FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Episode 69: The Glory of Womanhood (Part 2)

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

Nancy: Hello ladies, we are continuing our series of THE GLORY OF WOMANHOOD. Let me read you Isaiah 43:7. God says: “I have created him for my glory.”

We go back to Psalm chapter 8 in verses 4-6: “What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him little lower than the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honor.” Now, last week, we were talking about two different Hebrew words, kabod and hadar. Here we see these words in the same Scripture where it says He has crowned him with glory and honor. Glory is kabod, and the word is honor is hadar.

Remember that beautiful Hebrew word, hadar? It's not only a Bible word. It's not only a word that is used for the glory of God because all these words about glory are used for God. Yet, they are words that are also used about us as women. We found that out in our last session. This word, hadar, is used in Israel today. Many mothers even call their daughters hadar because they want them to live in the glory that God has for them. This word means “beyond honor, beauty from above,” and God says that He has crowned His creation with glory and honor, and He wants us to live in it. “Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou hath put all things under his feet.”

Today, we are going onto our second point which is:

No. 2: MOTHERHOOD IS THE GLORY OF THE NATION

We are going to turn to Hosea 9:11. It's amazing how we can read Scriptures that give us an understanding about motherhood right throughout the Bible, in the psalms, in the prophets, in the New Testament, throughout the Old Testament. It's all throughout the Bible. In this passage, it's actually in the context of God bringing judgment and punishment upon Israel because of their sin. Then we read about the punishment.

It says in verse 11: “As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like the bird.” This was going to be their punishment. Their glory was going to fly away, it was going to go. What was their glory? This is where we find something interesting here. It says: “From the birth and from the womb and from the conception.” Here, God calls conception, the womb, pregnancy, birth, the glory of the nation. In other words, motherhood is the glory of the nation.

Therefore, mother, as your embrace your motherhood, you are living in the glory that God wants you to live in. This is your glory. I can hear you saying in your heart, “Oh goodness me, I don't seem to be having much glory around here today.” It’s true, motherhood is challenging. Motherhood is not for wimps. Motherhood takes a strong and courageous woman. Motherhood is a high and powerful calling, and anything that is high and powerful and worthwhile takes effort.

You're always facing challenges. You're facing children who are getting upset. You are facing challenges where you have to deal with children's behavior problems. It doesn't always seem to be very much glory. But dear precious mothers, really, motherhood comes back to our attitude. It's true. If you have a negative attitude about your mothering and if you think that, “Well, really, I just love my children but really, I've got other things I could be doing. I could be getting so much money out in the career that I've trained for. I just have to get through this.” You have all these negatives. I know ladies, the negatives come upon us from all around us. It's all around us in society. It comes from the words people speak to us—neighbors, family, people even in the church. The negativity is always there, and it sort of comes down on us. We are coming from this negative attitude. Even when we face difficulties, or we do have a hard day, we think, poor me, and we get into this trough of self-pity and into this pit of depression.

You know what, ladies? I think we have to gird up the loins of our mind as the Bible says. If you think about it, there are literally, right now, millions of God's people in Middle Eastern and western and northern African countries, and Muslim countries who are suffering incredible persecution. We also think of North Korea, which is number one for persecuting Christians in the world. They are being tormented, beaten, and physically tortured. They are starving. They are going through such torture and persecution and separation of families, yet they are still standing for Christ.

Here we are in our homes, God has given us a home, we have a husband, we have precious children, the most beautiful gifts God could give us, and we have a few problems, and we get into a state of depression or self-pity. What is wrong with us? I believe we've got to come up to what are God sees. God sees motherhood as a glory.

As I shared with you last session, I read you my little ditty:

“Why don't we live in our glory?

Because we've been told a different story!”

We've been told so much negative junk that you think motherhood is a negative thing. Therefore, every bad thing that happens, every little challenging thing, it all piles up into the negativity. No, we've got to have our minds renewed as it tells us in Romans 12:1, 2: “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

We have to cast off all these lies and deception that come from the pit of hell, and we have to renew our mind with Bible truth. Now, the Bible truth is that God says motherhood is the glory of the nation. Motherhood is our glory. Let's embrace it, dear ladies.

Let's read on a bit further in this passage. “Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them. That there should not be a man left. Yea, woe also to them when I depart from them.” Now, what is this judgment? It's taking away their glory, and God says, “When I do that, I'm departing from you.” That's pretty powerful, ladies. When God takes away the glory, God is departing from us. It's sad that there are women today who will choose the curse, who will choose to take the judgment and who will not embrace the glory. They don't want to have children. If they do, they'll make sure they limit them because they don't want too many; they don't want too much of this glory. They limit what God says is the glory. God says when He's taking away the glory, He's departing from us. Why would anyone choose that of their own volition? Because that is the judgment of God.

We go on over to verse 24. It's still continuing the judgment. “Give them, O Lord, what wilt thou give, a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.” That was the judgment of God, yet there are women today who choose to stop the function of their womb. Therefore, they have dry breasts. That's not blessing, that is judgment.

Verse 16: “Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Yea, thou they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.” Although this is in the context of judgment, we still see glorious things written here. We see what God calls our children. He doesn't just call them children, He calls them “the beloved fruit of the womb”. That's how God sees them. He knew that was how Ephraim, another name for the children of Israel, saw their children, as “the beloved fruit of the womb,” “the cherished fruit of the womb.” Then, His judgment was to take them away.

The New Living Translation of Hosea 9:11 says: ‘The glory, (the kabod, that is the kabod, remember that beautiful word?) “The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will not be born or grow in the womb or even be conceived.” Wow. That is really powerful, isn't it?

Let's go on to the next point ladies.

No. 3. RAISING CHILDREN IN THE HOME IS THE GLORY OF THE NATION

Now we are going to go to another one of the prophets, to Micah, Micah 2:9. It says here: “The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses, from their children have ye taken away my glory.” Hadar, my glory. Remember, God created us as hadar, He created us with glory. Now, He's talking about children. This is from their children “have ye taken away my glory forever.”

Here, the glory is revealed as the children growing up and being raised in the home. Something was happening here in Israel and the women were being cast out of their houses. Then it goes on to this part that we are going to talk about. “From their children have ye taken away my glory forever.” In other words, these children, along with the mothers, were taken out of their homes.

Now God says, “When they are taken out of their homes, they are taken out of my glory.” Do you notice something there? My glory. Yes, God is speaking. “From their children, have ye taken away my glory forever.” This is not man's glory. This is God's glory, ladies. Let's get it. We are coming back to the Bible language. You see, we haven't often lived in our glory because of what?

We've listened to a different story,

But we are coming back to the Bible story!

That is God's glory for our children to be nurtured, nourished, trained, prepared, and grow up in the home. The home is where God planned for children to be raised. God is the originator of the home. Back in Genesis, we see how all that God originates and His plan at the very beginning. In fact, when He created man,  He created him before He created the home, which is rather interesting.

We go back to Genesis 2. We see this in the chronological  order it is written here.

Verse 7: “And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and became a living soul.”

Verse 8: “The Lord God planted a garden.” It was after He created man that He planted the garden and created the Eden home, the home of delight. We don't read about the women until down in verse 18, way down in the chapter, where it says: “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a help meet for him.” I'm going to make him this helper, this counterbalance. It's actually two words, help and meet. Helper is the word, ezer. It means to be a helper like God. It's one of the words that is used of God. God is my help, ezer, same word, yet this word was first used for the woman.

The next word, meet, is kenegdo, ezer kenegdo. Kenegdo meaning “counterbalance, over-against.” It's like when God created the woman, and He brought her to the man and they were face to face, counterbalanced. Now, there was the male and the female. He created them differently but equal to counterbalance one another. That's the beautiful thing about male and female. We each have our own characteristics that counterbalance one another.

That's the beautiful thing about marriage, we counter-balance one another. We, as the female, as the woman, we are the home-nester, the homemaker, the nurturer and the nourisher, and the man is the provider, and the protector, and the leader. We counterbalance one another. It is such a beautiful thing when we embrace this.

I got onto another point, but I was talking about how God was the originator of the home and when He created the woman, where was she? She was in her home. She woke up, and there she was in the garden, in her home. The man, He created him, the man, before the home.

God waited until he had the home ready before He created the female. He has put innately in her it be a home-nester, to make a home for her husband and for her children. God created this place, this place of safety, and this place of stability, and this place where we house the presence of God, and where we live in our glory to raise our children. This is God's glory. Don't forget those words. Let's read some other translations, shall we?

The Holman Translation says: “You take My blessing from their children forever.”

The Amplified says: “You take away My splendor and blessing forever (by putting them among pagans, away from Me).” When I read those words, I could hardly believe what I was reading. Obviously, these folks and these precious children were taken out of their homes, maybe even taken to another country. Here, looking at this, as it is today.

Let's read it again. “You have taken away My children by putting them among pagans, away from Me.” This is what is happening to many of God's children today. They are being taken out of the home and put in a pagan education system. I know that way back, years ago, it wasn't pagan like it is today. I remember growing up as a child, even in high school, every morning before we went to our classes, we all assembled together and listened to the Word of God being read and then we sang a hymn before we even went to classes. That is not the case today.

The Bible has been taken out of school. Prayer has been taken out of school. Now, we are faced with the liberal agenda becoming more and more and more prevalent. In fact, it is taking over. Now, there are more classes about the Muslim religion than, well, there's nothing about Christianity. We have this whole tendency, even of the transgender that is coming into our society. It's not just in our society, it's in our schools, it's in our classrooms. We better believe it.

Last year, my husband and I were speaking at an Above Rubies' retreat. There were two high school teachers at that retreat and both of these men were wonderful men of God and their wives were homeschooling their children. But their profession was a teacher. One of them got up. He said, “Please pray for me. In my school in New Jersey, we were told that we must promote the transgender ideology that is coming in.” He said, “I have two children in my class who are changing from one sex to the other, and we are expected to honor them in the classroom.” This is unbelievable. It's hard to believe we are even living in this kind of thing happening in America. We have to be watchful. I think there are many, many Christian parents who, I don't think, truly understand what is happening in our education system today. They are sending their children amongst pagans. There may be a few Christian teachers here and there, but these Christian teachers’ tongues are tied.

What are our precious children receiving each day? In fact, our younger generation coming up are really, perhaps, the most dangerous generation of our time because they are getting closer and closer to voting, and they are brainwashed, especially in our colleges today. They are being absolutely brainwashed with a socialist agenda. When they vote, what will they vote for? It will not be for righteousness, it will not be for life, it will not be for family, it will not be for God, but a totally ungodly, socialist agenda.

We need to be praying for a mighty revival. I cry out every day for a great, mighty, supernatural revival amongst our young people. I know God is moving amongst many of our precious young people, but there in those in colleges, they are being duped and brainwashed and propagandized with total deception. Without a great intervention, that is on a downward path for this nation. We need to be praying and crying out.

We also need to be aware of what we are doing when we send our children into this pagan system because it has now become a pagan system of education. Here, we read it, right in the Word of God. Let me read it to you again. “You take away my splendor and blessing,” that is another word for glory that explains that word hadar, “by putting them among pagans, away from me.”

Do you remember how in the King James version, it says, my glory? God wants to be with us, dear mothers. He wants to be with us in our homes as we nurture and train and teach our children. When we send them off to pagans, to ungodly teachers, to teach them and influence them for all those hours of the day, they are being taken away from Me (God states).

You, as a godly mother, are to teach your children God's ways and teach them of Him. That is the most important part of their education, being taught His ways, His words, who He is. Even the character of God, we know so little of it. How we need ourselves to seek and understand more and more of His attributes and character and teach them to our children. Dear lovely mothers, if your children know who God is, they will never turn from Him. Some mothers feel fretful and wonder, “Will my child ever turn away from God?” That's your greatest thing that would grieve your heart. As you teach them His ways and you teach them who He is, when they know who He is, not just about God but they know who He is, how can they ever turn from Him?

Let's have a look at some other translation.

The New Living Translation: “And forever stripped their children of their prized inheritance.” Children's prized inheritance or in other words, their glory, is to be raised in the home. Little children who are sent into day cares are a substitute for the home. They are substitutes. The devil loves to have substitutes. He has substitutes for everything that is of God.

The New English Translation says: “You defraud their children of their prized inheritance.” Once again, it's talking about their prized inheritance.

Lovely ladies, embrace your motherhood. Embrace your home. It's your glory. This is your glory and if you will understand that this is the truth and embrace it, you can find glory in your home. I'm not saying that it's going to always be easy. Yes, you'll face lots of difficulties, challenges, and heartaches, but it is glory.

I love that Scripture in 1 Peter 4:12: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trail which is to try you as though some strange thing has happened unto you but rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering. That when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy and if ye have been reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.”

God, who is the God of glory, the Spirit of glory, He is resting upon you, not just when everything is going good, but when you're going through suffering, when you're being reproached. It says here: “The Spirit of glory rests upon you.” Be encouraged. Even in the most difficult times, even in the darkest times, you can know and experience the Spirit of glory upon you.

Embrace the truth. As you get the truth into your mind, you will begin to live in the glory of it. I'm thinking of a Scripture in Jude, the second to last  book in the New Testament. In verse 6, it talks about when Satan rose up against God. It says: “And the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”

I wish I had with me some other translations of that Scripture. Look it up in the translations you read. I'm reading from the King James Version. In some other translations, it's also very, very powerful, how Satan and his angels left the place that God had ordained for them. As they left it, they left their glory, and they ended in utter destruction.

 God has given to every person, even to every animal, and everything in the world, He's given that sphere. There is a sphere for everything in life. Even for His people, God gives us a sphere. He gives to mothers a sphere in which He wants us to mainly dwell and raise our children and that's our home. Of course, we are going to go out of the home. We have to go out of the home to even bring food for our home and so on and to do so many things, but our base, our foundation, it's our glory. The more you understand of it and come to embrace it, the more that you will truly enjoy the glory of it.

Let's finish here. Next week, we are going to find another glory.

“Dear Father, we thank You so much for Your wonderful Word and how You're showing us that, Lord God, You've created us to live in Your glory as we embrace motherhood, as we embrace our home. Thank You, Lord for showing us that You want our children. This is their prized inheritance. It's Your glory, not only ours, it's Your glory for them to be raised in the home. We thank You for teaching us Your wonderful Word, in the name of Jesus, Amen.”

 

 

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 68- THE GLORY OF WOMANHOOD- PART 1

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello lovely ladies, welcome again to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours.

I’m going to begin again today with a lovely poem. This is a poem by Edgar Guest. He lived back in the first part of the last century and he wrote many poems.

Actually they say he wrote over 11,000 poems and published more than twenty volumes of his poetry.  He just wrote about the simple things of life and about family. People loved it because it was all about their lives.

At one stage he printed a poem every day in the paper because he was a journalist.

This one is called “No Children in the House.”

I actually remember a few years ago when I would take my grandchildren with me to Above Rubies Retreats. I remember Mercy (my daughter), Rashida and Meadow (my granddaughters) coming.

Meadow has one child now, little Warren. Meadow and her husband, Kendall, are currently living in Japan. He is an engineer for Nissan, and he is posted there for a year.

Rashida, she has two beautiful little girls now (Ezra called Ezzie for short and

Emory), and Mercy, who is our youngest daughter, she has one little boy called Canaan. 

So they all have children now, but this was in their single days. If anyone came to an Above Rubies Retreat with me, they always had to do something.

Of course Meadow used to sing, but sometimes they’d recite this poem. Between the three of them, they would all take a verse or so each. I’m remembering that as I read this to you.

Here we go:

“No children in the house to play—
It must be hard to live that way!
I wonder what the people do
When night comes on and the work is through,
With no glad little folks to shout,
No eager feet to race about,
No youthful tongues to chatter on
About the joy that's been and gone?
The house might be a castle fine,
But what a lonely place to dine!

“No children in the house at all,
No fingermarks upon the wall,
No corner where the toys are piled—
Sure indication of a child.
No little lips to breathe the prayer
That God shall keep you in His care,
No glad caress and welcome sweet
When night returns you to your street;
No little lips a kiss to give—
Oh, what a lonely way to live!

“No children in the house! I fear
We could not stand it half a year.
What would we talk about at night,
Plan for and work with all our might,
Hold common dreams about and find
True union of heart and mind,
If we two had no greater care
Than what we both should eat and wear?
We never knew love's brightest flame
Until the day the baby came.

“And now we could not get along
Without their laughter and their song.
Joy is not bottled on a shelf,
It cannot feed upon itself,
And even love, if it shall wear,
Must find its happiness in care;
Dull we'd become of mind and speech
Had we no little ones to teach.
No children in the house to play!
Oh, we could never live that way!” 

 

Now ladies, I want to start sharing a series with you called “The Glory of Womanhood.”

My first point is, ladies, we already have glory.  I love that Scripture in Proverbs 11:16 and it says: “A gracious woman retains her honor . . ..” In other words, she already has honor, she’s just got to keep hold of the honor and the glory God has given her.

That word there in the Hebrew “A gracious woman retains her honor,” that word is actually “glory.”

It’s the Hebrew word kabod and in most places in the Bible it’s translated “glory.” It means “to carry authority in speech and demeanor and comportment, the way you live and walk.” It means “esteem, majesty and wealth.”

One of the main meanings of this word is “weight.” Now this doesn’t mean we put on weight. No, it’s the meaning of a weight of honor, a heaviness of honor. We carry a weight of authority because of this glory that God has given to us.

Now ladies, how is it that we already have glory? It is because we were created in the image of God. In the very beginning God created man or mankind and when He created the man there was only one being. But in the man, there was already the woman.

We then go on to Genesis chapter two and we read how God took the woman out of the man and then there were two. There was a male and a female. God Himself is genderless, but when He created mankind, He created the male and the female and each one reveals different aspects of Who God is.

The man reveals the manhood, the maleness of God.

God has planned for us to reveal the beautiful femaleness of God, His nurturing heart, His compassionate heart. Of course a man can have compassion and mercy also, but it is physically and very innately exemplified in the female.

So when God created us this way, He put in us something of His glory. Of course we don’t live in the fullness of the glory of God. When we read about God, He is called in the Scriptures the God of Glory. He is called the Father of Glory. He is called the Spirit of Glory. We also read of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory. We read about the throne of glory in His heavenly realm.

Everything to do with God is related to glory. He is glory. That word glory, as I have shared, is “majesty, esteem and wealth.” It’s a beautiful word.

We have some of that glory; we reflect some of His glory. God wants us, as His female creation, to embrace how He created us because when we do that, when we embrace who He created us to be as a female, we live in our glory. Isn’t that wonderful?

Dear ladies, God wants you to live in your glory. To live in your glory, not to go against it, not to think it’s of no worth, no, but to embrace it with all your heart and to live in it.

We’re going to find out more as we go along how to live in this glory. We have to retain the glory that God has given to us.

That word “retain” in the Hebrew is the word tamak and it means “to keep fast, to hold up, to maintain.”

It is the same word that is used when Joseph held up his father’s hand to place it on Manasseh’s head, his son’s head, when his father was blessing his sons. It was a holding up. It’s the same word when it says: “Thy right hand upholdeth me” (Psalm 63:8). It holds  me up.

And just as God holds us up, He wants us to hold up the glory that He has given to us. He wants us to hold on to it and not bring shame to it. When we don’t live in it, we’re actually bringing shame to His glory.

In Psalm 4:2 it says: “ . . . how long will ye turn my glory into shame?” “Glory”— that’s that word kabod. How long will you turn it into shame? We either do two things, precious ladies: We either embrace the glory that God has given to us, or we bring shame to it.

In Jeremiah 2:11 it says: “But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.” That’s a powerful Scripture, isn’t it?

We see the feminist world today coming against everything that is truly womanly. They call themselves “feminists” but they’re the opposite to everything feminine. They are the opposite to every way God created them.

We don’t have to be very intelligent to look at our bodies and see how God created us: femininely, womanly. Our most basic characteristic as a woman, as a female, is that we have a womb. It’s our most basic characteristic; it’s what makes us a woman.

This womb is a powerful place. Maybe one time I’ll do a series for you about the womb. The womb is where we conceive and carry a baby that grows in our womb. We bring this beautiful baby forth, this life, this child within us that has been a child from the moment of conception, a child that has been born not only for this world, but for the eternal world. We have the privilege to do this from our womb.

We have breasts from which we nourish and nurture this child. This is the glory that God has given to us.

It is so sad that today feminists and liberalists are turning away from who God created them to be and they are no longer who they are.

I remember one time our grandson Zadok (he’s Evangeline’s oldest son, he’s 27 years now), and he has such an anointing of evangelism upon him. Everywhere he goes he speaks about Jesus. Sometimes we call him “the Wal-Mart evangelist” or “the bus stop evangelist” because he goes to these places and everywhere he goes he finds people who need Jesus and he is not inhibited in anyway. He just speaks to everyone he meets. He leads people to Jesus in Wal-Mart. He prays for people to be healed at Wal-Mart. He goes to a gas station to get gas and he will end up leading someone to Jesus.

I remember one time he decided to go down to the streets in downtown Nashville and he didn’t know that the night he went down was going to be some gay demonstration. It was filled with gays and homosexuals.

He was sharing with us later how he came up to one person, this guy who was dressed as a woman and the anointing of God just came over him.

He rose up with such authority in God. He spoke with this loud voice and he pointed at this man, and for many they would think, “Help, help, why would you do this?” but it was the anointing of God and he pointed at him and said, “You are not being who God created you to be. This is not who you are!”

Then he began to speak to him, to this man, and because it was under the anointing of God, God arrested him, and this man began to weep.

But what a true statement, “This is not who you are.” I believe this is the message for so many precious women today who have been deceived, who are duped by this feminist dogma. “This is not who you are!” and this is not the glory of womanhood that God has given you.

So, precious ladies, we have to embrace this glory. Yes, it is a glory.

I’m not just talking to you, making this all up to make it all sound great, that this is all glory. No, I’m speaking to you from the Bible and as we go through today, we’re going to see that this is Bible language.

We have got to get the right language. We have got to get the truth. We are bombarded on every direction by deception from the feminists and the humanists and all the “ists” and “isms” that are so contrary to the Word of God.

It’s time we came back to the truth and the language of the Bible. This is our very beginning basic point, precious mother, precious daughter, whoever you are today. You were created in the glory of God. You carry the glory of God. God has put some of His glory on you so you can reveal it in this world and show to the world what God is like.

When we as women embrace our femininity, we bring glory to God. When we as a mother come to motherhood and when we embrace it, we are revealing the nurturing, compassionate heart of God and He wants this revealed in the world.

It is God’s glory and He wants us to revere it. Amen?

You’ve already got it precious, ladies. You’ve got to just hold on to it, hold on to your glory. Amen? 

All right, let’s look at some other Scriptures. We go to Proverbs 31:25 and this is speaking about the virtuous woman and in this verse,  it says: “Strength and honor are her clothing. . .. ”

The word “honor” there is another word for glory, another Hebrew word this time and it’s the word hadar.

There are a lot of different Hebrew words for glory, but the ones we’re going to speak about today are kabod, which I’ve talked about, and now also hadar.

Hadar is also a wonderful word and it also means “glory, honor, majesty and beauty.”

In fact a while back I had a beautiful girl living with us as an Above Rubies helper. I think you know that I have Above Rubies helpers come to live with us. They come from all over the USA and also the entire world.

This girl, Avigail, was from Israel. We were so blessed to have her come all the way from Jerusalem. Avigail has lived in Jerusalem all her life. She has grown up living among the Orthodox Jews. Hebrew is her first language.

It was so wonderful when we would have prayer times, she would begin praying in English and then move into Hebrew. She just couldn’t help it! Oh goodness, when she began to pray in Hebrew it was so powerful.

But I loved having Avigail with us because when we were reading the Word we would say, “Oh I wonder what this word really means.”

We can look it up in our Strong’s Concordance and find the meaning there, but often it’s not the full meaning.

I remember one day asking Avigail about this particular word. It was “Strength and honor are her clothing” and we realized it was the word hadar. 

I said, “Avigail, okay, do you use that word today in your everyday language in Israel?”

She said, “Yes.”

I said, “Tell me, what does it really mean?”

She thought for a moment and she actually found it quite hard to fully express the meaning. She said, “It really means ‘beyond honor.’ It’s a very powerful word. It means ‘beauty from above.’ In other words, it’s a beauty that comes from God.’” She said that it’s such a beautiful word that many mothers in Israel love to call their daughters “Hadar,” so they speak that over their daughters, this beauty from above, this honor.

Isn’t that beautiful? And this is the word here in Proverbs 31 where it says: “Strength and honor [beauty from above] are her clothing.” This is what she is clothed in.

Dear ladies, this is our testimony. We are to be clothed in glory. We put on glory each day. We wrap ourselves around in glory. It’s not a glory of our own. We haven’t got it of ourselves. It’s given to us from above. It’s this beauty from above. It’s this reflected glory of the image of God that we are revealing as a female.

Let’s look at another Scripture. I’m going to turn over in my Bible here to Psalm 111. It’s just a description here of the works of the Lord.

All of the works of the Lord are so wonderful. On the sixth day God created His final creation, mankind: male and female. Every day He said it was good, but on the sixth day, after He had created His highest creation, He said “It is VERY good.”

We use the word “very” and it’s not really such an incredible word we use. If we want to say something’s really amazing, we use the word “amazing” or “incredible” or “fantastic.”

Well that’s really what that word means. It’s not just “very.” It does mean “incredible, amazing and just so beyond the normal.” It was very good. Exceedingly good.

So as we read this passage we can think about all God’s works of creation, but His highest creation, which is male and female.

Psalm 111:2-3: “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable. . ..” That’s the word howd. Wow, that’s another word for glory in the Bible and it means “beauty, glory, excellency.”

“His work is honorable and glorious. . ..” That’s the word hadar. That’s the word that we’re talking about now. She’s clothed with hadar and when God created us, He said He created us with hadar, that’s the word here, ”glorious,” He created us with hadar.

Are you getting it ladies? Yes, hadar, which also means “dignity.” That’s another part of it.

In fact, I’ve noted here, I’ve found 19 different translations of Proverbs 31:25 where they use the word “dignity.” So although it means glory, it also means dignity.

Some translations will say: “Strength and dignity are her clothing and she laughs at the time to come.”

What does dignity mean? Well, the dictionary tells us that “it’s the quality of being worthy of honor. It’s a high sense of propriety, truth and justice. It’s an elevated deportment of manners and behavior. It’s an elevated office, an honorable or high rank.” That is the meaning of dignity. God has given you, as a female dignity so embrace it. You are not inferior as a female. You are created with hadar, with glory, with beauty from above.

Psalm 111 goes on with verse 3: “He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered . . ..”

Wonderful, that’s the Hebrew word pala. Oh goodness me, how I love that word! It means “wonderful, marvelous, miraculous, extraordinary, astonishing, beyond the bounds of human power or expectation.”

Verse 6: “He hath showed the people the power of His works.” They are powerful.

Then it goes down to verses 7, 8 and I am going to read these verses in the ESV: “The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy; they are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness. . ..”

Dear ladies, you can trust the way God made you. Everything He says, everything He does is trustworthy.

Daughters, beautiful daughters who are listening today, young daughters and older daughters, embrace your femininity. It’s your glory and it’s who you are. Always be who you are, who God created you to be.

I think one of the saddest things in the world is for someone to go through life and to not be who God created them to be. I think that is the most devastating thing in the entire world.

Fancy being here on earth and not being who you were meant to be! The greatest thing you can ever do is be who God created you to be.

That means as a daughter, that means when you become a mother, we embrace who we are with all our hearts. As we do, we live in our glory and we keep and hold on to the glory God gave us at creation. We are giving glory to God.

I believe it is time that we took back the glory.

I wrote something this morning, just a little kind of ditty:

“Why don’t we live in our glory?

Because we’ve been told a different story.”

I believe that’s the reason, ladies. That’s the reason that we’re not living to the full of our feminine glory is because we’ve been told a lie.

Not only have we been told a lie. We’ve been told it so much, that we have been educated in the media, in society all around us and, sadly, in the church today that we don’t believe the truth.

And so we don’t live in the glory. That’s why we’ve got to come back to Bible truth, Bible language so we can live in our true glory.

Then I wrote another little ditty:

“If you want to live in your glory,

Take heed to the Bible story.”

Amen?

All right, ladies, I’m going to pray and then next week we’re going to carry on learning more about the glory God wants us to live in.

“Dearest Father, Oh how we praise You that You are the God of glory. You are the Father of glory. You live in glory. Your throne is a throne of glory and we will never, with our finite minds, fathom even a little of the glory of all who You are and where You dwell.

“One day we will live and see this glory, but now, oh God, we can only dream about it. But we thank You for Your truth that You have created us to live in Your glory, to live out Your glory, to bring glory to You.

“We ask that You will save us from ever bringing shame to Your honor and glory, but that we will truly be who You have created us to be. In the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.”

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Episode 67: The Three H's: Heaven, the Holy of Holies, and the Home

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

Nancy: Hello ladies. I bless you today in the name of the Lord Jesus. I hope you are having a very special day in your home with your children. Here's our poem for today:

I LOVE TO BE A MOTHER

Some houses try to hide the fact that children shelter there,
Ours boasts of it quite openly, the signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows, little smudges on the doors,
I should apologize, I guess for toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children and we played and laughed and read;
And if the doorbell doesn't shine, their eyes will shine instead.
For when at times I'm forced to choose the one job or the other;
I like to be a homemaker but I love to be a mother.

Now, today ladies, I'd love to share with you some thoughts that I have on my heart. Actually, they were cemented while we were down on our vacation in Florida. I had time there, of course, to spend in the Word which I love to do. I was thinking that week about heaven and where is Heaven? Well, there are some Bible commentators that say Heaven is just a dimension, but I believe that Heaven is a place.

I have a few Scriptures which I'm going to give you as a little foundation. This is not my message, but this lays a foundation for it. Here are some Scriptures that I believe actually say, will give us a little idea, of where Heaven may be.

Psalm 75:6-7: “For promotion neither cometh east or from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge.” In other words, does God live in the north?

What about in Isaiah 14:13, 14? We read in this passage where we read about Satan rising up against God and he says: “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will set also upon the mount of congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.” Here, we have another description of Heaven, and it talks again about the north, “in the sides of the north.”

What about Psalm 48:2: “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great king.” Once again, it talks about the north.

Now, in Exodus 40:20-23, God tells Moses what to do, how to make the tabernacle. It says here: “And he put the table,” (that would have been the table of showbread), “in the tent of congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle, northward and he set the bread . . . ” (That's the Bread of His presence, speaking of Jesus who is the Bread. And it wasn't just one loaf of bread. They put twelve loaves of bread on the table. The Hebrew is lechem ha panim, and it means “the bread of faces.” Lechem is bread, Panim is faces or presence.

It's actually speaking of all the faces, all the attributes of Christ. As we feast on Him and we feast on His Word, which is also the living bread, we learn more of Him and partake of Him. This bread on this table was to be put in order in the presence of the Lord. It was to be put on the side, northward. Once again, we get that north.

Then, in Leviticus 1:11, it says: “And he shall kill the sacrifice on the side of the altar northward in the presence of the Lord.” Even the sacrifices that pointed to Calvary were to be done on the altar northward. They were all pointing toward Heaven which is somewhere in the north.

What about Ezekiel 1:4? Ezekiel says that the heavens were opened, and he saw visions of God. And he looked and there was a whirlwind coming from where? Coming from the north. A great cloud with fire, flashing back and forth, brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire, there was a gleam-like ember, and the form of four living creatures came from it, from this fiery cloud, which came from the north.

Then it talks about the four living creatures, and one had the face of a man, one the face of a lion,  one the face of an ox, and one of the face of an eagle. Each one represented another understanding, an attribute of God. We see all these intimations that Heaven could be in the north.

Now, what part of the north? We kept reading this phrase “by the sides of the north” or “in the sides of the north.” That is the Hebrew word, yerekah, and it literally means “the recesses, the far end, the uttermost part.” When it talks about Heaven being in the north, it's saying that it's in the far end, the uttermost part, the very recesses.” We don't know because man has not even fathomed space and all of the firmaments and the stars and everything that God has put in space beyond what we can ever even fathom. Heaven is beyond that, somewhere in the north.

Heaven is not on display for everything to see. Heaven is not on display for everyone to just walk in when they like. No. Heaven is where God dwells, and Heaven is holy. We can't get into Heaven without applying the precious blood of Jesus upon our lives. Jesus came to this earth to die and to shed his precious blood so that He could redeem us back, bringing us into his wondrous, glorious realm in eternity. We can't come into this realm except through the blood. We don't automatically get in Heaven, and no one will be in Heaven unless the blood of Jesus has been applied to their lives and cleansed them from their sin because there will be no sin in Heaven.

Then, we see something else, something very interesting. This is what I noticed. I was totally amazed. I found three things, all starting with H that all have something in common. The first one is HEAVEN, and we find that it is in the recesses of the heavenlies, somewhere in the north.

Then, in the Bible we read about the HOLY OF HOLIES, another H. Now, you will remember that the Holy of Holies was in the tabernacle. The tabernacle in the wilderness was a very important place and it was something that was built according to the pattern of the heavenly. There is a tabernacle in the heavenly. The one on earth was a type, a picture of the heavenly one.

t was in the shape of a cross. When you came into the tabernacle, the first thing you came to was the altar where they sacrificed the lamb every morning and every evening. We remember that that was also northward because it was speaking of Christ who was the lamb of God. After the sacrifice, the shedding of blood, there was the laver and that was where they had to wash and cleanse themselves, and you couldn't go into the next part, the Holy Place without washing. You had to have the blood, then you had to be washed and cleansed.

Then in the Holy Place was where the priests worked and lived in the presence of God. There was the Table of Shewbread on the right. There was the candlestick, the beautiful seven-branched candelabra on the left and that Shoshone upon the bread, speaking of the illumination of the Holy Spirit upon the bread and enlightening it to our eyes.

Then, there was, before you went into the last place, there was the Golden Alar of Incense and that beautiful golden altar speaks of intercession and prayer and praise and worship. And it’s just before you go into the place where God dwelt. Every piece of furniture has great meaning, and every one was important.

Actually, the altar that you first saw, where they did the sacrifices, had four horns on each corner of the altar, speaking of how salvation goes out to the four corners or the earth. Also, the Golden Altar of Incense had four horns. Now, horns always speak of authority in the Bible. Do you know ladies, that when we come to God in prayer, we are coming into a place of authority? When you and your husband pray for your children together, you are in a place of authority. There is authority in prayer, when we pray not in our own name, but in the name of Jesus. That also speaks of not only our own family but reaching out to the four corners of the earth and becoming a praying family that effects the nations of the earth.

Then, precious ladies, we go into the next place, the HOLY OF HOLIES. This place, where was it? This is where it has a similarity to Heaven because we read where God told Moses to build the tabernacle and where to build everything. In 1 Kings 6:16, it says: “He built 20 cubits on the sides of the house.”

Now ladies, did you remember me reading Scriptures that always continually said “the sides of the house,” “ on the sides of the north”? Here it is repeated again. It's the same Hebrew word that means “the recesses, the far end, the uttermost end.” You see, ladies, once again, God told Moses to build the Holy of Holies at the far end of the tabernacle.

It's not out in the front. No, the first thing you come into is the altar where the sacrifices are done. The place where God dwelt in all His Shekinah glory was in the Holy of Holies. It was at the far end. It was at the recesses. You see, we can't just come into God's presence how we like, when we like, if we think we'd like to. No, we cannot come into God's presence without the blood. Even back there in the tabernacle, it showed us the way.

First of all, the sacrifice and the blood was shed, then they had to go and be washed, then they went into the Holy Place where they fed off the bread and where they received light and illumination and anointing from the Holy Ghost, which is represented by the oil and the candelabra that lit the Holy Place.

All these things weren't every now and then. The fire on the altar was never to go out. The bread on the table was never to be taken off. Do you know what they did? When the priests came to take the old bread off, which was there for one week, as they took it off, the next set of priests put the new bread down, immediately, at the same time, so there was never a moment when the bread wasn't on the table.

The light had to be lit continually. The altar of incense, the incense had to continually burn. God told them they had to tend to these things MORNING AND EVENING. That's why we have devotions, coming into the presence of the Lord, morning and evening. What is our point here? Our point here is that the Holy of Holies, where God dwelt, was in the recesses. We don't get into His presence by barging in. No, we come through the blood, through the washing of the Holy Spirit, the washing of the bread of God that also washes us, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and so on.

Even the high priest, I wonder how he got in. We don't even read in the Bible how the high priest entered in to the Holy of Holies. It's a very, very thick veil. Different historians say different amounts of thickness, so we don't know for sure, nor do we know for sure how the high priests entered in. There are some commentators who say there was sort of a maze between the layers of the curtains, but we don't know that for sure.

Then there are some Bible commentators that say that it was supernatural. Do you know, ladies, I tend to go with that understanding? Now, I'm not saying for sure because we are not actually told in the Word, but we do read in the Word that the high priest had to go into the holy place with the blood. He had to take the blood in, or he could not enter the presence of God. He had to have the blood in one hand, but he also had to, it says that he had to carry the blood in one hand, and “he shall take a fire pan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the Lord. And two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense and bring it inside the veil” (Leviticus 16: 12).

He was carrying the blood. He had to carry that in one hand and then he had a pan of live coals that were hot and then he had to put the incense on those live, hot coals, and then the beautiful, sweet incense would waft up and float up so that when he went into the presence of God, that incense would fill the Holy of Holies like a cloud so that he couldn't see God.

God was there, but ladies, how did he get in if he had blood on one hand, the incense of the coals in another? Some Bible commentators say that he stood at the entrance, and God supernaturally took him to the other side. Well, I don't know but how did he get there? Anyway, it was right there at the far end.

Let me read you some other translations so that it is clear to you. The New Living Translation says: “He partitioned an inner sanctuary, the most holy place, at the far end of the temple.”

Verse ten says: “He prepared the inner sanctuary at the far end of the temple.”

The English Standard Version says: “The inner sanctuary He prepared in the innermost part of the house to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.”

The New Living Translation tells us more what it was like in that Holy of Holies. In those days, we couldn't go in. Even in the days of the temple, we couldn't go in. No one but the High Priest once a year went into that place. In the tabernacle, it was a 15-foot cube, but in the temple, it was bigger.  It was a 30-foot cube, 30 feet high, wide, deep, in every way. The Bible tells us that it was all made with cypress but overlaid in pure gold. Now the Living Bible brings that amount to a more modern standard and says that in the Holy of Holies, there would have been—wait for it, ladies—23 tons of gold! Can you even imagine it? Even the nails were made of 20 ounces of gold, each nail.

Now, in the Holy of Holies, there was also the ark of the covenant overlaid with gold and then the cherubims, with a 30 foot wing span, seven and a half feet each wing, reaching from wall to wall because that was a 30 foot cube, all overlaid with gold. That amount of gold would be enough to dazzle your eyes but that was inconsequential to the fact that in this place dwelt the glory, the presence, of God.

It was a little picture of heaven. God also made this to be at the very recesses.

Now ladies, I'm getting to something pretty amazing. We've talked about Heaven. We've talked about the Holy of Holies. What is the next H? It is the HOME. Did you know that God uses this same word, yerekah, about our home? This is amazing. I want you to get this today.

Let's go to that beautiful Scripture in Psalm 128:3, a wonderful family Psalm. It says: “Thy wife shall be like a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house.” There's that phrase again. Did you hear it again? “By the sides of thine house.” It's that Hebrew word, yerekah. What does it mean? “In the recesses, in the very heart, in the hidden place, in the uttermost part.”

What is this Scripture saying? We can read it in a couple other translations.

The New English translation says: “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner rooms in your house. Your children will be like olive branches as they sit all around your table.”

The New King James Version says: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house.”

The Amplified Version says: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house.”

You see, they are translating correctly that Hebrew word, yerekah, which is “the recesses, the far end, the uttermost part.” Now, ladies, this is the picture God gives of the home. He pictures the wife in her home, not on the outskirts of her home, not on the periphery. No, she's in the very heart of her home. Yes, she spends a lot of time in her kitchen. That is the heart of the home, isn't it? In fact, it was always considered the heart of the home where the mother was cooking back in the old days. Of course, she had the wood stove that kept the house warm, and she would be cooking bread in it and cooking big soups and cooking her meals, and there was always something simmering on that stove.

Of course, it was warm in that kitchen and drew everyone to the warmth. It was also where there was the food, and of course, everybody is drawn to food. It was where the mother was mainly, and everyone was drawn to her. The husband was drawn into the home by his wife. The children were drawn around the mother. This is the picture of the home.

The table is there, and what does the Bible say? There the children are all around your table (Psalm 128:3). They are not off everywhere, going here and going there, eating their meal in front of the TV, off in their bedroom. No, no, no. God paints the picture of the family togetherness, sitting around the table. I'm not making this up, ladies. This is the Scripture. This is the picture God paints and this is where He says He has placed the mother.

Now ladies, we've got to get something. We have to know the truth. The truth is, Satan hates motherhood. Satan knows the power of motherhood. Satan knows that a woman who knows who she is, that God has created her for the blessing and privilege to bring forth children. They are not just children, it's more than that, eternal souls. Children for eternity, and children who will bring forth the image of God in this world. Satan knows it.

Sometimes we don't know it, but Satan knows it. He knows the power of a woman who understands it and comes to the home and will embrace the godly seed and raise them to be mighty in God's truth and filled richly with the Word of God and trained to be mighty sons and daughters for God to impact the land and many countries of the world. He's scared of mothers like that. They are dangerous to him because they upset his purposes, and he does not want the godly seed to come into this world. He does not want godly children in this world, and he does not want godly mothers in the home raising godly children. He wants the mothers out of the home, so he can get his hands on the children.

We are living in a day of humanism and feminism and socialism and materialism and me-ism and all these “isms” which are blinding our eyes to the glorious truth, the truth of God's Word.

Dear ladies, are you getting the similarity? Are you getting the fact that these three things all have one thing in common, Heaven, the Holy of Holies and the Home? Your home is aligned with Heaven. Your home is aligned with the Holy of Holies.

Dear ladies, it's only these three things where God uses that word to describe the position, Heaven in the recesses, the Holy of Holies in the recesses, and the home and the mother in the heart of the home, in the recesses, in this very, very powerful place.

It may be a hidden place. Yes, it is hidden, but Heaven is hidden. It's the most glorious place, but there's no place on earth that is like Heaven. There is no place ever in the world like Heaven, but it's hidden at the moment.

The Holy of Holies, there was no more glorious place where God filled, and God dwelt in the midst of His people, but He was there in the Holy of Holies. His glory came out from that Holy of Holies and by day, the cloud covered them to protect them and by night, the pillar of fire came up from the Holy of Holies, and it warmed them, and they knew that God was in the midst.

But then God says the mother, another powerful place may be hidden, but she is doing the most powerful career in this nation.

God says to you, precious mother today, “You may be hidden in your home but know this is the place that I have chosen for you. It is not an insignificant place. It is not a place of no worth. It is a place that I have chosen. It is a place that I want you to fill with My presence. I want you to raise your children in this heart of the home. I want you to fill them daily with My Word. I want you to show them My ways. I want you to raise them to be great and mighty children, daughters and sons of God, who will be ready one day to go out into this world, not unprepared but prepared, strengthened, filled with God, filled with the Holy Ghost, filled with the Word, filled with truth, who will be able to stand against the wiles and the deceptions of the enemy.”

We are now living in a world that is filled with deceptions more than any other time. We have such evil that our children are facing now. We have children and young people out in our colleges today being filled with such demonic stuff, with transgenderism, thinking that they can change to another gender. It's becoming the norm.

We are raising children who are going to go out into this world. We don't raise them to keep them forever. No, we raise them to go out and influence society. It happens, not out there in the school system, no, it happens in the hidden place of the home. I want to say these few statements as we close our pod today.

Heaven is where God is.

The Holy of Holies was where God dwelt,

and the Home, dear mother, is also where God wants to dwell.

He wants to come into your home, into the heart of your home, even into your kitchen, with your children, where you are cooking day after day, where you think, “what am I doing here?”

Oh no, there's more, dear ladies. Think about it again.

Heaven is filled with the glory of God.

The Holy of Holies was filled with the glory of God,

and God wants to fill your Home with His glory.

He is glory, and He's a dwelling God. He not only wants to fill Heaven; He not only wants to fill our lives; He wants to fill your home with His glory. That's going to happen in the recesses, in the heart of your home. When you're rushing about, here, there, and everywhere, going here, going there, you're running your home from the periphery, there's no time to be filled with the glory. There's not even time to fill your children with the revelation of God and His truth.

Sometimes, in our fast-paced world, we've got to slow down a bit. What do we want? Do we just want this run-about-life, or do we truly want to be this picture painted in His Word?  He wants to be a reality in our lives, where the mother is in the heart of the home, filling it with the glory of God. Living in the glory of God because, precious ladies, these are the three places where God has something in common with them all, Heaven in the recesses. The Holy of Holies was in the recesses, and the mother in the home. He too is in the recesses in the heart of the home. This is where you will find your glory. Can I pray for you?

“Dear Father, I have to admit that we are awed . The revelation of Your Word is so amazing. Lord God, too many mothers have been duped, deceived, and short-changed. Lord God, they have been robbed and stolen from because the enemy does not want them in their home.

But I pray that by Your Holy Spirit, Your truth will come to them today. It will come to their minds. It will come into their very hearts and spirits and will become a reality, and they will know that in their home, they are in Your perfect will,  where You have placed them. It's Your very plan from the beginning of the ages, when You placed the first woman in her home. She woke up in her home where You placed her, and she was in her glory.

Lord God, this is where we will glorify You on earth. This is where we will bring forth glory into this earth as we raise sons and daughters for You. I pray that You will give them such a  joy and such an understanding and revelation of their power in their role in the home. Lord God, I ask it in the name of Jesus, and I pray that You will pour out Your Holy Spirit upon them. I come against any negativity and the lies that have filled their minds and have duped them, O God and have tried to woo them out of the home.

Every day, things happen that try to woo us out and take us away. Lord, I pray that You'll bring them back in. Lord, that they'll find their joy and glory and fullness and wholeness and healing and everything in the place where You have planned for them, where You want them planted and  where You want them to raise Your precious children. I ask in the name of Jesus, Amen.

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 66 - ADOPTING FROM CHINA

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. I have my sister, Kate, with me again today, so that is going to be exciting!

Before we move on, I am going to read you another poem. I have been doing this from time to time lately and because we have been talking about sheep this is called, “Twas a Sheep, not a Lamb.”

Twas a sheep not a lamb that went astray
In the parable Jesus told.
Twas a grown sheep that wandered away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.

And out on the hilltop, and out in the cold,
Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd sought.
Back to the fold and back to the flock,
Twas a sheep that the Good Shepherd brought.

Now, why should the sheep be so carefully fed
And cared for even to-day?
Because there is danger if they go wrong,
They will lead the lambs astray.

The lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Where’er they wander–where’er they go.
If the sheep goes wrong, it will not be long
Till the lambs are as wrong as they.

So still with the sheep we must earnestly plead,
For the sake of the lambs to-day.
If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost
The sheep will have to pay!

-C. C. Miller

Now Kate, there was another story you’ve told me about your sheep. I think it was in the barn one night. Can you remember that story? I love it!

Kate Marchiniak: Yes, definitely. One of the things I used to love to do was to go out to the barn and sometimes just sit in the barn with them. Especially if it had been a hot day, they would come up round about noontime and just sit out and chew their cuds.

It was just a peaceful scene. I used to love to sit in the midst of it and watch them and be with them. It was so peaceful.

But there was this one day they were sitting in a circle and I was on the outside of the circle sitting with them. As they were chewing their cud there was this one ewe, and she was not one of the ones I had raised, and all of a sudden, she stood up and looked at me and walked straight over to me. She put her head on my lap and snuggled into my lap.

I was amazed because ewes, or sheep at all, do not do that. That was so unusual, it was not the norm. I felt that was a lesson that God was showing me. It absolutely thrilled my heart.

It was a lesson of trust I believe, as I think about it now. That ewe came over and put its head into my lap. It was a lesson of intimacy and how the Lord loves us to come and put our heads on His lap as a sign of trusting Him and leaving it all to Him, resting in Him, just resting on His lap. That absolutely thrills a shepherd’s heart.

As I said before, that was not a normal thing for that ewe to do that. But it was, I believe, an illustration of how it thrills the heart of the Shepherd if we as His flock will come and put our heads on His lap and rest in Him.

NC: That’s so beautiful, Kate. I can remember the first time we came to visit you when you were living up in the Caribou of British Columbia and up in your great big log house. The logs were so huge. It wasn’t a normal log house.

In fact I remember arriving there. It was a snowstorm and there was no way of getting up to your house up on the hill. I remember Barry coming down with the tractor, putting our car and trailer on the tractor and hauling us up.

From that time we were just about too scared to go out because it was too scary to go down your driveway or even get up it again.

It was Christmastime. We stayed home and I made homemade bread and soup every day and we just enjoyed the big fire going with the snow all around. You would be coming in with little lambs that had been born and we’d be cuddling them on the sofas. It was just such an amazing time.

 I remember that Christmas, we were all so poor at the time and nobody could afford presents, so we all wrote poems to each other and read them out. I still have those poems today; they were so amazing!

But anyway, ladies, we are going to talk about another different subject today. Kate, sadly, my dear sister Kate, she was never ever able to have children of her own. That was a huge loss because Kate is the most motherly person, as you can tell as you have been listening to her talk about her sheep and her lambs. They were like her little children and her little babies.

In fact, when Kate would come to my place, my dogs, I’ve had dogs from time to time, but they were all Kate’s little children. She was so motherly to every animal she could ever see.

But she always had this longing that she would adopt a baby from China. I think God put that in your heart, didn’t He?

KM: I’m sure.

NC: She longed and longed, but the years went by. It costs money to get a baby from China and she had no money. When they were living in Canada there was never any extra money to adopt this baby.

Eventually she came down to the States and you were 49 years of age and I remembered hearing that if you wanted to adopt a child from China, 50 years of age was the cut-off age.

I said, “Kate, you’ve got to do it!”

She said, “I can’t, we haven’t got a cent to our name.”

I said, “Just start!”

So you took a step of faith and started. Tell us how God was with you as you took that step of faith to start even with no money in your purse.

KM: Well I should say I have this box at home, a big box, and it has all the documents in, every document we had to fill out, to get a child from China.

I was thinking, “Oh my goodness!” It was such a process. Of course home studies were included, that was fine, but just paper after paper after paper that you had to fill out.

The process takes a long time. It was about a year and a half of filling out papers. It never seemed to stop. We always seemed to have another paper to fill out.

But as we went along and did the whole process, money came in. I forget where it even came from, whether it was from church or people!

NC: I think when it got to the biggest sum the church took a love offering. They were really a part of it.

KM: Yes, they were really a part of it. My friend, Susan, who came with us to China with us, she really paid a lump sum too. She’s become Promise’s godmother.

NC: It’s actually interesting, this friend of Kate’s, Susan, I should really tell you who she is, especially seeing she is Promise’s godmother.

Susan is the daughter of the great grandson of President Tyler (10th president of the United States)and he is still alive today. Can you believe that? That is unbelievable.

KM: And she is taking care of him full time.

NC: Yes, he’s now in his last days, the most wonderful, wonderful, godly gentleman.

President Tyler’s first wife died and then he married again. Lionel, Susan’s father, was at the end of the second marriage and that is how he can somehow still be alive today. It’s amazing.

KM: It’s really quite amazing.

I just noticed something in my little book here that I had filled out in terms of receiving help towards the adoption.

I put here, “After two showers, with approximately one hundred friends, they loaded us beyond measure with three carloads of clothes for Promise. Now I am sitting in the Chicago airport with Terre, Susan, and I, waiting for the next flight to Beijing.

Susan is traveling with us and she is a gift from the Lord, such a blessing. She has helped us immensely already. Terre has looked at the boarding pass every ten minutes.”

NC: But anyway, God was so good, and Kate just got in by the skin of her teeth according to her age and was able miraculously to adopt.

Some of you may be thinking about adoption and you think it is impossible. But if God is in it, nothing is impossible.

Kate and Terre had nothing and yet they ended up with Promise because God was good, and God provided, and He chose.

Kate prayed for years for this child. And this beautiful child was actually just abandoned, left in a cardboard box at a government agency. She just came out of a cardboard box. You didn’t get her till she was about two, wasn’t it?

KM: Two, yes. She was at a children’s welfare institute in Yu Yang until she was two.

NC: Tell us what it was like when you first saw her.

KM: Wow so anyhow we were taken to the hotel and Promise had come 13 hours on train with her caretakers from Yu Lin City. Her name was “Dang Yu” which means “the communist party” so we soon had to change it.

NC: Goodness, that is what it meant? The communist party?

KM: Yes. So she had come 13 hours that day and there was a whole group of us. Terre and I came down into this foyer.

Quite a few of the other mothers had gotten their babies who were younger, and they were holding them.

We were one of the last ones and here was little “Dang Yu,” or should I say, Promise Lili, which means “very pretty.” I gave her Lili as her second name.

As soon as I saw her, immediately I knew it was Promise. The director of the orphanage started to talk to Promise. He was quite gruff to her in telling her that she was to come to us.

Instead, she had never seen a foreigner in her life. She had never seen a redhead! So, two years old, she clung to this trolley and she screamed the house down and she wouldn’t stop screaming. She was holding a bag of chips and clinging to the trolley.

I thought. “What have we done?”

Eventually she became exhausted and I went over and picked her up. I took her and showed her the fish in the fish tanks. Then we took her up to our room and she peed all over me.

By that time she was so exhausted she kept gasping for breath and couldn’t stop. We bathed her and by this time she was totally exhausted. We put her in the cot in the hotel room. She was so exhausted she just fell asleep.

I don’t think I got any sleep that night because of what she had gone through. I kept thinking, “What have we done? Will it work?”

But the next morning I got up and she stared at me. I picked her up and I dressed her in this little outfit, a little hat and a little bag. She just thought this was wonderful. She held my hand and never let go.

In fact, the whole time I was there she would not leave me. She clung to me and would not let me go.

NC: You would have loved that.

KM: Yes. It was tiring, but she would not let me go.

That was wonderful because some stories are not like that. Some are that they do not have that intimacy and they have an attachment problem. But Promise was the opposite.

At first, of course, it was pretty terrible, but the next day she just clung to me and wouldn’t let go. She wouldn’t go to Terre until we got home. I was the one that she was attaching herself to and forming that intimacy, which was good, and which was right as her mother.

When we got home it was the same, she would not leave my side. She eventually came around to Terre and of course began to go to him.

It was a dream come true because I had waited so long. As she got a bit older, of course I homeschooled her. For a bit, I put her in Chinese lessons for two years. She never learned a thing because she wasn’t interested. All she was interested in was the American way of life and the appearance that she had.

NC: It’s been a most beautiful thing to behold.

KM: But can I say this, Nancy? One thing that I often think of, and I have actually wept over, is that because of the one child policy there has been a lot of suffering. That includes Promise’s biological mother.

I can’t even begin to know, I think I am going to begin to cry now, what she has gone through to give her child and leave her child outside a government agency in a cardboard box and to have to leave her there.

As a mother, I do not know the pain she must have gone through and must now even wonder where and how her daughter is doing.

One day I was sitting on the bed. I had a lot of papers on the bed and was trying to sort out stuff and I couldn’t find it. It was a story on how Promise was found.

Promise happened to pick it up and started reading it. She couldn’t read the rest. She had to put it down because it was too much for her to read and too much for her to take in.

She has never asked me since about her own mother. They cannot find her. They tried to find her but could not and most probably never will. But I know in the heart of God He knows where that mother is and I’m sure He grieved, and He has grieved over the mothers who have had to give up their babies.

NC: Yes, but God answered your prayer. Actually, I’m being very negative now, but in many ways, Kate, you were a bit of a cot-case before you had Promise.

KM: I beg your pardon?

NC: Because you were desperate for motherhood. I mean, you were born for it.

KM: I was functioning.

NC: Oh, I know, you were in so many areas, but in this area, there was that lack and that longing, and it affected your whole life and then when Promise came you blossomed.

I mean, you always had your amazing gifts and your outgoing personality, but there was this thing, and when Promise came you just blossomed. I mean, you were born for it.

We are born for motherhood, aren’t we? We’re just born for that pouring out of your life and that’s what Kate did. She was the most beautiful mother to Promise.

KM: Not perfect!

NC: Well, no mothers are perfect.

But you were just an amazing mother to watch over the years. Promise will be 17 this month and she has just grown into the most beautiful, beautiful girl.

KM: But now she tells me every time we go out in the car, she criticizes my driving.

NC: Well, that’s typical of that age.

But to watch the years go by and see their beautiful relationship and their closeness.

In fact, what you said, she held your hand and never let go, but how many years did she suck your arm?

KM: Yes, that’s right, she used to do that! She always wanted what she called “armie.” She sucked the inner part of my upper arm. That was her comfort.

NC: Because sucking is a comfort, she just needed that.

KM: She needed that, yes.

NC: That went on for years, didn’t it?

KM: Yes. And of course if that would be a biological parent, it would be the mother’s breast, but for me it was the inside of my arm.

NC: Yes, yes, so beautiful. Now to just see her growing up in the ways of God, it’s been such a beautiful thing.

KM: But there is still a lot of praying to do over her.

NC: Yes, that’s for every child, isn’t’ it?

KM: But I also want to say, if any of you are considering adopting, go ahead because it is fulfilling. I just want to encourage you now if some of you are hesitating and have had it on your heart. I think it’s God that puts it on your heart, so go ahead with it.

NC: Yes, and we know that there are many who are adopted that often do have attachment disorders. That’s really a great miracle that Promise never really had that.

KM: Yes, it was just that first moment.

NC: Yes, but that was only a day. It’s as though she was born from your womb.

KM: Oh yes.

NC: It’s so beautiful. I think maybe one of the reasons for that is you not only prayed, but you interceded for years and years and years.

You had shared with our mum your vision for this baby from China and I can remember for years mum praying for this baby.

KM: I think mum’s prayers play a huge part in Promise’s life and her destiny.

NC: And the way she has been so attached to you. I don’t think I have ever seen an adoption where the mother and child have been so absolutely and emotionally attached.

I think you’re right too—prayer is powerful.

Also the prayers of those who are now passed. That reminds me, Kate, how just this last weekend our dear Aunty Mavis passed away.  She was 97 years of age and she was the last one of our parent’s generation. There are none left.

Our father came from a family of five boys and they all married and raised their children. They all prayed for the coming generations.

Our mum and dad prayed for us—they prayed for their children.

I know Aunty Mavis, she is the last living one, she prayed for her children and grandchildren.

But thinking about that, it’s a huge responsibility. When Aunty Mavis passed away a week ago, I felt that it was an incredible changing of the guards, a passing of the baton.

Although, for both you and I, prayer is a huge thing in our lives, and we already pray for our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and the coming generations but I just bring it to you as a challenge to you today.

When grandparents or parents pass on, you are now the one who is left. If you don’t pray for your children, there’s no one else to pray. If you’re not praying, can you expect anyone else getting down on their knees crying out to God for your children?

No, it’s you! You love them more than anyone else. You have a heart for them more than anyone else. God gives to you that privilege and power to pray for them.

So we are now the generation praying for the next generation. But when we pass on, it will be the next generation. And may every generation keep on praying.

That makes me think of another thing about you, Kate. There are lots of things we haven’t talked about, but one of them is that Kate is a praying woman.

In fact, not only does she spend hours with the Lord personally and has always been an intercessor, but God gave her a vision ten years ago. He gave her a vision to pray in the Franklin Square of Franklin, Tennessee.

Now Franklin is really the next town down from Nashville. It’s a beautiful town, known as one of the best towns in the whole USA.

KM: It’s a historic town.

NC: There was a revival there that once happened there from E. M. Bounds who wrote “The Power of Prayer.” Kate felt that it was time to intercede again for Franklin and so every Friday at lunchtime from 12:30 -1:00 pm, she goes down to that Square and anyone else who will come with her.

How many do you have coming with you?

KM: There are only a few, about four of us at a time now. But that’s okay it doesn’t matter.

NC: I think that revival usually comes through the little group, the remnant that are praying.

I’ve read about the New Hebrides revival and how that came through two women who were praying.

KM: I will say that there’s one lady who comes called Star and she’s in her eighties now and she keeps coming. She walks slowly down there, and she’s been coming faithfully, even in the heat. I’m amazed. She’s such an encouragement.

I had lost count that it was ten years, but how I found out that it had been ten years, a friend of mine, Laura Beth, came to the Square and she never comes. But this day she came.

She walked onto the Square with her little boy and she said, “Kate, this is the 10^th year anniversary of you being here.”

I said, “It is?” because I had never kept track. But I felt like it was God Who had kept track and it was like He had said, “Happy anniversary” for being there.

NC: Yes, and so you will be there until revival hits Franklin!

KM: Yes, I’ll just be there until I can’t be there!

NC: I remember one day you calling me and you said, “There’s nobody here. I’m the only one. God is convicting me to get down on my knees.”

You usually just pray standing up, don’t you? So I said, “Well do it!” so you did it, didn’t you?

KM: Yes, I must say it was a quick kneel, but I did it because you are exposed there.

NC: Yes, it’s right in the center of the Square, cars roaring all around you.

KM: It’s very much exposed. But I did kneel, and I have knelt several times there. I haven’t knelt there for a long, long, long, long time there.

NC: Maybe it’s time to do it again, Kate.

KM: Well, I don’t know.

NC: I believe that all of us in this hour should be praying for revival. I believe we are in great need of a revival in this nation.

KM: Oh yes, and talking about revival, this past Friday when we were out there, Star said, “I have something to tell you.”

She goes to a non denominational church and she said that one of the pastors shared that his daughter, and this is not like his daughter to say this at all, but his daughter out of the blue said to him, “Dad, God just told me that revival is coming for the youth.”

NC:  How wonderful!

KM: I thought, “Wow! How encouraging.” Because of course, for Promise I’m looking for revival for her and all her friends. So this was so exciting to hear for me.

NC: That really encourages me too.

KM: And it was not like his daughter to say any of that.

NC: One of the greatest burdens I have is for the youth of this nation. Especially the youth in our colleges today who are being totally brainwashed and just completely propagandized by socialism and humanism and feminism.

KM: And transgenderism. Do you know this? I just found out that they are paying huge money to take off the breasts of young women who want to be boys.

NC: That is beyond it. We are living in a scary age, worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. We are living in an age and a land of child sacrifice.

We look back and we read the Bible of how God came in judgment when they sacrificed their children to Molech.

But here millions of babies have been sacrificed just to convenience and it’s just taken as normal. I believe we should be crying out to God.

Let’s be praying. Are you praying every day with your family, morning and evening? Gather some people in your home and have a prayer meeting,

We have a prayer meeting here every Wednesday night. We have been doing that in this home since about just after the 2000 mark. We just keep praying and crying out for revival and will not stop until we see it.

How I cry out, please pray with us too, that God will raise up young men and women who will be truth speakers who will come and speak the truth to our young people who are totally deceived today.

They are deceived. I just saw on the news, one of these Democratic guys whose hoping to be president, they call him Bozo or something. But any way he’s up there saying he believes in abortion right up until the day the baby is born. Then you see all these young people around him cheering and clapping their hands.

Dear ladies, can you believe we live in a land where the young people in our land would cheer about a baby being murdered?

Oh we have to cry out to God. Let’s cry for revival. Let’s not just carry on our normal days without just doing something like praying together as a family or getting involved in a prayer meeting.

If you don’t know where to get involved in one, just have one in your home and invite a few friends and pray and cry out for revival. Let’s pray for the revival among the youth.

Yes, God is doing great things among many of our youth, but the majority out there in that secular world are totally deceived and they’re the ones who are getting at the age or they’re at the age now when they can vote. They have the vote. They can vote in socialism. They can vote in Islam.

And now it has just happened that there are four Islamic Democrats who have put forth a bill to embrace Islam as this great religion in our nation.

I mean, are we standing up against these things? Are we praying against them? If we don’t, they are just going to completely encroach upon us.

So let’s, dear mothers, be mothers of prayer, couples of prayer, families of prayer and people of prayer crying out for revival.

“Dear Father, We pray that You will save us from carrying on in our lives, acting so normally as though nothing is happening and everything is great when, Lord God, we have the youth of our nation being indoctrinated in socialism, lies, and deception and as Kate said, transgenderism. This is beyond it.

“Oh God, they are being completely duped. Lord God, save us.

“We pray You would bring revival. Bring the mighty move of Your Holy Spirit. Raise up, Lord, people anointed of the Holy Ghost who will speak Your truth in these places.

“God, we are crying out for revival, crying out for our young people. Lord God, oh God, they’re mutilating their bodies because of deception. We cry out to You, Father, for how much longer can this go on?

“We ask that You will raise up prayer warriors all over this nation. We cry out to You to bring this mighty move of Your Spirit in the name of Jesus. Amen.”