THE ORDINATION OF MOTHERHOOD
Part 3

FIRST AND SECOND WATCH

“You shall teach them diligently to your children (impressing God’s precepts on their minds and
penetrating their hearts with His truths) and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and
when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up”
(Deuteronomy 6:6, 7 AMP).

We are discussing how God wants us to fulfil our commission to the end. We will look at the four watches as they relate to us as mothers.

FIRST WATCH

This is when we begin mothering. The glorious moment, although sometimes bewildering and even frightening to many new mothers, when our first baby arrives. Everything is new. We are learning a whole new lifestyle. We gradually learn how to lay down our self-life and pour out our life for someone else. This usually happens “little by little.” Unless someone is really prepared for motherhood, it takes time to change from a life of selfishness to a life of selflessness. Although I loved my first baby with such an intensity of love that I had never experienced before, I still didn’t know how to live a selfless life. I learned more with each baby that came along.

This watch is also the time of more babies coming. It is often the most physically exhausting time of motherhood when we have little ones to care for (may be one, two, or even three or four) and no extra help! I remember what that was like. I had three in 17 months because twins arrived unexpectedly with my second pregnancy! Later I had four children under four years!

These times can be physically exhausting, but God never forsakes us. Dear precious mother, as you keep the right attitude and embrace your role, you will find joy and delight, even in this busy time. God cares for you as a young mother. He is with you moment by moment.

Isaiah 40:11 says: “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.”

God gently leads you. He doesn’t expect you to be up the front of flock, keeping up with everything you were doing before you gave birth to your baby (or babies). Forget about all those other things. You have a new career now. You are nursing a little lamb that takes all your care, night and day. You don’t have time to do all those extra things. And God doesn’t expect you to do them. So, relax. Put your feet up and nurse your baby again. Bask in the joy of this precious little life.

I remember when I was learning how to be a mother. I wanted to change the world, but suddenly I was hidden in the home with three little babies! What had happened to me? Was my life finished? God had to show me that I was in His perfect will. As I embraced it, I began to enjoy it and all my frustrations gradually left.

I still wrote my “To Do” list for each day. But I don’t think I ever crossed off one of the things on the list. It took my whole day to care for my babies! I had to learn that I accomplished everything I was meant to do for the day, even if I thought I had done nothing! I didn’t have to do those extra things.

Embrace your FIRST WATCH.

SECOND WATCH

Our little ones are growing. It’s time to officially begin schooling. I say “officially” because you have been teaching your children from the time they were born. It is inherently within you to teach. You talk to them and tell them about life. You teach them the parts of their body. You teach them the names and sounds of all the animals in the world and the names of everything around them. You are a full-time teacher.

However, now it’s time to teach them to read, teach them math, and undergird them in a basic education and understanding of life. You begin to prepare them for the future. Sadly, this is a time when some mothers abdicate their second watch. They are happy they can have some time to themselves and send their children off to the public school to be taught a socialist agenda. They think they are discharging their responsibility, but they are handing them over to the enemy’s camp. Our state schools are increasingly becoming institutions to indoctrinate our children with progressive ideology, an alternative lifestyle, the gay agenda, and even Muslim propaganda. But no Bible. And no prayer.

If we are God-fearing, Bible-believing parents, we will take responsibility for what our children are taught for so many hours each day. There may have been a time years ago when you could get away with it (I was a teacher myself), but you can no longer trust the system. We are not being faithful watchdogs of our children unless we are in the classroom every day to hear what is being taught.

The ages of five to twelves years are a powerful time in our children’s lives as we lay a foundation of truth in their lives. It is a time of great responsibility as we establish them strongly in the truth of God’s Word and teach them discernment of good and evil. In every subject we teach them we show them the ways of God because God is in every subject. God is in everything. God is the originator of all knowledge and wisdom. Apart from Him and His Word everything else is inferior.

Proverbs 2:6: “The LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” Why would we send out children to a place where they will slowly be deceived rather than receive wisdom and understanding?

1 Corinthians 1:25: “The foolishness of God is wiser than men.”

Colossians 2:3: “In whom (Christ Jesus) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Embrace your SECOND WATCH.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“I thank You, dear Shepherding Father, that You have blessed me with my precious children. Thank You for showing me that this is my new career. They are my full-time job. I embrace motherhood with all my heart, knowing that I am serving and pleasing You as I care for Your little lambs. Amen.

AFFIRMATION:

I’m not neglecting my watch. My baby and little ones are my life and joy.

THE ORDINATION OF MOTHERHOOD
Part 2

“Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it”
(Colossians 4:17).

3. GOD COMMISSIONED YOU FOR THIS CAREER

Motherhood is not an idle pastime. You are part of a mighty army in the home. In Psalm 68:11, 12 the psalmist talks about two armies—the men who go out to fight the battles to protect their homes, families, and their land. But it also talks about the army of women who dwell at home. Mothers who hold the home fort and build strong families. Mothers who proclaim the Word of truth. Mothers who prepare soldiers for the army. Mothers who divide the spoil and share the blessings.

Solomon 6:10 (NLT) is a picture of a mighty woman fulfilling her commission: “Who is this arising like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as an army with billowing banners?”

4. GOD WANTS YOU TO BE COMMITTED TO YOUR CAREER

You are not tossed about by each new trend in society. You are not moved by negative statements from family and friends. You are not moved when facing hardships or financial stress. You've counted the cost. Your heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. You are unshakable. You are immoveable. You know you are in the perfect will of God. You know your purpose. You stand true to your convictions.

Your heart is like David’s heart: “My heart is fixed (established), O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.” David repeats his confession again in Psalm 108:1.

When Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem to repair and build the gates of Jerusalem he faced continual persecution and ridicule. His enemies did everything in their power to thwart him from his great purpose. When they asked him to come down, he refused to stop his great work. Instead, he sent messengers to them, saying: "I AM DOING A GREAT WORK, SO THAT I CANNOT COME DOWN: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?" (Nehemiah 6:3). Make this your confession too.

Colossians 4:17 (MOFFAT): “Attend To the duty entrusted to you . . . and discharge it to the full.”

Colossians 3:12, 12 (JBP): “Whatever you do, PUT YOUR WHOLE HEART AND SOUL INTO IT, as unto work done for God, and not merely for men – knowing that your real reward, a heavenly one, will come from God, SINCE YOU ARE ACTUALLY EMPLOYED BY CHRIST.”

5. GOD WANTS YOU TO COMPLETE YOUR WORK

In this great work of mothering, we are committed to the end. Ecclesiastes 7:8 says: “Better is the end of a thing that the beginning thereof.” As children grow up, many mothers think they have come to the end of motherhood. They fling off their motherhood mantle and set out into the world for a new life. That’s not God’s plan. He doesn’t want us to stop half way through. He created us physically and innately to be mothers, and we are mothers to the end.

Jesus Himself gave us the example. He stated in John 4:34: “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to FINISH his work.”

Jesus prayed in John 17:4: “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have FINISHED the work which thou gavest me to do.” We bring glory to God by finishing the task He gives us to do.

In biblical days the watchman watched over the cities to be aware of any enemy activity. The watches were divided into four times:

First watch: 6.00 pm – 9.00 pm.
Second watch: 9.00 pm – 12.00 pm midnight.
Third watch: 12.00 pm – 3.00 am.
Fourth watch: 3.00 am – 6.00 am.

No watchman was allowed to go to sleep on his watch. It was a very responsible assignment. Many people today use these times as prayer watches as they pray and watch for the enemy in this “night season.” However, I would like to relate them to our mothering seasons of life.

Next week we’ll begin with the FIRST WATCH.

Be blessed.

Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Thank you, dear Father, for giving me this great career of motherhood. Thank You for the precious children You have entrusted to my care Help me to be faithful to the end. Amen.

AFFIRMATION:

I have the greatest job on earth and I’m in for the long haul!

THE ORDINATION OF MOTHERHOOD
Part 1

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you,
that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain”
(John 15:15).

Dear mother, do you understand the power of your calling as a mother? You were ordained, designed, and designated for this great career.

Let’s seek further understanding:

1. GOD CREATED YOU FOR THIS CAREER

It’s not hard to understand when we observe our female body that it was created for the ultimate purpose of motherhood. And yet isn’t it amazing that many women spurn the way they were created? God created us physically with a womb where we have the privilege to conceive and grow a baby. We have breasts to nurture and feed the baby.

However, are not only physically created for the job, but innately. We are inherently born with a nurturing heart. It is part of every female, even those who refuse children. If they don’t have children, they’ll have pets, because in is instinctive to nurture. It is part of being a woman.

We have been created with perfect design (Deuteronomy 32;4; Psalm 18;30; and Job 37:16). Because God chose to create us female, the most obvious thing in the world is to embrace our womanhood and femininity with our whole being.

I often think how sad it is for someone to go through life and not fulfill the plan God has for them. It is basic understanding that if God created us female, it is as a female we will fulfill the destiny God has planned for us before the foundation of the world. Therefore, let’s acknowledge and live out our womanhood and motherhood. This is how we will glorify the God who created us. We either help to dampen the image of God or reveal the image of God.

Isaiah 45:9-12 (NET) says: “One who argues with his creator is in grave danger . . . The clay should not say to the potter, ‘What in the world are you doing? Your work lacks skill.’ Danger awaits one who says to his father, ‘What in the world are you fathering?’ and to his mother, ‘What in the world are you bringing forth?’ This is what the LORD says, the Holy One of Israel, the one who formed him, concerning things to come: ‘How dare you question me about my children! How dare you tell me what to do with the work of my own hands! I made the earth, I created the people who live on it.’”

Also read these powerful Scriptures: Psalm 100:3; 111:1-8; 119:73; 139:14; Isaiah 10:15; 29:16; 64:8; and Revelation 4:11.

2. GOD CHOSE YOU SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS CAREER

Dear mother, the career of motherhood is specifically and uniquely for you as a female. God did not give the career of motherhood to men. He has a different role for them. He wants them to rise in their fatherhood anointing. To father their children, not mother them. I hope you understand that there is a difference in fathering to mothering. That’s why children need a father and a mother. They receive different blessings, affirmations, and parenting from each parent. It’s not the same! I minister to my children far differently from my husband. But our children need us both.

You are the only one who can truly mother your children. It is unique to YOU. Don’t for a minute give in to this genderless society. Genesis 3:20 says: “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve (life-giver); because she was the MOTHER of all living.” At this stage Adam had never seen a mother, so what was he talking about? He spoke under the inspiration of God. God called Eve, the mother, not Adam the male.

When Jesus answered the Pharisees in Matthew 19:4 he stated: “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made the male and female.” The word He used for “female” was the description of a “suckling mother.” A man is not a suckling mother. It is the female!

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, I thank you so much that You purposely, eternally, and uniquely chose me to reveal Your nurturing heart to the world and to be the mother of my children. Please help me to glorify Your wonderful name as I embrace my mothering as a female. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am ordained for the ministry of mothering as much as any person is ordained to be the minister of a church!

P.S. A very important message coming to you next week when I send you Part 2.

PROCLAIMING MOTHERS

“The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it”
(Psalm 68:11).

This is the seventh and last point in our series of PURPOSEFUL mothers.

7. PROCLAIMING MOTHERS

Psalm 68:11 (NASB) says: “The Lord gives the command; The women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host.” The Young’s Literal translation calls the women “female proclaimers.”

Let’s look at it a little more closely. The word “company” is the Hebrew word tsaba and means “a mass of persons, especially organized for war, an army, battle, soldiers.” Therefore, those who proclaim the word of the Lord are a great army.

The next question we must ask is who is this great army? The participle “those who announce the good tidings” (hammebasseroth) is feminine plural in the Hebrew. Therefore, female proclaimers or heraldresses is correct according to the original.

But now we are in a state of tension. Does this Scripture release women from the home to be pastors and evangelists? What about Scriptures on the other end of the scale that exhort women to be “keepers at home” and embrace their mothering role?

We often come across the “tension of truth” in the Bible. We notice paradoxes—two apparently contradictory things, and yet because God’s Word is divinely inspired, both are true.

Tozer writes: “Truths that are compelled to stand alone never stand straight and are not likely to stand long. Truth is one, but truths are many. Scriptural truths are interlocking and interdependent. A truth is rarely valid in isolation.”

Another commentator writes: “No matter how much two teachings of Scripture may appear to be contradictory, they are not. They may be paradoxical, but they can never be contradictory . . . Denial of one set of biblical truth in order to affirm another is never an option for the faithful student of Scriptures.”

Therefore, as we pursue the fullness of God’s truth it all becomes clear. The Bible clearly states that God ordains women to embrace motherhood, home, and family. He created them for this purpose. Without mothers, the world stops. Without godly mothers building strong families the nation weakens. Mothers in the home are the foundation of a strong and great society.

But women do not have to be silent. It is a known fact that women talk more than men. We are the teachers of our children from the day they are born and onwards. We talk to them from morning ‘til night. When we go out to the supermarket and to the many activities we become part of as our children grow, we can take every opportunity to proclaim the good news—the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a word of cheer to someone who is cast down, or encouragement to a fellow mother. We pray for those who are sick and need uplifting.

You don’t stop proclaiming because you are a mother. You open your mouth and proclaim God’s truths wherever you are, in the home or out and about. You drop the seeds of God’s truth all day long. The opportunities are constant and endless.

The word basar from hammebasseroth means “to be fresh, rosy, full of cheer, to announce, to bring good news, to tell glad tidings, publish, to be a messenger.”

What does it mean to be a female messenger? To be fresh with the presence of the Lord. To be healthy and happy, both spiritual and physically. To be full of joy as we mother our children. The anointing of joy upon our lives as we go out into society with our children is our greatest testimony to the world. The enemy has no argument against a joyful and cheerful mother.

We should always be ready with a new testimony of God’s goodness, His provision, and leading in our lives. We don’t proclaim sad news. We announce good news! The goodness of God. The salvation of our God.

Isaiah 52:7 and Nahum 1:15 talk about “the feet of him that brings good tidings." You drop God’s words of truth wherever your feet take you—in your kitchen and trotting off to get groceries.

Psalm 96:2: “Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; show forth (basar) his salvation from day to day.” Every day you show forth the salvation of God to your children. It’s a daily thing.

You are both mother and proclaimer! They fit together like a glove. You don’t have to leave your highest calling of motherhood to be God’s messenger. You are His messenger in the midst of your mothering. IT’S ALL PART OF YOUR MOTHERING CAREER.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Thank you, dear Father, that You make Your purposes clear in Your living Word. Thank You for giving me a realm where I can nurture and train my children and daily be a messenger of Your truth and revelation to my children and all the people I meet. Help me to be a faithful and anointed messenger. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am a Mothering Messenger from the Lord.