because every one of these points that we’re going to talk about, we must be practicing in our lives right now. If we’re not faithful now, we’re not going to be faithful in the end. IT ALL STARTS NOW.

Now, what is this word “faithful”? It is the word pistos in the Greek. There are two aspects to this word. It is translated “believe” nine times in the New Testament. It means “to believe the gospel,” to stand fast in your belief that Jesus died for you and was buried and rose again, and that He is your Lord and Savior, and you will never deviate from that.

But it also means “to be faithful in the context of being trustworthy.” Trusty. Have you ever heard that word before? Yes, trusty is in the dictionary. Trustworthiness. Genuine, steadfast to one’s trust, to your word, and to promises that you’ve made. So, it’s being trustworthy and faithful. This word is used 54 times in the New Testament.

FAITHFULNESS IN LITTLE THINGS WILL ADD UP TO FAITHFULNESS IN BIGGER THINGS

So, I think we should look at it a little bit more, don’t you? Let’s look it and look at it in the literal things of life. because I believe, lovely ladies, that faithfulness begins in the little things. Just the very little things of life. If we begin to be faithful in the little things, this faithfulness will add up to our being faithful in bigger things.

As we’re faithful in little things, our faithfulness grows, and it becomes stronger. It becomes something that is part of our lives. Now, I thought of about seven little practical things, and my, I have not, that’s not all of them. That’s just a little peak, but I thought we’d just start with the little peek at some of the practical things we face in life. Let’s check how we’re being faithful in them, shall we?

1.     FAITHFUL TO YOUR MARRIAGE

I believe we should, firstly, if you are married and listening to this session, we are to be faithful in our marriage. OK, we always hear about this, being faithful to your marriage, yes, but even in our marriage, faithfulness begins with the little things in our marriage. Just the daily things. I think it actually starts with being faithful to the same attitude that we had when we fell in love with our husbands.

So many marriages, so many husbands and wives, fall out of love. But what happened? They were in love at one time. Did you know that there is actually a word called “in-loveness”? I love that word. It was coined by the guy named Sheldon Vanauken who wrote “A Severe Mercy,” who wrote a book about his beautiful marriage. He and his wife called it “in-loveness.” They never grew out of their being in love. They called their whole marriage “in-loveness.” Isn’t that beautiful?

I think that’s how it’s meant to be. If we were in love, well, why do we fall out of love? We have to keep doing the things and saying the things that we did when we fell in love. What did we do then? We said beautiful, lovely things, didn’t we? We said kind things and lovey-dovey things. These were the things we spoke to one another when we fell in love.

So, therefore, when we get married, we are faithful. We keep faithful to doing and saying those same lovely things to one another. If we are faithful in doing those little things, we will keep in love. That’s just how it works.

We’re faithful in the mundane things in our marriage, in caring for our husbands, making sure he has a good healthy breakfast before he goes out to work.  I know there are many wonderful wives who get up early to get their husband a good breakfast, even to make a good wholesome and healthy lunch for him to take with him. Maybe it’s very, very, early. They’ll go back to bed afterwards. But they will do that. They don’t just sleep on and let him do it all on his own, or don’t do it.

Because when you let your husband go out without feeding him, without giving him something, you know what happens, don’t you? They’ll just go out and eat junk. That’s what men love to do. In fact, every time my husband goes out and I’m not hovering over him, well, he’s going to be eating junk!

So, I have to look after him. Help! Goodness me! He doesn’t know how to look after himself.  You know, most men, well, there’s a few men who love to be healthy. But most men, they’ll just eat whatever they see. It’s usually junk. So, if we really care about our husbands, we will take time to make sure they have a healthy breakfast. We look after them, and we make sure, when they come home from a day where they’ve been working hard that we have a meal ready for them—a wholesome, nutritious, good, lovely meal that they’re going to love and just want and come and sit down to eat.

That’s just one of the basic things of the of being faithful in marriage. Now, today, there’s lots of wives who really don’t cook a good meal for their husbands. Oh, he comes home, and they’re still on their own project, or doing whatever they want, or maybe even coming home from work. Many times, the poor guy has got to get dinner himself. Or it’s just grab something out of the cupboard.

No! Being faithful is thinking about how you’re going to feed your husband and give him healthy food and look after him. These are little things of faithfulness. Faithfulness is not just some lovely word out there, floating in the clouds. It’s down-to-earth, nitty-gritty, doing the things that we need to do in the home.

We need to be faithful in intimacy with our husbands. That’s the first thing God speaks about marriage.

Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” That is the very first thing that God speaks about marriage. And this is a very important part of marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:3-5 in the New Living Translation: “The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. Do not deprive each other of sexual relations.”

And so, if we are depriving, if we are not being faithful in intimacy, well, we’re not being faithful to the marriage. This is also a very important part of being faithful. It’s practical things, ladies.

2.     BE FAITHFUL TO YOUR MOTHERING

Then, of course, we get to mothering. Oh, my. We, as mothers, have the greatest opportunity in the whole of the world to practice faithfulness, don’t we? Because as we manage our homes, so often we’re doing the same thing every day. We’re cleaning up the messes every day. We’re doing the laundry every day. We’re washing the dishes every day. We’re cooking those meals every day. Breakfast, lunch, and supper, and then they want food in between. Help!

Dear ladies, this is all part of your mothering. Yes, it’s very, very practical. It’s right in the nitty-gritty. But be faithful. Be faithful in these little things, even as you’re being faithful in your home, keeping your home, managing it so you’re keeping on top of things. You’re not letting everything get out of hand. In doing this, dear ladies, you are being faithful.

DUTY IS A BEAUTIFUL THING

Do you know what? You are preparing for end times. When you are faithful to even that which is not glamorous, that is working something in your life. I love this quote:

“It takes character to cope with life when duty,

rather than excitement, is the sustaining force.”

Duty is a very powerful thing.

Sometimes it seems, oh, such a boring thing to do that which is duty. But there’s a lot of things in life that really, we do need to do as a duty. You can actually make duty a delight. It’s all in your attitude. If you see duty as a drudgery, well, you’re not going live a very nice happy life.

But if you see duty as a delight, because it’s what needs to be done, it’s not just because you have to do it. Because duty actually makes wonderful things. Out of duty comes amazing things. When you are faithful to keep to the duties of your home, of keeping your home right, of cooking your meals, of keeping up to date with everything, and doing it with joy and delight, you’re going to build a wonderful home.

You’re going to build a beautiful home, a home where your husband loves to be, where your children will delight to be, where people will love to come. You will bless so many people. Oh, homes are the places where you can bless people. When you make your home a delight, and you invite other people into your home, you’re going to bless them and encourage them.

But if you see duty as a drudgery, your attitude will be such that you’ll never want to invite anybody into your home because you don’t even like your home. No, you’ve got to make what you’re doing in your home such a delight that you want others to come and share it. And duty becomes glorious! So never despise duty. Never despise the faithfulness of the little things.

Let’s go, shall we, ladies, to Matthew 25:14-30. We won’t read it all, but it’s the parable of the talents, and how God gave five talents to one, and he gave two talents to one, and to another He only gave one. But we go down to verse 20, and it says: “And he that received five talents came and brought the other five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you gave me five talents. Now I have gained five talents more.’ And his lord said unto him, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’”

That word “faithful” is pistos, the same word where it says that those that are going to be with Jesus are those that “are called, and chosen, and faithful.” Yes, faithful. “Good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things.” Yes, a few things. “Now, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

So, God sees faithfulness as a very precious thing. And God sees you, dear mother, being faithful in the little things, the mundane things. Yes, changing 20 diapers a day! Oh, doing dishes again, and they keep piling up. You get the dishes done, and then they start piling up even before you’ve had the next meal.

But you keep on, and you keep on doing because it needs to be done. You do it with the right attitude. You do it with delight. And as you do it, even in these little things, God sees, and He speaks over you: “Good and faithful servant.”

The same thing with the one who brought the two talents. Verse 23: “And the Lord said unto him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’”

And the one, of course, that buried his talent in verse 26, the Lord calls him, “Thou wicked and slothful servant.” Wow, that isn’t too good, is it? And so, lovely ladies, just keep being faithful.

Let’s go to Luke 16:10: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” So, when we are faithful in our homes, in our marriages, in our mothering, we are preparing to be faithful in much, in bigger things. When it comes to the end time (many people are facing so much even now, they’re losing jobs). Oh, and as I shared last week, we have in Australia, we have so many friends and family. So, we are feeling this even personally.

They are facing incredible odds, even now. In fact, I was talking last night to Val Stares, the director of Above Rubies in Australia. Not only is she the director of Above Rubies, but Val is such a dear friend of mine. Val has been with me in Above Rubies from the very day I first got the vision, over 44 years ago. In fact, I was visiting the hospital of another dear friend. Her little boy was in hospital, so we went to visit them. Val was there too.

It was at that time, I got this vision, and I turned to Val, and I said to her, “Val, I’ve got this great vision! We’re going to get a magazine out, and we’re going to encourage wives and mothers all over the land.” She looked at me, just stared at me. Interesting thing, her name is Val Stares.

She just stared at me, didn’t say anything. I didn’t know that she had said to the Lord that very morning, “If Nancy Campbell comes up with any more of her great ideas, I’m not getting involved!” Well, she got involved. And from that very beginning she has been involved with me in New Zealand, where we started the magazine. When we moved to Australia, she and her family moved with us, like many other families.

And then when we, ten years later, moved to the USA, Val took over, and has been continuing this ministry. Talk about faithfulness! I mean, goodness me, she is the epitome of faithfulness. But anyway, I was talking to her last night and saying, “How are things in Australia?”

She said, “Nancy, we’re really facing it here. December 17 is the D Day. On that day, if we haven’t taken this poisonous vaccination, we will be isolated. We will not be able to have jobs. Our children, grandchildren, who are all working people, they will not have jobs. We will not be able to shop. We will not be able to do anything.” She said, “We’re getting prepared. We are gardening like we’ve never gardened before.”

And that is a big challenge because down in Australia, they are in the hottest time of the year, especially on the Gold Coast. Very hot there and it’s not easy to garden over there. You have to water just about all day. But they are doing what they can and preparing food and preparing for this.

They’re facing challenges, even now. But it’s not the end of the world. And we’re going to face greater challenges in that time. So, we’re preparing now to be faithful. If we do, we’ll find that that faithfulness will be in us and will enable us to be faithful in those greater challenges.

All right, the next thing. This is from the New Living Translation. It’s also Luke 16:10: “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”

Now, that’s interesting. That’s going to take us into another point. But I think we are coming to the end. What is the time, girls? Oh, time is up! Wow! I hardly got started! Well, that means we’ve got to continue next week. We’ll look at a few more practical things. OK, don’t forget to tune in next week! Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, we pray that You will help us to be faithful. This is what You’re looking for. Lord, the ones You are looking for, the ones You’ve called and chosen. You want us to be faithful. Faithful. Teach us what it means to be faithful, Lord God. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

DAILY LIGHT ON THE DAILY PATH

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 179: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 1

Today I begin a new series about five qualities we need to establish in our own lives and in the lives of our children as we get closer to the end times. Please don't miss one episode in this series. It is a MUST for everyone. Today we talk about FEARLESSLESS, the first of F F P P and K. You'll find out what they as we go along. Or you could start guessing.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Good morning, ladies, although it may not be good morning where you are. Perhaps you’re listening in the evening or some other time. But anyway, it’s good morning here.

I have good news for you. The new issue of Above Rubies #99 is now at the printers. I will be receiving the proof today. If everything is great, it will go on the presses this week. So, be looking out for this new issue to come. If you’re not on the mailing list, make sure you get on the mailing list. You can send your name and your address to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

I’m going to start a new series today. It’s called “Five Attributes for Living in the End Times.” I discovered these as I was reading through the book of Revelation. Recently, I felt pulled toward reading Revelation again. I read it through a couple of times personally. As I was reading it through, I became aware of these very important qualities that we will need in the end time hour.

In fact, we need them now, of course. We’re going to talk about them. I have a little alliteration to remember them: S S P P & K. Each one of those letters stands for the five points. I quite like doing something like that. It helps me to remember things.

I have a little alliteration for remembering the seven churches that are mentioned in Revelation. Remember the first three chapters? It’s a message to the seven churches who were in Asia at that time. These churches were literally in Turkey.

Colin and I had the privilege one year of visiting these seven churches in Asia. Colin and I used to take tours to Israel. After going to Israel, we’d take all our people on to another country. One year after Israel, we went on to Turkey and visited the seven churches. It was a most amazing time, to just go to those churches although they are no longer there. We could go to the cities where they were. When we went to Laodicea, there was not even a city, just some ruins of where it was. That was a great time.

Anyway, I made up this little song, and I can’t even sing for nuts! But it goes like this:

ESP, TSP and L,

These are the seven churches

That I know so well!

Oh, ESP, TSP, and so it goes on.

But remembering that little ditty helps me to remember them because, OK, when I sing ESP, I know it’s Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos. Then TSP, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and L, Laodicea. So, that’s how I remember the seven churches of Asia.

Well, we are living in very challenging times. In this time of history. I don’t believe it is the end of the world. I believe there’s still much prophecy that we see written in the Word that has yet to come to pass. But I do believe we are living in practice times. We are seeing a glimpse of what we will face.

In fact, here in the States, we are not facing as much as in some other countries. As you know, Colin and I are New Zealanders, and then we lived in Australia for ten years before coming to the states many years ago. We came to the States in 1991.

But, oh, how we are praying for Australia at the moment! The state of Victoria, I think it’s the most locked-down state in the whole of the world at this present time. Today, well it was most probably yesterday now, because Australia is just about a day ahead, so I don’t know what has happened.

But, oh my, can I ask you to be praying constantly for this country, especially for Victoria? The premier, Dan Andrews, is wanting to pass legislation that will give him absolute power, ultimate accountability. If people don’t comply to what he says, well, there’s just no life for them at all. They’ll most probably end up in jail. The slogans there now are, “No jab, no job.” “No shot, no shop.”

We have friends calling us. We had a family call us last night, “Please, is there any way you can make a way for us to get to the States? Both my wife and I, we have no job, we cannot shop, our home is going to be taken from us because we have no money to keep paying.”

There was just no hope. Well, just humanly speaking if they stick it out, and will not take that poisonous jab. Of course, there are many who are standing strong and who will not give into tyranny. But their lives are in incredible danger. There is just nowhere for them to go. Even elected politicians in Victoria cannot, if they don’t take the jab, they cannot vote or even enter Parliament. They’re not even allowed to do it digitally.

So, people can’t do anything, can’t eat out, can’t get a haircut. And even those who are vaccinated, they don’t really have much more freedom either, because they have to use what is called the Victoria App, so they can be traced. They can be tracked. They have to show it everywhere they go, so they can be traced for every single thing they are doing. It is total control.

The current fines for not wearing masks for children under 15 are $181.74. I cannot understand where that amount, and even the 74 cents come from, but that’s what it is. Children 15 to 18, if they do not wear masks, they’re fined $726.96. It is so ridiculous.

And then now they have PAL, Police Assistance Line, so you can snitch and tell on those who are not keeping up with what they’re meant to do. Can you imagine living like this? I mean, we lived in Australia, this glorious, free, happy-go-lucky country. It has been a happy-go-lucky country. I think a favorite saying down under is “She’ll be right, mate.” But perhaps that has been a little to their negativity in that they have not really realized the danger where they are. All of a sudden, it catches up. So, do pray for them, won’t you, please?

We are living in times where we are facing issues, and where when we’re not prepared to give into tyranny, we are facing persecution, maybe hunger, maybe homelessness. Goodness knows what.

FEARLESSNESS

Let’s look at these five things, shall we? The first F, remember F F P P and K. Our first F is the word “Fearlessness.” When I was reading through Revelation the first time, I came across chapter 15:2-4. They really arrested me. I mean, I knew it, but I hadn’t really got hold of this Scripture before.

Revelation 15:2-4: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had GOTTEN THE VICTORY

OVER the beast,

and OVER his image

and OVER his mark,

and OVER the number of his name,

stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying ‘Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints.’”

Do you notice there that four times in verse two where it says the word “over”? Yes, I actually shared this with you a while back, when I first read it, but I do have to share it with you again today, because now it’s the first part of the first point that I am going to talk about with you. But it’s good to be reminded.

In fact, I remember saying to you, “This is a great Scripture for you and all your children to memorize together.” I wonder, did any of you memorize it with your family? I hope so. If you didn’t, will you perhaps try again? I do believe that this is a Scripture that everyone of us needs to know. When I read that Scripture, I realized, yes, I must know this Scripture by heart. I must have it in my very being. Our children must have it in their very being.

Now I don’t believe we are facing the mark of the beast at this time, although you would think so in some parts of the world. But we haven’t seen the appearance yet of the Antichrist. We do have the spirit of Antichrist so powerfully in this world. But there is going to come the Antichrist and the beast.

When that time comes, the Scripture tells that we must never take the mark of the beast, because that would be completely siding on Satan’s side. Those who take the mark of the beast will not enter into the joy of the eternal realm.

So, it is very important. It’s something that we need to prepare our children. Every generation needs to be prepared to know you must never take the mark of the beast. I grew up with this, even when I was a child. We received messages from the pulpit, “Don’t ever take the mark of the beast.” It was ingrained into me. It should be ingrained into our children so that it is there for when that time comes. It could be very, very soon, or could be a while. I don’t know. But we always must be prepared.

Let me say it again. “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory OVER the beast, and OVER his image, and OVER his mark, and OVER the number of his name.” Now that word “victory” means “to conquer, to overcome, to prevail, to subdue.” This word is used 15 times about overcoming in Revelation.

In fact, when writing to the seven churches, there are eight different promises that are given to the overcomers. That same word, those who got the victory. Now, how did they get the victory? Did they get up to that beast and knock him out? No, there was no possibility of doing that. They had to overcome by resisting, by not giving in. Many of those people, they actually overcame by being prepared to be martyred.

It’s the same word. Revelation 12:11: “And they OVERAME him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Do you notice that Scripture starts, “And I saw”? John looked into the heavenly realm, and these are the ones that he saw before the throne of God, singing praises to the Lamb, the ones who had gotten the victory. The ones who caved in weren’t there.

Now, we should see some other Scriptures about that. Revelation 6:9. Once again, John was beholding, and what did he see? So much of Revelation is what he saw. And what did he see? Revelation 6:9: “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held.”

We go to Revelation 14, and we see again, what did he see? Revelation 14:9: “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.’”

That is so powerful. Help. It’s pretty tough reading those Scriptures, isn’t it? But what does Revelation say? It starts off in Revelation 1:3: “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” So, even though it’s pretty tough to read that, we are blessed if we read it and hear, because we will be prepared.

It goes on, Revelation 17:6. And John saw again. He saw “the woman who was drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” And so, we see that many of those who overcame the beast and got the victory over him, and over his name, and over his mark, and over his image, many of them were obviously martyred.

Now “martyrs,” that word in the Greek is martus and is the same word in Acts 1:8: “Ye shall be witnesses.” Jesus said you wait until the promise of the Holy spirit is come upon you. You will receive power from on high. And you will be witnesses.” That’s martus. The word is “witness” or “martyr,” because many who were not afraid to witness for Jesus and to stand true to the faith, they became martyrs. “Ye shall be witnesses,” or martus, martyrs, “unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Another Scripture where John saw, because everything he saw is what will be in heaven, he saw the heavenly realm. Revelation 20:4: “And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

WHO WILL BE IN HEAVEN?

I was recently preparing the Above Rubies magazine. Often, in the magazine, I love to put a little spot in the magazine where it tells people how they can receive Christ into their lives and be converted. I think that is so important. As I was thinking about it this time, I was thinking, “Wow, who really will be in heaven?”

So, as I was reading Revelation, I began to see, OK. And I found three kinds of people who will be in heaven. I think this is important to see because we know we’ll be there if these three things:

1. Those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Read that in Revelation 5:9-10.
2. Those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We read about that in Revelation 20:15, and 21:17, and other parts as well.
3. Those who did not take the mark of the beast. We just read all those Scriptures.

Those are the people who John saw in the heavenly realm. That’s a challenge, isn’t it? That’s more than just saying, “Lord Jesus, please come into my heart,” and then living how you want. That’s not the people who John saw in heaven. He saw those who were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

Yes, number two, whose names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and number three, those who had gotten the victory over the beast, and his mark, and his name. Yes. So, that’s pretty powerful, isn’t it?

Now, another thing that I noticed here, and we’re getting on to our talk more about our point, the first one, fearlessness. In Revelation 21:8, it talks about eight different things that will keep us out of heaven. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now, that sounds like a pretty bad lot of people, doesn’t it? But do you notice, ladies, this is the amazing thing. At the top of the list, at the top of all those baddies, it says, “But the fearful.” At the top of the list! Goodness me! You would think maybe the whoremongers, and the sorcerers, and the murderers, one of them would be at the top of the list.

But no. It’s the fearful. Nearly every other version of the Bible translates it, “the cowards,” or “the cowardly.” My, that’s an incredible challenge, isn’t it? The Amplified Classic version really challenges us. It says: “But as for the cowards, and the cravenly lacking in courage, and the cowardly submissive.”

Whoo! Wow! They will not enter the Kingdom of God. That’s so challenging, dear precious ladies. This is my first point, because this is what we see, that we must have fearlessness. We must not give into fear. We must not become cowards.

Now, as I was saying, I don’t think that we are at the final end at this time. I believe there is more to happen yet. But we are facing a time when we must show courage. There are so many people here in our nation who have been fired from their jobs. So many are losing jobs, so many are even leaving jobs, because they cannot continue unless they are vaccinated.

But there are many who understand what is in these vaccinations, that there are many, many poisonous things in these vaccinations. They are not for the purpose of our health. I mean, there are more people who are getting the so-called “Delta Variant” who have been vaccinated than those who are unvaccinated.

Really, the Delta Variant is something that has come out of those who have been vaccinated, because their immune system is weakened and depleted. Every shot they get, their immune system will be depleted more. I would encourage you. I trust that you have not been vaccinated. If you have, I would encourage you please don’t get a second shot. If you did, please don’t get the booster, because every shot will be lowering your immune system even more.

Of course, they’re not going to stop the boosters. They’re going to keep going, and every shot that’s taken will weaken you even further, until you won’t keep alive without shots. And how long will you last?

We know it’s not about health. It’s about tyranny. It’s about the one-world order. In all the countries where they are locking down most, they’re all leaders who have been trained and prepared for this one-world order. As in New Zealand, as in Australia. This is all what it’s about, a complete take-over of our lives. If you read the agenda, you will have read number one on the top of the list is, “You will own nothing, and you will be happy,” because it will be total take-over of our lives.

WE MUST STRENGTHEN OUR COURAGE MUSCLE

But to stand against this, to have courage, is not always easy, is it? Courage is something that God asks us to have. He wants us to be strong and courageous. But courage is also, it’s even more that an attribute. Courage is the muscle that we must work at, that we have to use. If we don’t use it, it will atrophy. It will become weaker.

If we use it, it will become stronger. And so, I do encourage you, that in this hour, to have courage. I know, it’s not easy, but God will help you. He doesn’t say, “Be courageous,” and not help us to be courageous. He will give us that courage.

I believe too, although I don’t believe this is the final time when we are facing the mark of the beast, I believe that we are now preparing. We are gathering courage in the face of incredible adversity, and loss of jobs, and not even, in some places, not even being able to shop.

But if we cave in now, if we give in now, what will we do in the time of the mark of the beast, when we definitely will never be able to buy or sell? And where we are commanded that we must not take the mark. We may be martyred for not taking it.

We don’t get courage suddenly. It just doesn’t suddenly come. We must build up courage. Therefore, I believe it is so important in this hour, as we prepare for the end times, that we exercise our courage muscle. We say “No!” to tyranny. We say “No!” to their total authority over our bodies, because they do not have authority our bodies. This is not God’s plan. No one is meant to have authority over our bodies. We are a free people, although they’re seeking to bring us into bondage.

For many years, I’ve read this Scripture in Nehemiah. It’s always been such a sad Scripture to me to read. And now I see it happening! And I can’t believe it. Nehemiah 9:36: “Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that Thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it.” Imagine! God gave the Land to His people. He said, “It’s yours, for an everlasting covenant, forever. An everlasting possession.”

And here they are, in Nehemiah’s time, they’re servants in it. He goes on to say: “Also, they have dominion over our bodies at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.” Isn’t that incredible? And that’s what’s happening now. Our governments are taking, taking dominion over our bodies, and commanding that we are vaccinated with something that is not proved, and is only going to cause our whole bodies to be weakened. Not helped but weakened.

But we must stand against it. We must have courage. Yes, we may lose our job. We may face all kinds of issues. But as we have courage, God will strengthen us to face the next thing, and the next thing.

I think back to that Scripture in Hebrews 11. This is the “faith chapter.” This is the great heroes of the faith. Verse 34 tells us that many of those heroes didn’t start out with great courage.

They didn’t start out strong. They were weak. But they were courageous in a little bit, and then God gave them more courage, and more courage, and they became stronger and stronger. They became heroes of faith.

The Darby Translation says they “became strong, out of weakness, became mighty in war.” Lovely ladies, you may feel weak. How can you get courage to face these things? Maybe some of you are already facing that your husband has lost his job, and you’re wondering how you can get through. Just keep having courage. God will be with you. He loves courage.

HAVE YOU MET THE TWINS, ASAH AND CHAZAQ?

Now in the Bible, there’s lots of twins. Yes, there are physical twins, Esau and Jacob and other twins. But there are spiritual twins, loads of them. Faith and love, peace and righteousness. Oh, there’s so many of them. I’ve done a wonderful study on all the twins. But there’s another set of twins that you wouldn’t pick up when you’re reading your English Bible, because they’re twins in the Hebrew. These twins are called asah and chazaq. And my, they are amazing twins. Let me tell you about them.

The word asah is an action word meaning “to do, to make, to take action.” This word is used 2630 times in the Old Testament! because the Bible is an action book. It’s a to-do book. God doesn’t just write a lovely story that kind of calms and teaches how to have a peaceful life. No! it’s a to-do book.  He commands us. He gives us things to do.

But many of the things that God gives us to do, wow, they’re kind of beyond us, and we think, “How can we do them? I don’t have strength to do them.  How can I do this?” And so, He also gives us chazaq! They go together! And chazaq, this word means “to be strong, courageous, valiant, to conquer, to hold fast.” So, we need, when God tells us to asah, to do something, we usually need chazaq to go along with it, so we'll have the courage to do it. And we see this in quite a lot of Scriptures. Let me give you just one or two as we’re coming to the end.

Joshua encouraged the Israelites. In Joshua 23:6, when they were going into the Land, he said: “Be ye therefore very courageous (chazaq) to keep and to do (asah) all that is written in the book of the law of Moses.”

David encouraged Solomon when he was building the Temple. 1 Chronicles 28:20. And he said to his young son, Solomon. He was only young. He said: “Be strong (chazaq) and of good courage and do (asah) it: fear not nor be dismayed: for the Lord God, even my God, will be with you; He will not fail you, nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the House of the Lord.”

In Ezra’s time, a lot of the Israelites had married foreign wives. Ezra told them they had to put them away. He says to them in Ezra 4:10: “Be of good courage (chazaq) and do it.” You see those twins together?

Then Daniel 11:32, one of my great favorite Scriptures: “And the people that do know their God shall be strong (chazaq) and do (asah).” Now, there they go, together. So, you see, lovely ladies, we need the twins. We need, OK, when God says, “Do it,” when you know you’ve got to do something, when you know you’ve got to be strong and not cave in, just look to the Lord for His courage. He will give it to you. He says: “Be courageous and do it!”

Daniel 11:32, King James version: “And the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” Well, if you go back to the Hebrew, “exploits” is not actually in the original! But it’s a good word, and it means that, because it ends with “do.” It ends with the asah. “Be strong and do.” So, of course, that does mean that you’re going to take action, and you’ll most probably do exploits.

Let’s look at a few other translations.

The Good News Translation says: “They will be strong.” Remember who will be strong? The people who do know their God. Who know their God. Lovely precious ladies, seek to know God. Don’t just know about Him. Seek to know Him. Can you teach your children to know Him? Not just to know about him. Too many children grow up in Christian homes knowing about Him, but they don’t know Him.

You’ve got to know Him. If you want your children to survive in the end times, if you want them to be overcomers, if you want them to be there in that heavenly kingdom, if you want them to be those who will have the courage to say “No!” and to overcome the beast, and his name, and his mark, and his image, they’ve got to be children who know God. It’s only when we know Him that we will have courage. We’ve got to know Him.

The people who know their God shall be strong and the Good News Translation says: “will fight back.” I like that.

The Holman Translation says: “They will be strong and take action.”

The Complete Jewish Bible says: “They will stand firm and prevail.”

The New Living Translation says: “They will be strong and resist.”

The Berean Study Bible says: “With flattery he will corrupt those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.”

Yes! We are commanded to resist! When tyranny is happening, we resist. Yes. So, lovely ladies, do not fear. We’re not going to have fearlessness, are we? We’re going to be those who exercise our courage muscles, starting in weakness, but growing stronger and stronger. We’re practicing. We’re preparing now for that coming day, or whenever it will be. And preparing our children for that day.

Let me close with some encouraging Scriptures.

John 14:27, Passion Translation: “Don’t yield to fear, or be troubled in your hearts. Instead, be courageous.”

The Amplified says: “Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed, and do not permit yourselves to be fearful, and intimidated, and cowardly, and unsettled.”

John 16:33, The Amplified: “In the world, you have tribulation and trials, and distress, and frustration. But be of good cheer. Take courage. Be confident, certain, undaunted, for I have overcome the world.”

Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, we thank You that You have overcome the world. You are in charge of this world, and everything that’s going on. We can completely trust You. We put our trust in You, Lord God.

Dear Father, we just want to know You more. We want to walk with You. We want to know You. We want to know Your Word. Lord, it is knowing You and knowing Your Word that makes us strong and courageous.

I pray for every dear mother and every family, Lord, that are represented today, listening to this podcast, that You will strengthen them, that You will make them strong in this hour, that You will make them overcomers, Lord, that they will learn to overcome now, even overcoming in the little things, Lord, that they face each day. Overcoming stress, overcoming depression and self-pity, temptation. Lord God, help us to be overcomers in every thing we face each day, that we will become stronger and stronger, ready to face, Lord, whatever happens in the final end times. I ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.