THE ORDINATION OF MOTHERHOOD
Part 5 * Continuing the THIRD WATCH

“The glory of young men is their strength”
(Proverbs 20:29).

I would like to share a few more thoughts about adolescence age from 12 – 18 years. Eighteen years is recognized as the “coming of age” in our nation today. It used to be 21 years when I was growing up in New Zealand. When we turned 21 years each person enjoyed a big celebration party and received “the key of the door.” The parents presented the new adult with a big decorated key made from cardboard or more durable material. Everyone at the party signed the key and it was often displayed on the recipient’s wall.

The age was also 21 years in USA until 1971. At that time the 26th Amendment was passed to change it to 18 years. One of the reasons was because of the debate about the Vietnam War. Many felt that if young men were old enough to be drafted into the armed forces, they should be old enough to vote. The slogan used to overwhelmingly pass The Amendment was: “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote.” And this was also the age when most of the youth finished high school.

But that meant the drinking age was also lowered, with very negative results. Obviously, our young people weren’t as mature as they thought. Thirteen years later in 1984, Congress passed the act to raise the drinking age back to 21 years.

However, although the ages below 18 are looked upon as a time of adolescence, we must remember that these should be years of training and inspiring our children to maturity and adulthood. We don’t want our young people to “hang out” and live like so many teenagers today with no vision and no goal expect to please themselves and live for entertainment.

At the age of 13 years for sons and 12 years for daughters Jewish parents organize a Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah for their children, encouraging them from childhood into adulthood. The word “teenager” is not in the Bible. We should never settle for the “teenage mode,” but train and motivate them toward maturity and adulthood.

As we read the Bible we see many examples of young people who lived disciplined and courageous lives. They were not bound by their youth, but faced their responsibilities and performed great exploits. The following are a few examples:

JOSEPH would have only been about 17 years of age when he was torn away from his family and sold as a slave to Potiphar in Egypt. He did not fade away in self-pity because of what happened to him but worked hard and was soon made overseer over all of Potiphar’s house. Potiphar so trusted this young man that he left everything in Joseph’s care. Read Genesis 1:1-6.

THE TWO SPIES who went to spy out Jericho were only young men. The Bible describes them as na’ar, the same word used for all our examples (Joshua 6:22, 23). The word na’ar describes a young person “from the age of infancy to adolescence.”

SAMUEL would have only been about 12 or 13 years when God called him to the ministry (1 Samuel 3).

DAVID would have only been about 17 years of age when he killed Goliath. Many commentators say that realistically he may have been between the ages 12 – 15! Check below for further evidence. At this young age he had already killed a bear and a lion when protecting his father’s sheep! Listen to David’s confession as he faces Goliath. This is a young man who knows His God!

“Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand, and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee . . . that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:45, 46).

SOLOMON, who “EXCEEDED all the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom” (1 Kings 10:23) would have been no more than 20 years when he began his reign. Josephus, the Jewish historian puts his age at only 14 years. At the very beginning of his reign, as a young man, he executed justice and judgement.

ZADOK was a “young man (na’ar) mighty of valor” (1 Chronicles 12:28).

JEROBOAM was also a young man who showed imitative and hard work which caused King Solomon to promote him: “And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor: and Solomon seeing the young man (na’ar) that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph” (1 Kings 11:28).

JOSIAH became king at eight years of age. But at only 16 years, he began to seek God with all his heart. 2 Chronicles 34:3 says: “In the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young (16 years), he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year (20 years) he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the cared images, and the molten images.” He became a great reformer at a young age and brought about the greatest revival in the history of Israel and Judah. Read the whole chapter 34.

DANIEL and his three fellow Hebrews, HANANIAH, MISHAAL, and AZARIAH were very young men when they were taken as captives to Babylon. Most Bible commentators say they would have been no more than 15 years. Some speculate they could have been between 11 – 13 years. The Hebrew word used here is yeled and means “child, youth, young man.”

These young men were chosen to be taught for three years in the ways of Babylon. They were given Babylonian names (the names of their gods) and their plan was to divorce them from the ways of Israel and all their previous convictions. But at this young age, Daniel stands strong for God. He also stands strong in his convictions to not partake of the Babylonian food which included meat from forbidden animals and food and wine dedicated to idols before given to them (Daniel 1).

We read many more courageous stories of these four young men in the book of Daniel, whereas nothing more is heard of all the other young people who would have also been chosen by the king. Obviously, they gradually slid into the ways of Babylon and therefore had no influence for God.

PRAYER:

“Dear Father God, I ask You for wisdom as I train and inspire my young people. Show me how to give them responsibility and lead them to maturity. I don’t want them to stay in a state of juvenility. Amen.

AFFIRMATION:

I’m training my young people for the purposes God has chosen for them before the foundation of the world!

DAVID’S AGE WHEN HE KILLED GOLIATH.
Jesse had eight sons. David was the youngest. When he went to check out the war between the Israelites and the Philistines, his three oldest brothers were there to fight. Young men had to be 20 years of age before they could go to war (Exodus 38:26; Numbers 1; Numbers 14:31-33; Ezra 3:8; and 2 Chronicles 31:17). That means there were five under 20! Some suggest there may have been twins in the family. I don’t believe that each son would have been born a year apart. Mothers nursed their babies totally in those days and would have at least two to three years between children. It makes David’s age rather young!

THE ORDINATION OF MOTHERHOOD
Part 3

THIRD WATCH

“Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching . . .
And if he shall come in the SECOND WATCH, or come in the THIRD WATCH,
and find them so, blessed are those servants”
(Luke 12:37, 38).

THIRD WATCH

You’ve got teenagers. Wow! This is an exciting and challenging time of motherhood. Your children want to flex their muscles. They have moments of maturity, but still lots of immaturity. It’s a time to inspire maturity, responsibility, and earnestness as they prepare more diligently for life.

It’s certainly not a time to vacate mothering. We need to be on hand for our teens as much as for our little ones. This is one of the great blessings of parents who are open to the blessing of children. They don’t stop at two children (unless that’s where God stops). What a blessing for older children to have younger brothers and sisters and hopefully a baby in the family. They learn firsthand the art of parenting and the blessing of children. They are prepared for the great task of establishing their own family unit. Their hearts, which are sometimes lured to rebellion, are kept soft and tender with little toddlers and babies around them.

I think about the family God chose for His Only Son, Jesus Christ. Folk in our society would think He needed a two-child family where He could have his own bedroom and everything He could ever need. But no, God chose a poor family. Matthew 13:55, 56 tells us about his four brothers (that’s five boys in the family) and “his sisters, are they not ALL with us?” “Sisters” is in plural, which means there were at least two. However, in the context it looks as though there could have been more. What if there were four or five sisters? Jesus lived in a poor family of at least seven children, but perhaps ten or more.

It is also such a blessing for the mother. It is a temptation when there are only two or three older young people in the home (and they all grow up) to wonder what to do with your life. But a baby keeps you in the home and it keeps you there for your older children. This is such a powerful blessing. Teenagers need a mother in the home to watch over their lives. We no longer need to care for their physical bodies (except cooking for them!), but they need powerful spiritual watching with our “beady” natural eyes and our “acute” spiritual prayerful eyes.

It is a time to carefully guard their friendships. One of the greatest influences on teens is their peers. Their friends determine their lifestyle. When mother is in the home, she has opportunity to invite godly friends to come for dinner or a party with her teens. She can guide her children to good friendships who will have a godly influence on their lives. We brought up our teens on Proverbs 13:20: “He that walks with wise men shall be wise; but a companion of food shall be destroyed.” Sadly, many wonderful Christian parents watch their young people get into drugs and a sinful lifestyle. Invariably, it is because of the friends they have made. And usually in the public school!

Jeremiah 51:12 says: “Make the watch strong.” I believe we must make our watch stronger on this watch than any other time in our mothering. When our children were little we gave ourselves physically to care for them night and day. Now, we give ourselves in prayer. You can’t effectively mother your children through the third watch unless you are a praying mother. Ask your husband to pray with you each day for your children. There is power in AGREEING prayer. “If TWO OF YOU shall AGREE on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:19).

What did Jesus say to His disciples? “Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” (Matthew 26:40).

Habakkuk 2:1 (NET): “I will stand at my watch post; I will remain stationed on the city wall.” (Or personally, I will remain stationed at the post of my home).

Luke 12:39: “And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.”

Embrace your THIRD WATCH.

Be blessed, Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father God, I thank You for reminding me of what powerful mothering is needed in this third watch. Help me to be disciplined in prayer. Help me to take up my powerful mantle of mothering in this vulnerable time of my children’s lives. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

My teens cannot get away from my watchful eyes or my daily passionate prayers.

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!