LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 312: Altar Building, Part 5

We don't wear the same clothes on every occasion. When is it important to change our clothes? Check it out.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Here we are again, and we are in the middle of . . .

No. 11: WE BUILD A FAMILY ALTAR FOR CLEANSING AND SANCTIFICATION

I want to read the Scripture I ended with last week, just to put us in context. It is talking about the clothing of the priests. It talks about their clothing in Exodus 28, the whole chapter actually.

Then the last verse says: “And they shall put upon Aaron and upon his sons,” that’s the clothing that they had been talking about. “When they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the Holy Place, that they bear not iniquity or die.” Wow! That’s pretty scary, isn’t it? “It shall be a statute forever unto him and his seed after him.”

That was talking about the priests who were functioning in the tabernacle. Now we go over to Ezekiel 44. This is a vision of Ezekiel’s temple, which we do not yet have. It’s an amazing chapter, this chapter of Ezekiel. I’ll just point out that in this one chapter, God is talking about things that are in the temple. He uses the word “my.” “Everything is mine.” It belongs to God.

In fact, He uses the word “my” 21 times. Can I t read you some of these “My’s”?

“My sanctuary.” Six times He says that.

“My house,”

““My bread,”

My covenant,”

“My holy things, “ Two times.

“My land,”

“My table,”

“My charge,” Two times.

“My people,”

“My judgments,”

“My laws,”

“My statutes,

“My assemblies, “

“My Sabbaths.”

21 times. Sometimes we seem to think that things revolve around us, don’t we? But really, they revolve around the Lord. It all belongs to Him.

Here again they’re talking about the clothing of the priests. First of all, let me read Ezekiel 44:5: “And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.”

That’s a verse, lovely ladies, that you could read over again later in your own time. Just read it over and relate it to your own home, because God will show you the order, and the ordinances, and the things that He wants you to have in your home, even to the entering in of your home, the going out of your home. Just let the Lord speak to you. I know that He will show you beautiful things.

OK, now we are going down to verse 16. It’s talking about the priests: “They shall enter into My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table, to minister unto Me, and they shall keep My charge. And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments.” We talked about that last time. God wanted them to wear linen because it was a type of the righteousness of the saints.

“And no wool shall come upon them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.” Although wool is a very healthy material, as it gives off 5,000 megahertz of energy, actually wool and linen counteract one another. If you wear them both together, they counteract the goodness which each one gives off.

Eze 44:18-19: “They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat. And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.”

We go to verse 23: “And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” It’s interesting, because we started off this point where God said to Jacob, “OK, before you come up to build this altar in Bethel, you’ve got to clean yourselves up, and you’ve got to change your garments.” We see here that in this passage, where the priests had to change their garments, they had to have different garments when they came near to the Lord’s altar. When they went out again, well, they changed into other garments.

Once again, this is just a type, but to me, it speaks of even a practical thing. You see, we talk about having a personal altar when we have a time with the Lord on our own each day. Mothers with lots of little children, that’s hard to do! How do you do that?

Well, I can remember when I first started in my motherhood. Oh my, I had our first baby, and then 17 months later, I had two babies. I had three in 17 months. Then I had four under four back in those days. How could I have time to spend in the Word? It was a whole new experience to me, because as a teenager, I had set my heart to seek God with all my heart. I used to spend three hours. I’d wake up very early in the morning and put aside three hours to wait upon the Lord each day.

Now, with all these babies, I didn’t even have time! I had to put my Bible on my windowsill. I put it at Psalms or Proverbs so I could look up, and just get a little Scripture here and there to feed my soul. We do go through these seasons, but when we can, we love to have that personal altar with the Lord.

Then we have our family altar, where we meet together as a family.

Then we have our church altar, where we meet with a bigger crowd of saints. We gather together, either Sundays or Saturdays, according to when you worship. That’s also a time, it’s an altar where we meet with the Lord. I do believe that it is important, especially as we come together with other saints.

WEAR WHAT IS APPROPRIATE

We’re coming to meet the Lord, yes, to meet the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord of the armies of heaven, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, so we will change our clothes, I do believe. What is this Scripture saying in Exodus 28? Do you know, when you come near My altar, you wear clothes that are appropriate? I think there is such a thing as appropriateness. Today it seems that many people wear what they like wherever they like. They don’t have any discernment about the appropriateness of things.

So, today we have people who arrive to church with holey jeans! I beg your pardon? This most probably will trample on so many toes, especially all you darling, beautiful young people, who just love to be in fashion. Why do people wear holey jeans? Only because they are in fashion. Just because that’s what everybody is doing. They don’t have any beauty or glory about them. Remember the three basic foundations of clothing that God gives us are for holiness, for glory, and for beauty.

Well, back in New Zealand where I come from, it’s a farming country, a sheep country, and a dairy farming country. We had family in the dairy industry. We’d go out there, to their dairy farms, and out to the cowshed. Do you know that back then, they wouldn’t even wear holey jeans to the cowshed! Goodness, what would the cows think? [laughter] Really, because when they’re all holey, that’s when you throw them out.

OK, you want to wear them around. But we have to know the difference. We have to discern when we’re coming into the presence of the Lord. Yes, we’re in the presence of the Lord all the time, but there is something about coming to that altar, when all the saints are gathering together. I think it is something that we should take into consideration. We should be aware of the types, and change our clothes when we come into the presence of the Lord  together with the saints.

Wear something appropriate. I’ve seen people come to church in shorts! Wow! Wear your shorts playing tennis or volleyball or basketball and going to the beach. But church is not at the beach. Church is not out on the basketball court. No, it is coming into the presence of our holy God where we are worshipping Him in holiness.

And dear mothers, I do believe we have a responsibility. I know our beautiful teens want to be in fashion. They want to look like everybody else but we can’t allow them to dress in an inappropriate way when they come into the presence of the Lord. We have to teach our children honor. Giving honor to God.

I love that Scripture; well, I’m not sure whether I should say I’m more challenged by this Scripture. It’s in Isaiah 66. It says in verse 2: “But to this man will I look, even to him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, and trembleth at my word.” What kind of a spirit do we have when we come to read the Word? How do you come? Do you come just to read, and “Oh, no! I don’t agree with that. Oh, no! That doesn’t fit me. No, just pass on.”

No, every word we read is from God Himself. And so, we come with this humble and contrite spirit, trembling at His Word. Do you tremble? I do. I tremble at the Word of God. When I read these things, I know they are not just something that happened back then. They are written for my learning. They are a principle for us today. I can’t gloss over that. So, I do believe that we have to understand it.

I remember back when I was growing up, it was the normal thing. Today it’s amazing how far we have fallen away. What was the norm back then? This was the norm for every believing family. Back then we didn’t even have showers. I’m going back a long way, ladies! I guess most of you can’t even believe a time when you didn’t have showers. Wow! We just had a bath.

So, every Saturday night, everybody in the family bathed, and you got out your clothes ready for Sunday. They were your special clothes for Sunday. You went clean, and you went with a change of clothes, especially your clothes to wear to the house of God, because they put in you that sense of honor and awe of what was happening. You can’t take God for granted. We can’t treat Him lightly. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

I think of that Scripture in Revelation 16:15: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” It’s amazing how people can even walk into church today. There is no shame. They come with bare shoulders, bare backs, cleavage, short skirts. This is in the house of God??

Dear ladies, just let’s tremble at the Word of God. Let’s honor Him in our own lives, and teach our children how to honor Him, right from a young age. We don’t start when they’re older. We start when they’re younger, giving them a sense of awe of Who our God is. When we’re going to the House of God, we change our garments. We’re going near His altar. We don’t have the same clothes for outside as we do for when we’re going into His house.

OK, so that was number 11. Let’s move on, shall we? We’re going to . . .

No. 12: WE BUILD AN ALTAR TO REMEMBER THE BLOOD SACRIFICE OF JESUS, ONCE FOR ALL

I love that Scripture in 1 Peter 3:18: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Five times in the New Testament, it tells us that Jesus died once and for all.

Back in the Old Testament, they had to sacrifice morning and evening, but when Jesus came as the Lamb of God, He only had to sacrifice once, because He was the true Lamb of God. If you want those references, I’ll give them to you in the transcript. Maybe you’re walking around, doing dishes, and you haven’t even got a pen in your hand at the moment.

LOOKING BACK

This is something I love to do, ladies. You know, every lamb, every animal that was sacrificed on the altars back in the Old Testament, every single one looked to the Lamb of God, Jesus, who would take away the sins of the world. Every sacrifice looked to that great sacrifice. Now, Jesus is sacrificed once and for all. But now do we forget about it all? No. I believe whereas the sacrifices looked towards Jesus, who was the Lamb of God, now we can look back.

And every time we have our family devotions, and it’s time for prayer, I always love to thank our Lord Jesus Christ once again for His sacrifice, for His great redemption, for shedding His precious blood. I don’t think we’ll ever understand the enormity of His sacrifice and salvation for us, even in all of eternity. But I think it's the least we can do.

I often think of those ten lepers whom Jesus healed, and how many came back to thank Him? Only one. Oh, may we not be like those other nine, who just forget about it. How can we? Let’s come, every morning and evening and thank Him again. Teach our children to thank Him for His sacrifice.

No. 13: WE BUILD THE ALTAR AS A PLACE OF SACRIFICE

Yes, there were sacrifices. The altar in our home is also a sacrifice to make happen. Well, I don’t really like saying that. I know that many of you would say, “Well, yes, it’s a sacrifice. I’ve got to give up this, give up that, change this, change that.” Yes, you will have to do that. To establish a family altar, you will have to change your whole lifestyle.

But is it really a sacrifice? No, it’s not a sacrifice. It is the least we can do. I think of when many mothers will say, “Oh, I sacrificed my career to come back and look after my children.” Oh, goodness me, that is a false statement too! No, they weren’t sacrificing their career! They’d been sacrificing their highest career of motherhood for this lesser career that they had.

Many times we get things wrong, and yes, although it will take turning everything around maybe, in your whole lifestyle, it’s not really a sacrifice, because, as I said, it’s the least thing that we can do. And remember one of our points? That when we make an altar, what does God say He will do? “I will come to you, and I will bless you.” How wonderful!

And of course, what does Mark 8:34 say? “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

That’s what our walk is like. It’s a denying of ourselves, isn’t it? I think of that Scripture in Titus 2:11-14 onwards: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Amen. 

When an animal was sacrificed, back on the altar, it had to be a pure sacrifice. It had to be without blemish, a male without blemish.

Leviticus 22:20: “But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you.”

Malachi 1:8: “And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.”

And down to verse 14: “But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and My name is dreadful among the heathen.” 

We read back in Exodus 12:3-7. This was when it was Passover time and they were coming out of Egypt. Moses told the people that God had commanded them that they were to take a lamb, a male without blemish. They would take it on the 10th day. Then on the 14th day, if this male was still without blemish, and it didn’t show any signs of sickness or blemish in its skin, they could then sacrifice it. That was four days, from the 10th to the 14th.

That was the principle. That lamb had to be checked out for four days to make sure that it was absolutely pure, because every sacrifice was a type of Christ, who was the pure and spotless lamb of God, with no blemish at all.

1 Peter 1:19 says we are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Do you remember, ladies, how Jesus fulfilled this type to the very T? He came into Jerusalem on the tenth day. Remember, riding on a donkey, and they laid the palms at His feet, and said, “Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.”

And then, on the 14th day, four days later, He became the Lamb sacrificed for us. Before He was sacrificed, as He stood before Pilate, Pilate said, “I find no fault in this man.” So, the prophetic word, right back in the Old Testament, the type, was fulfilled exactly with Jesus, who came in four days before, and on the 14th day He was crucified. Isn’t it amazing? The Word of God is so perfect, isn’t it?

Back in those days, they sacrificed upon the altar. But today we’re not doing that. Today we have to offer spiritual sacrifices. We see this in the New Testament. In fact, I found 12 different sacrifices that we are to do, because they are to be acceptable, with the word “acceptable.” Because, did I read this? Yes, I must read it to you again. Leviticus 22:20: “But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you.”

Of course, ultimately, to God, the sacrifice had to be acceptable to God, which means, without spot or without blemish. Now we go over to the New Testament, because everything from the Old carries on into the New.

We read in 1 Peter 2:5: “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” There it is. We have it now in the New. We’re not doing animal sacrifices but we’re offering up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God.

Let’s look at the first one.

1. 1)    Offering ourselves, our bodies as a living sacrifice

Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,” that means without spot of blemish, “which is your reasonable service.” Here we have it. Back in the Old Testament, they offered up animals. Now we offer up our bodies, not to be slain on the altar, but to be a living sacrifice unto Him each day.

So, as we come to the altar, which represents offering up an animal to God, now instead we offer up our own bodies to the Lord. “Here I am again today, Lord Jesus. I offer my body a living sacrifice unto You.” We’re yielding our lives, our minds, our hearts, our bodies, our hands, our feet, our mouths, every part of us, we’re yielding them unto the Lord as a spiritual sacrifice. We’re not doing our own thing, We’re doing that which will please Him. Amen?

1. 2)    The surrender of our will

What did Jesus say as He went to the cross? As He was there in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood as he anticipated taking upon Him our sins and our sicknesses, the most horrific sins and sicknesses of the whole world, He took them upon Him on the cross. He sweat drops of blood. What did He say? “Not My will, but Thine be done.”

This is also our spiritual sacrifice. As we face things in our lives, “Not my will, Father, but Thine be done.” That’s not just for the big things in life, but for the little things, the little things that happen in the day. The little things, the things where we want to stand on our own rights. “I should have this,” and “This shouldn’t happen to me,” and da-da-da-da-da. No, the Spirit of Jesus is not my will, but Thine be done. This is our spiritual sacrifice.

1. 3)     We must not be conformed to this world

That’s Romans 12:2: “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Here is another acceptable sacrifice unto God, by allowing Him to transform our minds from our old way of thinking to His way of thinking.

When we come into Christ, when we come out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His marvelous light. We come into a new kingdom. We are meant to leave our old life behind. We leave Egypt behind which was also the type. We’re meant to leave it behind. There’s a Scripture in the Old Testament which says: “You are never to back to Egypt again.” That’s going back to the world, going back to that fleshly spirit. We don’t go back to that. We leave it behind.

We don’t even sit on the fence. Oh, just close to the old way of thinking and the old life. Oh, no, if we’re on the fence, we can easily topple back in again. No, we have got to make a three-day gap. Remember, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, Pharoah tried every excuse to keep them there in Egypt. One of them was, “Hey, I’ll let you go, but don’t go far. Just go over the border. That’s it. Just over the border.”

But he knew, if he had them just over the border, he’d easily be able to get them back again and herd them back into Egypt to be his slaves again. But no, Moses would never ever give in. Each time, he said, “No, God has told us to go a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice unto Him.” That was a type (Read Exodus 3:18; 5: 3; and 8:27).

We have to have to have a three-day gap between Egypt and going into our new kingdom. We don’t stay close to the old ways. Those who say they’re Christians today want to be like the world. They want to look like the world. Even churches want to look like the world to bring people in. No! We are a different kingdom altogether. We are severed from the old kingdom. We are never to go back to Egypt again. We’re to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We are a totally new creature.

2 Corinthians 5:17: “Behold, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Of course, that happens as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform our thinking. That means we’ve got to let the Word of God do that. That happens at our altar, morning and evening. The Word is going into our hearts, into our minds, transforming us, changing our thinking. This is an acceptable sacrifice.

1. 4)     Praise, worship, and thanksgiving are spiritual sacrifices

Hebrews 13:15: “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.” One of our sacrifices is to be praising the Lord when things are going great? No, it doesn’t say that. To praise the Lord when we’re feeling so happy? No. Praise the Lord when everything’s going just the way we want it? No. It says: “Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.” Continually. Whatever is happening in our lives.

I remember a little instance when Colin and I were first married. Colin had gone out full-time for the Lord when we were engaged. We were involved in what was called “Tell New Zealand Crusade,” taking the gospel of John personally to every home in the nation.

Then from there, we went, well, I didn’t but, we were planning to go to the Philippine Islands as an outreach, to continue that vision of taking the gospel of John, this time, to a people who did not have the Word. We were thinking of going and we’d just got married. I had just conceived and was pregnant.

The leader of our team, Campbell McAlpine, a very wonderful man of God, came to Colin. He said, “I do not believe that Nancy should come. We’re going out. We don’t know when we will be coming back. We don’t know where we will be living. Nothing is set in stone. We’re just going by faith. I don’t think it’s going to be in any way a situation for Nancy to come.”

So, my beautiful new husband was going out and I didn’t even know when he was coming back. I didn’t know if it would be a year, two years, three years. When would I see him again? I didn’t know. I don’t know whether we would do things like that in this hour in which we’re living, but that’s the sacrifices we made back then.

I remember waving him good-bye. I came back to the home where I was staying and I was devastated. I wasn’t just crying. I was heaving sobs. I wondered, “Will this baby ever see its father?”

The Lord brought to my mind 1 Thessalonians 5:23. I knew this Scripture by heart. “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, concerning you.”

I heard God speak to me. “Nancy, do you want to do My will?” Sobbing, I said, “Yes, Lord.” He said, “Well, thank Me. This concerns you. Thank Me.” I didn’t want to thank Him, but I just did it by faith. I began to thank Him and I continued to thank Him until I got the victory in my soul, and the joy of the Lord in my soul. God was so good. I was able to get that victory. It comes through thanking the Lord, even in the circumstances that you don’t like. Amen?

Well, time is gone again, so we’ll continue next week.

“Dear Father, we thank You again for the principles that You have been showing us. Each one is so amazing.

I pray for all the families who are listening today; the mothers, the wives, the children, the teens, and their husbands, and everyone in their households. I pray that You will bless them. I pray that You will teach them Your ways. I pray that You’ll give them such a heart to seek after Your truth, Lord God.

Oh, Father, that they will not be tainted by the things of this world, but they would be filled, Lord, with the knowledge of Your truth in Your Word. I ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

P. S. Eight more spiritual sacrifices next week.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

IT IS ENCOURAGING FOR ALL WIVES AND MOTHERS.

 

No. 12 ONCE AND FOR ALL

Five times the Scriptures tells us that Jesus “ONE SUFFERED FOR SINS.”

(Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; 26:28; 10:10; and 1 Peer 3:18).

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 311: Altar Building, Part 4

How do you worship at your family altar? This time of meeting with God is also for the cleansing of our hearts. It's such an important part of every day.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! We are continuing our series of “Altar Building.” Do you remember that we have got 25 points to look at about altar building? There is so much in the Word of God.

We’re up to No. 9 today.

No. 9. WE BUILD A FAMILY ALTAR TO WORSHIP THE LORD

We have been discovering that we do three things when we come to meet the Lord as a family. We read the Word, and we pray and cry out to the Lord. Thirdly, we worship the Lord. That’s what they used to do when they were doing the sacrifices back in the Old Testament. The people, Levites usually, and others joining with them, would worship the Lord as they, the priests, were doing the sacrifices.

In 2 Chronicles 7, we see another beautiful example. This was when Solomon was dedicating the temple. It says in verse one: “Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.”

That same thing happened back when they dedicated the tabernacle in the wilderness. And God came and lit that sacrifice with a supernatural fire. The same thing happened here. This was a fire that God lit. But He wanted, of course, His priests to continue to keep it going.

It goes on in verse 3, “And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the LORD, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endureth forever.”

Verse 4, and they continued to offer sacrifices. Verse 5 tells us how many sacrifices that Solomon made. I don’t know whether you can hardly believe it! It says “And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen.” How long did that take? Goodness me. And then, “an hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy endureth forever.” They even blew the trumpets.

I think it is a wonderful thing to worship the Lord as a family when we come together. Some of you may be more musical families than others. If your children play musical instruments, well, this may be a time when they would love to get them out. Get out their guitars and whatever, and play along.

Maybe you don’t have musical instruments. You can get one of these, what do you call them? Those amplifying things. You can find the song you want to sing on your iPhone. Then you can amplify it and sing along with it. You can do whatever is the easiest in your family.

We just do a Capello in our home, but that’s easy, because Colin leads us. My husband loves to sing and he sings in perfect pitch. He leads us, so it’s wonderful. But if Colin is not here, and I’m having to take it in his place, I will usually say, “OK folks, I think we’ll forget the singing.” Because if I lead everybody, I’ll lead them all in the wrong tune and out of tune. It will be impossible! But we can do great a Capello with Colin.

We usually sing the hymns at our family devotions. In our worship services, we sing the beautiful current worship songs. They’re really such a beautiful anointing of worship. But I’m one of those who is a great believer in that which is not only new but that which is old. I believe that we should have them both.

I love that Scripture in Matthew 13:52. It’s a parable Jesus gave. “Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” I love that principle of having the new and the old.

There are some people who only know the new. I notice many young people today don’t even know any hymns. They are familiar with all the current worship songs. They have the new but they don’t have the old. Then there are some folks who keep to the old. They never embrace the new. They sing the hymns. Or there are some who only sing the Psalms.

I remember one time Colin and I were ministering in Ireland. We were speaking at this meeting. There were a few families who came who only believed in singing the Psalms. At this gathering, they were singing hymns. These people would not even open their mouths because they wouldn’t sing the hymns. They were still back on the old Psalms.

Well, the Psalms are wonderful to sing, of course. So are the hymns. I love the grand hymns of the faith. They are filled with such doctrine. I think our children and our teens miss out when they don’t learn the hymns. So, I think it’s a great thing to embrace both the new and the old. Don’t you? Maybe you’d like to sing the hymns at your family devotions, or whatever you like, of course.

I have a little table beside our big dining room table. There I have all our prayers boxes, and also our hymn books, so that they are ready for us to choose a hymn when we sing. We do enjoy that with all our hearts.

There are so many wonderful hymns that sing about the blood of Jesus. I find that, although the worship songs, many of them are so anointed, there are not so many that sing about the blood which is a central theme of the Word of God. It’s great for our children to know some of these great hymns of the faith, and that they sing and honor the blood of Jesus. Anyone out there saying “Amen”? I hope so. Well, do sing something, however you like to do it, OK?

No. 10. WE MAKE AN ALTAR MORNING AND EVENING

This point is, we are to come before the Lord morning and evening. This is the principle that God gave, right back there in the tabernacle, which was an incredible . . . The whole way God planned the tabernacle is such a revelation of our salvation and our walk with God. It is so wonderful to understand it. Sadly, many don’t today. In fact, I have written here in the front of my Bible, my current Bible . . . No, I didn’t. I wrote it in my journal, and I haven’t got my journal with me, so I’ll have to tell you about that next time (I’ll write it at the end of this transcript).

I shared this with you before, so I won’t go into it too deeply, but I want to just give you again the references so that you’ll know I’m not making up something. No, every point I’m giving you lovely ladies is written in the Word. It’s here for our learning.

As the Scripture says in Romans 15:4: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” When we come into the tabernacle, the first thing we see is the brass altar where they did the sacrifices. We read in Leviticus 6 that God specified very clearly that He wanted them to keep this fire upon the altar going. The only way they could do it was to keep it going every morning and every evening.

Leviticus 6:9: “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.”

Verse 12: “It shall not be put out.”

Verse 13: “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar. It shall never go out.”

God wanted this to be a continual burning, never ever to go out, so He tells them the way to do it. He says, “I want you to go in every morning and take out the ashes. Then I want you to put on the wood to keep that fire burning. You’ve got to fuel it, to keep it burning. But it’s not enough, once a day. You’ve got to come back in the evening to you keep it going.”

So, God knows that we also, we also need morning and evening. You know, we can start the day, and we feel so great. We’re starting the day with God. We’re fresh. We’re coming into His presence and hearing the Word, praying, worshipping.

Oh goodness me. But then the day starts rolling and sadly we don’t have perfect children, do we? Darling mothers, sometimes they’re driving us crazy. They’re bouncing off the walls and they’re getting upset with one another. They’re fighting, and this is happening. Oh goodness me! And you are just starting to shout and yell and everything is going awry. You no longer feel very holy.

Oh, isn’t it amazing? It’s so easy to feel so holy and have such a beautiful time with the Lord, especially in your own personal altar, in your time with the Lord. It’s all so wonderful! But then, when you come to face the day, and you’ve got to face people, and you’ve got to face your husband, and all your children, and work out all these relationships, oh my, sometimes you don’t feel so holy afterwards.

We all experience this, don’t we? But God knows that we need short accounts with Him. He knows we need to come into His presence every morning, but by the time the evening comes, we’re desperate to come into His presence again, because He want to keep this fire, the fire of God burning in our hearts. It’s so easy for it to go out. We’ve got to keep that fire going.

But God continues the principle. That’s Leviticus 6.

In Exodus 29:38-39, He says: “I want you to sacrifice twice a day on this altar.” The Word says: “Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even.” So, that’s very plain, isn’t it? They had to sacrifice every morning and every evening. This was the principle.

Then we go to Exodus 27:20-21. This is talking about the golden lampstand, speaking of Jesus who is the Light of the World. And also how He says: “I am the Light of the World, but you also are the light of the world.” He wants us to be the light. Here He also says: “And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn,” (sometimes? No!) “to burn always. In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute forever unto their generations.”

So, God also wanted this light to be a perpetual light that would never ever go out. The only way they could keep it going was to come and attend to it. Every morning they had to take out all the burnt stuff from the wicks and clean the wicks. Then they had to pour in the oil, speaking of the anointing of the Holy Spirit to keep the light burning in our lives. They had to do it morning and evening. Are you getting the picture?

We’re not finished yet, because then we go over to Exodus 30. Now we come to the last piece of furniture in the Holy Place, which is the altar of incense. The priests were to light that incense. Once again, how often? Well, you’ve got it by now, haven’t you? Every morning and every evening.

It was the sweet incense. In fact, the Bible gives the recipe of the incense. Exodus 30:34-35 talks of all the sweet spices. It was to be made of these sweet spices so it filled that Holy Place with sweetness, a beautiful sweet aroma. Of course, we know that the altar of incense speaks of prayer, the prayers of the saints.

This is not only Old Testament. We go over to Revelation—Revelation 5, Revelation 8, on two occasions, no, there’s a third occasion too, when John saw into the heavenly realm. He actually saw the altar of incense right there in the heavenly realm. Because, ladies, this tabernacle was made according to the pattern of the heavenly, which is now in the heavenly realm.

John saw the prayers of the saints going up as incense before the Throne of the Lord. The only difference in the heavenly tabernacle is that in the old tabernacle, there was a big, thick curtain that separated the altar of incense from the Holy of Holies, the throne room of the Lord where God dwells. Of course, now, after Jesus died, that curtain was torn apart! There is nothing that curtains it now. It is open, and prayers are going right into His throne room.

He wants us to come in twice a day, morning and evening. Let’s see it here. We’ve got to make sure we’ve got the Scripture. I did give it to you. So yes, it was Exodus 30:7-8: “And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon [the altar of incense], a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.”

Did you notice that all these things, it has the word either “forever” or “perpetual”? In fact, the word “statute” in the Word of God is the Hebrew word for “ordinance, law, statute, custom.” But the main meaning is that it’s a perpetual thing. It’s often connected with the word “perpetual,” or “forever,” because that’s the meaning. It’s meant to be something that we keep forever. It wasn’t just for back then. It’s forever. It’s for us now.

Of course, we are not doing the literal things of sacrificing. We are not literally burning lamps on a seven-branched candlestick. We are not burning incense on the altar of incense. No, those were the types—but the type of what we are to be today. The Word of God brings us the type. He makes them so clear! He says “This altar of incense is the prayers of the saints.”

Now He’s wanting us to come in morning and evening, into His throne room. It’s an invitation into His throne room, lovely ladies, which we have personally, but which we also bring our families into. What a privilege for parents, husbands and wives, to bring their children into the throne room of the Lord! Because that’s what we’re doing each morning and evening when we light the incense. We’re bringing our prayers into the throne room of the Lord. Oh, what a privilege!

It is too sad that parents do not do this. They’re denying their children this daily, two-times daily experience of coming into the throne room of the Lord. God didn’t only give us one example. He gave us one, two, three, four, five examples of morning and evening, so we get it into our heads. Are you getting it, lovely ladies?

Now we go to number 11.

No. 11. WE BUILD A FAMILY ALTAR FOR CLEANSING AND SANCTIFICATION

We see this in the examples I’ve just been talking to you about. In Leviticus 6, where God says: “You must keep the fire on the altar burning continually. It must never go out.”

The way they had to do it; the first thing was to take out the ashes. That speaks of getting rid of all the old junk in our lives, the ashes, the stuff that is not pleasing to the Lord. All the dead stuff. When we come into His presence, and we’re open to the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts, He will speak to us about things that displease Him. We can get rid of them. They had to take the ashes out. We cast them out of our lives as we repent of them and embrace the forgiveness of the blood of Jesus.

Then also, the other example of the lighting of the lampstand. When you see a lantern, and the wick gets all burnt and black, it blackens the whole glass. Have you noticed that? People don’t light lamps very much today. I have some old lamps that I love to light at Christmas and times like that. But if you don’t keep the wick clean, it blackens the whole glass. You’ve got to get rid of all that horrible burnt stuff and junk stuff. That also is speaking of cleansing and sanctification which happens when we come into the presence of the Lord, and we meet with Him, and we have His Word.

But let’s go now, shall we, to Genesis 35. I have brought this passage to you already, quite a number of times. I think we will even go to it again, because in this one passage, there are so many principles for us to learn. Let’s see again here what God said to Jacob.

Genesis 35:1: “And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there.”

Verse 2: “Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments.” This is what they all did. All his family, not one exception, They all had to get rid of everything that had accumulated by living amongst the heathen around them.

Of course, there were many servants in his household, and some of them could be those who worshipped false gods. But Jacob said, “Before we move one step, everyone must get rid of every strange god. You must all wash yourselves. You must wash your clothes. And you must change your garments.” That’s what they had to do as they went up to Bethel to sacrifice at the altar.

Now, I noticed a couple of other passages in the Word of God about changing our garments. To me, they are quite challenging. Let’s go to Exodus 28:40-43. This whole chapter, chapter 28 of Exodus, is all about the clothing of the high priest and the clothing of the priests. God told them specifically what they were to wear.

As we read these things, I want you to know, of course, that we are not going to have to dress like the priests back there. But what I do want to bring out, precious ladies, is that everything that is written is for a type. The things that they did back there in the Old Testament we don’t do today. God doesn’t expect us to do them today.

But the principle comes along with it, right up into the New Testament, right up into this 21st century. It is still there. There is not one word wasted in this Old Testament. In everything that is written, there is a principle that we carry through into the spiritual realm, or even the practical realm as well, although we’re not doing quite like they did it.

Can I just remind you again that I’ve already shared in this podcast? But we need to hear it again. Roman 15:4: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” 

We go to 1 Corinthians 10:6 and 11. I’ll just read verse 11: “Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Does it say here, “Now some of these things happened to them for examples”? No, it says, “And all these things happened unto them for examples.”

They were examples and they were written for our admonition. This is now New Testament, “Upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Right up to the end of the world, these examples are still current. Are we getting this? OK. So let’s read.

First of all, I must read you verse two, because this was God’s overall plan for the clothing of the priests. Now, remember ladies, you say, “Oh, that’s just for the priests of the Old Testament.” No, we are now kings and priests unto God. Yes, Revelation tells us in two passages there. We are kings and we are priests unto God. We are now a kingdom of priests (1 Peter 2:5, 9; Revelation 1:6; 5:19; and 20:6).

The clothing the high priest was to wear was to be holy.

“Thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty.” Oh, don’t you love that, ladies? I love that. We see God’s heart there. He loves glory. He is glory. All glory comes from God. He wants us to be glorious too. He loves beauty. There are some translations that say “For honor and for dignity.”

We go over in this passage in this chapter. Now it’s talking more particularly. I haven’t talked about the high priest’s clothing. Oh, there are some wonderful points about that but we won’t go into them today. This is now just the priests. Exodus 28:40: “And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.”

Once again, God reiterates it again. “I want them to be clothed for glory and for beauty.” In this passage here, which are types, we see there are many, many other points, if we were speaking about clothing. But we’ll just speak about these three today. We see the three foundational things for our clothing.

Number one: holy. Yes, you notice we’ll see, or we’ll see that in a minute how they were all dressed in linen. Of course, the main materials they had back in the Old Testament were linen and wool. They didn’t have all the synthetic materials that we have today. In fact, they were very blessed because both linen and wool are the most healthy materials.

I’m sure you are aware of that, and that linen and also wool, give off 5,000 megahertz of energy. When you are wearing linen, or you are wearing wool, you are getting this energy. Whereas, if you are wearing synthetics, well, it’s like you’re being a little bit sick even.

You can wear cotton. That’s healthy, but it doesn’t have much. It only has, I think organic cotton has a very small amount of the megahertz of energy, whereas normal cotton has nothing. It’s just nothing. But synthetic is below zero. But they always wore linen.

In the Bible, linen always speaks of the righteousness of the saints (Revelation 19:8). You don’t have to go round wearing linen. Of course, if you did, you’d be healthier, but you don’t have to. It’s not going to change your salvation at all. But it does represent spiritually the righteousness of the saints.

When we go to Revelation, we read a lot about clothing in Revelation. And they are all clothed (every time John saw into the heavenly realm) they were clothed in linen, which is the righteousness of the saints. So, here we see them.

He makes coats and girdles and bonnets. They are just types, too. Coats represented a garment, which completely covered the body, which is very interesting. Bonnets, well, we’re not going to go around wearing bonnets. We wear hats sometimes for certain things. We wear them when we’re cold.

I love to wear hats to weddings. I think when you get this podcast, we will already have been to Vision and Eden’s wedding. This is another one of our grandsons getting married. I’m actually, while I’m doing this podcast, I hope my hat arrives today, so I’ll have one for the wedding. But really, their bonnets, they also speak to us spiritually. It’s speaking of having purity of mind, and holiness of mind. God wanted their minds clothed with holiness too.

It goes on to say: “And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office. And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach: And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or,” listen, ladies, “when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute forever unto him and his seed after him.”

Do you notice something here? That they, yes, they were to wear these clothes when they came near to the altar of the Lord. They had to be, of course, in their linen, which speaks of the righteousness of the saints. And they had to be covered.

It says: “covered their nakedness,” but here, because they were speaking of the men, it specifically referred to their covering their loins, that part of their body from the waist to (they believe) from the waist to just above the knee. They were covered. But it was all a type of realizing that they were coming into the presence of the Lord, near to God’s altar. And they had to make sure that this was how they were clothed, lest they die, the Scripture says.

I’ve got more Scriptures about it, but we’re already running out of time. Can I carry on next week? OK? We’ll just look at one or two more Scriptures next week. We’ll have to leave it for today.

“Dear Father, I thank You for Your precious Word, which is so filled with revelation for us and understanding for us. I pray that You will give these wonderful mothers and wives and young people revelation, Lord, as they’re listening. Not just revelation from me, but revelation from Your Holy Spirit. Revelation that comes, Lord, as we open our ears and our hearts and our eyes to the whole wondrous things that are in Your law. We ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

IT IS ENCOURAGING FOR ALL WIVES AND MOTHERS.

Quotes I wrote in my journal about the tabernacle:

“The tabernacle is God’s heavenly pattern for our spiritual walk on earth.”

“Because the pattern of the tabernacle points the way to Christ no error was allowed in the construction of the tabernacle.”

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 310: Altar Building, Part 3

Satan hates the family altar. He will use “good” things to stop you doing it in your home. But if you press through, you will become a nation-changing and world-changing family.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! We are continuing to talk about altar building. There is so much more to share with you. Here is a quote before we start.

This is from James Alexander:

“The daily regular and solemn reading of God’s holy Word by a parent before his children is one of the most powerful agencies of a Christian life. We are prone to undervalue this cause. It is a constant dropping, but it wears its mark into the rock.

“The family thus trained cannot be ignorant of the Word. The whole Scriptures come repeatedly before the mind. The most heedless child must observe and retain some portion of the sacred oracles. The most forgetful must treasure up some passages for life. No one part of juvenile education is more important. To deny such a source of influence to the youthful mind is an injustice, at the thought of which, a professor of Christianity may well tremble.”

All right, ladies. We are up to point number four.

No. 4. WE DON’T BUILD AN ALTAR UNTO OURSELVES BUT UNTO THE LORD

Genesis 8:20: “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD.”

Genesis 12:7-8, 13, 18: “Abram builded he an altar unto the LORD.” So, we continue, ladies, with nearly every Scripture talking about altars. It says” “And they builded an altar unto the Lord.”

I think this is a most amazing point. We’re not building this altar. We’re not making this time and place each day to gather for ourselves. Ultimately, we are the ones who get blessed, but our aim is that it’s for the Lord. It’s unto the Lord. That’s what the patriarchs did. They didn’t do it for themselves. They did it unto the Lord.

Then we read in Deuteronomy 27:6: “Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God.” Did you get that? It’s not our altar. It’s God’s altar. I think that makes such a difference. Don’t you? When we’re building this altar in our family, when we’re establishing this habit of coming together each day to read God’s Word, and when we realize that we’re doing it unto the Lord, well, not a moment, not a moment is wasted. It’s unto the Lord. It’s in His presence. I trust that blesses you.

No. 5. WHEN WE BUILD AN ALTAR TO THE LORD, HE WILL COME TO US

Oh, I love this passage. Let’s go to Exodus 20:24: God is speaking: “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.”

Oh, isn’t that wonderful? You couldn’t get anything better than that, could you? God says, “When you make an altar unto Me, I will come unto thee.” That’s not all. “And I will bless thee.” What a wonderful promise! Who wouldn’t want to make a family altar? This is so amazing!

We need to give this vision to our children. When we’re drawing them together, it’s not, “OK, children, we’re having Bible reading now.” Oh no! “Children! Let’s come together! We’re going to meet with the Lord! And guess what, children? God has promised that when we come, He’s going to come to us. He’s going to bless us! Isn’t that wonderful?”

Oh, that carries onto the next point, number six.

No. 6. WE BUILD AN ALTAR TO MEET WITH GOD

Yes. That was why the early patriarchs built altars. Let’s read these Scriptures.

Genesis 12:7: “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.”

Genesis 35:7: Talking of Jacob, “And he built there an altar, and called the place El Bethel: because there God appeared unto him.” That word “appeared” means “to be visited, to be seen, to show.”

As we come each day, each morning and evening, when we come to hear God’s Word, we can believe that He will reveal Himself to us. He reveals Himself through His Word. He shows Himself to us through His Word. This is how we get to know Him, through His Word. We will never understand and know everything about God, but He has chosen to reveal something of who He is, so we can know something of Him. Because He is God, we can never comprehend all of Him, but we can know Him. He will reveal Himself to us.

Let’s look at some more Scriptures. We see that God promised to reveal Himself at the brass altar. Exodus 29:42: “This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.” Whenever you read that phrase, “before the Lord,” in the King James Bible, it means literally, “In the presence of the Lord.”

“Where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory.” That was in the outer court, where they came to do the sacrifices. God said, “When you come to this altar, I will meet with you.” Oh, I love that! And God’s Word, we can take every word. It’s not in vain.

We can claim that promise. When we come together, we can come to the Lord, and say, “Thank You, Lord. We have come here to meet with You. You have promised to meet with us. Show Yourself to us today.” You can encourage your children. “Dear children, when Daddy reads the Word of God this morning, or this evening, listen with all your heart. Because it’s not just Daddy reading. These are the Words of God. And God wants to speak to you. Listen! Listen to God speaking.”

At the end of your reading, you can ask your children, “Children, what did God say to you?” Because God speaks to children and you will be amazed at what they will say, at what God spoke to them in their hearts. This is how you’re teaching your children how to hear God. This is something we must do, mothers. We must teach our children how to hear from God.

There are many Christians who are adults. Maybe they are in middle age. Maybe they’re even older, and they still do not know how to hear from God personally. They come to church on Sunday. They listen to the sermon and that’s what they hear. They haven’t learned to hear personally.

We must all get into the habit, every time the Word of God is read, every time it is spoken in our family devotions, we open our inner ears. We say, “God, I’m listening. I’m here to meet with you. Please meet with me. Show Yourself to me. Speak to me.” So, as we come in faith, and listen, we will hear God speaking to our hearts. And our children will too. Teach them. Remind them to keep listening, and to keep hearing what God will say to them.

Then we go to Exodus 30:6, 36: two times. This is at the altar of incense, where they had to burn the incense which speaks of prayer and praise and worship. Two times it says: “where I will meet with thee.” It’s in our times of prayer and worship that God wants to meet with us. He’s promised to meet with us as we spend time in prayer.

Of course, we pray on our own, in our personal times with the Lord, but there’s something about family prayer and corporate prayer. There is such power in corporate prayer when more people are praying together. I am amazed at how often I hear God speak to me during corporate prayer, because the more who are praying, it seems that more of the presence of God is in our midst. God’s promised to meet with us.

Do you remember the time when God came to Zacharias to tell him that he would have a child? In Luke 1:8-13, you can read it there. It says: “And the whole multitude of the people were praying without,” that means outside in the courtyard, the outer court. “At the time of incense.” Zacharias was a priest, and it was his season of duty to light the incense. So, he was there, at the altar of incense.

“And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.” And then the angel spoke to him, these words that God was going to give them a child, even though Elizabeth was in her old age. That happened. God does speak.

Even in the most mundane times, we can hear God speaking to us. You can hear Him speaking to you as you’re doing the dishes and vacuuming the floor, just in your daily duties in the household. I remember one time when I was a young mother in New Zealand. I had just come home from getting the groceries. I was walking over the threshold of the door. There I was. I’d just arrived home. And I wasn’t even thinking about anything. And God spoke to me!

It just came other of the blue! I heard these words: “Nancy, how can I reveal to you the needs of others if all your thoughts are about yourself?” Wow! God arrested me. I have never forgotten those words. I learned that I have to give room in my mind and in my heart for others. We cannot think of ourselves all the time. If you’re thinking of yourself, and you’re filled with self-pity, you have no room for God to speak to you about others, of people who He wants you to speak to, to minister to, to bless.

So, God gave me that word in the most mundane place. But God specifically comes in the places where He has said He will come, in the place of prayer and worship, that is, the altar of incense. We read how He came to Zacharias there too.

In Exodus 25:20-22, it also speaks of how He will meet. He was speaking to Moses, and how “I will meet with you between the cherubim in the holy of holies.” Now I have to confess, I don’t quite understand that Scripture in its context because God was speaking to Moses. Only Aaron the High Priest was allowed in the Holy of Holies. Whether God spoke to him from there because that was where God was dwelling, between the cherubim, in the holy of holies. Maybe He spoke to him from there, wherever Moses was.

But the wonderful thing is, of course, that now we have access through the death of Jesus and His blood that was shed. When Jesus died upon the cross, that curtain that separated the holy of holies was torn from the top to the bottom. Now we are blessed to have access into the throne room of God, where God says, that in this place, in the holy of holies, in the throne room of God, He will meet with us. Isn’t that so amazing?

Yes. So, that’s what happens when we make an altar. He has promised to meet with us. Don’t forget to share these beautiful truths with your children so they also know and understand.

No. 7. WE BUILD AN ALTAR TO CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD

That’s what the patriarchs did. We see that in Genesis 12:8, and again in Genesis 13:4: “There, Abraham called on the Name of the Lord.”

Genesis 26:25: “Isaac, and he builded an altar there and called upon the Name of the Lord.” The patriarchs called upon the Lord.

What does that word “call” mean? The Hebrew is qara, and it means “to call out, to cry out, to cry for help, to utter a loud sound.” So, the patriarchs did not only pray at their altars, but they called upon the Lord. There are many types of praying. We can pray, we can intercede, we can supplicate, we can give thanks, we can pray in many, many different ways, and in many, many different positions. But there is also calling upon the Lord. That is different from just praying.

Sometimes we pray. Yes, we’re talking to the Lord, and we’re praying. But there are times when we’re desperate. We’re desperate because of something that is happening in our own life, or in the lives of our children. We have to call upon the Lord. We cry out to Him. There are times when things are happening in our nation, even as they are at the moment. If we’re burdened enough, we won’t be just praying. We’ll be calling upon the Lord, crying out, even using a loud voice. That is part of calling upon the Lord.

Now, maybe you’ve never done that. Oh, you’ve prayed lots of times, of course. But have you ever really cried out to the Lord? That’s what the patriarchs did at their altars. Yes, at our altars, we will pray. What we do every day, at our altar, we will read the Word, and then we pray. We get everyone to pray. Everyone has a turn. I believe that is important, because this is where our children learn to pray. They learn to pray by praying.

Often, we have families come our table. It’s devotion time, and it’s time to pray. Because they are a Christian family, we just expect their children will be able to pray. So, we’re going around the table. It comes to their turn. They’re silent. Often we just have to move on, because they’re not used to praying. They’re not praying in their own homes. This is where children really learn to pray. So, I encourage you to do that with your children.

PRAYER BOXES

I think I have mentioned many times about our prayer boxes. I wonder, how many of you actually have prayer boxes? Or have you listened to me talk about them, and never done it? Well, ladies, perhaps I can remind you again. Because I have to confess, I find one of the greatest blessings in our prayer times is our prayer boxes, because especially for little children, they often don’t know what to pray about. Their prayers are very generic. “Lord God, please give us a good day. Help me.” And so on.

But we’ve got to expand their prayer life, and give them a vision of the needs to pray for. So we have our FAMILY BOX of everybody in our family. We have our PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS PRAYER BOX. Do you remember when we did the podcast about praying for Eritrea? Anybody praying for Eritrea? Who’s remembering?

Have you done something to help you to remember to pray for this poor downcast country which is governed by a total dictatorship? There is no freedom of speech. There is nothing. There is much persecution. Oh, we must keep praying for them and for so many countries where Christians are being very, very persecuted, and martyred for their faith.

We have our ISRAEL PRYAER BOX, and our NATION CHANGING PRAYER BOX, and our WORLD CHANGING PRAYER BOX, and our SALVATION AND HEALING PRAYER BOX, and our ABOVE RUBIES PRAYER BOX. So it goes, on and on. Well, you can have the prayer boxes you want, and the subjects you want in your family. You will find it’s such a blessing.

We usually only use box each time. You can change the boxes for each time, but they will help you. If you need any help, if you need any, “What do I write on my prayer card?” or for Israel, or for the persecuted church, just email me, and I’ll send you some ideas to help you get going, because we do need encouraging in praying for all these issues. Not only just our own little needs, but the needs of this nation, and the needs of the world!

Oh, lovely ladies, are you praying for our nation? Are you burdened? Are you burdened? I have to tell you, I’m burdened. This nation is going down the tubes. Now you see what’s happening at all these universities. All these young people rising up, standing for Hamas, and becoming Hamas themselves, and chanting, “We are Hamas!” They don’t even know what they’re talking about.

Hamas is one of the most violent terrorist groups in the world. The actions, what they did on October 7 to the Israelis can hardly be spoken or written. It was so horrific, so horrific. If you’re not devastated by it, you don’t know what happened. It was horrific. In fact, I was reading even this morning in Genesis. Let me go to it here. When God saw that evil in the land, Genesis 6, yes, here it is. Genesis 6:11: “The earth also was corrupt before God. And the earth was filled with violence.”

Ladies, do you know what that word “violence” is in the Hebrew? Do you want to know? It’s the word hamas. The exact word hamas. It means “violence.” When God saw such violence, that’s when He brought the flood upon the earth, to destroy it. Now we have our own young people in this nation rising up, not only standing for Hamas and their violence, but becoming violent themselves, speaking, “We are Hamas!” Now they’re becoming more and more violent.

Are you praying? No, not just praying. Are you crying out to the Lord? Every Christian family should be crying out to God. Oh, that the evil and the deception in this land will be exposed, and that God will, in His sovereignty bring us back to righteousness and bring a mighty revival! Ladies, we can see this happen if God’s people, and every God-fearing home in the country would begin to cry out to God. Oh, please be one of those families, and encourage others to be those families, because praying families are nation-changing families. Praying families are world-changing families.

Norman Williams, who wrote a book called The Family Altar, says in this book:

“God didn’t make the course and destiny of nations and of individuals dependent on the decisions of Congresses and Parliaments. Not did He lay this power in the hands of rulers and kings. But God placed it in the praying family. That is why the devil cannot ruin nations of men until he has destroyed the homes of prayer. That is why satan hates the family altar.”

And truly, ladies, that’s why satan does everything in his power to stop us having our family altar, because he doesn’t want us praying. I tell you, when every God-fearing family in this nation begins to pray, we will see mighty things happening. But there are very few families praying. Even though they go to church on Sunday, even though they say they’re Christian. And Satan’s very, very happy, because he knows he can have his way. But my, when families get praying, look out!

Let’s go over to Leviticus 26:6. We see a powerful Scripture here: “And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.”

What a powerful promise! You see, our greatest weapon against our enemies, and the works of satan, is prayer. That is our greatest weapon! We’re not fighting against flesh and blood; we’re fighting against these evil principalities and powers. And what does it say here? “That five of you can chase a hundred.” Just a little family, with three children, that’s five, can chase a hundred enemies as they begin to pray together.

And what else does it say? “A hundred of you.” Wow! Just 25 families with only three each can put 10,000 to flight. How many does it say? I’ll bet it’s 1,000. No, 10,000 to flight! Wow! That’s amazing! What about families with six, seven, eight, nine, ten children? Some have got 12, 14 children. You’ve got a prayer meeting right there! Wow! As you gather your children to pray and to cry out to God for this nation, and against the evil that is happening in this nation, we can put 10,000 enemies to flight! Oh, my.

How true are these words from this writing. No wonder Satan hates the family altar. And no wonder he will try to stop you. So, don’t let him. Oh, yes, it’s amazing. Even just legitimate things. You see, the enemy knows that some evil thing will never stop you from having the family altar. Oh, my! You’ll have nothing to do with that.

But he’s so subtle. He will use good things. Did you know that? Yes, he can get you doing very good things, but they can take the time at that family altar. So, Satan’s just as happy because you’re not praying. We have to watch out for his ways, don’t we?

No. 8. WE ESTABLISH A FAMLY ALTAR TO READ GOD’S WORD

Because at the altar, we pray, we read the Word, and we worship. Of course, we’ve got Scriptures for everything. We read this in Exodus 24:4: “And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Verse 7: “And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.” They were all saying, “Amen.” “And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.” And so, Moses builded an altar and read the words of the Lord to the people.

We go over to the New Testament. It reiterates it in Hebrews 9:19-20: “For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book,” that was the Book of the Law, the Word of the Lord, “and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.”

Of course, we are going to read the Word at our family altar. Deuteronomy 27:1-10, you can read the whole passage later. It says there: “Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God.” There they read the Word of the Lord. We just read Joshua 8, where he read all that Moses commanded. That might have taken them a few days. It might have taken them a whole week actually. Reading every day for a week, you can read the whole of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.

Let’s value the Word, and let’s make the Word of God BIG in the eyes of our children, that it’s never a bore. Never something, “Oh, we have to do this.” No! This is the most exciting time of the day! We are coming to hear God speak to us! Oh, that should be our personal attitude. When they see our excitement, and our longing to hear what God is going to say, our children will catch that. They will have the attitude that we have. It should always be an attitude of expectancy, believing that God is going to speak to us.

Now, you may be saying, “Well, where do I read in the Bible? I don’t know where to read.” Of course, that can be the most difficult thing for husbands who have never been brought up with the family altar or family devotions. There have been decades who have lost this in Christian homes. It’s time to get it back.

But it’s not easy when a husband doesn’t really know what he’s doing. He thinks, “Help!” A man doesn’t want to do something unless he feels confident and knows what he’s doing. He thinks, “Where will I read?” Well, let me tell you. In our home, we have done different things, and we have different seasons. Sometimes we will read through a book, and read through a chapter each time.

When our children were teens, for a while we would read a chapter of Proverbs every day because it was so practical for their lives. If it was the fifth day of the month, we would read Proverbs 5. If it was the 25th day, it was Proverbs 25. Because there are 31 days in the month, and 31 days in Proverbs. That’s a great thing to do.

But mostly now we read The Daily Light on the Daily Path. It is only the Word of God, but it is Scriptures put together on a certain theme for the morning and for the evening. It’s not many Scriptures, because you’ve got the morning and evening on one page! So, it’s not going to be too much, is it? But there it is. This becomes such a blessing for maybe a husband who thinks, “What will I do? I don’t know what I’m doing!”

If you get this book, all you have to do is go to the date. Every day my husband says, “OK, everybody! What’s the date?” We tell him the day, and he looks up the day. There it is! There’s the reading.

When he reads, of course, he doesn’t just read in a boring voice. He reads the Word, and he asks questions all the way through to keep everyone on their toes, because even in a short reading, it’s so easy to get into a dream. I’m trying to listen to every word, and I can still get into a little dream! You begin thinking about something, and away you are, off in fairyland. It is important for the husband, or whoever’s doing the reading, to ask questions.

Sometimes my husband will stop in the middle of a Scripture and say, “Who can finish it?” Or maybe he will read the wrong word, or read the opposite word from what it says. If none of us say anything, why, he knows we’re not listening. He will have to say, “Hey! What did I read?” He will have to read it again, and we’re listening this time. We’ll say, “Oh no! No! No! Not that word!”

It’s quite fun, because then you learn what is the real word. You say the Scripture over together out loud, and you get to know it. This particular Daily Light on the Daily Path has been around for 150 years. You can get them in different versions, any way you like. But in this particular one I put together, because at the beginning of every month, I give an idea for families of how they can keep it exciting, keep their children on their toes, keep them listening. It gives you that.

It’s available through www.aboverubies.org if you want to order that. Some have their own ways of doing it, but this is a great help if you don’t really know what to do. We’ve been doing it for years and we use it all the time. We love it!

I think our time has gone again, so we will continue next week.

“Dear Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that Your Word is true from the beginning, and from the beginning Your Word is true. It is true for all generations. We thank You that Your Word is up to date, right up to this moment. We thank You, Lord God, that every Word you speak is life to us. Lord God,

“I pray that Your Word will become life to every precious family who is listening today, and who establish their gathering of their children together. Lord, I pray that You’ll give them that excitement, Lord, as they come together to hear what You are going to say to them. I ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

IT IS ENCOURAGING FOR ALL WIVES AND MOTHERS.

 

To purchase THE DAILY LIGHT ON THE DIALY PATH go to:

http://tinyurl.com/CreativeIdeasToReadBible

 

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 309: Altar Building, Part 2

It is important to have our personal time with God, but God wants THE WHOLE HOUSEHOLD to meet with Him. How does this work out in our homes?

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Here we are together and continuing our series on “Altar Building.” As we begin, I’d love to read you a lovely quote. In fact, I have so many quotes from some of the old preachers of the faith, where family devotions were just the norm at that time. This is a quote from Arthur Pink.

He says here:

“It is not enough that we pray as private individuals in our closets. We are required to honor God in our families as well. At least twice each day, in the morning, and in the evening, the whole household should be gathered together to bow before the Lord, to confess their sins, to give thanks for God’s mercies, to seek His help and blessings. Nothing must be allowed to interfere with this duty. All other domestic arrangements are to bend to it.

“The head of the house is the one to lead devotions, but if he be absent, or seriously ill, or an unbeliever, then the wife would take his place. Under no circumstance should family worship be omitted. If we would enjoy the blessing of God upon our family, let its members gather together daily, for praise and prayer.”

We are up to point number three today.

No. 3. WE BUILD A FAMLY ALTAR FOR THE WHOLE HOUSEHOLD

This is a very powerful point. In fact, I noticed in this quote that I just read, he says here, “at least twice each day, in the morning, and in the evening, THE WHOLE HOUSEHOLD should be gathered together to bow before the Lord.”

Well, that’s a man writing, but let’s see what God has to say, and what the Word of God has to say. We’re going to go back to Genesis 35:1, to this passage when God told Jacob to go up to Bethel and build an altar.

Here we are: “And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar.” Go down to verse two: “Then Jacob said unto his household,” there it is, ladies. “Unto his HOUSEHOLD.” The word is right there.

It doesn’t stop there. “And to ALL THAT WERE WITH HIM.” Now, I want you to hear these words again, because they are very powerful. “And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar.” Go down to verse two: “Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him.” Then he tells them things they had to do. We’ll talk about them later. But this is our point at the moment.

Now, Jacob’s household must have been pretty big, because it was only a few years later, after this, that the famine came. Then eventually he went down to Egypt to save his whole family from the famine. The Bible tells us in Exodus chapter one that Jacob went down from Canaan to Egypt with 70 souls.

Now there’s not only Jacob, but there are his children, and his children’s children. There’s at least three generations, maybe more. Then, of course, there are his servants, and helpers, and shepherds for all their sheep, and maybe even his soldiers.

Remember his grandfather Abraham had his own army in his own household. Remember when Lot was taken by these kings and Abraham went out to rescue him? He went out with 318 trained warriors in his own household (Genesis 14:14). I am sure that Isaac and Jacob carried on that same pattern of having soldiers so that they could protect their whole families. There obviously were a lot of people but God didn’t allow any to be missing. The message is to the household, and to all that were with him.

We see an example of this in Abraham. Genesis 18:19: “For I know him, that he will command,” (that word “command” again. Do you notice it? “That he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.”

We already know that Abraham’s household was as very big household. We see here that this is the pattern that God gave and it is the pattern for us, lovely ladies. God wants everyone in the household to be there for our family devotions, or our family altar, or whatever you call it. Family Bible time. Everyone must be there. It is for the whole household.

Of course, it is important for us, as individuals, father, mother, and children who are getting to the age of reading, to establish our own personal time with the Lord. I remember growing up, that we were encouraged and instructed from the pulpit  that we must have our Quiet Time. I don’t know why they called it a Quiet Time but that meant a time when you personally got away with the Lord, to pray and to read His Word.

You did it the moment you got up in the morning. You started the day. Before you did anything else, you had your Quiet Time. Well, you don’t have to call it your Quiet Time. You can call it your “Bible Time. You can call it your God and Me Time or whatever you want to call it. But it’s important for us to do that.

Personal times with the Lord are very important. I think I was sharing this with you a few weeks ago and shared how I do have an article called, “How to Read the Word of God in Your Quiet Time.” If anyone wants to get that, just email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I’ll be happy to send it to you.

It's very important to encourage our young people to have this time, and establish this time with the Lord. I was blessed that I did that as a young person. As a late teenager I began to do this. It became the habit of my life.

Of course, when I got married and children came along, it wasn’t so easy to do that. Maybe there are some of you lovely darling young moms, and you’ve got little ones all around you. You’ve got a little baby, and you think, “Oh, how on earth do I ever have time to get away with the Lord on my own?”

Oh, I know, it is so difficult to do that. I faced that as my children came along. First baby, and then second and third babies came at once. I had twins unexpectedly. Didn’t even know I was having them until they were being born! So I had three children in 17 months. Then I had four children under four. So, those were incredibly busy days.

I had been used, before I was married, to getting away and spending three hours with the Lord every morning, before I even went to work. That was my pattern. Now I couldn’t even find five minutes! I hardly had time to go to the bathroom! I said, “What on earth am I going to do? Help!”

I would put my Bible up on my windowsill where I was doing dishes and preparing meals. I would put it to Psalms or Proverbs. Every now and then I could look up and read one little Scripture. I would keep a Bible in the toilet and one where I was nursing the babies. Just to get a little bit here and there.

But God does understand our seasons, lovely mothers, and if you are going through that season at this moment, He understands. I love that Scripture in Isaiah. It says that He feeds His flock like a shepherd, and gathers them in His arms, and He gently holds them. He gently leads those that are with young.

I just hadn’t turned to it to read it to you properly. I’d like to get it exact. Here it is. Isaiah 40:11: “And He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” When you’re pregnant, when you have little babies, your Good Shepherd doesn’t expect you to be at the front of the flock. He doesn’t expect you to be up at five o’clock, having your three hours with the Lord in the morning. No, you’re still in bed, nursing your baby. Then your little ones are going to be waiting and all needing you.

God understands this time. He gently leads you. Gather what you can get. You know, just a verse here and there can give you sustenance. Listen to this podcast when you are doing something else and you can be getting fed and hearing the Word of God. But then there come seasons. Your children grow, and you’ll have time again to do that. But we don’t rely only on our personal time with the Lord. God is very concerned about the family, and the family gathering together, the whole household.

Let’s go over to Joshua 8. This is when Joshua came into the Promised Land with the Israelites. In fact, back in Deuteronomy 29:10-13, you can read there when God told them: “When you go into the Promised Land, I want you to make an altar and worship before Me there.” Now we’re reading from Joshua where they are fulfilling what God told them to do.

Here we go. Joshua 8:30: “Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal.” He built it right there. That was Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. It was an amazing place, right there in the valley between those two mountains. It’s one of the most amazing places in the world to be able to hear. A man can speak and it echoes all around. So, God knew the right place  where He told them to read all the Words of the Lord.

Joshua 8:31-35: “As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses,” that was Deuteronomy, “an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.

“And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. 

“And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before . . . ” Listen to this: “ALL THE CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.”

Did you notice that? God wanted everyone there. This was not only a family, but a gathering of all the families. God did not leave one person out. Now, let’s see: “All the women, and all the little ones.” Oh, but the little ones! Oh, goodness me! How do we cope with them? In fact, even at our own family altar, how do we cope with the little ones? Oh, my, they don’t know how to sit still. Then they cry, or they want something. How do we do it?

Well, lovely ladies, little by little, we train them. But we never leave anyone out. When we gather, we gather as a family, father, mother, the oldest down to the youngest. Now, maybe the baby is sleeping in another room. But also maybe the mother is holding the baby and nursing the baby as father is reading the Word of God.

That is such a wonderful thing, because as the mother is sitting near the husband, she’s nursing her baby, that Word, that Word is going into him. Baby doesn’t know what’s being said, but the anointing of that Word is going in. The sooner the Word goes into your little ones, the greater it is. In fact, that Word can be going into them even when you’re pregnant. Especially in those last three months of pregnancy, the baby can hear. When the baby is near the husband, and he's reading the Word, the baby, even in the womb, can hear the Word of the Lord.

I remember when my beautiful granddaughter Meadow was born. She was born at home. She began to cry. Charlie, her father came right up to her and held her and began to talk to her. She immediately stopped and became aware of him. She knew his voice, because he had spoken to her over and over in the womb. She knew his voice as she came forth from the womb.

So, our little ones can hear the Word of the Lord. They may not understand it, but they’re getting the anointing of it. I love that Scripture over in 2 Timothy 3:15. Can I just turn to it here, and read it to you again, because I think it is so wonderful. “And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

“That from a child,” that word in the Greek is brephos. That word is used of a babe in the womb. It was used of Jesus when He was in the womb of Mary. That word is used of a little baby that’s born. In fact, it was used when Jesus was born and lying in a manger. They said “You will find the Child,” and it was brephos, this newborn. It’s used of little ones.

Here the Word of God is saying: “That from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures,” even before the age of understanding. Even in the womb, even as a nursing babe, these Scriptures are going in. When the Scriptures are going into a little child, even from birth, those Scriptures prepare them for salvation.

Even as they get to three and four years of age, they can have an understanding of salvation. They can be ready for salvation because the Word says: “the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.” So, children in a godly home, hearing the Word of God, from a very young age, can come to know the Lord at three and four years of age.

Watch over your children. Be aware of what is going on in their hearts, especially when it’s your devotion time. Sometimes you can see God working in their lives, and you know this is a moment when they can open their hearts and literally receive Jesus into their lives because they are prepared. The Word of God has prepared them and they’re open and ready to receive.

They are not too young. No. All of our children came to know the Lord at four years of age, except our eldest. He was older. But it was only at that young age, and every single one of them, that moment is still real with them today. They have continued to follow the Lord. It’s been part of their lives.

Of course, someone from a non-saved home, even an atheist home, maybe they can come to Christ later in life, or even as a teenager, when they hear the gospel. But sadly, they don’t have that opportunity when they’re young, because they’re not hearing it. But you can expect that in your home, as you are daily reading the Word, because God wants everyone in the household there. The babies, the toddlers, yes, those toddlers! Yes, even those little ones.

Of course, the little toddler, a little one, can sit on your husband’s knee even as he’s reading the Word. If you have older children, they can hold another toddler or young one on their knee. When they’re little, you don’t have to make them sit up there in a chair, all on their own, with their back straight. No! Let father, or an older sibling, hold them and cuddle them, so they’re feeling comfortable and loved as they are listening to the Word of God.

It should be a beautiful thing. It should be something of such comfort and love as they are listening to the Word of God. Of course, they will be so much happier as they are being cuddled and being hugged, warm and close, as they are hearing the Word of God.

But God wants the toddlers there. The word in the Hebrew is taph  - T.A.P.H. It’s very interesting. This word refers to “the tripping gait of little children, their quick steps. It’s the toddlers.” It’s used 42 times in the Old Testament. Mostly it’s in the context of God bringing His people together to hear His Word being read and He will include the little ones. Isn’t that amazing? Of course, they’ve got to be there too.

NO EXCUSES

And, of course, all your older ones. No, they don’t have any excuses. It’s THE WHOLE HOUSEHOLD. Of course, that’s normal, if you have started family devotions when your children are little. They grow up knowing this is part of life. This is habitual. If you are starting it when your children are older, it is a little more difficult to perhaps get them used to this. This is a new thing and you will have to ask the Lord for wisdom to know how to encourage them so they will be part of it.

Of course, one of the main things is for them to see the Scriptures that God wants them to part of it, that everyone in the whole family is there. Sometimes, as children get older, they can make excuses, but we don’t allow excuses unless they are legitimate excuses. Someone is in bed sick, or as I found with our own children when they were getting older and they were still living at home and yet already out working. I would always make sure that they knew that they had to be home for the evening meal, and then devotions, unless they let me know that something had come up that was important, and they couldn’t be there. But otherwise, that was part of their lives if they lived in our home. Anyone living in your home does what you do in your home.

What about people who are visiting? Or visiting, or maybe even staying in your home. Maybe they have different values to you. They don’t even do family devotions in their home. What do you do about them? Well, you include them too. I often wondered about this, because we have always opened our home in hospitality. We always had people visiting us for meals but also staying with us. Often you face different situations.

At first, I wondered, “What should I do in this situation? These people are not really people who want to be part of family devotions, but what do I do?” Then the Lord showed me His Word. Oh, lovely ladies, God shows us everything in His Word. I want to give you some Scriptures, because this helps us to answer the problem. I think I’ve given you these Scriptures before, actually, but oh my! I think we need to hear them again. I need to hear them again, because they show you God’s heart.

Exodus 12:48-50: “One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.”

Leviticus 24:22: “Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.”

Numbers 9:14: “. . . Ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.”

Numbers 15:14-16: “And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations,” listen to this: “As ye do, so he shall do. One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance forever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD. One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.”

And I have so many more Scriptures. If you want them all, you’re welcome to email me, and I will send them to you. But I think you can see, I have read enough there, that God shows us. It doesn’t matter whoever is in our household, they must be part of what we are doing. It’s the whole household, not just the immediate family, but the extended family, and whoever is living in your home.

Of course, we will adjust and use wisdom. In our home, when we are having family devotions, after my husband has read the Word, we all pray. Everyone in the family and who is living in our home. But if we had some people who were not Christians who we invited to a meal, we wouldn’t do that.

But we would still have our family devotions. My husband would read the Word, and then he would pray for everyone. We wouldn’t put visitors who are not used to such a thing. We wouldn’t put them on the spot and expect them to suddenly pray. Maybe they’ve never prayed in their life. We can still do it, but we will do it in a way that can encompass those who are living in our home at the time.

Are you getting this message, wonderful ladies? This is such an important thing, that we include the whole household. I remember one time I had a young man staying with us. He was a Christian, but I have to say, he wasn’t really walking with the Lord. He was a Christian in name only. He’d been with us for a week or so, being part of family devotions. He had been part of it, because he knew he had to be. But it was his last day, and he came to me. He said, “Oh, Mrs. Campbell, I won’t have time to have family devotions with you this evening because I’ve got to pack. I’m leaving in the morning.”

But I had noticed that he’d been sitting around all day, so I said to him, “Well, I see you’ve had plenty of time all day. You’ll have plenty of time this evening after devotions, so, yes, you will have to be with us.” I didn’t let his little excuse, I didn’t let him get away with it because it was only an excuse, and he had plenty of time to pack that evening. We have to watch out for excuses, even with our own children, don’t we?

Scott Pauley says:

“True revival does not start at the church house. It starts at our house.”

In fact, I think back to one of the great Puritans. I was reading about him recently. His name was Richard Baxter, who lived back in 1615 to 1691. He lived for 76 years. Now, we are 400 years later, after this man lived. But people are still reading his books and his writings.

He was a great man of God, but I must tell you the story of one of the first churches that he went to be a pastor at. It was a very wealthy community, but as one author says, the people were very ignorant, rude, and a reveling people. He came to this church, and really, there was nobody left. Nobody came to church. He thought, “Well, what am I going to do?”

This man, Richard Baxter, really believed in the family altar, so he decided he would visit personally every home in this town. The town was called Kidderminster. He therefore went to every home, every family, and spoke to them about the family altar, and taught them how to have the family altar, how to read the Word of God, and where to read, and how to pray together. He spent time individually with every family. And then how to worship. He established this in every home.

When he started, there was hardly a person coming to his church. About three or so years later, his church was full. They say that when he arrived at that town, there was hardly a person doing family devotions, but when he left, there wasn’t hardly a family in the whole town who was not having the family altar. In fact, the whole town actually came to the Lord!

It’s quite amazing. I was reading here. When he arrived, hardly anyone had an altar. After three years, there was barely a house on every street that was not having a family altar, morning and evening. He saw the whole, nearly the entire town of 2,000 people converted just by the family altar. Isn’t that amazing?

And then there was another great Puritan preacher too. His name was Thomas Boston. He also went to pastor a church. It was very much like Richard Baxter’s. The whole church was empty. But it was a different kind of people. These people were poor people, and they were in a slum. But he did the same thing. He went to every home of these poor people, and established a family altar in every home.

It wasn’t long before the church began to see revival and the church was packed. The church was full, because it started in the home. “The way to save the church, and the community, is to establish religion in the homes of the community, and build the family altar” one great commentator wrote.

And so, it wasn’t just preaching in the church. It was the family altar that changed the lives of these whole towns, in both these places where these ministers went.

I was reading recently something that really challenged me. It was about Lot. We know how Lot went down to Sodom and Gomorrah and lived there. Yet, he was a righteous man. The Bible says that Lot was a righteous man. Every day his soul was vexed by the evil that was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Peter 2:8).

But listen to what this commentary says, by John Morris: “Compare Abraham and his family to Lot and his family. Nowhere in Scripture does it say that Lot built an altar, and recognized God as worthy of worship. No doubt, as a direct result, Lot’s wife and sons and daughters totally rejected these ideas, preferring the sinful practices and mentality of Sodom.

“Lot was a true believer, but his lifestyle and lack of altar-building rubbed off on his family, to the detriment of himself and the people of God ever since.

“Here is the question: do we want to be Christians who ignore proper worship and total submission to God, and have families who do likewise? We don’t build physical altars today, but we do need daily times of prayer.”

I thought that was a powerful quote because it is so interesting. All the patriarchs builded altars, plus many, many other men of God in the Word. But never did it say that Lot builded an altar. And Lot was the one who lost his family.

Altar building is a way to keep our families walking with the Lord. Altar building, morning and evening, is the way to keep the fire burning in our hearts. Just as God says, if you’re going to keep the fire burning, you’ve got to tend to it morning and evening. Otherwise, it will go out. It’s so easy for it to go out.

So, be encouraged again, ladies. Be encouraged to keep your family altar as a household altar. This is the Scriptural understanding. May the Lord richly bless you.

“We thank You, dear Father, for showing us Your ways, and showing us that You have made this a household command. It’s not just individual. It’s household. You are interested in households, in families.

“Father, I pray that You will help each mother and father of each family listening to strengthen their families, to strengthen their family altar, to repair their family altar if they need to. Lord, I pray that You’ll give them great wisdom as they seek to gather their children and whoever else is living in their home, to gather them into Your Presence, to meet with You.

“I ask again that You will begin to, Lord, teach them more and more of Your ways. Give them such a heart to seek after You, and to know Your ways. Lord, we’re living in a deceitful age. Help us, Lord, to stand on Your Word, and not to be lured by the ways of this world. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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