FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 50 - How Can We Change the World- Part 16

Rocky Barrett: Welcome to the podcast, From our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. Can you believe it? This is our podcast number 50, we’re halfway to 100!

We’re still on point number 15, SERVING THE LORD WILLINGLY. Well ladies, willingly is only one of the ways we can serve the Lord. I have found 25 different ways that the Bible tells us to serve the Lord. Twenty-five different descriptions!

I think it would be fun to look at those today, don’t you? Well, I don’t think we’ll get through them all. I love to always find out every little thing I can about a subject in the Word of God. So when it says to serve the Lord, I want to know— how does God want me to serve Him?

We know that we won’t change the world by doing anything passively or ordinarily. We’ve got to go a little bit over the top, we’ve got to go over the ordinary, more than the average.

Let’s start looking at these descriptions, shall we? I’m going to put them in sort of alphabetical order.

The first one is . . .

ABOUNDINGLY

and it’s in 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” That is such a wonderful promise for you as a mother. It’s a promise, but there’s also a challenge there.

Isn’t it wonderful when we get Scriptures when there’s a challenge to us, but there’s a promise that goes with it? It’s great to look out for those! It’s also important to not take promises on their own without checking out if there is a challenge that comes before it. Because often we won’t get the promise unless we fulfill the first part.

This verse is talking about working for the Lord. How are we to do it? Always abounding. Abounding, what is that word? The Greek word means “to be excessive, over the top, going beyond what is necessary, superabundant.” Now, that sounds like a fun way to live, doesn’t it?

Are you living this way in your home? It’s very easy to live boringly. I think it’s so sad when we live in our homes in a boring manner. This is what many mothers do. They get in the rut of getting up in the morning, “Okay, I’ve got to make breakfast, I’ve got to do this, and I’ve got to do that.” They go through the routine of the day with their “hang down” mouth and their grumpy face and it’s such a boring day. It’s so sad. You don’t have to be like that. It all depends on our attitude and what we want to do. Because, ladies, we have the power to make our homes what we want them to be.

Now if your home is a boring place, that is showing that there is something wrong with your attitude. Who is making it a boring place? Nobody else but you! You see, we make our homes what we want them to be.

Dear, precious mother, if you want a joyful home, well make a joyful home! It starts with you being joyful, but you can do it! If you want an exciting home, well make it exciting! Think of exciting things to do. If you want a home that’s filled with peace, be a peacemaker. We make the environment that we want to have.

It’s interesting, as we have found out so many times, everything in the Word, everything in God is not normal. It’s over the top. That’s one of the meanings of this word, abounding. It means to be over the top, more than is necessary, being excessive, superabundant.

Can I encourage you to just get out of the normal, the boring, and the status quo? Come on now, spend a little time as you’re going off to sleep tonight, thinking, “Now, Lord Jesus, what could I do tomorrow that could make my home more exciting? What could I do to bring more joy into our home? What could I do to make our marriage more exciting? Show me, help me to think of new and creative ideas that are beyond the normal status quo. Bring these ideas to my mind. I ask You in the name of Jesus.”

So pray and ask God to show you so that in your marriage you’re going to think of new, different, lovely, sweet, exciting, and creative things to do to your husband to blow him away. You’re going to think of ideas to do with your children that take them from the normal and the boring into a whole new realm. And it starts with your attitude.

Of course, you can’t do that unless you change your attitude yourself and you’re going to have an abounding attitude in your spirit. You can take the most mundane, ordinary bit of work you have to do and make it a joy, make it fun. Teach your children how to do that. You’re training them how to work and of course they’re going to realize that work takes work. Sometimes work is hard.

But even hard work can be fun. Work can be fun because work is good. Did you know that? Work is good. Work is therapeutic. God gave us work for the blessing of our bodies, and the blessing of our souls, and the blessing of our minds.

When I was a young child, I had the idea that work came in after the fall of man and that’s when we had to work with the sweat of our brow. Because, when I was a child, I didn’t like work. But I realized as time went on that, No. God established the principle of work before man sinned. As soon as God put him in the garden, God told him to dress it and to keep it. The word “dress” means “to work, to work with the sweat pouring down your brow, to work hard.”

Goodness me, that was even before sin came in. It in this ideal environment where everything was beautiful, glorious, and wonderful. And they had to work? Yes, yes, because work does good to your body. You’ll have a good night’s sleep. You’ll be healthier for hard work. Work does good for your soul.

There’s something about working. It’s therapeutic and if you learn to do it with the right attitude and with joy, you realize that every single job you do, whether little or mundane or difficult, even slimy and horrible is still sacred. Because Jesus lives in you and when Christ lives in you everything you do, or touch is sacred.

It’s good for your mental abilities. When you work at something you get more ideas of how to do the thing better or more ideas come to you all the time. If you’re just sitting, panning out, you don’t really get any great ideas so much as when you’re working and thinking. It is a blessing.

So working, you’re going to learn how to do it yourself with this great, abounding, exciting, fun, joyful, amazing attitude. Then your children will see, “Oh, so work’s fun. This is what work is? I want to work!”

We’re training our children for work all the way through their lives because we’re preparing them to be young men and women who know how to work hard. Young women who know and are prepared to run a home, who can get in there and know how to cook a meal, how to clean a home, and how to get stuck in and manage a home. Oh, there are so many beautiful, beautiful girls who know how to do this. I have been in many wonderful, godly homes and the young people growing up and the middling and older teens, oh, just beautiful girls.

I remember, actually we will have been, by the time you hear this podcast to our Above Rubies retreat in Panama Beach in Florida. As I speak, I will be going down there tomorrow. My husband and I will be speaking there. The family who put on this retreat, Daniel and Alison Hartman, lovely, lovely family and a few weeks ago we were actually staying at their home.  It was such a blessing to stay with them and their ten children. Not only were we staying with them, but the Alison family, Serene and Sam and about ten of their children.

So there was a big, big crowd of us in that home, but we all just fitted in so gloriously. For the evening meals they asked more people and we sat down for these great meals, and the adults never did anything. The young people, they just got in, they cooked these wonderful big meals to feed all these people. They cleaned up afterwards and left everything glorious and shining. Oh, it was just with joy and singing and delight. It was just so glorious to behold.

And then you can go to other homes where there are young people and they are even in their late teens and early twenties and they don’t know how to cook. They don’t know how to clean up. They don’t even do the dishes. They’re not even being prepared for life!

Then our young men, oh my, we want to see young men who know how to work hard. They are the young men who will get jobs. I’m a great believer that hopefully God will bless these young men while they are young with the one that God has chosen for them. That doesn’t always happen, sometimes they don’t meet that one till later. But it’s such a blessing when they meet them when they’re young, and they can get married young and get into life together when they’re young. And they take on responsibility.

I was talking with a young married man last night and he is doing very well and studying to be a doctor. They’re living in a home that they’ve bought, they have two cars and they’ve now got two little children. They are doing so well. And I said to him, “You know, I think that if you weren’t married, you wouldn’t be living in this home and I don’t think that you would have all that you’ve got now.”

He said, “You know, that’s true. I’d be living in my parent’s basement, eating fast foods.”

And you know, that’s true because he would have no real purpose to live for. Statistics tell us that married men do better financially that single men because they have a wife and a family to care for. He can’t be just a young single guy, maybe he has a car, but it doesn’t even work. Goodness me, no! If he’s married, if he’s got children, he better have a car that’s going and it’s on the road, because what if something happens to his little baby or his little child? He’s got to be ready to run and do something!

So there comes this need for rising into maturity and to provide for the family. It makes a man of them, even when they are young. But you see, these kinds of young men have to be trained, and prepared, and taught how to work hard so they are ready for life. There are too many young men today still living with their parents. I beg your pardon? It’s time for them to get out and establish a life on their own, unless they are working in a family business, of course. Sometimes that happens also and that can be very good, too.

But we are going to be those who love work and train and teach our children how to love work. And we will abound in working in our homes because this is how we are serving the Lord. If God gives us children, this is our work, our work for the Lord.

Now for the next one . . .

2. AS TO THE LORD, AND NOT UNTO MEN

It tells us that in Ephesians 6, to work as unto the Lord. Then Colossians 3:23 says: ”And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”

The J. B. Phillips translation of that Scripture says: “You are actually employed by Christ.”

This is true when we are in our homes mothering our children, working hard in our home. We’re not doing it for anybody else but the Lord. Well, we are— we’re doing it for our husbands, we’re doing it for our children. Actually, we’re doing it for ourselves, too, because it’s such a joy to live in a well-managed home, isn’t it? Who wants to live in a shambles? Nobody can enjoy life like that. But ultimately, we’re doing it as unto the Lord.

So even if we’re not getting any reward, even if no body’s saying, “Oh, you’re doing such a great job,” even if we think everybody’s just taking us for granted, well, who cares? We are doing this as unto the Lord and we will receive a reward. Do you notice that? In fact, in this Scripture it says that “KNOWING that we will receive the reward” because God is looking.

Maybe your husband forgets to say anything encouraging to you. Maybe you feel as though you’re just hidden away, on the back benches, just being taken for granted. But God is watching, and you will receive your reward.

In our first Scripture, 1 Corinthians 15:58, that Scripture also talked about the reward when it says that we are “. . .always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor [your work] is not in vain. . .”

Mother, your work is not in vain for the Lord. Your work as a mother is an eternal work.  You are mothering eternal souls. Your work is going into the eternal realm. And you will receive your eternal reward.

No. 3 DILIGENTLY

Proverbs 12:27 says: “. . . But diligence is man’s precious possession.” 

In Jeremiah 48:10 RSV it says: “. . . Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness. . ..” Now, that’s a challenge, isn’t it?

Romans 12:11 in the J. B. Phillips translation says: “Let us not allow slackness to spoil our work. . ..” And in that same verse the Good News version says: “Work hard and do not be lazy.”

The Proverbs 31 chapter tells us about that too. It says that this woman is never lazy. She works hard.

And so, that’s another description of how we work for the Lord in our homes—diligently.

No. 4. FAITHFULLY

In Matthew 25 it says he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in that which is much. We have to learn to be faithful in the little things of life, don’t we?  And in the little things of the home. Sometimes we think our work in the home is not really very powerful, we’re not doing much. But ladies, we are doing a great thing.

My Facebook post for this morning I headed up, “SIGNS AND WONDERS MINISTRY.” I was talking about how that in our homes, we are a missionary for the Lord.

Sometimes you may think, “Oh, goodness, what am I doing here, hidden in my home? If only I could be a missionary out in a foreign field, really doing something out there!”

But dear mother, you are serving the Lord as much in your home as out there. You are training disciples! What did Jesus do during His time on earth? He trained disciples. He trained 12 disciples who turned the world upside down.

Just think of the future of these disciples you are training and what impact they will have upon the world as you pray for them, as you minister to them, as you put God’s Word into them, and as you seek to put God’s character into their lives! You are a missionary training disciples.

But there are many things you are, of course, as a mother, but the other one I mentioned in my post was: you are involved in a signs and wonders ministry.

Now many people think, “Oh wow, that’s pretty amazing if you can pray and see signs and wonders. I’d love to be able to see signs and wonders in my ministry for the Lord.”

Well, dear mother, please get this truth. You ARE involved in a signs and wonders ministry. The Bible tells us that in Isaiah 8:18: “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for SIGNS AND WONDERS in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.”

Each one of your children are a gift to you from the Lord of Hosts, and He has given these precious children to you for signs and wonders in the world. How does God bring forth signs and wonders? Well, yes, He does it in creation, that’s true, but He loves to do it through His people. His people are His greatest signs and wonders.

Every new creation is a sign and a wonder from the Lord. It’s a miracle. Both those words actually mean “miracle.” They mean “a revealing, a showing forth.” Each new child that is born into the world is a new and fresh image of God who has the potential to reveal something of God in this world. To reveal His love, His salvation, His truth, His joy, and all the character of God, and to bring God to people in this world.

Each new child is unique and a miracle. Every single person born on this planet is a miracle. There’s never been another person like them and there never will be again. They are a unique creation, a powerful creation, an eternal soul, and filled with gifts and talents from God Himself.

No wonder abortion is such an evil, evil treacherous sin. Isn’t it terrible that we are living in a generation and a society where women now murder their own flesh and blood, and where they can do it by law? This generation will be known as a murderous generation and we live in it. And yet we get used to it. We don’t even become aware, or we are not shuddering or abhorring the sin of this generation that we live in. Because when a little child is murdered in the womb, it is a ”sign and wonder” from God that we are eliminating.

Dear lovely mother, your precious children, your little ones, your middling ones, your older ones, they are all signs and wonders and you are the one chosen to prepare these signs and wonders for the revelation of God in the world. You are involved in a signs and wonders ministry. Wow, that is pretty unbelievable!

Let’s be faithful in our task. You may think it’s a little task, but actually it’s a HUGE task. Let’s be faithful in it because it’s so powerful.

No. 5. FERVENTLY

Romans 12:11: “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” We’re to serve the Lord fervently.  The Living Bible says: “Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.”  The CJB says: “Serve the Lord with spiritual fervor.”

Now, that’s more than the ordinary, isn’t it? When you’ve got a bit of fervor about you, you are getting a bit beyond the average or the normal, and that’s how we’re to be.

No. 5. FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

1 Corinthians 10:13: “. . .whatsoever ye do [that means your mothering], do all to the glory of God.” To the glory of God.

You wake up in the morning and you begin your day and you have these children around you. You’re teaching them at home. You’re in your home and you’re going to do it all for the glory of God.  And if you have this attitude, the glory of God will fill your home.

I think perhaps this may be one of the greatest reasons of our adjectives about working for the Lord, is doing it for His glory, so HE will get the glory.

No. 7. HARMONIOUSLY

That means to do it working together. In 1 Corinthians 3:9, Paul is writing to the Corinthians and he says: “For we are laborers together with God. . ..”

2 Corinthians 6:1 says we are   It’s a big thing to learn to work with others, isn’t it? Sometimes we’d rather do it on our own and that also gets back to teaching our children how to work. Teaching them how to do the dishes, teaching them how to cook. Many mothers will say, “Oh, I can do it better than you.” I find I feel like that myself sometimes.

Of course, I’m in a different season now. My children are all grown, but I have loads of people in our home and young people living in our home and they will often do the dishes for me. They are all so wonderful and so faithful in doing them. I notice how slower they are than I am, and I can do it much more quickly.

I think, “Oh, my, they’re having to take so much time out of their time to do these dishes, because they’re doing them slowly. I could do them three times as quickly.” But anyway, they are doing them, so they are being faithful.

But when you’re teaching your children, they are going to do it wrongly and it’s not going to be quite as good as you want it. But you’ve got to keep teaching them and working with them and learning to work harmoniously with them until they get it. So that’s an important point about working too.

No. 8. HEARTILY

With all your heart. In Nehemiah 4:6 they’re rebuilding the walls and it says here the people had a heart and soul (the word mind here means heart and soul) to work. Ephesians 6:6 says: “. . .Doing the will of God from the heart.”

When you do it from your heart, it then affects your actions. So you’ve got to get the right attitude in your heart first. If we’re putting our heart in it, then our body will get into it. Sometimes our body doesn’t get into it much because our heart’s not in it.

Colossians 3:23: “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily. . ..”

No. 9: HUMBLY

Now we see some examples here of Jesus. I think I talked about this in the last podcast, didn’t I? Matthew 20:28: “. . .The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life. . ..”

Jesus said in Luke 22:27: “. . .I am among you as he that serveth.”

I wonder if we could say those words. “I am among you, people in my home, I am among you as one who serves.”

And then we see that beautiful example of Jesus in John chapter 13, where Jesus, the Son of God, rose up and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself and He began to wash His disciples’ feet. He served them.

Then He said to them in John 13:16, 17: “. . .The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

Paul’s example in 1 Corinthians 9:19 he says: “. . .I made myself servant unto all. . ..”

Wow, that was His spirit. That was his habit of life, to serve.

And then we read about the woman in 1 Timothy 5:10. I love this, I think I’ve shared it with you before, but it’s one we need to be reminded of as women because it gives a description of the lifestyle that God intends for women.

It’s talking about widows in this passage. Paul said to Timothy in this passage that if children or grandchildren have widows in their family, they have the responsibility to look after them. However, if they have no children and no grandchildren, then it becomes the church’s responsibility to care for them and watch over them.

But there are a few requisites. One, they had to be 60 years of age and over, and of course they have no living relatives to look after them. And then they had to have lived a certain lifestyle.

And this was the lifestyle: “And have a reputation for good deeds. . ..”

Now, what were these good deeds, good works? The first one “. . .a woman who brought up her children well. . ..” Now, that was the first thing on the list, did you notice that? God always puts first things first. This is a woman who embraced motherhood. She brought up her children.

That word in Greek is teknotropheō. Two words, teknon means child and tropheō, the verb, and there’s another one, trophe, it means, nourishment. The word means “to nourish, to nurse a babe at the breast and to nourish children with food.” That gives a beautiful description of a mother. She begins her motherhood nursing her baby and then she continues to feed her children. She’s always feeding them, always making meals.

Many mothers think, “Help! I don’t have to make another meal now, do I? How many is it that I’ve now cooked . . . is it up to ten thousand? I don’t know!”

But, no, we have to realize this is a glorious and beautiful serving ministry in our home. It is part of our motherhood. This woman, she embraced bringing up children, feeding them, nourishing them.

She also “. . .received strangers in her home, performed humble duties for other Christians, helped people in trouble, and devoted herself to doing good.”

She became a servant, she served in her home and then she served those who had needs, who were poor, needy, and in trouble. This was the lifestyle of the woman who God wanted to bless as she got older and had no one else to provide for her.

Then we read in 1 Peter 5:5 in the Williams Translation: “You must all put on the same servant’s apron of humility to one another.” I love that. The servant’s apron of humility.

I’m one of those ladies who loves to wear aprons. Aprons are not very modern. We don’t see a lot of mothers wearing aprons. Maybe because they don’t do a lot of work in the home. Some of them hardly cook in the home. But I find when I get into the kitchen, I need an apron on. When I’m wearing an apron, I even like to wipe my hands on my apron. So my aprons get very dirty and very stained. But they’re well used aprons. In fact, really, if I don’t wear an apron, I will get my clothes quite marked, and so I love to do that.

But this Scripture says that the apron that we must put on is the servant’s apron of humility. If we’re serving, we’ll have a humble attitude, won’t we? So let’s put on our apron of serving and our apron of humility each day. Even if you’re not wearing a literal apron, put on your apron of serving and humility.

No. 10: IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD

We’re to “Serve the Lord with fear. . .” (Psalm 2:11).

Hebrews 12:28 says: “. . . serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” We are to serve also in the fear of the Lord knowing that everything we do is being done in the presence of the Lord and we are going to give an answer to every deed done in our bodies, the Bible says. So everything we do is in preparation for eternity, for the real world. So we are wanting to do it in the fear of the Lord, walking in the fear of the Lord.

I think this is something that is missing from the church today, is the awe of walking in the fear of the Lord. This is also how we need to serve Him.

Well, time has gone, so let’s pray:

“Dear Father, we thank You that Your Word is filled with so many admonitions showing us the way in which we are to walk and the way we are to live. We think of all these adjectives of how we are to serve You, Lord. We pray that You will save us from serving just boringly but serving You with all our hearts and souls. Serving You diligently, serving You to bring glory to Your name. Serving You, Lord, knowing that You are the One Who we serve. Not really anyone else. We’re doing it for You.

“I pray Your blessing on every mother and daughter and grandmother and all the little ones, every one in each family who are listening, bless them. Please strengthen their marriages, strengthen their homes, and fill them with the joy of the Lord as they serve You. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 49 - How Can We Change the World- Part 15

Rocky: Welcome to the podcast, FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy: Hello ladies, good to be with you again. Perhaps you are listening for the first time. We are currently doing a series called “How do we change the world?” We are finding that we don't change the world by being ordinary, by being normal, by being the status quo. No, we have to go beyond that. We are up to point number 15.

No, 15. WILLING SERVING THE LORD

We don't just serve the Lord, we willingly do it. In fact, today, we are going to find out even more ways that we can serve the Lord. Last time, we looked at that wonderful Scripture in Proverbs 31:13, which says that this woman works willingly with her hands. Now, we see two things here.

We see, first of all, that she works and that really is another name for serving, isn't it? Because when we serve, we have to work. You can't really serve somebody by sitting on the sofa doing your own thing. You have to get up and serve. Today, the words “to serve” and also another word that starts with S, “to submit,” are not very popular words today. It's more popular to serve yourself, to be independent, to look after yourself, but that's not the Bible way.

The Bible way is often opposite to our way. Usually, we think our way is best, so we go along with our way. If only we could realize that God's ways are the ways that work. I have always been challenged, all throughout my life by Mark 8:35 where Jesus said: “For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s shall find it.” We think that we will find our lives by saving them, by looking after number one, by looking after ourselves, making sure we are looked after, and everything is nice for us. We don't have to do too much, and we don't have to pour out our lives for others. That's not how we find life. We actually find our lives by losing our lives in others, by pouring out our lives for others. As we pour out our lives and serve others, we find our lives. We find fulfillment. We find joy. We find blessing. We live an overcoming life. That's how it works. This comes right into our home, right into our motherhood experiences. Once we begin this journey of motherhood, we know it is going to be a serving experience.

We can't be a mother without serving. We can't be a wife without serving. It takes going beyond ourselves. Serving another person, pouring out our lives for someone else, for others, our husband, our children and as they grow, to others outside the home. That is the whole ministry of a woman, pouring out her life for her family and for others.

This is in every woman, even single woman. Women who are not able to have children of their own can still fulfill their great calling of motherhood as they pour out their lives for others. We always think of mother Theresa, don't we? Such a great example but there are many, many other examples too. She was a woman who poured out her life for others. She didn't marry; she didn't give birth to children of her own, but she mothered more children than we will ever dream about. She brought life and sustenance and nurturing and care, and the love and compassion of God to thousands and thousands. She was willing to pour out her life. She forgot about her own life; she poured out her life for others. This is what serving is all about. Whether we like it or not, we will need to serve in our families, but how do we do it?

Do we do it with joy? Do we do it with a willing heart? I think what we need to do is to realize that this is what Jesus did. I think this is our most wonderful example, Jesus, the Son of God. The one who left the glory of heaven, and He was willing to come to this earth, not only to come to this earth, to leave the glory of the eternal world but to come and die.

What did Jesus say in Mark? Let's have a look at it here. Mark 10:42-45. Jesus was speaking here, and he says: “Whosoever desires to become great among you shall become your servant, and whosoever among you desires to be first shall be slave for all. For even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus, who was the son of God, didn't come to be waited on and served. He came to serve, to serve others, and lay down his life. That is what serving is; it's a laying down of your life to bless and serve others. If Jesus could do that, if He lives in us, surely, we will want to do this too.

I know many times as I was mothering my children it seemed as though all I did was serve, serve, serve, all day long, and sometimes I thought, “Goodness, I'm just a jolly servant.” Then the Holy Spirit would come to my heart and say, “Nancy, isn't that what I came to do?” Once again, I would get into perspective. Yes, this is what Jesus came to do. He came to serve. He lives in me, so this is my life. Praise the lord. We see another example of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-8. Here, Paul is writing to the Philippians, and he says: “Let this mind or this attitude be in you.” In other words, have the same attitude Jesus had. “Let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant.” Did you get that, ladies? And took upon him servanthood. He took that upon him: “And was made in the likeness of man and being found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

This is another challenging Scripture. I often think, if we were only allowed one Scripture in the whole of the Bible for us to know how to live a successful marriage, this would be the Scripture. Of course, we have been given so many more. If we were to take this one, just this one, and we thought to have the same attitude that Jesus had who was willing to lay down his godhead, who was willing to become a servant, to humble himself, who was willing to become obedient to the Father's will, I don't think we would have any problems in our marriage. Don't you think that's right? If we could just have this beautiful serving attitude. Because this is the heart of Jesus. This is the attitude of Jesus.

The other day, I was posting a message on Facebook as I do each day. I hope you get on to these messages, Above Rubies Facebook. I write little posts each day to encourage you as a wife and a mother, and I was writing about the different characteristics of Jesus and are these characteristics in us? Of course, one of these characteristics was a serving attitude. I'm looking for a picture. That's usually my most difficult thing in posting a post on Above Rubies. That is finding a picture to go with the article. I was looking and looking, what am I going to post?

I found this lovely picture of a wife serving her husband. Her husband was at the table and she was serving him his food. I thought, what a beautiful picture of serving. It was an old black and white picture, and I thought, isn't that interesting? I couldn't find a modern picture of a wife serving her husband. It's not a thing done today. Back then, it was normal.

I think back to even when I was a child, that was a normal thing for a wife to serve her husband and to have a meal ready for her husband when he came in after a day’s work. She didn't say, “Oh, you're home, better get something out of the cupboards, or fix yourself something.” No, it was her joy and delight to have a meal ready, waiting on the table, ready for her husband. That is a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful serving ministry of a wife to her husband and to her family.

I remember when I was courting my husband, or should I say, he was courting me, and I was visiting his home in a different city. Their grandfather had a bush farm way out, and sometimes he would come by to see them. He would always turn up at a mealtime because, being on his own, way out in the bush, he didn't often have very good meals. As he was coming past the window, he would call out, “Pour out the gravy.” because back in New Zealand, that was part of our normal evening meal. It was usually roast lamb and roast potatoes and pumpkin and parsnips and always gravy with your meat.

What was he doing when he said that? “Look, I'm here, it's time to put the meal on the table and pour out the gravy.” I think some women would feel most offended if their husband said that as he came past the window or even in the door. That was normal back then. He wasn't doing anything that was abnormal. It was expected and why shouldn't it be expected? God created us to be helpmeets to our husbands, to be helpers to them.

That is definitely not an insignificant thing because that word “help” in the Hebrew is ezer. That word was first used to describe women, but that word is also used to describe God, the one who is our Help and our Shield who comes to help us. It's a character quality of God Himself. In embracing that, we have the privilege to be like God, and we are as God to our husband as we serve him. The Hebrew word even takes on more meaning. It's a word that means to save, to be strong. It's a woman of strength and honor who has that grace to serve her husband. She's not some little three-year-old, some immature person who hasn't even grown up yet and has to have her own way and do her own thing and can't serve anybody else. That is immaturity because serving comes with maturity. Have you noticed that, ladies? Serving comes with maturity.

Little children don't really know how to serve. They are very self-serving. We are having to look after them and they are self-centered, and it takes time for them to learn to go beyond that and not be taken up with themselves as they get older, to see that the world does not revolve around them. We have to teach them that.

I hope you are teaching your children that the world does not revolve around them, and they should not get everything they want just when they ask it. Every time they go to shop, “Can I have that?” If they don't, they throw a tantrum. No, we teach them when we go out shopping, they don't ask for anything. You are going to bring home all the things we need for the family, to feed the family for the next week and maybe you'll even bring home some surprises for the children. You don't want them to ever get into the habit of thinking, when they see something, that they can have it. That's training them to have an entitlement mentality which so many people have today. It's destroying our nation.

We are training our children out of that; we are training them for maturity; we are training them how to serve others, and we are training them for their future marriage. Remember that, precious ladies. Think of when you're giving into your children, when you allow them to have what they want because they want it and so on, how that's going to help them when they are married. Instead of being someone who's mature and knows how to serve, they only know how to serve themselves; they are going to be self-serving. We don't want to train children like that. We are training children to maturity, to be servers. This is a sign of maturity because Jesus revealed it, and certainly, He was the most mature of us all, wasn't he?

I think of Psalm 40:7-8, and this is a prophetic word of Jesus, and it's looking to the future. He's still in eternity. And it says: “Then said I, 'Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of men, I delight to do thy will, oh my God.'” I often contemplate how that Jesus, who was the lamb of God, was the lamb of God not only when he came to this earth; He was the Lamb of God before the foundation of the world. It tells us that in the word of God. The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world and all through eternity, Jesus knew that he was the Lamb. He had to know that there would come this day when He would have to leave the glory; He would have to come to earth; He would have to humble himself; He would have to become a servant, and He would have to die. He would have to take upon himself not only our sin but the most horrendous sin that's ever been committed in the world, the most painful sicknesses and heartaches that have ever been felt in this world. He took them upon himself, and He took our place and died in our place. He looked toward that.

What were his words? Yes, it's written in the volume of the book. This is God's plan, the plan of salvation to redeem mankind. He says: “I delight to do thy will, oh my God.” We will never face anything like the serving that Jesus did. We serve so little in our homes, surely, we can do that with delight. Jesus said in John 5:30: “I seek not thine own will but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” He delighted to do the Father's will.

Precious mother, in your home, you are in the perfect will of God. You are fulfilling the will of your Father, your Father God. Your creator created you for motherhood. He created you for this purpose. He created your body to be able to conceive and bear a child, to nurse a babe at your breasts and to be a nurturing, nourishing human being. This is who you are as a female. As you embrace the precious children that He gives to you, you didn't do it. God gave them to you. You couldn't make conception happen. Conception comes from God. He gave these children to you for you to care for and raise for Him. You are in His perfect will.

Can you speak like Jesus? I don't seek my own will but the will of my Father. Sometimes, you're not really rejoicing in it; you're grumbling in it maybe. Are you having a grumbling day today? Can I remind you, dear lovely mother, you will find that when you embrace your Father's will, you'll begin to enjoy your motherhood. enjoy your life in your home. You will be embracing what you were born for, so don't grumble, embrace it, live in the joy.

Jesus said in John 6:38: “For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” As you get up each morning, mother, what is your purpose? Is it to do your own will or the will of your Father in heaven? We have two choices every day, to do our own will, what we want to do, or yield our lives to the Father's will, to do what He wants us to. Of course, it's very plain when He gives us children, that's the work He’s given us to do, the work. We are talking about serving God willingly, the work He has given us to do. When He gives you children, that's the work He has given you to do. Embrace it. You put aside your own will.

What are you saying? Are you saying Amen? Do you know that the sheep say Amen?

God calls us His sheep. There are two animals that God likens His people to, well really, His people, He only likens them to sheep: “My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me.” In the Psalms, He also calls us His flock.

In the New Testament, it also talks about goats. The goats, they are the ones when the Judgment Seat comes, the sheep will go to the right hand of the Father and the goats to the left. What do the sheep say? The sheep are a very submissive animal; they are a meek animal, and the sheep say “Aaaaamen. What do the goats do? The goats butt. “But Lord, do I have to do this? But I can't do this.” They are always butting, and if you've ever had a goat, you'll know that they love to butt. That's one of the differences between the sheep and the goats.

Let's embrace serving. To serve means to work and work means to serve. I think of the story of Rehoboam. Do you remember Rehoboam? That was Solomon's son who became king after him. After Solomon dies, the people came to King Rehoboam, and they said: “Your father ruled us with a pretty strong hand, and he took lots of taxes from us.” Solomon was an amazing king, and he established the richest kingdom in the world at that time. Maybe it was the richest kingdom in the world of all time if we compared the monetary value to what it is today. I mean, his kingdom was filled with gold. Just about everything was made of gold and the temple was made of gold, and his home was made of gold and all the most amazing things. He was the wealthiest king. To do this, he put taxes on the people.

Anyway, so they said to Rehoboam: “If you'll lighten the burden upon us, we will serve you forever.” Rehoboam thought: “What will I do?” He went to the elders who had always advised his father, the older men of God, and he said: “What do you think I should say to the people?” They said, this is what you should say to them.

1 Kings 12:7: “If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day and will serve them and will speak good words to them then they will be your servants forever.” That was interesting advice, especially when this was given to a king. This wasn't told to an ordinary person; this wasn't told to just some servants. This was spoken to the king reigning in Solomon's stead in the wealthiest kingdom in the world at that time. These elders are telling him: “Rehoboam, if you'll be a servant to your people, and you'll serve them, they'll serve you forever.”

 He thought: “I don't know about that. I'll see what the young men say.” He went to all his contemporaries and all his young fellows and said: “What do you think I should say?” They told him the opposite. They told him to make things harder than ever. 1 Kings 12: He took notice of the young men around him; he didn't take notice of the older men who had wisdom. In verse 13, it says: “And the king answered the people roughly and forsook the older men's council that they gave him and spoke to them after the council of the young men saying, 'My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke. My father also chastised you with whips, but I chastise you with scorpions.'”

What happened? The people fled. They went off and chose another king, King Jeroboam. King Rehoboam was only left with two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, because he didn't listen to those wise words. Weren't they interesting? Words to a mighty king, yet they were words to serve.

We may not be a literal queen, but we are queens in our home. We are ruling over a domain, but God wants us to also be servants in our home.

I was talking about sheep, and I'm quite familiar with sheep having come from New Zealand. New Zealand is a sheep country and wherever you drive in that beautiful land of glorious green hills and fields and paddocks (you don't use that word “paddocks” here in USA), but we have sheep all over these beautiful paddocks.

Did you know that the sheep is an animal that serves and loves to give? In fact, it is the most giving animal of all animals. All the year round the faithful sheep grows its wool. It doesn't grow it for itself; it grows it to give away. Every year, once a year or even twice year (it has now become more popular twice a year to shear the sheep), the shearer shears all the wool off the sheep, and the sheep doesn't grumble. It doesn't complain, it doesn't kick, it doesn't fight, but it submits and yields and willingly gives its wool for the blessing of others.

Jesus himself was likened to a sheep. In Isaiah 53:7: “As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.” Of course, that was talking about him being a Lamb led to the crucifixion. As I said, I'm a little familiar with sheep, my father having been the world champion sheep shearer in his day. I'm sitting here in my living room doing this podcast looking at some of my pictures on the wall. I often call my home a sheep house because I have lots of memories of our country of New Zealand. I have sheep skins, and I have pictures of my father shearing sheep and also pictures of him at the big tourist show in New Zealand called Agrodome where they used to, well, they still do, but he has, of course, passed away now but where he used to entertain people and show them how to shear a sheep and how they trained the sheep dogs.

I want to read you something here, and this was written by, not my father but his brother, Godfrey Bowen who was also a great man in the shearing world. He wrote a book about sheep and shepherds, and I'd love to read you this.

“How impressive the sight of the giving sheep. The soft valuable wool contributed so willingly by the humble sheep who, when shorn, stripped bare and a little cold has given all that it has to give. What a wonderful sacrifice. And once shorn, that sheep is off again away on the range to grow it all over again. The sheep makes no fuss, waits for no compliments for its wondrous fleece because it has given as a sheep has always given because this is what it was born for. This is what it lives for, to give willingly all that it has.” Then he goes onto say, “The more we give, the more we receive; the more we give away, the more comes back to us. The more we serve, the more we grow in happiness, contentment and peace of soul.”

Lovely ladies, as we talk about working willingly, serving joyfully, will you do that today and realize that serving is not something to be looked upon negatively, just as submission is not be looked upon negatively. They are beautiful attributes. They are both beautiful attributes of God. They are attributes He loves to see in us, His people. Because they are His attributes, they are in us. We can squash them because we are demanding our own way. When we yield to Him, He will live these beautiful attributes of serving and submission through our lives.  They will bring beauty and love and joy to our marriage and bring beauty and love and joy to the atmosphere of our homes. Amen.

Let me pray.

“Dear Father in heaven, we thank You, thank You so much that You came to this earth to give Your life, to serve. You didn't hold on to all the glory that You had in eternity, but You gave it up for us. Lord God, we ask that You will help us to have the same attitude that Jesus has. And that You will come into our lives and fill our lives with Your beautiful attributes of serving and Lord, that we will delight to serve because You delight to serve. You said, “I delight to do your will, Oh my God.” Help us to delight to do Your Will. Delight in our mothering, delight in our homemaking, delight in serving our husbands. We ask that You will do this in us by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.”

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 48 - How Can We Change the World- Part 14

Rocky Barrett: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies.  We are now up to . . .

No. 16. WILLINGLY SERVING THE LORD

God not only wants us to serve Him, but to willingly serve Him. We are finding in each one of these points an adjective that goes with them. God doesn’t want us to do anything ordinarily, but extraordinarily. In serving the Lord, He doesn’t want us to just serve Him just because we have to serve Him. No, but to do it willingly, out of our hearts. And of course, the greatest way that we are going to serve the Lord as mothers with children is in our homes—mothering, homemaking, and being a wife. They’re not mundane things. they are so powerful and, oh wow, when we can do these willingly, it just makes such a difference.

I wonder if we can go to that lovely Scripture in 1 Corinthians 15:58 where it says: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast. unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

This Scripture speaks to us as mothers because it’s talking about our work for the Lord. Everyone is working for the Lord in a different way.  If God has blessed you with children, you are a mother working for the Lord in your home, raising these children and making your home a beautiful place, a place that’s filled with the presence of God and doing many other things in your home. 

The home is such an amazing place to do so many projects, a place where you can bring people into your home to love them, and to feed them, and to show hospitality. It’s a place where you can create and make things to bless other people. Of course a lot of that depends on the season of your motherhood. When you have little ones, they take your whole life and you often don’t get much time to do anything else in your whole day. 

I can remember when I had three in 17 months, and then I had four children under four and so on. In those early days that’s all I did, was to mother these children and to care for my home and my husband. I would often write lists of things I wanted to do but I don’t think I ever got anything done at all. I don’t think I ever crossed anything off my list. Well, actually, I have to confess that even today I write lists and I still never cross everything off my list that I put down. Life is filled with so many things I want to do, but, the end, I had to realize that I am doing the most important thing. 

Then, as your children get older and they grow up and you get bigger ones and you get children in their teens, and you train them how to cook, run the house, and do many other projects, wow, the things you can accomplish in the home are absolutely amazing!

And many of these wonderful, creative things you will do to bless other people. Some will even be used to bring money into your home. You can do a business right there in your home and that can be a wonderful blessing, as long as you do it, as I said, in the right season.

Because when you do this, it’s doing it with your children and having your children to help and it’s usually a season of when they’re grown up with you and you have all these helpers who can help you in the home, can help you with the creative things you are doing, and that’s blessing them and enlarging them also. And so we wait for our season. Wherever we are, whatever season, we’re going to be doing it for the Lord, aren’t we? 

I must take you to this little passage here as I’m thinking of it, because I said how we can use our gifts and our creative talents and the projects we do, often to bless our home financially. But even in doing that I think we do have to be very careful that we don’t always do things for monetary gain.

What does it say? 1 Peter 4:9-10: “Use [or practice] hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

So God is saying here, as you’ve received the gift, not one of us have a gift of ourselves, every gift/talent that God has given to us, comes from God. He wants us to use the gifts that He has given us to employ them, to use them to serve one another. It doesn’t actually say in this Scripture to use it for your own, or your own monetary gain. Which, yes, there is importance in that, too, because we do have to care for our house or our households.

And although our husband is the provider of the home, in that season when we have older children we can continue to bless and do things in our homes. But let’s remember that our gifts are given to us, not just for monetary gain. Our gifts are given to us to bless others, to serve others. I think it’s a beautiful thing to do that, to realize, “Oh, Lord God, You’ve given me this gift, I want to use it to bless others.”

Erin Harrison and I, we do a talk show together. Some of you may have watched our Talk Show. We do it every Tuesday. It’s now on YouTube, Erin now puts it on YouTube. Just last week we were talking about this very thing and how important it is to do this, and to teach our children this too.

So many children today grow up with an entitlement mentality. Even if they do something in the home, or of course they have their faithful jobs and chores they need to do each day, but sometimes when we want them to do  something extra special or extra that needs being done, parents will say, “Well, look, I’ll pay you for that,” or “I’ll give you so much.” Well, that can be good.  But why is it that we have to pay our children for something special they do? We can do that sometimes. I love to do that! When our children were preparing at Christmas time and they wanted to earn money to buy Christmas presents I would think of all the extra jobs around the home—cleaning the windows (that didn’t usually get done) and all those kinds of jobs. I would pay them for it because they were working to get presents for Christmas.

We do have seasons when we’ll do that too,  but not everything. Not everything. Oh, I can’t believe the way children just expect things today. Dear ladies, don’t raise and train your children to grow up expecting things all the time, expecting something every time they go to town.

Or if you go out, “I’ll bring you something home!” I beg your pardon! Come on now, what are we training them for? We’re putting in an entitlement mentality that, “If mummy and daddy are going out for the night, then I’m entitled to get something because they went out.” Or if an extra job is needed to be done around the home because something is happening or someone is coming and we’ve got to get the place really cleaned up, well, they really shouldn’t have to be paid to do it. It’s part of family life.

Let’s raise our children to be those who will be employed to serve one another in the family, or even to serve outside the home. I think that is very important. That’s learning to serve the Lord willingly and aboundingly. 

Isn’t that what this Scripture says here in 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Always abounding in the work of the Lord. . . .”  That word “abound” is the word perisseuō and it means “to excel, to increase, to superabound, enough and to spare, over and above.” Do you understand how that word means “more than the necessary, over and above”? Let’s begin to do our mothering that way and to serve the Lord that way in everything we do and train our children how to serve in the family this way and to serve other people this way.

I love this Scripture because do you notice the end of it? We’re to be “Always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor . . . “  (Oh, did you notice that word? Your labor. What does that mean? Your work. Work, yes work. Did you get it? It is work, and motherhood is work. Yes, you’re not afraid of work, are you? I believe work is a wonderful thing and I think we should have the right attitude about it even in our homes.

Motherhood is not something where we just sit on the sofa and it all just happens. No, we have to work to keep our homes and manage them well. We have to work to mother our children. We have to work at homeschooling our children. It is work. But is work something that is a drudgery? Is work something that’s mundane? Is work something we just have to do until we can just relax and do what we want to do?

No, I believe work is life! We should embrace it and enjoy it and make it our lives. In fact, we really, I think, have it easy. Most of us have a weekend off in our lives these days, whereas God said, “Six days shalt thou work and on the seventh you shall rest.”

Some of us actually do have more rest than actually working six days. I believe that work is something to be enjoyed if we have the right attitude.

In fact I did write something else about work that I wanted to share with you. I’ve just been doing a study about “good works.” I started off with the word “good” and I’m looking up all of the Scriptures of the good things God wants us to do. My list is getting so long of all the good things that God wants us to do. Then, I have just noticed this morning about how He wants us to do good works and I found four different Scriptures that are related particularly to women specifically about good works.

Now there are loads of Scriptures that talk to everybody about good works.

In fact, Ephesians 2:10 says that we were “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” We are not saved through good works. Only through the precious blood of Jesus. But we are saved unto good works so that when we are born again, “not of works, lest any man should boast.” But then we come into showing good works so that we will glorify God. What does it say in Matthew 5:16? “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Let’s have a look at the Scriptures specifically to women, shall we?

1 Timothy 5:10 is the first one. And this is written about an older woman, about a widow actually. Paul was writing to Timothy about a problem they had in the church. They had a lot of widows and they did not know what to do with them all. So Paul says, “Okay, so if these widows have children or they have grandchildren, they must look after them and care for them. This is their responsibility.”

This is still our responsibility today, to care for our parents, especially for a mother if the father has passed away. It’s our responsibility now to care for her, that’s biblical. But then, there were obviously women who didn’t have family for some reason, or maybe they lived far away, or passed on, too. And Paul said, “Okay, those women, you can care for them, provide for them from the church if they have lived (well, they had to be 60 years of age or older) a certain lifestyle.”

Now, when we read about this lifestyle, we get an understanding of God’s heart for mothers, for women. It says: “Well reported of for good works.” Okay, there’s our first one written to women about good works. Now, what are these good works?

Let’s look at the first one: “If she have brought up children.” Now I find that very interesting because God always put’s first things first. Everything in the Word of God is not haphazard, it’s all just how He wants it. It’s all in order. And this is the very first thing on the list: “If she’s brought up children.” The word for “brought up” is teknotropheō. Teknon is “child” and tropheō is “to feed, to nourish.” So that word means that she has embraced children and she has fed and nourished them.

She firstly nourishes the babe at her breast. Then as her little one gets older and then more children come along, she’s feeding them and feeding them. It’s interesting that the Scripture uses this particular word about mothering because one of the biggest things we do as mothers is prepare meals. Anybody notice that? Yes, every breakfast, every lunch, every super time and in between as well, you will be feeding your children.

But darling ladies, this is a good work. Did you know that? You see, it’s good to know the Scriptures, isn’t it? So we know it’s not just, “Oh goodness me, I have to get some more food for these children.” And as they grow up, they have to eat more. If you’ve got teenage boys, you’ll know you can hardly fill them.

I can remember when my boys were in their teens, I’d cook this big dinner (of course, that was back in New Zealand days) and I’d cook a big dinner. Most likely a big piece of lamb and roast vegetables around it. That was a typical New Zealand meal. So I’d feed all these boys and the rest of the family. Of course they were in their late teens and early twenties, the older boys by then. We’d have this big meal, have devotions, do all the dishes and then be hanging around and suddenly, “Oh, where’s Wes and Steve?”

One of the others would say, “Oh, they’ve gone to McDonalds.” I mean, I’ve just fed them this huge meal, but then they had to go and top it off. It’s very hard to fill them when they’re in that stage of their lives.

And so, you are a feeder. Dear, darling mothers, don’t despise feeding.  It’s a powerful thing, it’s part of your mothering. It’s a good work.

Then it goes on to say, “If she have lodged strangers.” If she has opened her home in hospitality. Hospitality has always been a part of my home life. When my children were little, we still opened our doors in hospitality, and we’ve continued to do it throughout all our lives. It was one of the greatest blessings of our lives. It’s so wonderful to invite others to join you at your table. It’s so lovely to have other families with children your age.

As our children grew and they got into their teens I would invite wonderful godly families with children the same ages as ours to our home and around for a meal. The children would get to know one another and become great friends. It became such a powerful thing because they found friends that were of good caliber and kindred spirits. We could be happy that they were hanging out with them because we could trust them and that was such a wonderful thing.

You can do that with hospitality. And of course you can reach out to those who are needy and needing encouragement and love and just the joy of being enveloped and welcomed into a family. That is one of the good works of this woman. We see that her motherhood extended. As her children grew, her motherhood did not stop. See, ladies, motherhood is not meant to stop. It’s not just for a certain time. No, our motherhood grows, it enlarges, it extends so when our children grow and they leave the nest, we’re just bringing more into the nest. We’re continuing to reach out to those who are needing and hurting.

We see this beautiful picture here and it finishes here that “If she have diligently followed [not just followed, but diligently followed] every good work.”

All these things are good works. They’re the lifestyle that God intends for women. And so we can embrace this lifestyle.

In 1 Timothy, the same book, chapter 2, verse 10, it talks about the woman professing godliness with good works. There it is again.

Then we go to Titus chapter 2, verse 5, about teaching the younger women. In Titus 2:5 we see here that one of the things that the older women are to teach them is that they are to be keepers at home. Now, that’s an interesting one. Most translations are taken from either one of two ancient manuscripts. So different translations will have a different Greek word.

Now the one Greek word is this, it’s actually oikourogo and it’s from two Greek words: oikos meaning “home” and ergon meaning “to work.” So you will see that some translations say:  “workers at home.” That is true and that is good. I am a great believer in women working. 

Of course, I don’t believe that they’re meant to be out in the corporate world working. God wants them to be workers at home. Some translations say: “home workers.”

Now when we’re in the home, we’re not going to be just hanging around being lazy. We are working in the home, it’s a work. Here we see it—“Work.”

The other word is oikouros It’s from two words also: oikos meaning “home” and ouros meaning “to guard, to watch over, to take responsibility.” That’s a wonderful translation, too, I love both of them. “Home workers” and “Home Guarders.” We work hard in the home and we guard the home. You can’t be a guardian of the home, you can’t be a watchdog over your children’s lives, over their minds, their souls, their spirits, and their bodies if you’re not there. You have to be home to guard your home.

And interestingly, ladies, we see this very same thing way back in Genesis. We go to Genesis chapter two, verses 8 and 15 and it says there:  “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden . . . And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

So there were two things God wanted us to do in the home and, can you believe it? They’re exactly the two things that I just shared about! One is “work” and one is “guard.” Isn’t that interesting?

The first, “to dress it,” that’s the Hebrew word, avad and it means “to work, to serve, to labor, to toil.” It means to toil with the sweat coming down your brow! The same word is used for, “there was not a man to till the ground.” It’s man out there tilling the ground in the hot sun, the sweat pouring down his brow. It’s real work.

Then the other word, “to keep it,” is the word shamar which means “to hedge about, to guard, to protect, to watch.”

And so, those two initial things God gave for the home in the very beginning, in Genesis chapter two: to work, and then to protect and guard, are the same two things we see in Titus chapter two. We are to be home workers and we are to be home guarders, protecting and watching over our children. Isn’t that amazing how we get it in the Old and we get it in the New?

The other one that is specifically for women is Acts 9:36, where it talks about Dorcas who made these coats for all the needy people and it says she “was full of good works.” FULL of good works.

So, going back to our Scripture, we are to be always abounding in the work of the Lord. That means in our mothering, in our homemaking. “For as much as we know that our work, our labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Lovely ladies, your work in your home, sometimes you feel you don’t really think you’re accomplishing much. I want to tell you, it’s not in vain in the Lord. If you’re doing it as unto the Lord, it’s not in vain. You will receive your reward.

There is a reward day coming. I mean, you’ll get it in this life. I mean, I have my rewards. Oh goodness me, the blessings and the rewards of our children and their children and now their children—there is no greater reward in the whole of this world. This is the greatest life anyone can live with children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren around them. They are riches!

In fact, a dear friend was staying with us recently. They were passing by and stayed the night and she gave me a gift. It was a wall plaque with every month of the year written on it and then she gave me little cards that I could hang to put the birthdays of every one of our children and grandchildren and so on, on these little round cards. So I got my Above Rubies helper to help me in this. Morgan writes beautiful calligraphy. So I said, “You can do it with calligraphy.”

Well, my friend gave me 100 little cards and we have used every one of them, except two, and this year I think we’ll fill them! And so we are just on 100 people and starting with Colin and me. Isn’t that amazing? I mean, talk about reward in this life! It’s unbelievable! And I haven’t even got to the next life yet! Wow! Be encouraged ladies, be encouraged! Oh, you have rewards ahead and you will be so blessed.

Let’s pray, shall we?

“Father, we thank You so much for all of Your goodness to us, Your blessings, Your blessing of marriage, Your blessing of a home, just a roof over our heads, a home to make life in it, our children. Oh God, we thank You and praise You. Help us to be filled with joy and gratitude and thankfulness for all of Your goodness.

I pray Your blessing upon every daughter, mother, and grandmother listening that, Lord God, You will give them a vision to see beyond what they are doing today. Sometimes they don’t see much further than today. Lord, give them a vision of what is ahead and that what they are doing today is not in vain. There is a reward coming here in this life and in the eternal.

I ask Your mighty blessing on every marriage and every home and every mother and every child listening. In Jesus Name. Amen.”

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 47- How Can We Change the World- Part 13

Rocky: Welcome to the podcast, FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy: Hello ladies, daughters, mothers, and grandmothers. Lovely to be with you again today. We are now up to point number 14 on HOW DO WE CHANGE THE WORLD? We are talking about this as wives and mothers. We may not be out there in the corporate world, we may be hidden in our home, but I believe that we can be world changers.

NO. 14. DILIGENTLY EMBRACING MOTHERHOOD
God not only wants us to be mothers but to whole-heartedly embrace mothering. We are finding out that we don't really impact the world, or we don't impact anyone around us very much if we are ordinary and status-quo. No, it's only as we are more, as we are more than is necessary, we are abundant, we are over the top. This applies even in mothering. We can just do mothering and get by. I think this is how many women mother. They just get through each day. They somehow survive.

God wants us to thrive as mothers. He wants us to thrive in every aspect of our being, in every moment of our life. It's not so much what we are doing, but who we are being that causes us to impact other lives. As a mother, you have such a privilege to impact and influence lives. You have little ones all around you, some of you have middling ones, others of you have teens and bigger ones and some who are married with having their own children.

With every season of life, we are influencing; we are training; we are imparting. That which we pour into our children, it goes on. It goes into their lives, and then it continues into future lives, and into their marriages, and into the children that they train, and into future generations. As mothers, we are impacting not only this generation and not only this nation. Mothers are those who are truly the IMPACTORS OF THE NATION because we produce the next generation. The next generation will be how we have input it into their lives, how we have trained and mothered and nurtured and inspired our children. This determines what the next generation will be like. Mothers determine the destiny of nations.

Precious ladies, no matter who you are today, with little ones or big ones, you are determining the future of this nation. You have such a powerful role. Don't just try to survive and think, “Oh wow, I've got to look after my children, but I've got lots of other things I want to be doing.” No, this is the most important thing you will ever do.

I realize that more myself now at this stage and this season of my life than I did when I was in the throes of it. Yes, I can remember being in the throes of mothering. I think back to the days when I had my first children. I started off with my first baby and then seventeen months later, I had another two babies. I had three babies in seventeen months when I started out. At that time, it was an overwhelming time.

We had just come back from the Philippine Islands where we had been missionaries. We came back to New Zealand, and we were living out of suitcases for the first little while, and I was there suddenly with these three little babies, three little babies in “nappies”, as we use to call them Down Under. I have to remember to say diapers now here in the States, but that's what we used to call them. Back then, I didn't have the washing machines that we have today. I remember having an old ringer washing machine where you wash the clothes in that and then you have to put them through the ringer. We didn't have dryers, so I would have to wash and then put them through this ringer, turning it by hand, enough diapers for three little babies and then hang them out on the line.

We always hung our clothes out on the line. There weren't any dryers. New Zealand is a wet country. The Maori name for our country, New Zealand, is Aotearoa, meaning the Land of the Long White Cloud. Often when we fly back to New Zealand and we arrive in Auckland, it's like that. You look out, and there's this long cloud. Of course, we are not seeing the whole country. Even what we do see, there's this cloud over it because it rains a lot and that's why it's so beautiful and green. The green often is like as though it's luminous it's so green. It's so amazing. Even the vegetables are greener and brighter. I love going into a Greengrocer. Yes, that's what we used to call it. That's where you buy your greens and your vegetables, a Greengrocer, or even the supermarket. Seeing all the vegetables, I can’t believe how much brighter, greener they are. It's amazing. There's a different ozone layer down there in New Zealand.

In fact, I was talking today with some folks at lunchtime. One of my little granddaughters came in and she'd been playing out in the sun this morning. Her skin is quite white, and she wasn't sunburned, but she had this pinkness all over her skin. It was so lovely, just lovely to see her out in the sun. I was saying that back when I was a child, I was continually sunburned in the summer, and I was just covered in blisters. It was normal to have blisters all over my shoulders, and that's going out on a cloudy day.

You can be playing out on a cloudy day and come in and be sunburned and blistered. It's quite amazing. Whereas here where we live in Tennessee, our summers are so much hotter than we ever experienced in New Zealand, but we don't get sunburned the same. In fact, I can remember our children, some of our children were prone to freckles like I was as a child. I remember our eldest son. He was a redhead. He had so any freckles that all his freckles turned into one big blob there were so many of them. It's amazing now, he's in his fifties, and they've all faded now.

Pearl, our beautiful Pearl, and most of you know Pearl of Trim Healthy Mama, well, I don't know if she would like me telling her secrets, but when she was a little girl, she was covered in freckles. She hated her freckles. She got most of them when we lived in New Zealand. Then we moved to Australia for ten years, and Pearl was in her teens at the time. Although we lived just about right on the beach, the rolling breakers of the Pacific Ocean, I don't think Pearly hardly ever went to the beach. If she did, she was totally covered up because she didn't want any more freckles, and her whole life was just getting rid of her freckles. Well, I can’t see a freckle on her today. They do fade as you don't live out in the sun.

Anyway, I don't quite remember how I got talking about sun and freckles. I was talking about motherhood and back in those days when I'd hang out clothes on the line. I still love to hang my clothes out on the line. I'm one of those great believers in getting the sun on your clothes and airing them in the sun and letting the wonderful sun sanitize your clothes and deodorize them. In fact, I refuse to sleep on sheets that haven't been dried out in the sunshine. I always wait for a sunny day to wash my beautiful linen sheets because after many, many years of saving and saving and saving, I actually didn't buy them. God wonderfully blessed me, and someone gave them to me as a gift. I love linen sheets because linen is such a healthy fabric, along with wool, the healthiest fabric there is, and I certainly don't like to lie in synthetic sheets all night.

Synthetic clothes are not really good for us. I wear them myself, especially when I'm going out, although I try not to wear synthetic around home because it's not good for you. I think, I'm sleeping all night in sheets, so I'm now so happy to have my linen sheets, and I always dry them in the sun. They come in so aired and beautiful. I love to dry all my clothes in the sun, although I haven't even got a clothesline.

Now, Pearl and Serene know how much I love hanging out my clothes so a few years back for Christmas, they bought me a clothesline, a revolving one. One of those that we used to have in New Zealand where it is revolving around. Somehow, my loving, wonderful husband still hasn't had time to put it up. So, I hang my clothes on the deck. At least I get them out in the air.

I think I was getting onto that because when I had my eldest son, then the twins only seventeen months later, and after I had been washing all the diapers, I'd go out and hang them on this line. I'd take the twins out, and I had swings for them. I would hang one swing on the other side of the clothesline and one swing on the other to balance it out. As I twirled the clothesline to hang up the nappies and all the baby clothes and all the other clothes, they would swing around with me. That was how I kind of cared for them while I was hanging out the clothes. They were very overwhelming days.

In fact, I have to go back to those days to let you know that that's really where I got the revelation for God's heart for mothering. I didn't have it when I started. Well, of course I loved my children. Doesn't every mother love her children? When my first baby was born, I could not fathom this love I had for this baby; it was so incredible. I wondered how I would ever love another baby as much. How could you have enough love for another person when you love this one so much?

Of course, these babies came along, and you find then you have as much love for them. Although I loved these children, I still hadn't come to that place of loving motherhood. You see, when Colin and I got together and were engaged, it was while we were engaged that we, my husband, went out full time for God. We have really been serving the Lord full time since we were engaged. My vision was to change the world for God.

We got married, and we had our first baby and then these two babies came along, all unexpected. Can you believe it, that I didn't know I was having twins until I had them? Now today, that would be hard to believe because everyone has their ultrasounds every month to check their baby. Back in those days, we didn't have ultrasounds. In fact, I wasn't even checked until the end of my pregnancy. I conceived in the Philippine Islands, and we came back to New Zealand when I was about eight months pregnant. I went to a doctor. He said, “Well, everything looks fine. Actually, I'm going off to England so when you are ready to have the baby, go into the hospital. Whoever is on duty will look after you.” That's just what happened.

In fact, I went in a week early, and it was a false alarm and still nobody detected twins. Nobody looked at me and said, “Oh my, you look big. Do you think you could be having twins?” You see, I'm tall. I may have shrunk a little bit, but I am/was 6 ft, so nobody really noticed. Although, I did. I thought, “My, I've got some huge baby in here.” It wasn't until my due date that I went in again, yes, I was in labor again and lasted right till then for twins. They were listening to the heartbeat with the old doppler, and the nurse said, “Hmm, interesting, I can hear another heartbeat. Oh well, could be an echo. Let's just wait and see!”

Evangeline was born. They felt my tummy. “Oh yes, there's another one there,” they said. About five minutes later, Stephen was born. That was the first news that I ever had that we were having twins. Suddenly, here I was, with three little babies in four walls, living out of suitcases, washing nappies with this old ringer washing machine and didn't know anybody, just come back from the Philippine Islands, and I wondered what had happened to me. My husband, he kept going out serving the Lord, and I was stuck at home.

Do you know, ladies, at that time, I thought that I had got out of the will of God? “Oh God, what have I done with my life? I can no longer serve You. I'm stuck home with these three babies. Oh God, I'm sorry, what have I done?” I kept crying out to Him, and He began to show me. He began to reveal to me that I was in His perfect will, that He had chosen to create me a female in order to fulfill His destiny in me. It was as a female that He would be glorified in me. It was at that time that I realized, yes, this is who I am. I had never really embraced my femaleness before in my whole life. I'd always wanted an adventurous life, and I thought, “Oh my, the men have so much more adventure, and why am I a woman?” But God had to come, and He showed me, “I created you this way. I created you. Your body is created for childbearing. This is how I made your body. It's totally different to a male body. I have given you a womb; I have given you breasts. Every way I have created your body is for childbearing, even right down to your elbow.” They are shaped differently than man's; they are shaped in a way that is easy to cradle babies. Every part of a women's body is created for ultimate childbearing.

I didn't get this revelation all in one hit; it came little by little. As God showed it to me, I was able to embrace, for the very first time in my life, my femininity, my womanhood, my motherhood, so I embraced it. I was able to come little by little to that place of not only loving my children but loving motherhood, knowing I was in the perfect will of God, knowing it was His destiny for me. As I began to embrace it and love it, I could begin to walk in the fullness of it and the joy of it.

When we don't come to that place, we walk in frustration. Perhaps you may be a mom who is in a frustrated place at the moment. I understand. I was a frustrated mother in the beginning; I was frustrated. I loved these children, but I had not embraced motherhood. I felt that I had more important things to do. I had to come to that place of embracing, embracing with all my heart, knowing that this was God's destiny upon my life, that this is who He had created me to be. As a mother, I would fulfill this destiny that He had for me. It was a very powerful time in my life. I was able to come into that, and of course, more and more as I walked in motherhood.

Everything in our lives is a MORE AND MORE walk, isn't it, lovely ladies? I simply love that Scripture in Proverbs 4:18 which says: “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” I always call my walk with the Lord a more and more walk. It's always more and more. In fact, if we get in a rut and we are not coming into more understanding and revelation of our great God, we are in a rut. Even in our motherhood, if we aren't coming to more understanding of God's incredible role for us as wives and mothers, we are in a rut. We are never meant to be in a rut. There's always more if we will only seek after Him and embrace what He gives us and then be open for more and more.

Now, some of you are in that time of little ones all around you that I was talking about in my life, and some of you are getting older children, some even older. I'm in the season now of not only being a grandmother but being a great-grandmother, yet have I finished learning about motherhood? No, I'm still learning. I come to God every day, “Father, I'm here to learn more from You. I know You have so much in Your heart for us as wives and mothers. I want You to show me more of Your ways because I'm an older mother now, and I have a responsibility to teach the younger women. Show me Your ways.”

God is continually opening the Scriptures to me. They are always new. The Scriptures are like that. You can read the Word from cover to cover, and you go back, and you still are finding new things. Don't you love it? I hope there are some older moms listening today along with young moms. Dear older, fellow mothers, we have such a responsibility to teach and encourage and train the young mothers. Don't vacate this very important season, this important watch of your mothering, which is the watch of you're now responsible for another generation. It does concern me that there are many, many older mothers today who have vacated this season, who have vacated this watch: “I've done it; I've raised my children. That’s it. Now I'm going on to something else.” No, we never ever, ever, ever stop mothering. We are mothers until we meet Jesus because this is who He created us to be, but we are mothers of different seasons. Our mothering is going to be different at the different seasons of our lives.
At this stage, we are at a season when we should be training another generation.

It saddens me when I will send out a new Above Rubies magazine, and I will get emails from older mothers, “Thank you, Nancy, for blessing me all these years as I was raising my children, but my children are grown now, so I don't need Above Rubies anymore. Can you take me off your list?” My heart is grieved because I'm thinking, their children, don't they want to keep getting the magazine for their children? Are they not passing it on to them? Are they not saying, here are the names of my children who are now getting married because they will need the magazine? Are they not thinking of another generation that is coming on, that God has mandated them to train and to encourage and to pass on God's truth to them?

Oh my, every mother needs Above Rubies. In fact, single women need it. I have loads of young women, who are not yet married, who love to get Above Rubies because they are wanting to prepare their hearts for motherhood. Of course, every mother with little ones and middling ones and teenagers all need Above Rubies. The older moms need it too because we need daily refreshing so that we are refreshed to encourage the young moms. How can we do it if we are off doing something else? How can we show them the way if we don't know it ourselves, and it's not in our hearts, and we are not getting refreshed in it ourselves?

Wherever you are in your mothering season, I want to encourage you today to embrace it. Embrace it with all your heart. Don't be an ordinary mother, surviving, and just getting through each day. Embrace it so that you intend, as you wake up each morning, to be the greatest mother in history, where you are going to pour out your life as a mother. Ladies, there is never enough time to pour out everything we want into our children.

Now, can I talk to you young mothers? It's like one blink of my eye of my children growing up. Even when my first son was married, it was like one blink of my eye from the day that he was born—that glorious, wonderful, amazing day when he was born. When your firstborn is born, it's the most incredible moment of your life, and I still remember it vividly. It was like one blink of my eye, and he was married. Now, he has children who are married, and grandchildren. You see ladies, don't take it for granted. You will always feel, if only I could have poured more into them. there wasn't enough time. Embrace your motherhood. Do it passionately. Do it diligently, with all your heart.

Can I encourage you with this? I do believe that mothers who are passionate mothers, who have embraced their vision from God, they know their mandate from God, they know who they are, they know that God has given them this mothering, this anointing of motherhood because we all have this anointing. Even if you don't have any children, you are still an anointed mother. God has put within you this anointed, nurturing heart. It’s in every woman. Every female is created with a nurturing heart, and it is in us. If we don't feel it's in us, it's only because it's been brainwashed out of us by this society and this education system.

Yet, it's amazing, even those who have it brainwashed out of them to have children, you will notice, they still have pets. Oh yes. If a woman doesn't have children, she will have a pet because she's got to pour out her nurturing heart on something. That's why so many people have so many pets today who don't have children. I know older women who are longing for grandchildren; their children have grown, and they are not getting married and if they are, they are taking so many years to have children. These poor grandparents are waiting and waiting because we are not ever meant to be waiting for grandchildren.

No, it's meant to be a cycle. We have children, if God blesses us and continues to bless us with children. Often, we will be having a little baby and our older children will be in late teens, maybe getting into twenties, sometimes they will be getting married. As this little one is growing, instead of having the empty nest for years and years, then you have a grandchild coming on, and that's how God intends it. Instead, many have the empty nest for so many years, and they are waiting to be grandparents for year after year after year. I know one beautiful woman, and she's going to be the most amazing grandmother the world has ever seen, but she hasn't got a grandbaby yet, so she has lots of little puppies. We've got to nurture; that's who we are.

Let's pray, shall we?

“Father, we thank You so much for Your plan. Lord God, in this society, Your beautiful plan for women is disdained, and there are so many growing up who have been brainwashed with lies and delusions about who we are as women. I pray, Father, that You will come to every daughter, mother, grandmother listening today and confirm and affirm them in the truth, in Your truth of who they are and how You have created us to be nurturing women, Lord, with our own children or in society, to the hurting and the needy. Father, I ask, Lord God, that You will save us from being passive mothers, and You will change us to be passionate mothers who embrace motherhood with all our hearts, and we will be great mothers in our homes and in society. Wherever we go, we will go with this mothering anointing upon us, to bring Your compassion and love and Your nurture into society. We ask it in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.”