Episode 27: The Awe and Wonder of Life in the Womb, Part 4

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

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

Nancy: Dear ladies, we continue our wonderful description of the baby in the womb from Psalm 139.

I’d like to read to you Ecclesiastes 11:5: “As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God, who knows everything.” This Scripture talks about God naming the bones in the womb of the mother. We talked about that last time, how God creates the bones of the boy baby stronger than the female. Yet God, who knows all things in His plan, the way He wants us to live, He made the male with stronger bones. He has 50% more brute strength than women.

He made the woman, although she doesn’t have that same physical strength, He gave her another strength. He has put within her an ability to be able to, often, resist infection and diseases. Of course, we can all succumb to sickness, but somehow, we will get through it in a way that often males can’t. When there’s stress, the birth of a baby, if it’s a male, it’s more scary because a little baby girl will always survive more than a male baby.

There’s something about a survival in a woman, right from birth. This is right from birth, and God has done that because a mother needs to have that survival ability, as she has to care for her children in the home. Even when she does feel ill and sick, somehow she has to keep going. Not in maybe the same way that she usually does, but somehow, she has to keep going. I know you’ve been through that. I’ve been through that so many times, but God enables us.

Did you notice in that Scripture I read? “You don’t know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child.” Do you notice those words? “With child.” This is how the Bible describes a woman being pregnant.

In Genesis 16:11, the angel said to Hagar: “Behold, though art with child and shall bear a son.”

When Tamar was having a baby, it says in Genesis 38:24, 25 that she was “with child.”

In Exodus 21:22 it says: “If men strive and hurt a woman with child, he shall be surely punished.” This is talking about a woman who is pregnant.

Isaiah 26:17: “Like as woman with child, that draws near to her time of delivery.” And so many other Scriptures. I love that, don’t you? God speaks the truth. God speaks as things actually are. He knows that when a woman conceives, from that moment, she is with child. The little child, the little baby that comes forth from her womb, it was a child even from the very beginning. It’s the same person who will grow up one day to get married and have children of their own. I think it’s good to get the right language, don’t you?

I think of another wonderful word. 2 Timothy 3:15. Paul is writing to Timothy, and he says, “And that from a child,” he uses this word child here. “From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.” How old was Timothy when Paul says, “From a child you knew the Holy Scriptures.”? How old was he? Well, we don’t really know, of course, but it’s interesting to find more Scriptures about that word.

It’s the word brephos. It’s used in other places. It’s used of Jesus when he was in the womb, and it talks about the babe in the womb, and it’s the word brephos. That word can mean a baby in the womb. We read about it in the words of Elizabeth in Luke 1:41, 44: “And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe (brephos) leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost . . . For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine years, the baby (brephos) leaped in my womb or joy.”

It talks about Jesus again when the angels said to the shepherds: “You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12). That word babe is brephos. This word can mean a baby in the womb, a baby who is just born, and a child who is a little older, perhaps a toddler or getting even a little older. God sees that child. He uses the same word for the child in the womb as He does for the child who can know and learn the Scriptures. There we are reminded again.

Let’s continue, shall we, with our finding out what God says about how He creates the baby.

No. 8: God secretly creates us

This time we are going to read verse 15 again. “When I was made in secret,” Yes, “When I was made in secret.” Wow. What does that mean? That means God secretly makes us. God secretly creates the baby. The New Living Translation says: “Formed in utter seclusion.” The word “secret” is the Hebrew word cether, pronounced say-ther. This is what it means, “covering, hiding place, protection, secret place, sheltered place.”

Here is another word. We have already read of how God covered us in the womb, here it’s even more. Its not only covering; it’s a secret place, a hiding place. What is a hiding place, ladies? When your children play hide and seek, they go away and hide, and they want to hide so that nobody can find them. A hiding place is somewhere where someone can’t find us. The secret place is the same. Its secret from everybody else. This is what the word says.

I think we have sort of forgotten this Scripture in our modern-day society because, with the development of science, we now have ultrasound. Now it has become normal for women who are with child to go monthly and get their ultrasound and check out what’s happening. Of course, when they get to that time when they can find out the sex of the baby, they are going in to make sure they find out what this baby is going to be.

But I wonder about all these things. I am such a stickler for the Word of God that I always come back to it. Of course, I will concede that ultrasound is a modern science that can help save babies, and often, it can be a wonderful blessing to help save a baby’s life. Although, sadly, it can often be the opposite. Today, many women, when they have an ultrasound, will be told that there is something wrong with their baby, that there is something not quite right, and two things happen there.

Number one, this can be such a dampening upon the pregnancy, such worries, such fears, instead of the pregnancy being a time of joy and wonder. The couple are overcome with fears and desperation. It can even be worse. Usually today, doctors will say, “Well, you can terminate this baby if you want.” And so many will do this. If it’s not perfection, they will terminate the baby. How sad how many babies are terminated, killed, because an ultrasound showed something that was perhaps not the norm.

Yet, there are others, of course, who hold on to life, who know life is precious, that life comes from God. No matter what any doctor says, or what an ultrasound shows, they would keep their baby. Sometimes the baby is born with a problem, but this baby is still so precious. This is life, life from God. Many other times, these babies are born and the problem that they saw in the womb is no longer there. The babies are born perfectly. I’ve heard many testimonies of mothers who have shared this.

On one hand, ultrasound can be a blessing. On the other hand, it can be used to end the life of many babies. Often, these babies would be born perfectly. You see, lovely ladies, God is creating the baby in secret. God is the creator. He is doing it His way in His time. Yes, we have science that says that this happens at this time, and this happens at this time in the womb. I don’t think its always exact. God is doing the work, and we must trust Him.

As I said, I do concede that there are times when this can be a saving of lives, but I do wonder about just having to have another ultrasound to find the sex of the baby, to pry into this hidden place, to pry into this secret place, to pry into what God is doing. There are many great artists who will not allow anyone to see their painting until it is finished. There are many great sculptors who will not allow anyone to see their masterpiece until it is finished. I think God is like that.

Now ladies, I am not condemning anyone who is going to do that because I know that we are like sheep. We just give in to what everyone does, and now everyone \goes to find out the sex of the baby. In fact, the sex of the baby and the name of the baby is often brandished all over social media before the baby is even born.

But can I just put a little thought in your hearts? Can we really take notice of the Word that God creates in secret? And I think one of the reasons is that God loves surprises. He loves surprises. This is where we get this idea of giving surprises to your children. As a parent, I’ve always loved to give surprises. Christmastime . . . If my children found out what I was giving them for Christmas, I didn’t even feel like giving it to them. Everything was secret in our place at Christmastime. Everyone was hiding their gifts, and we all had to keep them secret because it was so exciting when they found out what they were going to get. If they knew, well, they just get it; there’s no surprise; there’s no excitement. I think God loves that.

Even in daily life, I would often give my children surprises. When they were little, if they were all getting grizzly and upset, “Children, I want you to all go and hide behind the sofas.” They’d go and find a little hiding place. Then I would make them a special little plate of some snacks because, often a few little snacks, well, it’s amazing how it will change their behavior. I would make some little cut apples, or cheese, or raisins or cookies and arrange them in a smiley face or some other little shape and make it look really attractive. Then I would say, “Ok, time for a surprise!” They would all come out running and here was their surprise. I would do something different each time, and they were so excited. It was just a little surprise, but children love surprises.

I believe that God loves to give us a surprise. He’s creating this masterpiece because every precious baby is a divine masterpiece, and He can’t wait to give this gift to us. He’s waiting so that we can have this surprise. But of course, we already know, so God can’t give us that surprise. I think it’s something to really think about.

But you say, “Well, goodness me, how can we even have our baby shower? I want to know the sex of the baby so that I can do the baby’s room and make it the right color, and everyone needs to know what they can bring me for gifts for my baby shower.” Well, back when I was having my babies, way back then all those years ago, it was either blue for boys or pink for girls, but today, babies wear all kinds of colors. We don’t need to rely so specifically on the colors.

Back in our day, we never ever had a baby shower before the baby was born. We always had the baby shower after the baby was born. There’s something special about that too because then you can celebrate the baby, and everybody can see the baby. Then they know what it is and can bring the appropriate gift to you. That’s another thing too about the surprises. When someone you know well is having a baby, and you know what sex it is, you know what the name is, and then they have the baby and you hear, oh, they’ve had their baby. “Oh great, well that’s wonderful,” but there’s not the same intensity of suspense and surprise. “Oh, what is it? What is it?” There’s something so amazing about what this baby is going to be. Is it a boy or a girl? Even to find out the name is exciting too. We save ourselves having a lot of wonderful surprises, don’t we?

I better give you some more Scriptures where this word is used, this word cether.

Psalm 27:5: “For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret place of his tabernacle shall he hide me.” Well, if God is wanting to hide us and protect us and cover us in a secret place, do you think everybody wants to pry into that secret place? No.

Psalm 31:20: “Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man.” These are all the same Hebrew words of how God creates the baby secretly.

Psalm 32:7: “Though art my hiding place.”

Psalm 61:4: “I will abide in thy tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of thy wings.” It’s good to see other Scriptures, isn’t it? Where the same word is used because it gives us the full understanding, and we know what it really means.

Did you get that? I wonder if you’ll think about it. Do you think you could really last out for God’s surprise at the end? I wonder if you could.

No. 9: God skillfully creates us

Verse 15. “I was skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.” Can I give you some other translations?

God’s Word Translation: “skillfully woven in an underground workshop.” I like that.

The New English Translation: “was sewed together.”

The Contemporary English Version says: “I was secretly woven together, out of human sight.”

The English Standard Version says: “I was intricately woven together.”

Another translation says: “embroidered with great skill.”

Another: “when I was wrought with a needle in the depths of the earth.”

This is a very poetic description. It’s a poetic description of God sewing together the veins and the sinews and the muscles and the nerves. A beautiful tapestry. In fact, Charles Spurgeon says: “What tapestry can equal the human fabric?”

What is the Hebrew word? It’s raqam, and it means “to variegate, color, to embroider, to do needlework.” Ok ladies, this word, Hebrew word, is only used nine times in the Scripture. Here in Psalm 139:15: “I was skillfully woven” and all the other times speak of needlework or embroidery. Six times it translated needlework, two times embroidery. God was the first embroiderer and He creates us with needlepoint accuracy.

Something even more wonderful, ladies; I want you to get this. The other eight times this Hebrew word is used, it’s only used in the context of the tabernacle, God’s sacred dwelling place. This time, in God’s sacred place of the womb, where He creates the baby, where He sews it together with his divine needlework. All these Scriptures are in the environment of the sacred place. God chose Bezalel and Oholiab to work in the tabernacle, to embroider the priest’s clothes and the curtains of the temple. It was so intricate; it was very, very intricate work. They actually couldn’t do it unless God was with them.

I’ve got some Scriptures here. Exodus 28:29 (ESV): “You shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen. And you shall make a sash of fine needlework.” This was talking about the high priest’s garments. They couldn’t do this—Bezalel and Oholiab wouldn’t have been able to do it unless God with them.

The Bible says in Exodus 35:31-35: “God filled both Bezalel and Oholiab with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge in all manner of workmanship.” It goes on to say that He filled them “with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer.” God filled them with His spirit to enable them because they were doing something for the sacred inner sanctuary. It had to be so perfect, just as God perfectly, skillfully creates the baby in the womb.

Now, another amazing thing here. As I said, this all happened, all the other references to this needlework and embroidery were all for the tabernacle, the Holy Place, where God dwelt in His shekinah glory.

When God told Moses how to build the tabernacle. He told him how to build the Holy of Holies. In 1 Kings 6:16, He told them to make an inner sanctuary, the most holy place. Where did He tell him to do it? At the far end of the temple. Actually, this Scripture is now catapulting to the time of Solomon because now we are no longer in the tabernacle. Now Solomon is building a temple. It’s the same pattern as the tabernacle, but now it’s the temple. Exactly the same pattern, but he is doing it at the far end of the temple.

The Amplified Version says: “at the very rear of the temple.” The word in the Hebrew is eureka which means, “in the very recesses, in the inner part.” God wanted His Holy of Holies not to be out in the open, not be where everybody could come in and be there with God. Oh no. When you came into the tabernacle or the temple, first of all, there was the brazen altar where they sacrificed the animals. Then you went into the Holy Place, and then you went into the Holy of Holies, AT THE VERY FAR END. It was secluded, it was at the end, it was hidden because God was in the hidden place.

It’s amazing how He talks about the womb; it’s in the hidden part of the woman. It’s not the outward limbs of the body; no, it’s the hidden part. It’s a sacred place where God works. That’s why it’s sacred; that’s why its hidden because this is where God works. When a baby is conceived, God is working in His sacred sanctuary of the womb to create a life in His image.

Wondrously, this same word, eureka, that was used for making the Holy of Holies at the very far end of the temple; God uses it of the woman in the home. I was amazed when I saw this. In Psalm 128:3 it talks about the woman in the home: “Your wife is like a fruitful vine within your home, your children like olive plants all around your table.” The word, “Your wife is like a fruitful vine in the heart of your home” is eureka, meaning “in the recesses, in the inner court”. This is where God wants us to be stationed, in the inner recesses of the home.

Of course, we are going to go out, got to go and get our groceries, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that. But this is where our heart is. This is where we mainly live. This is where we make life. This is where we raise our children. This is where we make our home a sanctuary. We are in this hidden part of the home.

Now, not everybody is seeing what we are doing, but we are doing a powerful work. Just like the womb is hidden. It’s a sacred sanctuary, yet, although it’s hidden, it’s one of the most powerful places on earth. Because this is where each life comes forth to fill the world with great blessing, great inventions, and great discoveries, and to bring God and His love and His revelation and His truth to the world. It all comes from the womb, this hidden place, but out from the hidden place comes life that comes into the world. It’s the same in our home. As we raise our children in our home, in this eureka, in the recesses, in this heart of the home, out from the heart of the home, we send children to impact the world. Isn’t it amazing?

Oh, darling ladies, never despise your womb. It is the greatest gift God has given to you, in your body, to bring forth life, to bring forth an eternal soul. Don’t speak disparagingly, don’t speak negatively about your womb or your womanly functions because that can bring a curse upon your womb. Satan is out to destroy the wombs of women, to bring curses upon them, to bring sickness upon them. We mustn’t give the enemy one little inch because he can take a mile. Only speak positively about your womb.

Even to go around, as so many women do, and you may ask them, “Oh, do you plan to have any more children?” They may have one or two, perhaps they’re wanting to have another one.

 “Oh no, I’m done.”

What is that saying? “I don’t like my womb. Oh goodness me. We’ve put a stop to that; we don’t embrace our womb.”

“Oh no, I don’t want anything to do with that. Is that really part of my body? Well if it is, I’m going to make sure it doesn’t work.”

What are we doing? We are speaking against God’s creation and against purposes that He has to bring forth children from our womb. Do watch how you speak about your womb; it is so powerful.

Now we haven’t even finished this Scripture yet. It’s amazing. “I was made in secret. I was skillfully wrought in the lowest part of the earth.” Now, here we have another very poetic description. “The lowest part of the earth” also speaks of darkness because God works in the dark, although, light can come into the womb especially as you go out into the sun. Light can penetrate the womb, but the womb is primarily dark.

But the wonderful thing is, ladies, that God is able to work in the darkness as well as the light. I mean, what does it say in Psalm 139? This is exactly the same Psalm. In Psalm 139:2 it says: “Yet the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as if in the day. The darkness and the light are both alike unto thee.”

Daniel said in Daniel 2;22: “He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.” Darkness is like light to God. It doesn’t even change. Ladies, that speaks to us too, in our dark times, in our difficult times. Sometimes we go through dark times. You may be going through a dark place in your life. I want you to know that, even when you’re going through a dark time, God knows. He is with you, and He can bring light to you. The darkness is not darkness to Him. He will bring light to you even in the darkness. Amen?

Let’s pray shall we?

“Father, we thank You again for Your Word, for Your revelation and showing us what You do in the womb. We praise You, and we bless You, and I pray today for every mother, for every wife, for every daughter, every grandmother. I pray that You will pour out Your blessing upon them today. I pray that You’ll draw them closer and closer to Your truth, that they will be those who seek after truth, that they will love Your Word, that they will love truth. Oh God, I pray that You will raise them up to be heralders and raise the banner of truth in their lives, in their homes, and wherever they go. Oh God, it’s time, in this hour in which we live, to be truth-speakers, speaking out Your truth, making it known to our children wherever we go. We ask that You will anoint us to do this in the name of Jesus. Amen.”

Episode 26: The Awe and Wonder of Life in the Womb, Part 3

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

God calls the creating of the baby in the womb “marvelous” (Psalm 139:14). God uses many adjectives in His Word. We then look up the adjective in the Hebrew to understand the word and we get more adjectives! The full understanding of this Hebrew word means “extraordinary, wonderful, miraculous, astonishing,” and “difficult.” It is the revelation of God doing things beyond the bounds of human powers or expectations.” We discover where this word is used the first time in the Bible.

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

Nancy Campbell: Good to be with you again today, dear mothers and wives, and whoever is listening. I hope young ones, middlings, and older, are all listening to the wonderful revelations we are all talking about in God's Word. Currently, we are doing the series of the wonderful, amazing description of how God creates the baby in the womb, from Psalm 139.

This, of course, not only relates to a little baby in the womb, which is happening right now, but it's about our own lives, where we originated, where we began. I want to mention a little thought as I begin today, from verse 13. Remember, it's Psalm 139.

The Psalmist, David himself, says: “Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.” You notice there, there's a personal pronoun. If we read this beautiful description again, let's just notice the personal pronouns of this Scripture. “For You formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes sought my unformed substance. In Your Book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet, there was none of them.”

Now, David is not talking about a little “it” in the womb. He's talking about himself. Me! Now David is not a little baby when he's writing this. David is a grown man. David is a great, mighty warrior. David is the king of Israel. He's talking about the beginning of his life. He's talking about it as though it is him, right now.

And that is the truth. That's the truth we have to understand, that you, dear precious mother, you were you in the womb the moment you were conceived. That was you! You were not someone else. You were you, right then. Of course, from there you grew and grew, and you have changed all the way through. You changed as you grew in the womb. Then you changed as you came forth from the womb to grow to who you are today. But that was you.

Let's go to Jeremiah 1:5. Here God is speaking to the prophet Jeremiah. He says: “Before I formed you . . . ” Notice again, that personal pronoun, “You.” Yes, God is speaking to Jeremiah, not as...He's speaking to him as an adult. Yes, but He's speaking to him as when he began. He said, “Before I formed you.” Before I formed you, you, in your mother's womb, I chose you. I chose you. You!

Yes, this was in the womb. Jeremiah was already who he was, right back there. “Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” We see here, this very personal pronoun, and that God was speaking destiny over Jeremiah. “Even in the womb, before you were born, I set you apart. I sanctified you. Before you were born, I ordained you. I appointed you.”

The actual meaning of that word, “appointed,” or “ordained,” means “to give, as a gift.” God said: “I gave you, as a gift, to the nations.” Every precious baby that God gives to us, dear mothers, is not only a gift to us, not only a gift to our family, but a gift to the world!

God gives each precious new baby as a gift, to bring revelation of Who He is to the world. It's good to be reminded, isn't it, that we are who we are now, right from the beginning of conception. When the 23 chromosomes of your father, and the 23 chromosomes of your mother joined together at fertilization, that was you! That was your DNA. Your DNA, which was unique from anybody else who has ever been born, or who will ever be born again.

That's your DNA. It's not going to change. It doesn't change in the womb, and it doesn't change when you're born, and as you get older. Your DNA is who you are, from the very beginning, that moment of fertilization. That was you. Isn't that amazing?

Let's go on to our next description.

No. 5: God marvelously creates us.

We are finding that these descriptions are so amazing. God said He created us wonderfully. We talked about that last time. Now we go on to verse 14, where it says: “Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.”

God not only creates us wonderfully, but He creates us marvelously. So many adjectives! God uses loads of adjectives in His Word, because He needs these adjectives to describe the wonder of His workings.

And this word, shall we look into this one today? It's very similar to the last one. Last week He creates us wondrously, and that word is palah, with an “H.”

This word is pala. It's a different Hebrew word. Yes, very similar, but different. It also means, “to be separate, to be distinguished, to be singular,” but also, also . . . get this, ladies, “to be extraordinary, wonderful, miraculous, astonishing, hard, or difficult,” meaning it's not something that man can do very well. It's something that only God can do.

It's the revelation of God, “doing things beyond the bounds of human powers or expectations.” We read this word in other Scriptures in Psalm 9:1. It says: “I will show forth all thy marvelous works.”

In 1 Chronicles 16: 9, 12 it says: “Talk ye of all His wondrous works . . . Remember His marvelous works that He has done, His wonders and the judgments of His mouth.”

Isaiah 28:29: “The Lord of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.” All using that Hebrew word, pala. It's talking about all the wondrous works of the Lord. Of course, here, it's talking about the wondrous work of God creating the baby in the womb. It's amazing, isn't it?

Here we read, “marvelously.” But then God has to use all these extra adjectives to explain the fullness of the Hebrew word. Did you get them? Let me give them to you again. We have to realize, this is the incredible miracle of how God created us—you, me, and the precious children God has given to us.

It's extraordinary, wonderful, miraculous, astonishing! When was this word first used first? We go back to Genesis 18:14. This is in the context of when God came and visited Abram, well, he's Abraham now, and told them that they were going to have a child.

Verse nine, well, the three men came to Abraham, and God said: “Where is Sarah, your wife? And he (Abraham) said, Behold, in the tent. And he (God) said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and lo, Sarah your wife shall have a son.”

But we know that Sarah was listening behind the tent door. She knew that Abraham was old, and she was old. How could this happen?  And she laughed. “And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?'”

Then God says these words in verse 14: “Is anything too hard for the Lord? That question was used right in the middle of God speaking of a miracle of birth. Sarah was not able to conceive, but God said, “I'm going to do a miracle. I'm going to do something that man cannot do. And Sarah will have a child.”

Now this word, pala, actually occurs twice in the Scripture. “’Is,’ that's the word pala, anything too ‘hard,’ once again, it's pala, for the Lord?” Two times in this Scripture, God uses this wonderful word, meaning extraordinary and astonishing and miraculous and wonderful.

There's another very interesting part of this passage here. It goes on to say, after God said that, He goes on to say: “At the time appointed, I will return unto thee, according to the TIME OF LIFE, and Sarah shall have a son.” That phrase also occurs two times in this passage: “I will return to you, according to the time of life” (verses 10 and 14).

Have you ever noticed that phrase in the Bible? It also occurs in another passage too, in the Bible (2 Kings 4;17). The “time of life” is a very powerful time in our lives as mothers in our childbearing years, because every month, we have a time of life. It is the time of ovulation, those few days in the month when we are able to conceive, when we are fertile, when we're going through ovulation.

This is our time in the month when God can visit us and give us conception. I think I have shared with you how God speaks about conception as a visitation from God. Here God is saying, “I'm going to return to you at the time of life.”

I believe this was the amazing miracle that God did for Sarah, that He restored to her the womanly cycle. She began to cycle again. She was well past menopause, but God miraculously returned her cycle, which means that she would even begin to look younger. She would be even more enticing to her husband.

Once again, she is having this monthly cycle, and there, in the middle of that cycle, is the time of visitation, the time of life when God could come and visit her and give her that miracle of conception.

The time of life is something that we have to look at seriously, ladies, because it's part of the way God created us as women. It's something that is very, very precious to God, because He created us to have this time of life, the time when He could come, if it is His will, and give us conception.

He doesn't come every month, or every time we are fertile. He comes when He knows that He wants to bring us conception. So, we need to always be open to God. It's meant to be a time of life, not a time of death.

Many women want to close up this time of life. They don't want God to come near them and visit them. They don't want conception, so they do everything in their power, with contraception, or maybe even sterilization, to stop God coming to them at that time of life.

God wants us to be open. The most beautiful thing we can ever do in our lives is being totally yielded to the sovereign will of God, because then we know we are in His perfect will. He may not give us conception—we are in His will. Or He will give us conception—we are in His will because we are totally yielded to His sovereignty, and open to whatever He wants to do during this time of life. Isn't that wonderful?

No. 6: God works to create us

Okay now this verse also says “Marvelous” (yes, that's the wonderful word pala) are thy works.” God is also working when He is creating the baby in the womb. God is at work, ladies. Did you realize that the word for “works” is ma'aseh, and it means, “an action, an art, to labor, to make.”

It's translated “handiwork,” it's translated “workmanship,” and it's translated lots of different practical things. This word is used of people who are doing baking (the ones who bake the bread in the tabernacle). “Needlework,” four times it's translated needlework. It talks about brass-making and candle-making, and all kinds of practical things.

Here, of course, it's talking about God creating, doing His wondrous works. Oh, I love Psalm 145:9, 10: “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Thy works shall praise Thee, Oh Lord, and Thy saints shall bless Thee.”

Now those words, “tender mercies,” are the Hebrew word racham, which I have talked to you about previously. It is a word that means “the womb.” It is used interchangeably in the Word of God about a woman's womb and also of God, speaking of God's compassion, His tender mercies. And here, here's the word! It's interesting. I'm amazed.

It says: “His tender mercies,” His womb, His motherliness is over all His works. It’s over, of course, His most greatest creation, the creation of life, for each life is made in the image of God. It's over all His works. God tenderly watches over all His works.

And all His works are to praise Him. Doesn't it say that? “All His works shall praise Him.” All of creation praises the Lord. We don't hear the sounds, well we do, we hear the sea and the breakers rolling. We hear thunder. We hear lots of sounds of creation, but we don't hear all the sounds. We don't hear the trees, we don't hear the flowers, and yet, they are all singing praise to God. He hears it, although we may not.

But it comes back to His highest creation, which are male and female, created in His image, for the highest purpose of bringing forth praise to Him. We are created in the womb, but ultimately, as we come forth, to bring praise to God. We are His work. Therefore, we should praise Him.

Therefore, we should embrace who we are. He created us female. As we embrace this, as we praise Him for it, as we function in the way that He created us, we bring praise to Him. When we reject who God created us to be, we are doing the opposite.

Let's look at Psalm 102:18. “This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.” There it is. Each person who is created, beginning in the womb, coming forth into the world, is created for the purpose of praising God.

Oh, lovely ladies, let's be those who show forth God's praise. It's more than just praising the Lord. No, it's talking about more than that. We are to show forth His praise. We see this in Isaiah 43:21: “This people have I formed for Myself; they shall shew forth My praise.”

It's a revealing of God's purpose for us in our lives. It's ultimately embracing who He created us to be as this female, feminine, nurturing, nourishing, womanly creation who is revealed in this aspect of the heart of God to the world. Just as God, racham, tenderly watches over all His works, so we tenderly watch over our children in our home. This is the anointing God has put within us. As we do this, we are showing forth His praise.

Isaiah 43:7: “I have created you for My glory.”

Then we go over to the New Testament. “We are His workmanship.” There we are again, God is working in us. We are His workmanship that began in the womb, as a Workman creating in the womb.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

1 Peter 2:9: “That ye should show forth,” there it is again, “that ye should show forth.” Not only sing praises but show it forth, reveal it in your lives, and embracing every way that God has created you. “That ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

I think of that Scripture in Revelation too. I just can't recall the reference at this moment, but it again says how we are created for His pleasure. He created us for His pleasure. Isn't that wonderful? Here it is. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4;11).

Let me take you to Psalm 111. Beautiful passage here about God's work. Verse two: “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious: and His righteousness endureth forever. He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered.” This is what we have been talking about, the creation of babies in the womb.

“He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion . . . The works of His Hands are verity and judgment,” and so on. Also, one of those descriptions is also the word pala, being wonderful, extraordinary, miraculous, amazing.

Okay, let's go on to the next point.

No. 7: God strongly creates us

Verse 15 now. God strongly creates us. This Scripture says: “My substance was not hid from thee.” Now the word “substance” is otsem, meaning “power, body, bones, strength, might.” God creates each baby strongly, so that when the little precious baby comes forth from that womb, it's strong enough to live in this world and face this world.

I think, especially when we have our first baby, oh, do you remember what it was like? I don't know, you may be like me, I wasn't very familiar with babies when I became a mother. There were only three children in our family, and I didn't have babies all around me. I didn't have that blessing of being brought up in a large family where babies kept coming along, and there was always a baby to love and embrace. I hadn't really had much to do with babies.

So, when this new baby was born, oh, it was so delicate! Well, it was a pretty strong baby, but I felt he was so delicate, and oh my, you are just so, oh, you're just overwhelmed at the responsibility of caring for this precious life! I do think that there's always that precariousness in those first three months as we watch over that little baby as it's getting stronger. But, it's amazing how strong they really are! They are born strong enough to grow and be part of this world.

Most translations translate that word “substance” for “bones.” Nearly every other translation says, my substance, my substance, my bones. “My bones were not hid from You.” God was there creating the bones. Isn't that amazing?

We looked at an earlier part of this passage, where it says, God “possessed my reins.” That was talking about the very inner being, our mind and heart and soul. God was in the womb from conception, even working in this part of our being.

But now it's talking about the physical, how He creates the bones. A couple of translations say: “My frame.” You were working on my frame. But most use “My bones.”

Now, isn't this interesting too, ladies, that right from the very beginning, God is creating the male and the female differently. We talked about this last week, how the baby is, from the very beginning, determination. It's called that. It's the determination, right from the very beginning, at conception, determination determines whether the embryo will be male or female, right from that beginning.

All this crazy junk of what's happening in our society today, and this push to transgender, and the weakening of how God created us to be male and female, is an attack of the enemy, and to God, our Creator.

Right in the womb, God determines the sex, male or female. He begins, right in the very beginning, He begins to create the bones of the male baby, of the little boy baby, stronger. Boys come forth from the womb having stronger bones, denser bones. They have stronger tendons, and stronger ligaments. They have more muscle mass, which is a result of testosterone.

Yes, it's interesting, even though the male has stronger bones, the female, she doesn't have as strong bones, but she produces more antibodies, and at a quicker rate than men, and has more white blood cells. For this reason, she will, as she comes forth, get fewer infectious diseases. Plus, if there is any problem, perhaps at birth, a female will be more likely to survive than a male. That's very interesting, isn't it?

God created the male to be strong physically. He needs to be strong to carry weights and to physically work hard and to go out and be the provider and the hunter. That's who he is. And yet, the woman isn't created like that. God put a different strength in her. She has an ability to resist infection. Of course, she can still get sick, but somehow she will survive more ably.

I think God created her to be like that, because the mother in the home, she often, as you know, I'm sure, precious mother, that you have to just keep going. Even when you're sick, you can't go to bed, and think, “Forget everybody, I'm sick, poor me!” No, you keep going. Somehow, you do keep going, and you get through, and you survive.

But men, when they get sick, oh, when they even get a cold, you know what it's like! Oh my, they're wiped out! That's just too much for them. God created us differently!

Anyway, time has gone! We'll talk more about it next week.

“Father, we do thank You so much for all this wonderful description, and how You show us how You're so personally involved in our creation, and the creation of our precious children that You give to us. We bless Your Wonderful Name, and thank You and praise You, and ask that You will help us to daily show forth Your praise in our lives and in our homes. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Episode 25: THE AWE AND WONDER OF LIFE IN THE WOMB, Part 2 from Psalm 139:13-18

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

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

Nancy: Hello ladies. Today we continue our series from Psalm 139 talking about the wondrous, awesome, amazing creation of the baby in the womb. We are still in verse 13, and we are up to this latter part. “Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.” We talked last time how God covers the baby and defends the baby. That word cover means “to cover,” but it also means “to defend.” We talked about how God is the defender of the baby in the womb. Because He is, so should we. We should be defenders of the baby in the womb.

Since I talked to you last time, we were able to go to this current movie, “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer.” I have to tell you, it was a powerful movie. I think it will be gone from the theatres by the time you are listening to me today. But when it comes out on DVD, please get a hold of it. I do believe that it is a movie that everyone in the nation should see. Of course, Hollywood doesn’t want people to see this movie, and the liberals do not want people to see this movie because it exposes abortion in a most powerful way. It’s a movie that young people can watch. It doesn’t show gruesome details of aborted babies, but the way they get the message across is so powerful.

It’s a true story of Kermit Gosnell who was an abortionist, a baby killer, for over 30 years. In fact, throughout his 30 years, there were so many complaints that were given to the state government, but they would not do anything about it. They would not touch it because it was abortion, and they wouldn’t touch it, so he just kept on killing babies. He not only killed them in the womb, but he killed them out of the womb. Many babies were born alive, so he would snip their spinal cord and leave them for dead. There was more than one mother who also died through his abortions.

It all happened through a drug raid. When the police went to his place, nobody could believe it; it was filthy. It was terrible. He had young people, even a 15-year-old, not trained, giving anesthesia, and it was so bad.

To me, I think one of the powerful parts of the movie was during the court case. A big part of it was a court case, which actually happened. During the court case, they had an abortionist who got up and was interrogated and asked how she did her abortions. This woman was so sophisticated and so beautiful-looking and answered with such lovely answers.

“How many abortions have you performed?”

“Oh, 30, 000,” as though that was a wonderful answer, as though that was just getting up each morning and eating your breakfast, to kill 30, 000 babies! As she answered how she did it, she made it sound so sophisticated. Her clinic was so clean; it wasn’t like this Dr. Gosnell. No, she was doing it perfectly.

But then the questions kept coming, and he said, “Well, what if a baby planned for abortion was born?” And she said, ‘Well, we don’t allow that to happen.”

But he said, “If it did.” She said, “Well, we have comfort care.” The interrogator said, ‘Well, please describe comfort care.” She said, “Well, we wrap them in a nice warm blanket, and we leave them.” In other words, they leave them to die! They don’t try to keep them alive. These babies, many who are born alive, who were planned to be aborted, many the same age that are able to be kept alive today. But no, they are left to die. It exposed.

It was amazing because although Dr. Kermit Gosnell was doing it in filthy conditions and when the baby was born alive, he would snip the spinal cord. No, she didn’t do anything like that. No, she was applying “comfort care.” It was the same thing—they were left to die. It was killing babies.

Dr Gosnell was put in prison; this lady, because she does it in a clean clinic, is still performing abortions every day. She should be in jail too. What about these members of government who would not do a thing? They would not touch abortion. They just allowed it to happen. This is what is going on in our nation. Do get the DVD when it comes out.

The movie, “The Death of a Nation,” which I went to see two times. I wonder if you ever saw it when it was in the theatres. It’s now on DVD. You can get it. Go to the internet and you can order it, “The Death of a Nation.” It’s also a very, very powerful movie. Another one that everyone in this nation should see. It’s a pity not everyone saw it before these midterm elections. It’s still a movie you need to get your young people to see. It shows the history of what has been happening in our country and how it is affecting us today.

You would think I was a moviegoer, telling you about these movies. No, I’m not. I rarely go to a movie, but when a movie comes out that is bringing a message, that is speaking a powerful message to the nation, I like to go. I like to support it. I think if we stay home from these kinds of movies, we are being silent; we are hiding in our caves. And we need to get out and support the message. Amen!

Let’s move on here. “Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.” Where is all this happening? It’s happening in the womb. The womb is a very powerful place, precious mother. And you, you are a womb-man. There only two types of people in this world—a man without a womb which is a male. And a man with a womb who is a female.

The 1828 Webster’s Dictionary describes a woman as two words, “womb and man.” Do you have my book, “The Power of Motherhood?” If you don’t, I would encourage you to get a hold of it. This is a manual for mothers, for you as a mother. It tells you all that God says about you as a mother. It’s filled with Scriptures. You’re getting the truth. You’re finding out what God says, not what our liberal society says.

In “The Power of Motherhood,” I have a chapter called “Mothers are ‘Womb Men.’” In this chapter, I gave you 18 different points about the womb, and they are all powerful. You’ve got to get the book just for this chapter, let alone the rest of the book. Go to my website aboverubies.org, and you can order it from there. It will be such a blessing to you. Here is the link: http://bit.ly/PowerOfMotherhoodUS

I start off this chapter, “God unequivocally pronounces that our womb and breasts are blessings.” That is found in Genesis 49:25 where it talks about the blessings of the breasts and the blessings of the womb. Notice it’s plural. It doesn’t just say blessing, it says blessings. With an “S” on it. God says that the womb is not only a blessing, but there are loads of blessings. The womb is a blessing to us as women. The womb and the breasts are blessings not only to us but to the whole world, for without them, mankind would come to a screeching halt.

One of the meanings of womb is “a place where something originates and develops.” The womb is the originator of life. The womb is the beginning and the continuing of the generations, the origin of dynasties to come and also the filling of eternity. Every precious life that is conceived in the womb is an eternal soul who will live forever. It is in the womb that all this is happening.

In Jeremiah 1:5, it says these words. God is speaking to Jeremiah: “Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee.” God knew us, dear precious mothers, and He knew each one of our precious children before they were even formed in the womb. How does that equate with abortion? How can we kill a life that God knew even before it was conceived, that God is involved in creating in the womb? “Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee. Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. And I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Not only is God creating a baby in the womb, a baby that He already knows because God is Omniscient. He knows this life before the foundation of the world. Now He’s creating this baby in the womb. And He also says: “and I sanctified you.” That word means “to be set apart as a holy vessel, to be purified, dedicated, consecrated.” God wants every precious baby to be set apart for Him and for His purposes. Destiny begins in the womb. God is putting destiny over each child in the womb.

When He was speaking to Jeremiah, He said: “I ordained you to be a prophet to the nations.” The children we have may not be prophets to the nations, but they have a destiny that God has planned for them. And God puts that destiny upon them even in the womb. That word “ordained” in the Hebrew actually means “a gift.” God said: “I am giving you, Jeremiah, as a gift to the nations to do and fulfill my work.”

Every precious baby that God is creating, ordaining, sanctifying in the womb, He gives not only as a gift to us but a gift to the world. They come forth with destiny on them. Now, not all are going to fulfill their destiny, which is very sad. But when a baby is brought into a godly home, we pray over them, teach them the Word, we train them, we are helping to prepare them for their destiny—that specific task that God has put upon our children to function. Dr. Mike Bagwell calls this Scripture, he says it is “prenatal ordination.” I like that. Your baby is ordained, even in the womb.

Sometime back, I asked our Above Rubies’ readers if they would like to share the different names they like to call their womb, and I received back over 38 different names. I won’t read them all to you but a few of them.

One lady said they called it a “woman’s holy of holies.” Also “a baby’s first home,” “a baby’s sanctuary,” “the birthplace of destiny,” “the cradle of the unborn,” “God’s blessing place,” God’s secluded place,” “a home of compassion,” “a home of protection,” “a home of shelter,” “a home of blessing,” “a home of life,” “a miracle haven,” “a nesting place,” “the palace of a child” (that’s actually the Chinese meaning of the word womb), “a set apart sanctuary,” “a secret place,” “a sacred place.” Those are just a few of the names that people call the womb, but God has names;

He uses four different words for womb in the Bible. (Four Hebrew words). They all have a very similar meanings, meaning “to fondle, nurture a babe in the womb.” One wonderful word that I love is the word racham. This word comes from a root word “to fondle,” and it means “to cherish a babe in the womb, to love deeply, to be compassionate, to show tender mercy and pity.”

The amazing thing is, ladies, that this Hebrew word is used interchangeably in the Bible. Sometimes it’s used for the physical womb of a woman, other times it’s used to speak of God’s tender mercies, His pity, His long-suffering toward us, because both have the same meaning. The womb, the physical womb, comes from God’s heart.

Listen to a word you may not have a heard before. It comes from the very “wombness” of God. Yes, there is such a word, the “wombness.” The wombness describes God’s compassion and His tender mercies. When He created the womb, He also created the hormones that come from the womb. There comes forth mercy and compassion from the womb. Our womb releases mercy, it releases compassion. The word is used interchangeably. Isn’t that powerful that when we embrace our womb, even our physical womb, that we are actually revealing God’s tender mercies and God’s compassionate heart? It is so wonderful.

It’s in this precious place, in this womb, that God is creating this little baby. Let’s go on to point No. 3: God fearfully creates us.

Verse 14 says: “I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The word (fearfully) in the Hebrew means, “fearfully, honorably, astonishingly.” Let’s read some other Scriptures where this same word is used.

Nehemiah 9:32: “Now, therefore, our God, the great and mighty and the terrible God.” It is the same word as fearfully. Some translations use the word “and the fearful God.”

Psalm 99:3: “Let them praise thy great and terrible name (or thy fearful name), for it is holy.”

Malachi 4:5 talks about how God would send the anointing of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers, including the mothers, back to their children. And the children back to their fathers “before the coming of the great and dreadful day (the fearful day) of the Lord.”

A lot of translations use the word “awesome.” That’s a great word. The only problem is that today we use the word awesome so lightly, don’t we? Even some little thing happening, we say, “Oh, that’s awesome.” We’re not really getting the true meaning of it being an awful wonder; it’s fearful because of its amazingness. This is the description God gives of the way He is creating this baby.

And the psalmist says: “I will praise thee.” When we understand what God is doing in the womb. It causes us to praise Him. We should praise Him that He created us. We should praise Him for every precious child that He has given us. Do you have a baby growing in your womb at this moment? Praise Him because He is fearfully and wondrously and awesomely creating your precious baby.

No. 4; God uniquely creates us.

 We are still in this one scripture, verse 14. “I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Here’s another description. So many adjectives. Isn’t it amazing, ladies? As I have shared with you before, God’s Word uses so many adjectives to describe what He’s doing. When we look them up in the Hebrew, we find even more adjectives to describe the one word that God uses.

This word is palah. The meaning is a little different to the word wonderful. It means, “to be distinguished, to put a difference between, to separate, to set apart, to sever, to show marvelous.” When I read that, I was quite amazed. What is God saying here? This is something very powerful. Before we talk about it, let’s look at some other Scriptures where the same word is used.

Exodus 8:22, this is in the context of when God was bringing the plagues upon Egypt. He says: “I will sever in that day, the land of Goshen in which my people live, that no swarms of flies should be there.” He put swarms of flies over the Egyptians, but He severed His own people that they wouldn’t get them. That’s a powerful word, severed, isn’t it? That’s the word that is used, though it’s the word “wonderful” in our passage.

 Exodus 9:7: “And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, and there shall nothing die of all that is the children of Israel.”

Exodus 11:7, talking about the plague of the death of the firstborn: “That ye may know that the Lord doth put a difference.” That’s how its translated here, “put a difference” between the Egyptians and Israel. Ladies, we have got to look at this very carefully.

This talks about five different areas of distinguishing.  First of all:

1. The gender of the baby is determined at the moment of fertilization.

God is hovering over the baby because the Bible calls conception a visitation of God. Did you know that? That is so amazing. When you conceived, you were “visited” by God. In Genesis 21:1, it’s talking about Sarah, and it says: “The Lord visited Sarah, as He had said, and she conceived.”

There’s another Scripture talking about Hannah. 1 Samuel 2:21: “And the Lord visited Hannah so that she conceived.” She could not conceive without God visiting her. It’s a God moment, precious ladies, a God moment! And life begins at conception. Because when God comes, there is life. At that moment, God distinguishes between male and female. Right at the very beginning of conception, this new child will be male or female. Period. Amen. Nothing to be added.

We are living in a society where the roles, the genders of male and female are being blurred. The gay agenda is seeking to bring in the total blurring of the sexes. Colin and I were speaking at an Above Rubies Family Retreat this last weekend. At our family retreat, we had two teachers in our midst. Both of these men, who were teachers in state schools (of course they homeschool their own children), but this was their career.

One of these high school teachers got up, and he shared with us. He was asking for prayer. He said, “Please pray for me.” He said, “In the school where I am teaching, and this is indicative of all schools across the nation, we are no longer allowed to use the personal pronouns of ‘she’ and ‘he.’ They will not allow it in our school.”

He said, “I have 14-years-olds in my class who are in the process of changing their gender.” He said, “We are encouraged to clap these children and tell them how great they are.” This is what is happening and being promoted in our state schools today. He said, “I am facing this, please pray for me.” He said, “It is worse in our colleges.”

I do not think Christian parents are fully aware of what is going on because this didn’t use to go on. This is something that is happening and is now escalating in our nation. We have to be aware of what is happening. How can we send our children into these places that are now dens of iniquity? They are the total opposite of everything that is God and of His creation. We have to stand strong on this, precious ladies.

God distinguishes. He is the distinguisher. That is the meaning of this word. When He says this word of womb, He creates us in the womb, wonderfully made, it’s the word “distinguished.” God wondrously separates male or female and He determines, because this child is determined before the foundation of the world to be either male or female. There is no blur. God distinguishes. He puts a difference. He severs. So let’s get it straight. Amen?

1. God intricately separates and distinguishes each part of the body as He creates it.

He is a very distinguishing, meticulous God.

1. God creates the baby separate from the mother.

A baby is not an extension of the mother. A baby is a complete, different person growing in the womb. Even the blood type of the mother and baby are kept separate in the womb. The mother’s blood type is often different to her baby. The genetic code of the mother is distinctly different from the mother. Every member and part of a mother’s body has the same genetic code but not the baby growing inside of her. He or she has his or her own genetic code. The baby has separate circulatory, nervous, and endocrine systems than the mother and half the time, the baby is a different sex than the mother.

We have to know these facts because this also hits the abortion question. How can we murder a baby, a life, that is totally distinguished, separate, different than the mother? This is not some appendage of the mother. No, she has no right. They talk about, “I have the rights over my body.” No, she does not have the right to kill another person. This is a separate entity. Once again, we have to get our facts straight.

I’d like to read you this quote. This is from a New Zealand professor. Professor A.W. Liley who is known as the Father of Fetology. He comes from New Zealand, as I mentioned. That’s my country originally, although I am now a U.S. citizen.

He says; “Biologically, at no stage, can we subscribe to the view that the fetus” (I like to call it the baby) “is a near appendage to the mother. It is the embryo who stops his mother’s periods, makes her womb habitable, by developing a placenta and a protective capsule of fluid for himself. He regulates his own amniotic fluid volume. And although women speak of their water breaking or their membranes rupturing, these structures belong to the baby. And finally, it is the baby, not the mother, who decides when labor should be initiated.”

We heard the other day of a homicide case in Alabama where a man killed a pregnant woman. The judge sentenced him with double murder because he killed two people. And that was law. I was checking this out. In fact, I have in my hand right here: “State Laws on Fetal Homicide and Penalty Enhancement for Crimes Against Pregnant Women.” Now, it is amazing to read here on this state legislature. You can go to the internet and check it out. It says there are 38 states who have fetal homicide laws. That means, if you kill a pregnant woman, you are killing two people. I just noticed there are 38 states. I copied from one or two.

In Arizona, it says, “The unborn child is treated like a minor under 12 years of age.” An unborn child is going to be treated as though he was a child, right up to 12 years of age. Yet, it goes onto say, they won’t be committed to that during a legal abortion. This is the hypocrisy; it is so amazing.

California, liberal California, defines murder as “the unlawful killing of a human being or fetus” (fetus is the baby in the womb) “with malice or forethought.” Now, precious mothers, abortion, killing a fetus, an unborn baby that God is creating in the womb, you can’t kill a baby without malice, and they define this as murder, yet they allow abortion.

Texas defines an individual as “a human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth.” Did you hear that? “From fertilization until birth,” meaning that if a baby is killed because the mother is killed, and the baby is from fertilization until birth, it’s a fetal homicide, a double murder. Yet, these same laws which are for these 38 states say that it is not a crime to abort (that means a murder) that child under the term abortion. Have you ever heard of anything so ludicrous?

We have all these state laws and praise the Lord that 38 states have these laws. Thank you, Father. Yet these same states state in these laws that it is not a crime if it is an abortion, if the mother determines to kill the baby. It’s legal for the mother to kill the baby, but it is not legal for someone else to kill the baby.

We have hypocritical laws, but isn’t it amazing that these state laws show that this is a baby in the womb? It’s pretty amazing. This baby is a separate, separate, separate entity.

I would love you to do this, ladies. Go on to the internet and go to this link, www.numberofabortions.com

 Did you get that? www.numberofabortions.com

You need to check it periodically. I will go to it every now and then and look, and it’s an abortion clock. It has 12 different categories, and it is showing you, while you look at it, the number of abortions that are happening, the number of abortions that are happening through Planned Parenthood, the number of abortions that are taking place in the U.S., the number of abortions that are taking place worldwide.

When I checked it today at 12 o’clock, it showed that, since Roe vs. Wade, 60,843,151 babies have been murdered in the womb. How do we stand before God as a nation? Precious wives and mothers, do you grieve like I do? Do you cry out for the mercy of God as I do? At 12 o’clock, Planned Parenthood, only just this year, has murdered 290,797,000.3 babies, getting up to 300,00 which it will most likely make by the end of the year. Because as you’re watching, you see the clock going on and adding the numbers. Go to it and check for yourself.

1.  God creates the conscience which distinguishes between good and evil right there in the womb.

We read at the very beginning how God was not only creating the physical part of the baby, but He’s creating the inner part, the inner workings, the conscience. Yet, God is creating that in the womb, and a baby comes forth with a God-consciousness. And that consciousness knows; its got an understanding of what is good and what is evil.

In a godly home, the conscience can be fostered and made sharp. In an ungodly home, that conscience can be dampened, and sometimes, it becomes seared. We see that happening in so many of our liberal politicians today, who are quite happy for babies to be aborted the very day before they are born. Their conscious’ have been seared.

1.  God distinguishes the uniqueness of each individual in the womb.

This is amazing, ladies. God creates every person unique, different, distinct from every other person in the whole world. It is so amazing. I love the words of Mary after she conceived. And she praised the Lord and said: “He that is mighty hath done to me GREAT things; and holy is His name.” That word “great” is megaleios meaning “magnificent, wonderful.” It comes from the word megas, where we get our word “mega,” meaning “large, great.”

Of course, it was true that Mary was blessed beyond any other mother in the world to bring forth, to nourish the Son of God in her womb, and to bring Him forth into this world. Yet, in a lesser but still powerful way, dear mother, God does great things through every baby that is conceived in a mother’s womb, in your womb.

Every new baby is born in the image of God. Each one is a fresh revelation of God to the world. Each one of your precious babies has unique gifts and abilities given specifically by God. Think of all the amazing things that have happened, are happening, and will happen in this world, the remarkable inventions, the amazing feats, both intellectually and physically. These astonishing advancements which are happening every day and the brilliant discoveries. None of this ever happens on its own. Every single one happens through a person, an individual, and that person came through a womb. Without the womb, nothing happens in this world. It all comes to a halt. Did you get that, ladies?

You have a womb given to you by God. Without the womb, nothing happens in this world. All the great things that take place in the world happen because of a mother’s womb. A unique, special individual comes forth from the womb to fulfill a task, to do things that no has ever done before. God privileges you with the gift of a womb, a sanctuary from where God will bring forth great things to fulfill His purposes.

I love that quote by Frank Boreham. He says, “We fancy that God can only manage His world by battalions abroad when, all the while He is doing it by beautiful babies at home. When a wrong wants righting, or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants opening, God sends a baby into the world to do it. That is why, long, long ago, a babe was born in Bethlehem.”

In Luke 2:12, do you remember the angel speaking to the shepherds? “And he said to them: “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, ling in a manger.” I beg your pardon. The sign? This is going to be the sign of this great thing happening in the world? What is this sign? What is it? Who is this person that will save us from the Romans? A baby. Go and look for a baby!

Lovely mothers, whenever God wants to do something, all we have to do is look for a baby. All we have to do is open our womb for God to visit us and give us conception when it’s His time, when it’s His plan. That’s why the greatest thing that we can do is be yielded to the sovereignty of God. Not us planning it. No, letting God plan it to bring forth His baby at the right time to fulfill the plans and purposes that He has.

We go back to the womb. This whole world will stop without the womb, and God makes each one distinct, separate, special, unique. Isn’t that amazing? Now we understand what that word means, that I was created to be distinguished, special, different, like nobody else. If you have a little baby in your womb, dear mother, there has never been a baby, a person, like this in the history of the world, and there will never, ever be another being like this baby that God is creating in your womb in the future of this world. Not one is the same. That’s how awesome, fearful, and incredible God is in creating the baby in the womb. Everyone is different. Only God can do this. He doesn’t make clones. He makes every one special and new. Are you praising the Lord with me today?

Let’s pray, shall we?

“Dearest Father in Heaven, we come to You in the precious, lovely name of Jesus, thanking You that You are our God, our Creator, and You create each new baby so fearfully, wonderfully, distinguished, unique, separate, amazing in the womb. You’re not only creating the physical body, You’re creating the inner being of this little child. We thank you, Lord God, how you create this baby separate. This is a very separate, new human being from even our own body. Lord, although we are privileged to carry a baby in our own womb, it’s a separate, living human being.

God, we thank You for Your truth, Lord. Help us to be those who walk in Your truth, who embrace Your truth, speak Your truth to our children and to this world. That we will be voices in this world for You and for God.

Father, I pray for every precious mother who is pregnant today listening. Father, I pray for Your blessing upon their womb, for Your anointing as You hover over this womb and create this precious little baby. Oh God, we thank You for Your presence as this baby is being created. We thank you, Lord. I pray for every life in the womb that each baby, Lord, that this precious baby of this precious mother will be separated and set-apart for Your holy purposes, for Your destiny that You have for them. The ordination, this prenatal ordination, that You have over them in the womb, oh God, that they will come forth to fulfill this ordination in the precious name of Jesus.

Bless the mothers, strengthen them today, Lord, as they carry this baby. As each mother carries her baby in the womb, strengthen her. Fill her with joy, the joy of what You are doing in her, Lord. The joy of bringing forth an eternal soul. Help her to be a testimony of a joyful mother wherever she goes. I pray that You will bless her when she gives birth, and Lord, that You will come with Your presence, and You will bring forth this baby powerfully, wonderfully, safely, oh God, into this world. I ask it in the name of Jesus.

Bless their families, bless their husbands, and bless their homes.  I speak blessings over every mother and wife and child and every home. In Jesus name, Amen.

Episode 24: The Awe and Wonder of Life in the Womb

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Beginning the new series of discovering the glorious and biblical description of a baby conceiving and growing in the womb. There's more to discover from Psalm 139:13-18 than you could dream.

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

Nancy Campbell: Today ladies, I'm going to start a new series. It's called “The Glorious Biblical Description of a Baby Conceiving and Growing in the Womb.” Of course, we're going to look at the passage in Psalm 139, verses 13-18.

Perhaps you are an older mother who is listening, and you think, “Oh, I don't need to listen to this. I'll skip this podcast. I'm past childbearing.”

Just a minute, dear grandmother, dear single lady, whoever is listening. You don't have to be a mother who is having a baby to listen to this podcast. I believe that every person should hear what we're going to talk about in the next, however long it takes. Every child, every young person, every young mother, every older mother.

These words we're going to look at, they were not written by a mother having a baby. Who wrote these words? Of course, they are the inspired Words of God, but they were written by David, and David was a man. He never conceived or grew a baby in his womb. Yet it's a man, writing about the awe and the wonder of the beginning of life.

Every one of us, we began in the womb. I believe that God wants us to understand more of the awe and wonder of it. So, if a man, a real man, could write about it, I think every one of us should be listening, don't you?

I mean, who was David? David was a lion and a bear-killer. He was a giant killer, a king, a mighty warrior, a war strategist, a military war hero, a city builder, a skilled musician, an inventor of instruments, an anointed worshiper, and writer of poems. He was a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. And yes, in the midst of this incredible life as a warrior, he took time, and the inspiration of God, to write about life beginning in the womb.

Recently, I was reading over it again, and I thought, “I'm going to look up some of these Hebrew words.” It was then that I was blown away. That's why, dear ladies, I want you to come with me, and look at this passage in a way that you've never looked at it before.

First of all, I'm just going to read it from the New Living Translation. And then we're going to go back to the King James and look at each Hebrew word. We will see so much more than we've ever seen before. This is the wonderful thing about God's Word. It's a book of adjectives and extravagant words. In fact, the words in this passage are already extravagant when we read them.

Then we look them up in the Hebrew, and we get more extravagant words to explain the fullness of the meaning. You're going to find it so exciting! Oh, come with me. I am just so excited myself!

But let’s just read it first, in the New Living Translation:

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your Book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, You are still with me!” (Psalm 139: 13-18 NLT).

Now, let's go and find out the depths and fullness of this picture, this revelation God gives to us.

My first point is . . .  

No. 1: God owns us. In verse 13, it says: “For Thou hast possessed my reins.”

First of all, what are “our reins”? In the Hebrew, it's the word kilyah, and physically, it's speaking of the kidneys. It's a plural word, because we have two kidneys.

But figuratively, because many words in the Bible are used figuratively, the word “reins” speaks of the mind, the heart, the very innermost recesses of our being. We read in Psalms 7:9: “The righteous God trieth the heart and the reins.” God looks and searches into the innermost depths of our being.

Ladies, and young people, and children, and older ladies listening, we see that God is involved, not only in the creating of our physical bodies, but in the creating of our inner souls and mind from the very moment of conception. He is involved in every part, from the very beginning. God is working, not only to create this physical human being, but the inner workings, the heart, and the soul, and the mind. Isn't that amazing?

If you have a little baby growing in your womb, God is already working on the very inner part of this child, too.

Now it says that God has possessed, possessed my reins. What does that mean? The word “possessed” in the Hebrew is qanah, and it means “to create, to procure by purchase, to own, to possess.” The word in most other Scriptures where that same word is used, is translated, “to purchase,” or “to buy.”

So, God begins, right at the very beginning in the womb, with ownership. From that moment of conception, God owns the baby. God owns each child. He's the Creator of the child. He owns. In Genesis 14:18, here we have Melchizedek saying: “Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor” (or owner, because that is the meaning,) of heaven and earth.”

If God owns heaven and earth, and everything in it, He also owns every single one of His creations. So, we are owned by God. Whatever age we are, we’re owned by God. We were owned from the very beginning of conception. If we are born again, and a believer in Jesus, we have been owned twice. We've been purchased twice, once at the very beginning of our lives (conception), and then, because of sin that took us away from fellowship with God, Jesus came and shed His blood to purchase us back. Such a beautiful thing!

Now, before I was married and still living in New Zealand, I used to work with Child Evangelism Fellowship. Some of you may be familiar with CEF. It's a wonderful organization that reaches out to children.

Before I was married, I would often go away on trips with Child Evangelism Fellowship. We'd reach out to the children on the beaches, and all the different places we could find children. We'd gather them, and we would tell them stories about Jesus. We'd use flashcards and different things to gain their attention.

One of the favorite stories I can remember sharing with children, and I had these flashcards to go with it, so the children could see the pictures as they listened to the story. I'd love to tell you the story. It won't take me a minute, but it's a beautiful story.

It's about this little boy. He painstakingly built a model sailboat. He spent so many days and weeks building it. When it was finally completed, he decided to test it out in the open water close to where he lived. So off he went, down to the water.

This little boy loved his boat, and he was so proud of it. First of all, he made sure the sails were set properly. And then he excitedly put the boat into the water. With great anticipation, he gently gave it a push. Off it went!

Oh, it sailed so perfectly! He was so excited. But unexpectedly, before the boy realized what was happening, the sailboat just kept going! It didn't stop. He hoped the wind would shift, but it didn't. The sailboat sailed rapidly off into the distance.

The boy waded out in the water to catch it, but it had gone too far. Gradually, the boat faded off into the distance and disappeared. It was gone. His precious boat that he had spent so much time making!

He went back to his home, crying to his mother. “What's wrong, what's wrong?” she asked. “Didn't it work?”

“Oh, it worked,” said the little boy. “But it sailed away! And now I haven't got my boat!”

Sometime later, the boy was walking downtown, and he passed a second-hand store, There, can you believe it? There, in the window, he saw the little sailboat that he had labored so hard to build. He just went up to that sailboat, and he picked it up, and he said to the store owner, as he was walking out, “Hey! This boat's mine!” Off he went, out the door, holding it in his arms.

But the owner shouted, “Hey, wait a minute now! That's my boat! I paid someone for that boat!”

The boy said, “No, no, no, it's my boat! I made it! Look, look at the little scratches. Look, look, this is where I put my initials on the bottom.”

The owner said, “I'm sorry, sonny. If you want it, you're going to have to pay for it.”

Well, this poor little boy, he didn't have any money. So he went home, and he had to start working. He had to get jobs to earn money. So he'd ask his mummy for jobs, and asked his neighbor if they had any work so they could give him some money, so he could save up for his very own sailboat.

He worked hard. He saved his pennies. Then one day, he had enough money. He went back to the store, and the little sailboat was still there. He bought back his own boat. As he left the store, holding the sailboat close to his chest, he said, “Little boat, you're my boat. You are twice my boat. First, you are my boat, because I made you. And second, you are my boat because I bought you.”

This is such a beautiful picture of us and our God. He owned us. He created us. Because He created us, He owned us, and it says it right here in this Scripture. He owns us, right in the womb. He owned us, right back there.

If you have a little baby growing in your womb, God owns your baby. Yes, it's your precious baby, but it's more God's baby. He's the One who created it. But then, of course, we turned away from God. We sinned. We cannot have fellowship with God when there is sin because He's a perfect God, But He sent His own beloved Son, Jesus, to give His life, to buy us back!

So when we receive Christ and His salvation, we are bought again. We are owned twice. First, He owned us by creation. Second, He owns us by salvation, and by giving His Son to shed His precious blood for us. There we have it. Let's go on.

No. 2: God covers us. Verse 13 continues, and it says: “Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.” The word “covered” is the Hebrew word, cakak. It means “to fence in, to overshadow, to cover over, to protect, to hedge in, to shut up,” and “to defend.” As I said, ladies, we read these beautiful words in God's Word, and when we look them up in the Hebrew, we get so many more words to describe the fullness of the meaning. How beautiful that is.

Every baby that's growing in the womb, God is covering this baby. He's overshadowing it. He's protecting it. He's watching over it.

Our daughter Psalmody, she had a little baby a few months ago. But when she was only about four months into her pregnancy, her womb, her cervix began to open. It was quite scary for a little while. She went to the hospital, and they were very concerned about it. She had to go on bedrest for a few days.

They wanted her to come back so they could keep checking her. They were hoping they would be able to just stitch up and give her a cervical cerclage. But when she went back, it was still too soft. They couldn't even do the cerclage.

So, back to bedrest. She called out for prayer. We prayed over that little baby, and prayed that God would close up her cervix, and protect, and hedge, and shut in this little baby while it grew in the womb. God was so good; He answered that prayer.

When she went back again, she was fine! It was just a miracle, and she carried her baby to full term. That was such a beautiful miracle.

Now this same word that is used here, “to cover, and to hedge in, and to overshadow the baby in the womb” is the same word that is used of the cherubims in the Holy of Holies.

You will know that in the Holy of Holies, they had the Ark of the Covenant. On the Ark of the Covenant there was the Mercy Seat. Over the Mercy Seat there were the cherubims. The Bible tells us how their faces looked down on the Mercy Seat.

Now, talking about the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, it says here in Exodus 25:20: “And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; down toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.”

They were looking downward with awe and wonder. They couldn't believe it, because in the Ark of the Covenant was the Law. Nobody could keep that Law, but over the Law was the Mercy Seat, speaking of Christ and shedding His precious Blood.

Just as the high priest had to go in once a year and sprinkle the blood over the Mercy Seat, that covered the Law that nobody could keep, it's only through Christ that we can find salvation.

Then we go on to the Scripture about the cherubim in the Temple. When Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, in 1 Chronicles 28:18, it says again that the cherubims spread out their wings, and they covered the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.

I always like to look up other Scriptures that use exactly the same words. So, the word we have for God covering the baby in the womb, we get other pictures.

Let's look in Exodus 33:22, 23: “And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover thee with My hand while I pass by.”

This was God speaking to Moses, because Moses wanted to see God, but oh, he couldn't see the Face of God. So, God said: “I'll just cover you with My hand, and I'll make my glory pass by you, so you can stay alive.”

Psalm 91:4: “He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust,”

Psalm 140:7: “Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.” Isn't that good? Starts off, God covers the little precious baby in the womb. Then when we get out into life, He's still covering us, and He even covers our head in the day of battle to protect us!

But do you remember? This word, “to cover,” also means “to defend.” That's very powerful. TO DEFEND. God is not only covering the baby in the womb, He is defending it. God is the Defender of the baby in the womb.

Psalm 5 11 says the same word that's used to cover the baby in the womb, the same word . . . it says that God defends those who put their trust in Him. But dear ladies, because God is the Defender of the baby in the womb, don't you think that we should also be defenders of the baby in the womb?

This is an hour in society when babies in the womb are at terrible risk. We've had 60 million precious babies murdered since Roe vs. Wade. Oh my. Why is that? Have we not been defending? Have God's people been too silent?

What does it say in Proverbs 31:8, 9? These are the two Scriptures immediately before that Scripture we all know, “Who can find a virtuous woman?” So, her price is far above rubies. Just before that Scripture it says: “Open your mouth for the mute, for the dumb, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Dear precious ladies, we must be defenders of babies in the womb. We defend our own babies in the womb. We stand up to defend babies in other peoples' wombs. We stand up against abortion. We are not silent. We cannot be silent! God expects us to stand up.

This is often a challenge that comes to mothers, especially older mothers as they go in for their check-ups with doctors. Precious ladies, we don't have to go through all those tests, because we wouldn't do anything about it anyway, even if there was something wrong with our baby! Because we believe in life! We defend the baby in the womb.

We must remember that God has not finished while the baby is in the womb. Sometimes an ultrasound can show up something that doesn't look right, or the baby is behind where it should be. God is before us. God is doing His thing in His time.

I remember meeting a lovely young mother just recently. An ultrasound showed up that her baby had great problems in the womb, and caused such a great fear into her, and negativity during her pregnancy. It's a problem. These tests only put fears and negativity into young mothers. Anyway, her father said the very same words that I said to her. “Look, God hasn't finished yet. Trust God. He is working. He is creating your baby. Trust Him!”

And this baby was born. The problems that they had diagnosed did not come to pass. How many precious babies are being diagnosed with this and that, and even Down's Syndrome? And when they're born, if the mother keeps them, they are born perfectly fine!

Even if they aren't born perfectly, they are still life, and they are still God's creations! We must defend the babies.

Now right when I am speaking, there is a movie that is in some of the theaters in our nation. It's called Gosnell. It's about this abortion serial killer who aborted so many babies. It's a true story. I actually haven't been to it yet. I am hoping to go after this weekend, because I have to go away and speak this weekend.

Maybe you missed this movie. Maybe it didn't even come to your theaters. In fact, it came to the AMC Theaters near us. The very first weekend it played, it rose to number ten movie in the nation! Now that's pretty good. You'd think that the theater would keep it going.

But no, they just put it to the times of twelve o'clock, three o'clock. The people who are working could not go to see it. I was wanting to go, but I could not go in the day. I had too much to do in the day. They didn't even put it on at night. Then it abruptly disappeared from all the AMC Theaters!

So, we have been calling. I am encouraging others to call too. If you have an AMC Theater near you, and it didn't come to you, or just came very quickly, you can call them at 913-213-2000, and ask them why didn't this movie continue when it was very popular?

Fortunately, we have just found another place where they are showing it in a different theater. We will have to travel to go and see it, but we're going to see it, because apparently, it's the most powerful movie that's ever been put together on this subject. It's something that the whole nation needs to see. So we'll see what happens there. But let's be defenders of mothers and babies! Especially of precious babies growing in the womb.

Well, lovely ladies, we have just started out on this glorious description. We're going to find many more wonderful discoveries as we continue. But we'll continue next week.

Let's pray.

“Father, we thank You so much, that You are our Creator. You are the Creator of the baby in the womb. Lord God, from the very beginning of conception, You give life. You hold and You overshadow the baby in the womb. You own that baby from the moment of conception. We thank You, that You are so involved, oh God.

Oh Father, help us to see that Lord, You are involved. When babies are hampered, and worse, when they are murdered in the womb, oh God, that we are sinning against You, oh God, the very Creator, the Life-Giver. Oh Father, we cry out to You for the babies in the womb, and for Your protection over them. We pray for changes of heart in mothers.

We pray, oh God, You will move in our nation, and there will come changes in the laws in abortion. We pray that more and more will become defenders of the baby in the womb. Help us to always be defenders of the baby in the womb, and that we will open our mouths for the babies that cannot open their mouths. Oh God, we ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”