AN INVITATION
Part 2

“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him . . . fret not thyself”
(Psalm 37:7).

We continue meditating on God’s invitations to live with Him in His life of rest.

TURN FROM MAN’S WAYS

Is your soul restless? Your stomach tied up in knots? Once again God invites you to return to Him and trust Him. He speaks to you in Isaiah 30:15: “For thus saith the LORD GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved: in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” Turn from trying to do it all in your own strength. Return from listening to ungodly counsel. Return from trusting in the strength of Egypt, which is the spirit of the world and man’s ideas (Isaiah 30:1-3). Turn back to God. His arms wait for you.

“Return unto thy rest, O my soul” (Psalm 116:7).

DON’T FORGET

Jeremiah 50:6 says: “My people . . . have forgotten their resting place.” Do you sometimes forget you have a resting place? Do you live in a state of turmoil instead? Your Savior, Jesus Christ, invites you to live in His rest. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Nothing gets Him upset. He doesn’t get into a stew and worry Himself sick. He is in control of all things and every detail of your life.

There is a place of quiet rest,
Near to the heart of God,
A place where sin cannot molest,
Near to the heart of God.

DO IT GOD’S WAY

Are you homeschooling, but find it overwhelming? You don’t have to continue in frustration. God shows the way. God’s way of teaching is “precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). Your children don’t need to learn everything in one day. Children learn better in bite-size pieces. And there is still tomorrow. There is a lifetime ahead!

What happens when we do it God’s way? God continues speaking: “To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing” (Isaiah 28:12). Did you get this dear, weary mother? It says: “THIS IS THE REST AND THIS IS THE REFRESHING!” Let me repeat it: “THIS IS THE REST!” God knows the best way for your children and they learn a lot more this way. And He knows the best way for you. You will enjoy rest instead of becoming a stressed-out, anxious mother.

Of course your will be diligent. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 tells us to DILIGENTLY teach our children. “Diligently” is not a half-hearted word. It means: “To impress sharply by verbal repetition, to point, to show, to engrave, to make them penetrate, and to whet as in whetting the appetite with repetition and diligence.”

How do we do this? God tells us to do it as we live life--when you sit in your home, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. He doesn’t tell us we have to complete every curriculum we purchased (just because we spent the money on it). He doesn’t tell us we have to accomplish the set block of teaching we planned for the day. He wants us to faithfully teach, but little by little, line upon line.

BUT THEY WOULD NOT

However, we have a problem. Many don’t believe God’s way. They think they have to do it like the school system, or like some other mother does it. Dear mother, don’t be like the people to whom God showed His way and their response was: “yet they would not hear” (Isaiah 28:1).

When God asked His people to return to Him in Isaiah 30:15, God lamentably said: “and ye would not.”

God spoke to the people of Judah in Jeremiah 18:11-17 and said: “Return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.” Did they return? No. They said: “But we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.” They turned from God’s ancient, timeless, and everlasting ways to go their own ways.

When Jesus cried over Jerusalem and longed to gather them under His wings as a hen gathers her chickens, He cries out again, “and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37).

Why are we so stubborn? Why do we go our own way and get stressed out, when God invites us to His life of rest.

Don’t refuse God’s invitations. Embrace them with a great big “Thank You.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father God, Thank You so much for inviting me into Your rest. I long to daily and moment by moment abide in Your restful presence. Save from having dull ears that do not hear; save me from resisting Your invitation. I want a willing heart to live Your way. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

Moment by moment embracing the rest of God.

FURTHER SCRIPTURES TO LOOK UP:
Deuteronomy 1:43; 2 Kings 18:12; Psalm 81:10, 11; Isaiah 32:18; 55:1-3; Jeremiah 29:19; AND Ezekiel 22:30.

AN INVITATION
Part 1

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God”
(Hebrews 4:9).

God does not intend us to live stress-filled lives. Instead, He gives us many invitations to live with Him in His life of rest. Yes, a life of rest. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? God is never in turmoil. Never in a state of tension. He lives in perfect rest and wants us to enjoy it with Him.

LEARN MY WAY

In Matthew 11:28-30 He says to us: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

God knows all the trials and challenges we face each day and He understands we can’t cope with them in our own strength. If we worry and continually mull over them in our brain, we get more and more into a state of anxiety. Therefore He says: “Come to ME.” But when we come, we have to leave behind our own plans and ways. Let go of all worries. All desperate thoughts. All doubting. All our own plans and ego. We have to submit to Him as the oxen submit to the yoke. We have to learn a new way. His way. It’s the only way it works.

When we do this, we find rest. Not a surface rest because everything is turning out okay. But soul rest! Rest in the very depth of our souls no matter what is going on all around us. This rest is possible as we trust in Christ. Don’t yield to your worries. Yield to His life of rest. It’s yours. It belongs to you.

COME HOME

Hosea 11:11 says: “I will settle them in their homes, declares the LORD.” The Knox translation says: “And in their own homes, the Lord says, I will give them rest.” Does life seem too taxing for you? God gives you His answer and His plan. Come home. You will find God’s rest in your home, not out in the career word.

Perhaps you have already come home to care for your children, but you are still stressed out. How much time do you spend at home? Many supposedly stay-at-home mothers spend more time taking their children here and there and to this and that than staying at home! If you are frazzled, cut back on going out so much and settle down in your home. God planned your home for you. Rest in it and make it a home of rest.

Take a ruthless stand against all temptations and every plan and organization that gets you gadding about instead of accomplishing great things in your home. Ask God for the vision of what He wants you to do in your home. You’ll be amazed. You’ll never have another boring moment.

Your home is a birthing center, a mothering/nurturing center, a training and education center, a praise and worship center, a prayer center, an eating center, a cultural development center, a social center, a hospitality center, a counseling center, a health center, an industry center, a garden center, and a convalescent center! Wow, that sounds like a busy life. No, it’s not a hectic life, but a productive life in a state of rest and peace, knowing you are in the perfect will of God.

Proverbs 24:15 says: “Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous, spoil not his RESTING PLACE.” This is the description God uses for your home. Is it a resting place for you? A resting place for your husband? A resting place for your children? And more importantly, a resting place for God?

Psalm 132:8, 13, 14 says: “Arise, O LORD, into thy rest . . . For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.” God’s habitation is now your bodily temple. He also wants to dwell in your home. He desires it. The word “desires” it not just a little wish. The Hebrew word is evah and means” to covet, greatly desire, long after.” God longs to dwell in you and in your home. He greatly desires to fill it with His rest.

However, it takes doing it God’s way. It takes being home. It takes time. It takes creativity and thought, and most of all it takes prayer and meditation to make your home a resting place. It doesn’t just happen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Thank you, Father, for giving me a home to raise my children. You have chosen it to be a place of rest. A home where you dwell comfortably. A home where we live in peace as a family as You designed before the foundation of the world. I want to submit to Your plan, rather than the anxious ways of the world. Please teach me and give me more understanding of Your wondrous ways. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’m restfully busy in my home.

THE FULLNESS OF MOTHERHOOD

“Women will be preserved through the bearing of children
if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint”
1 Timothy 2:15 (NASB).

Because motherhood is God’s plan, we receive His blessings when we embrace it with all our hearts. Motherhood is not a new idea. All God’s plans and intentions were in His heart before the world began. They are perfect and wondrous (Psalm 12:6 and Proverbs 30:5). However, the enemy, who hates God’s ways, seeks to subvert them in every way possible. He robs women of the glorious fullness God intends for them.

Let’s read 1 Timothy 2:14, 15: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”

Let’s look at this Scripture a little more closely. What does it mean to be saved in childbearing?

The Greek word for “saved” is sozo. It is a verb and you pronounce it sode’-zo.
It is a powerful, multi-encompassing word meaning “to save, deliver, protect, heal, cure, preserve, keep safe, and make whole.”

I want you to get a hold of the fullness of sozo. Through embracing motherhood you are saved, delivered, protected, preserved, healed, and made whole--physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. You can’t beat that!

In the context of this Scripture it says you will be saved from deception. When women reject mothering for a full-time career outside the home they are often lured into deception, into a world that God did not create for women, but for men. God created mothers for a life of power, anointing, and blessing in the home as they raise children who will impact nations. When we move out from God’s divine purpose, we move out from under the covering of God's protection and become vulnerable to deception.

Other commentaries of sozo enlarge on the meaning:
“To deliver out of danger or destruction and into safety.” This applies to the context of 1 Timothy 2:13-15 where it tells us we will be saved from deception when we embrace mothering.
“To keep safe and sound.”
“To save a suffering one from perishing (one suffering from disease).”
“To restore to health.”
“To cause something to change to an earlier, correct, or appropriate state.” Millions of women, even those who name the name of Christ, have been robbed of God’s original plan for them. He wants to draw them back into His ultimate intention for them so they can live in the fullness of sozo.
“To lift above trouble.”

WHOLENESS FOR MOTHERS

Isn’t it wonderful to know that we are preserved and healed physically. Many modern studies reveal the truth of this Scripture that women are preserved physically from diseases as they embrace childbearing. Go to http://tinyurl.com/PreservedThroughMotherhood to read studies that disclose that the more children a woman births and the longer she breastfeeds the less likelihood of female cancers.

Jesus used this same word sozo when healing the sick and making them WHOLE:

Healing the woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years:
Matthew 19:20-22: “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made (sozo) thee whole (sozo).” Read also Mark 5:28-34 and Luke 8:43-48.

Raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead:
Luke 8:40-42, 49-56 (v.50): “Fear not: believe only and she shall be made whole (sozo).”

Healing all that touched Him:
Mark 6:56: “And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole (sozo)."

Healing blind Bartimaeus:
Mark 10:46-52: “Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made (sozo) thee whole (sozo).” Read also Luke 18:35-42.

Healing the Gadarene demoniac:
Luke 8:26-39 (v. 36): “They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed (sozo).”

Healing the ten lepers:
Luke 17:11-19 (v. 19): “And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made (sozo) the whole (sozo).”

Because God created our bodies for the purpose of childbearing, He is faithful to protect, preserve, and heal us in childbearing and mothering. It does not mean we are saved from pain in childbirth (although there are some women who do not have pain), but He watches over us and preserves us as we trust in Him.

God gives a message of wholeness for motherhood, just as He gives a message of wholeness for our salvation. We need to confess, affirm, and hold fast to this truth. I was very blessed by one commentator who stated that after he understood the full meaning of sozo, he decided to speak out the full meaning every time he read “saved.” For example, Romans 10:13 says: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (sozo).” Therefore he reads: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, delivered, protected, healed, preserved, kept safe, and made whole.” It changed his life. I plan to follow this same habit.

YOU WERE ORDAINED FOR “ALL THAT IS MOTHERHOOD”

The word “childbearing” in 1 Timothy 2:15 is translated teknogonia.
It simply means “to be a child-bearer, implying the performance of maternal duties.” One source states that it means “all that is motherhood,” and another source says “a proper married life.” Therefore, the word includes far more than the process of birth. It encompasses all that is involved in motherhood.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:
I thank You, Father, for showing me the fullness and blessings of embracing motherhood. I thank you for saving me from deception and for your divine protection and preservation over me physically, emotionally, and spiritually, as I embrace Your divine plan. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:
I am joyfully walking in God’s incredible plan for my life.

PADDLING OR SWIMMING?

“Deep calls to deep in the roar of You waterfalls;
all Your breakers and Your billows have swept over me”
(Psalm 42:7 (HCSB).

Do you like to swim in shallow or deep water? In our spiritual life many of us play around in the shallow puddles. We never go any further. However, God wants to take us out into the deep with Him. Do you long for deep waters?

Ezekiel 47 is an amazing picture of the waters flowing from the sanctuary of the temple, also speaking of the anointed, healing power of the Holy Spirit. Read the whole chapter. The picture begins with waters to the ankles, but that’s not where they end. The final picture shows us waters to swim in. What’s your destination?

Let’s have a look at these waters, shall we?

TO THE ANKLES

The waters start at the ankles (v. 3). This is where we usually start when we get into the water. We stand in the water up to our ankles to feel the temperature. If it’s cold, we muster up courage to brace the cold waters and go into the deep.

We’ve got our feet on the ground and we’re standing. This is where we first start in Christ. Little by little and day by day we learn the ways, the principles, and the promises of God and learn to stand upon them. We learn to stand and keep on standing.

Ephesians 6:13, 14 says: “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to STAND. STAND THEREFORE.”

TO THE KNEES

But there’s more. God wants to take us further. Up to the knees (v. 4). The knees speak of kneeling in prayer, although we can pray in any position. If we are moving on in Christ we will become women of prayer. Unless we communicate with God awe will not get to know our God. Our prayer life shows our dependence upon God. Without prayer, we show an independent spirit and that we can manage quite well on our own, thank you.

When we come to the place of knowing we cannot accomplish anything in our own flesh, we become desperate to pray. When we are brought to a place of humility, we will pray. When we are touched with the needs of the people around us and the great needs of the world, we will pray.

We know that everything is impossible without prayer because prayer confesses our own need and draws on God’s power. Nearly every day I quote Zechariah 4:6 before the Lord: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the LORD of hosts.” I am cast upon God, for I cannot make anything happen on my own. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit through the vehicle of prayer.

I must be a mother of prayer. It was my most powerful weapon as I nurtured our children. I could not have raised our children without prayer. I cannot even survive today without prayer. Currently we face a huge challenge in our family, so what are we doing? We have nightly prayer meetings as a family and call upon the Lord.

TO THE LOINS

God continues to bring us through the waters. This time the waters are to the loins (v. 4). The loins are the area of the body from where procreation occurs in both the male and female. Not many want the Holy Spirit to have full control of this area of their body. They offer their feet to God to go wherever He sends. They offer their hearts to praise Him, their arms to reach out to people, and their tongues to speak of Him, but they don’t offer their loins. Strange isn’t it? However, the Holy Spirit wants to pour out His anointing on every part of our bodies. He wants to be Lord over all (Romans 12:1, 2; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19, 20; and 2 Corinthians 6:15-18).

WATERS TO SWIM IN

Now the waters are overwhelming. Over our heads. Ezekiel 47:5 says: “Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, WATERS TO SWIM IN, a river that could not be passed over.”

God’s ultimate plan is to bring us into the fullness of His Spirit, the fullness of His love, and the fullness of His blessed ways. He could not plunge us in immediately. We would not be ready. He brings us little by little. As we learn to trust Him in the little things, we learn to trust Him in the bigger things. In these waters we can’t put our feet on the ground. We have come to the place where we can do nothing in our own strength. Without God we’re finished. But with God all things are possible. We are totally cast upon Him to hold us up in the waters.

We cannot rely on our own strength and wisdom to mother the children He has given us. We can’t rely completely on our husbands for provision, only God. We can’t work out the answers to our challenges on our own. We can no longer put our feet on the bottom. It’s God or nothing else.

In the swimming waters we no longer rely on what we can see with the natural eye; we see by the eye of faith. Hebrews 11:1 (Moffat) says: “Now faith means that we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Oh God, please save me from being satisfied to splash around in puddles. Please take me to the deep waters where I have to trust You completely. It is scary with my weak faith, but God, I thank You that I can trust You wholly. Take me into the adventure of swimming in the river of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I will never be satisfied with anything less than waters to swim in.