PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 414: WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 20
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 414: WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 20
Are you feeling "overworked and underpaid"? Do you feel like a servant? Do you feel everything is too much for you? There is an answer. Check in to find out.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to the Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies, a magazine bringing strength and encouragement to families across the world.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Always so good to be with you. I would like to remind you, before we get started today, about our coming Above Rubies Family Retreat, up in the Smokey Mountains. That’s going to be held from August 21st to the 24th.
We’re telling you about it now so you can be thinking about it, putting it on your calendar, saving, and getting ready to come, because we’d love you to come, if you're living in the USA, because I know people are listening all around the world.
It’s for all the family, Mom and Dad, right down to their little ones, and the young people. Oh, we’d love the young people to come! It’s such a wonderful place for them to meet other godly young people and get to know one another. So, just make a note of that, and don’t forget about it.
Now, lovely ladies, we are starting to wind down on our series, “Welcome to This More and More Life.” Today, we’re at point 39 and we’re going to end with number 45. That will be 45 different Scriptures where God talks about “more and more.” So, I hope to complete them in these next two sessions, today and next week.
I do trust that you have been blessed, and that you won’t forget about them. You may need to go back and listen to some of these sessions and be constantly empowered and reminded that we’re not meant to be living under, or even just normal. No! We’re meant to be living ABOVE, in the MORE AND MORE life, because this is what the Bible speaks about. It doesn’t speak about living in the doldrums, living in depression, being downcast. No, it speaks about MORE AND MORE.
So, what have we got today?
NO. 39. MORE SERVING
Wow! I’m not sure whether you like that word! Often, as mothers, we think, “Oh, goodness me! All I do is serve!” I have to confess that I remember thinking that at times when I was raising our children and managing our home. Sometimes it would become overwhelming and I would think, “Oh, I’m just a jolly servant around this place!”
And then, God’s Spirit would come to me and say, “Oh, but Nancy, don’t you remember? That’s what I came to do? I came to serve.” What does the Bible say?
Matthew 20:28, Jesus Himself speaking. It says here: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Sometimes we’d like to sit back and be served, wouldn’t we? But Jesus Himself came to serve. He didn’t come to be served, but to serve.
Well, let’s look at our “more and more” Scripture. Paul’s testimony in 1 Corinthians 9:19 says: “I have made myself servant unto all,” and again in 1 Corinthians 15:10, he says: “I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
Paul wasn’t afraid of hard work and labor. He labored day and night. I’m just thinking now of that Scripture . . . it’s in 1 Thessalonians 2, if we read from verse seven. Actually, it’s a beautiful picture of how Paul worked night and day, but although he’s talking about laboring night and day, he’s actually doing it in the context of a mother. So, this is interesting.
Let’s read. He says: “But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse (or a mother) cherishes her children: so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were so dear unto us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.”
So, here Paul is likening himself to a mother who is gentle and cherishes her children. Because of her love for her children, she is ready to labor day and night. I know that many of you, especially with little babies and young ones, know what that is like. Sometimes it seems as though you are laboring day and night.
Here Paul is speaking about that. He says that’s how he was operating towards the young believers in Thessalonica, because he had such love and such a heart for them. And here, in this passage, he’s talking to the young Corinthian believers and telling them and reminding them of how he labored more abundantly.
Then, in this next letter to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, but I’ll just read a little bit. He says” “Are they ministers of Christ? . . . I am more; in labors more abundant.” So, he’s laboring. It was hard work and toil. It resulted in weariness. That is the word there, laboring more abundantly. It’s one of those peri- words. This one is perissoteros, meaning “more earnestly, more exceedingly.” What an example he was!
In fact, we go to 1 Corinthians 3. We see another example here in the life of Paul. Actually, this particular passage is a passage that really ministered to me back so many years ago. It was when we were in New Zealand still, which is where we’re originally from. I was raising our little family. We had three children in 17 months because I cheated and had twins. Then we had four children under four years of age. Then I think by the time I got to this little incident, we had six children.
But I remember, at that time, feeling weary. Oh, goodness me, I felt even more than weary; I felt overwhelmed. I thought, “I can’t do this!” And I was in this terrible state. Anyway, I got up in the morning to have my time with the Lord. Wow! What would we do without that?
And I was reading this chapter, 2 Corinthians 1, and I got to verse eight. Paul said: “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, for we were pressed out of measure, above strength.” I thought, “Wow!” I couldn’t believe what I was reading! That was just how I was feeling! “Above strength.” This is more that I can cope with.
So, wow, I was really relating to this, so I kept reading: “Insomuch that we despaired, even of life.” Well, I hadn’t despaired of life, but I got to that feeling that it was more than my strength. But then I kept reading: “We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us.”
As I read those words, dear ladies, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart so strongly. And those words: “That we should not trust in ourselves.” Immediately, I realized I was trusting in my own strength! I was thinking, “Oh, how can I do this? How can I cope with this? Oh, poor me!” And I was looking to my own strength.
So, immediately, I had to get on my knees, and say, “Lord God, I am so sorry! I’ve been trusting in my own resources, in my own strength. I haven’t been trusting in You. Lord, God, I trust in You. I thank You that I can trust in You, Lord, You are bigger than these circumstances. You are able. You are my strength, I thank You, Lord God, that You are my strength and You are my victory, and You are my joy.”
As I began to speak to the Lord, that joy came and that overwhelmingness left me. I remember, I can still remember to this day. It was later in the afternoon of that day, and I thought, “Hey! What was that I was in such a state about?” And I could not even remember why I was in such a state and why I was feeling so overwhelmed. I couldn’t even really remember. It was all in my mind.
And a of lot stuff, ladies, where we feel overwhelmed and we can’t cope, it’s really in our mind, because we’re thinking of “me, poor me. How can I cope? Oh goodness me, I haven’t got enough strength!” But God is our strength.
Remember what the Lord said to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10? “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” So, God is our strength. When we look to Him, when we trust in Him, we will find that.
That’s what I found. I was delivered from that day. You see, it’s not hard work that gets us in a state and gets us down. Nobody dies from hard work. Hard work is good for us. Did you know that? And it’s a good thing to remember. It’s a good thing to remind ourselves that we were born to work hard, that work is a blessing.
Yes, you can work, and you can be so tired at the end of the day. But then, God gives you sleep, and you sleep, and you wake up, and you are refreshed. That’s how God has planned for us to live—to work hard, in fact, to work six days a week. On the seventh day, you are to rest. But even throughout the week, God gives us rest in the evening.
But you have to watch, dear ladies. Now, just watch that you're not staying up too late, because that’s the worst thing for a mother. That’s when you get tired. That’s when you can get overwhelmed. That’s when you can get rundown. And, you know, colds and flus and sore throats can catch up on you. They catch up on you when you're not getting enough sleep. So, make it a habit not to stay up too late.
Often, you’ve just got everything done. Children in bed. Oh, well, now you want some time for yourself. Now you want some time on your iPhone. And that can make you stay up too late because you can get carried away. Really, you have to discipline yourself if you're going to be on top and full of energy after a night of rest.
And remember, your hours before midnight are your best hours. It’s important to remember this, in this day in which we’re living, because especially as a young person, you get into the habit of staying up late. It seems to be a thing with our young people in today’s world. They love to stay up late, and then you see, they have to get up a bit later.
But it’s not really the way God intended. He intends us to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Nine or ten, that is the best time for our sleep. And this time, especially for a mother. You can get away with it when you're a young person, but you don’t get away with it when you've got little ones and babies. You’ve got to watch out for your rest. That is important.
But if you do that, you can then trust the Lord, trust Him each day for His strength, His victory, His joy, and live in that. Don’t get into a state like I did that time! But God delivered me when I realized that I was just trusting in myself which is the most ridiculous thing you can do.
But let’s go back to Genesis 2, because we always have to find out the “law of the first mention.” When something is spoken about for the first time in the Word of God, that’s the beginning of God’s truth on that subject. He will speak more about it through the Word, but that is the underlying principle.
The first time we read about work in the Bible is way back in Genesis 2:15. Here it says: “And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden” that beautiful garden of delight, because the word Eden means “delight” in the Hebrew. This is talking about the first home, “a garden of delight.” This is God’s principle for homes forever after, that they will be places of delight.
And so, it says He put him there “to dress it and to keep it.” All right, what does that word “to dress it” mean? It’s just a King James word. But it really means “to work, to labor, even to labor by the sweat of your brow.” It means good, hard work. You know, just laboring with your hands, and getting stuck in. So, that this is first mentioned there is rather interesting.
As a young child, you never like work when you're a child. You never like doing your chores. I used to think, “Oh, work came in after the fall!” But no. No, God gave work before the fall of man. God gave work as part of our lives because He knows it’s for our blessing. If we are those who laze around all day, well, we won’t really sleep at night. We won’t have got ready for sleep.
Nor will we live a productive life. Work makes a productive life. It releases creativity, because as we work, we find greater ways of doing things. We become creative. We become inventive. Out of work comes creativity, comes inventions, comes all the way things happen in the world. They start with work!
Even work in our homes, so when you're cleaning the toilets, and scrubbing the floor, and doing these things, and really, we don’t have to work like our mothers did in years and years gone by. My, they really had to work hard physically. We throw our clothes in the washing machine and press a button! And then we don’t even go out to the clothesline and hang them up and use our arms to stretch up, and hang our clothes on the clothesline, which I think is a wonderful chore. It’s been my favorite all through my life.
Here, I’m sort of half doing that, because my lovely, beautiful, amazing husband hasn’t yet put up my revolving clothesline that Serene and Pearl gave me for a gift years ago. He still hasn’t had time, but I still do hang my clothes out. I have a deck outside our home, so I hang all my clothes on the deck.
I’m one of those who can’t bear to wear my clothes, especially my underclothing, and especially my sheets, if I haven’t had them out in the beautiful air and sun drying. It’s just so healthy and wonderful. But, OK, I hang them on the deck. I would like to be reaching up and hanging them on the line, because that’s exercise too.
But anyway, whatever we are doing in our home, and it feels like work, well, just enjoy it! Because work is great! In fact, we need to say, “I love work!” And teach our children that. As they are doing and learning to do their chores, we teach them to do it with all their might. As the Bible says” “Whatsoever you do, do it with thy might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
So often, you know, you can go to an airport, and you see the workers there. And their job is to sweep. You notice how they just sort of sweep a little bit here and sweep a little bit there. They don’t really look as though they’re working hard. It’s so great to see someone get stuck in and sweep.
Whatever we’re doing, let’s do it with all our might and teach our children how to do it with their might. Sometimes we’ve got to show them, because they’re doing it so lethargically. We have to show them how to do it, not just because, OK, you're treating work as something that’s a job. No, work should be joy. Teach your children. “Look, as you're doing this job, see if you can find a better way to do it!” Because work will always release creativity.
Well, lovely ladies, I know that some of you are listening and you maybe do feel a little tired and worn out, overworked and underpaid. That’s really just a phrase, a joke! But we’ve got to get our thinking right. I do want to encourage you today to just give it to the Lord and know that work is good. Remember, Paul worked hard. What does it say? “He worked harder. He labored more than you all.” So, let’s be those who know how to labor earnestly. What does the Greek word say? “Earnestly and exceedingly.” Amen.
Well, I have a little poem for you before we go onto the next point. This is a poem I wrote to mothers many years ago. I had been talking to a mother who was feeling very down. She was even crying because of how she felt. I wrote this poem for her, but it’s for you today, too.
Dear sweet mother, why do you cry?
Don’t you know that your God is nigh?
He is closer to you than your very breath.
He will never forsake you, not even in death.
He created you for His joy and pleasure,
And He has chosen you as His special treasure.
He has graven your name on His very own palm,
He’ll come to your aid with His mighty right arm.
He is your Source. He will fill your cup,
When you are down, He will lift you up,
You don’t have to stay sad, for He is your joy,
He’ll help you conquer those things that annoy.
God has given you children, which are your glory,
To enrich your life and help write your story.
You’re in God’s perfect will, this is your calling,
He’ll help you each day and keep you from falling.
But you can’t do it alone. Your strength is weak.
Trust in the Lord and things won’t seem so bleak,
Look to the Lord, not the problems you face,
And you’ll be amazed how He’ll give you His grace.
A joyful mother is what He wants you to be,
Filling your home with gladness and glee,
Counting your blessings and praising the Lord,
For His daily mercies and His love outpoured.
All right, let’s go on to our next one.
No. 40. MORE SHINING
Wow! This, ladies, is the very Scripture we started with, Proverbs 4:18: “But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”
I would have to say this is one of my favorite Scriptures in the Word of God and I live by it, because this is what I believe, that our walk with God is a more and more walk that “shines more and more unto the perfect day.” If you don’t know this Scripture by heart, make it one of your memory verses that you can say it out throughout the day. It’s so encouraging.
The New Living Translation says: “The way of the righteous is as the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter and brighter, until the full light of day.” When we come to Jesus, we begin with a glimmer of light. Yes, we’ve found salvation but it’s only the beginning.
As we seek after truth and grow in Christ, and are filled with more and more light, and more and more revelation and understanding, and more and more knowledge of this One Who is our Savior and our Redeemer, and who we come to know as our Friend, and our Strength, and our Rock, and our Fortress, we find that everything is more and more.
The God’s Word Translation says: “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that becomes brighter and brighter, until it reaches midday.” And so, lovely ladies, it’s got to be more and more, every day. More and more. We dare not stay at the same level. This walk with Christ is more and more. Make it a more and more walk.
No. 41. MORE SPEAKING WITH TONGUES
This one, oh goodness me, can I just confess something to you? I actually was nearly going to miss this one out. I thought, “Oh, I won’t talk about this one, because it’s a little controversial.” And then, the Lord spoke to me, and said, “Nancy, are you scared of what is in my Word? Are you being a wimp? You don’t want to talk about it, because some people may not agree with you? But it is in my Word! You’d better speak about it.”
Ooh, OK, so I’d better speak about it. And what does it say? 1 Corinthians 14:18: “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all.” This was Paul writing, and he said these words. It’s one of those “more than” Scriptures. And here I was going to leave it out. Oh help! I can’t leave it out because it’s in the Scriptures! I just typed it out straight from the Scripture. So, how can I leave it out? Wow!
And I remembered Deuteronomy 4:1, 2: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” So, there it is, in the Bible.
Well, we notice, don’t we, that in our last point, Paul said: “I labor more than you all.” Now he goes and says: “I speak in tongues more than you all.” So, Paul is one of these “more and more” people.
Paul says to us in Romans 11:1: “Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ.”
Again, in 1 Corinthians 4:16, he says: “I beseech you, be ye followers of me.” Well, I have to confess I’m not up to Paul’s standards, but I do love to speak in tongues. I don’t speak more than you all. I need to get better at it.
But anyway, what does it say? 1 Corinthians 14:4: “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edified himself, but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.” So, what does that word “edify” mean? We go to the Greek word. It means “to build up, to be a homebuilder, or to grow in wisdom, holiness, and blessedness.”
So, this here is talking about speaking in tongues, in a prayer language. It’s not speaking about speaking in tongues in the church, for if that happens, it must be translated. And no one must speak in tongues unless they know there is someone who can translate it, or they have to translate it themselves.
But people can speak in tongues in prayer, and this is where I myself find it such a blessing, because I don’t know about you, but often when I’m praying in real earnestness, and my heart is troubled and burdened, and I’m crying out to God for someone or some particular thing, I run out of words. Really, truly, I don’t know what to say. Even what I’m saying is most probably not the right words.
But then, I can speak in tongues, which every believer can do by faith. As I do, it is my spirit crying out, “Oh, God!” And I just let my spirit cry out, not praying in understanding, but praying what comes forth from my mouth, which is from my spirit. I can pray and let my spirit cry out in earnestness.
And then, in 1 Corinthians 14:14-15, Paul says: “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”
So, Paul says, “I pray two ways. I pray with my understanding, but then there are times I’ll pray with my spirit, because I run out of my own words and I’m in intercession.” And he also says, “And I will sing with my understanding” the wonderful hymns and worship songs, but I also sing in the spirit.
I have also found that a most glorious thing. Often, when we are in worship, and the worship and even the music are glorious, but sometimes the words are inadequate. I just want to worship God beyond what words I have. I run out of words. You may not be like me. You may have enough words, but I don’t have enough words to worship Him Who is beyond words, beyond my thoughts, beyond my understanding. The words that I say in my language are so limited.
So, many times I love to worship in the spirit. And I know that I’m worshipping in truth, as I ought, because my vocabulary is so limited. And so, this is where speaking in tongues, especially in prayer, can be a wonderful blessing. It is in the Word of God.
We see it again in Jude 1:20: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith,” And how do we do it? It says: “Praying in the Holy Ghost, (praying in the spirit) Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
And so, we see that there are two things that, well, three things, that happen. Well, let’s say two things. Two things happen personally. One is that we build up our faith. We edify our spirit in the inner man. It is powerful, because your spirit is edified, built up, made strong. Yes, it is true that speaking in tongues in prayer before God makes you strong in your spirit.
And secondly, it helps you keep your eyes on the eternal world, as it says in Jude 1:20, “Keeping your eyes upon the eternal world.” Now, that is personally, but then, for others, of course, we move into intercession that is more effective than just using our own words. Sometimes we do get anointed, even in our own words in prayer, but, oh, many times we are so limited. We can move into greater intercession by praying in the spirit, praying in tongues.
So, there we are. There are many believers who speak in tongues. Some do not, because perhaps in their churches, they’ve been taught that that’s not the thing to do. But I don’t know how, because it’s there, black and white, in the Word of God. And it is something that any believer who wants to have this greater intensity in prayer and worship can move into by faith.
Well, I think we’re getting down to the end of our time, so we’ll close here. And ladies, we’ll have one more session. Next session is our last session on the “more and more” Scriptures. Don’t miss. If you missed any of them, I hope you can catch up, because every single one is powerful. Amen?
“Dear Father, we do thank You. I’m always thanking You for Your Word, because, wow, it just keeps us on track. It keeps us, Lord, walking in Your ways. We just thank You.
“Lord, I thank You for all the precious wives and mothers listening. Be with them today, Lord. Those who are floundering and feeling overwhelmed, I pray that You will lift them up, Lord. Lift them up to a higher place. Lift them up to looking, Lord, into Your heart instead of looking at their problems.
“Let them know that You are their strength. They do not have to trust in their own strength, but, Lord, as we trust in Your strength, we know Your strength and victory. And so, I thank You for this and pray Your blessing and Your deliverance to every wife and every mother listening today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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AUGUST 21 – 24 2026 GATLINBURG, TENNESSEE
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