FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY!

Part 9

”I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die… and you forget the Lord your Maker… You have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor… and where is the fury of the oppressor?” (Isaiah 51:12-13)

We look at the last temptation that keeps us from possessing the land.

1. Fear keeps us from possessing the land.

The children of Israel feared to go in and take the Promised Land because of the report of the 10 spies who informed them of the giants in the land, people that were stronger and mightier than them. It is easier to fear situations that are bigger than us, isn’t it? We dread things we cannot cope with. Yet, when God inspired the next generation to go in and possess the land, He said to them, “Hear O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, a people great and tall, the children of the Anakims (who were the giants)” (Deuteronomy 7:1; 9:1-2). But He also told them He would be with them to help drive out their enemies.

There is a natural fear that alerts us to danger. But we also tempted with many unnecessary fears. Many times we fear a fear rather than reality. Psalm 53:5 says, “There they were in great fear, where no fear was.” The margin in my Bible says, “They feared a fear!” One of Satan’s greatest tactics is to bind us up with fear even where there is no valid reason for the fear. He wants to debilitate us with fear in order to stop us possessing our great land of motherhood.

I think that we as women are especially susceptible to fear. We feel very vulnerable when we are pregnant, nursing and bearing the responsibility of the precious lives God has put in our hands. Satan uses this weakness to try and put us out of action with unrealistic fears. Because of many “stories” some young mothers fear having a baby and yet our body was created for this experience. It is not a negative but a maximizing experience for a woman. A mother is empowered physically, emotionally and spiritually when she gives birth naturally. She feels she can conquer any mountain in the world! I remember when Evangeline birthed one of her breech births. It was a powerful, victorious home birth. She was so elated (is there any greater elation than at the birth of a baby?) that she cried out, “I’ve climbed Mt. Everest and put my flag at the top!”

Because of physical problems, the medical profession often puts fears in mothers about having future babies. Each situation must be faced with responsibility, but we also have to be careful that we do not listen to “fears” that do not come from God. Many women who have been told they must not have another baby have gone on to have wonderful pregnancies and births. A future birth does not have to be like a previous birth. Each new pregnancy and birth is new and different.

We can also give into fears about our children too. I remember when Evangeline was serving the Lord in Israel. It was in the time of the Gulf War when Sadam Hussein was sending Scud missiles into Israel. I had great peace about her being there until a rabbi (in Australia where we were living at the time) put fears in my heart and told me it was too dangerous, giving many reasons, and she should leave immediately. Sadly, I listened to these “fears.” Do you notice that most fears come to us by negative words that people speak to us? How we need to be reminded that we do not have to live our lives by the words that people say. We must listen to God and His Word.

But I listened to fears. We told her she must leave, which was against her will. But then God began to convict me and show me I had listened to the fears of man which I confessed before the Lord. She had flown to London in obedience to our command, but it wasn’t long before we received a call to say, “Can you please give me permission to go back to Israel? I know that is where I am meant to be.” We gave permission and she flew back in the midst of Scud missiles falling—and is still alive!

What fears are you struggling with today? What are the things that are looming like mountains in front of you? Please know that no matter how big the mountain, no matter how big the giants, no matter how impossible the situation looks, your God is bigger! You cannot overcome in your own flesh, but God is with you to overcome the enemy. Instead of listening to the “fears” and the negative and fearful words that family, doctors and well-meaning friends speak into your life, trust God.

Trusting God eliminates immobilizing fears. May we learn to live this new way of living in our overflowing land of motherhood.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, please help me to put my trust in you, instead of looking at the “giants” around me. I thank you that you are bigger and able to deliver me in every situation I face. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

As I trust God my fears subside.

FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY!

Part 8

“Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 1:21).

We have begun listing the things that keep us from possessing the land. We continue today…

1. Discouragement keeps us from possessing the land. (Deuteronomy 1:28)

Satan loves to discourage us. Why? Because it immobilizes us. When we are discouraged we don’t accomplish anything. We are no good to our husband, no good to our children and no good to ourselves! Of course, I know that you are tempted to be discouraged in your land of motherhood—lack of finances, difficulties with children, inadequacies and daily challenges. But God does not intend you to live in the land of discouragement. God does not discourage; He encourages! Instead of dwelling on your problem, look to the Lord who is your sufficiency and strength. He is with you night and day to help you.

Do you remember when David and his men came back to his city of Ziklag and found their city burned with fire and all their wives and children taken captive? They were distraught! They wept until they had no more strength to weep. But in the midst of all the men wanting to stone David because of their loss, David “encouraged himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6). When he turned his heart to the Lord, instead of wallowing in despair, God showed him a strategy.

This is the secret. You’ll never find a way out of your discouragement when you keep thinking discouraging thoughts. But when you turn your heart to the Lord, and confess your trust in the Lord, you will then be in a place for God to show you what to do. Sometimes He will give you a strategy to deliver you from your situation. Other times He will give you His anointing and grace to live in victory in your difficult situation. In David’s case, God told him to smite the Amelikites and they recovered everything that was taken from them—wives, children and all the spoil!

Kick discouragement out the door and don’t invite it back in.

1. keeps us from possessing the land.

Numbers 14:24 says, “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went and his seed shall possess it.”Joshua and Caleb were the only two of their generation who entered the Promised Land because they followed the Lord fully, even in the face of all obstacles.

We only possess the land of motherhood when we embrace it fully. When we try to keep our feet in different worlds we will never enjoy either. Wifehood and motherhood are not part-time jobs. They are our life!

1. Assimilation keeps us from possessing the land.

Leviticus 20:24-26 says “Ye shall inherit their land and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people… And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.”

Assimilation is one of the greatest temptations of the enemy. It is so easy to want to be like everyone else around. In fact, you can assimilate without even realizing it. God’s plan for you is to be separated from the world--not from the people of the world of course, but from the deception, evil and materialistic spirit of the world.

God does not want mixture in His land. It is not like other lands. Do you feel an oddball in the area where you live? Or even in your church? Are you the only one who is homeschooling? Don’t feel inferior. You are saving your children from being another statistic that is indoctrinated with humanism and socialism.Do you have more children than anyone else in your street? Don’t be ashamed. You are walking in the perfect will of God as you embrace God’s children for His purposes and glory. Do you have a holy standard in your home, different to the worldly-minded around you? You don’t have to apologize! You don’t have to be similar to everyone else. On the contrary, you are called to be uniquely different. Hold on to your difference and refuse conformity.

NANCY CAMPBELL, Above Rubies

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“I thank you, dear Father, that you are the great Encourager. Help me to recognize that discouragement comes from the enemy. I thank you that my whole perspective changes when I turn my heart to you. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am free to be who God created me to be. I do not have to do what everyone else is doing around me.

Look up the Scriptures that tell us to POSSESS THE LAND.

Leviticus 20:24; Numbers 14:24; 33:53; Deuteronomy 1:8, 21; 2:24; 4:1, 5, 14, 22; 5:31-33; 6:1, 18, 7:1; 8:1; 9:1 10:11; 11:8-11, 31; 12:1-2, 29; 15:4; 19:1; 23:20; 25:19; 30:5, 16; 31:3, 13; Joshua 1:11; 18:3; 23:5; Judges 2:6; 18:9; Isaiah 57:13b; 61:7 and Jeremiah 30:3.

FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY!
Part 3

“Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones”

Proverbs 16:24.

We continue the description of the “land” of our family life.

IT FLOWS WITH HONEY

Honey energizes

Honey energizes the heart and increases blood flow. Our homes should be full of energy. “Oh my, you don’t have to tell me that,” I hear you reply as you try to curb the exuberance and noise of your little ones. Don’t worry; this is all part of raising little ones and the life of the “land of motherhood.”

However, we can have productive energy in our home—not the energy of the flesh, but of the Holy Spirit. The energy of vision and leading our children into profitable and good things. The energy of creativity and developing many projects. The home is firstly a nurturing center, but it is also a birthing center, a training and education center, a praise and worship center, a prayer center, an eating center, a hospitality center, a cultural development center, a social center, a counseling center, a health and healing center, an industry center, a convalescent center and a garden center! How do you have time to leave?

The home is such an exciting place. It is where everything happens. We don’t need to go out of our home to find fulfillment and excitement. It can all happen in the home!

Honey Sweetens

The land of our family life is not a land of complaining and sourness. It is a pleasant and amiable land. It is where we are sweet and kind. It is where we speak sweet words rather than harsh and hurtful words.

My husband loves me to speak sweetly to him. If I start to get on my “high horse” he will say to me, “Nancy, you’ve got to be sweet to me.” He doesn’t give me a chance to get harsh!Solomon, speaking to his bride in Song of Songs 4:11 says, “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue.” What drips from the honeycomb? Sweetness! What kinds of words drip from your tongue to your husband and children? The land that flows with milk and honey is a land where we speak sweet, soft, encouraging, considerate, gentle, cheerful, positive, helpful, supportive, kind, wise, forgiving, loving, pleasant and life-giving words.

Proverbs 15:1 NASB says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath.” And here is another challenge from the Song of Songs 4:3 Knox trans., “Thy lips a line of scarlet, guardians of that sweet utterance.” Do our lips guard the harsh and nasty words that so easily fall from our lips?

The Word of God is also likened to honey. Psalm 19:10 says they are “sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” Psalm 119:103 says, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” The more God’s Word dwells in us richly the more “honey” will flow from our mouths.

Honey Soothes and Heals

Honey is soothing to the throat and calming to the nerves. It heals many physical problems, even ulcers. My mother healed a terrible ulcer on her leg by using only honey. Medical journals report large bed sores, which would otherwise need skin grafts, being healed without scarring after honey treatment.

Our task as mothers it to soothe and heal heartaches and “to bind up the broken-hearted.” Life is not perfect and there will always be conflicts in family life. However, instead of being part of the conflict, our job is to bring healing to the problem. We should try to keep a peaceful atmosphere in our homes. That doesn’t always mean a quiet atmosphere! We can have peace in the midst of noise and activity. Peace is having a tranquil spirit in the midst of whatever is happening. Peace is eliminating tension and strife in the home.

Ultimately, God is our Peace and we find our rest in Him as we look to Him instead of looking at the problems. I would have to say that my favorite Scripture is Isaiah 26:3-4, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Leviticus 26:6, “I will give peace in the land.”

Psalm 147:14, “He makes peace in thy borders.”

Isaiah 32:18, “My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation.”

And when God descries motherhood in Isaiah 66:11-13 He says, “I will extend peace to her like a river.” When a mother gives birth to a new baby and begins the big task of caring for her little child, God does not leave her stranded. When a mother nurses her baby oxytocin is released which is a calming and relaxing hormone. This is one of the blessings of “the land of motherhood.” The more babies a mother nurses over the years the more peaceful and calm she becomes.

LOVE FROM NANCY CAMPBELL
www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

Dear Father, please save me from filling my home with conflicting, harsh and negative words. Help me be a healer in my home, healing bodies, relationships, hurts and broken hearts. Help me to be like honey and drip sweet words from my mouth. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am anointed by God to bring healing to my home.

Many women like to save these devotions. They print them out and keep them in a folder to read over and over again. Some print them out and pin them on the fridge with a magnet to read through the week.

FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY!
Part 4

“He will love thee, and bless thee; and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee” Deuteronomy 7:13.

IT IS A LAND WHERE WE MUST RELY UPON GOD

Deuteronomy 11:10-12 says, “For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.”

Egypt is a type of the flesh and the world. In Egypt they relied on the overflow of the Nile River for their irrigation. They stored the water by artificial means and irrigated the fields with treadmills, using their feet. It took human sweat and toil. But in the Promised Land they did not have the Nile River. They had to rely completely on God to provide the rain to grow and harvest their crops.

It is the same in our land of marriage and motherhood. Yes, we have to work hard, but when we do it in our own strength it is to no avail. As we raise our children we have to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and understanding and to help us moment by moment. We have to rely on God to provide for our needs. We are totally cast upon the blessing of God. Psalm 127:1 says, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.”

This is why one of the most important aspects of parenting is prayer—crying out to God for our children; crying out to God for help and wisdom. We cannot do it without Him. But when we trust in Him, we will find that He is absolutely faithful to show us the way and to provide for our needs (Matthew 6:25-34).

Many mothers feel that they need to join their husband in his role of providing for the family because they do not believe God is able to care for them. This is like being back in Egypt, turning the treadmills with our feet. In this Promised Land we must totally rely upon God, a God who cares for us from the beginning of the year until the end! Remember, God’s eyes are upon your land. Why leave the “land” that God has ordained for you and go back to Egypt? Why strive in the workplace, leaving your children and taking your husband’s place when God wants to bless you in your home? (1 Kings 9:3)

IT IS A FRUITFUL LAND (Deuteronomy 6:3)

Wouldn’t it have been terrible for the children of Israel to go into the Promised Land and find it a barren land? That would have been devastating. But our God is a God who delights in fruitfulness and He chose a fruitful land for them.* God was the first real estate agent and He spied out all the lands to find the best land for His people. It was a land of fruitfulness that brought forth an abundance of grapes, figs, pomegranates, corn, wine, wheat, barley oil and honey. Ezekiel 20:6 RAV says, “I lifted up my hand in an oath to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out (spied out) for them, flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.”

I remember years ago traveling from Egypt through the Sinai desert to Israel. The moment we entered the borders of Israel we beheld orange groves growing prolifically. It was the same desert land but with hard work and irrigation the land was blossoming. For years the land lay desolate with deserts and malarial swamps but since Israel became a nation in 1948 it has began to blossom again.

But God not only promised to give an abundance of food but to increase them with children. God wanted His people to fill the land. Deuteronomy 6:3 says, “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.”

This land of motherhood is a land where we embrace increase. We receive every child as a blessing from God. We don’t endure having children but joyfully embrace them. Jesus said in Matthew 18:5, “Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me.” The word “receive” is not the attitude of “take it or leave it” but an active receiving, “to receive by deliberate and ready reception of what is offered.” (Luke 9:48)

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL
www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Father, thank you that you are watching over our family from the beginning of the year until the end. Please forgive me for relying on my own resources. Teach me how to trust you for all our needs. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’ve finished with living the Egyptian way; I’m trusting God’s infinite resources.

* Read all the Scriptures about the Fruitful land: 

Leviticus 25:19; 26:4-10; Numbers 13:23-27; Deuteronomy 1:2;5; 7:13; 8:1; 7-9; 28:1-14; 30:5, 16; 11:13-14; Nehemiah 9:25; Psalm 85:12; Isaiah 26:15; 30:23-24; Jeremiah 3:16; 23:3; 34:27; Ezekiel 34:27; 36:8-11; 29-30, 37; Zechariah 8:12 and 10:8.