FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 113: MAKING A HOME OF REST— PART 4

Discover the beautiful truth of exchanging our old fleshly life for the life of Jesus. All the good and beautiful things that are in Jesus are in us because He lives in us. This truth will revolutionize your life and mothering.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. This is our fourth session on making our homes a home of rest. This is what God wants for our homes. In Isaiah 32:18, it says: “And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.“

Isn't that a beautiful description? And that's God's intention for our marriages, and for our homes. The words in “quiet resting places,” that is the same Hebrew word, menuchah, that I shared with you in our  first session about how marriage is a place of rest. When Naomi was talking to Ruth about getting a husband, she used this very same Hebrew word.

It means “resting place,” so that's why we're talking about it, dear ladies. We want to make our marriages a place of rest, our homes a place of rest for ourselves, and ultimately for God, because He's looking for a place to dwell. He is a dwelling God. He loves to dwell, and He doesn't want to dwell in strife and tension. He wants to come and dwell in rest.

In Proverbs 24:15, it says: “Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place.” Now that is a warning in that Scripture. God gives a warning to those, or anything, that would come against the resting places of the righteous. So we ourselves have to guard our homes and guard our marriages, that we don't allow anything to come in that would spoil our rest, spoil our resting place.

So a good idea is to get into the habit of thinking about your home as a resting place. If you think of your home as that, you're more likely going to be making it into a resting place. You'll be thinking of ideas of how to make it more restful. You'll be guarding against things that can come into your marriage, or come into your home, amongst the children.

All these outside things, but we have to guard . . . You see, we, as mothers and wives, we are the guardians of the home. That's the truth that comes out in Titus, chapter 2, where it tells the older women to teach the younger women to be keepers of their homes.

The word in the Greek is a word that means “to be a guardian, to watch over.” It's a picture of a keeper of a castle, who keeps the keys. He does not allow any intruder into that castle. We don't allow any intruders, enemy intruders, into our homes because we want to keep them a resting place.

Now also I want to read you a beautiful hymn. I love the old hymns. This is one of my favorites, by Horatius Bonar.

It actually goes with one of our points. We're going through our ten points on how to make our homes a home of rest. It was way back in the beginning, about how we're to make our homes a home of praising, because God loves to indwell the praises of His people. This is where God delights to be, amongst the praises and worship of His people.

Now if God loves to live among praises, don't you think that we should live among praises too? So I was reminding you about how we need to be praising our husband, praising our children, making our whole home a praising home.

This is a hymn about a praising life. It's a beautiful prayer.

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God,

In ev'ry part with praise,

That my whole being may proclaim

Thy Being and Thy ways.

Not for the lip of praise alone,

Nor e'en  the praising heart,

I ask, for but for a life made up

Of praise in ev'ry part.

Praise in the common things of life,

It’s goings out and in,

Praise in each day and deed,

However small and mean.

Fill every part of me with praise,

Let all my being speak

Of Thee and of Thy love, O Lord,

Poor though I be and weak.

So shall no part of day or night

From sacredness be free,

But all my life, in every step,

Be fellowship with Thee.

May that be our prayer for our lives in our homes each day.

Number Eight

CEASE FROM YOUR OWN WORKS

All right, ladies, we are now up to point number eight, in seeking to make a home of rest. Each one of these points are not something that I've made up. They come from the word of God. So we're going again to Hebrews. Remember Hebrews, chapters three and four, are all about entering into rest, or not entering into rest, because of our unbelief, or our hardness of heart.

Now this time, we're going to talk about something else. So we'll read Hebrews chapter four, verse nine, “There remaineth therefore, a rest . . . ” The actual word means a Sabbath rest to the people of God. It's the picture of a Sabbath rest. It's not talking about . . . We're not going to just have a Sabbath rest once a week, but a whole life of a Sabbath rest. This is talking about the lifestyle of a Sabbath rest.

“For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

So number eight is, we have to cease from our own works. We're not going to be able to enter into rest in our own souls, in our own life experience, or in our home, if we are trying to do it by our own effort. We can't make things happen by our own effort. It's only by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So we cease from our own works, and we allow God to work in us.

I think of Zechariah 4:6, one of my favorite Scriptures. I think I pray this Scripture nearly every day. “Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.”

There's so much that we long for in our hearts. There's so much we long to see in the lives of those we love, in our children, in our husbands. But you know, we can't do the work. We can't do it of ourselves. It can only happen by the Spirit of God.

So when you are concerned, and when you are desperately praying concern for a loved one, remember you can't, you can't make this happen. You can come before God, you can cry out to Him, to move by the power of His Holy Spirit. And He will do it. It's by His Spirit. It's only by the power of His Holy Spirit.

That's why, even now, in this time in our nation, when we have these uprisings and this scourge of anarchy that's coming into many of our cities, how can this be stopped? The greatest, most powerful way is through the power of prayer, which releases the Holy Spirit to move.

Of course, He will move through people. But it has to be by the power of the Holy Spirit. Take that Scripture. Oh, make it part of your life. “Not by might, not by power, by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.”

Who is speaking? The Lord of Hosts. The Lord of the armies of heaven. The One who fights for Israel. The One Who fights for you. The One Who fights for His people.

And in our own lives, we have to stop our own striving and trying to work everything out in our own lives. We have to allow the Spirit of God to come in and live His life. I have always been blessed by that Scripture in Philemon, verse six. And it says: “That the communication of your faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”

Now what is it saying? It's talking about how to make our faith effectual. That's what we want, isn't it? We want our faith to be effectual. We want to live in rest. We don't want to have strife and tension. We don't want to be filled with unbelief and hardness of heart. We want this life of calming rest.

How do we get it? Not by striving, but by doing what this Scripture says. So let's go back. Let's look at it, little by little. “That your faith may be effectual, BY THE ACKNOWLEDGING . . . ” OK, you've got to acknowledge certain things, “acknowledging of EVERY GOOD THING which is in you in Christ Jesus.”

So what's its saying is that every good thing that is in Christ, His rest, that's what we're talking about. His rest, He's the only One Who lives in perfect rest. Nothing takes Him by surprise. He doesn't get His stomach tied up in knots. He's not fretful and in despair. No, He lives in rest. And when He comes to live in you, He comes as the One Who lives in rest. His rest comes into your spirit. Isn't that amazing?

Now we don't often experience this, dear ladies, but this is truth. There's so much in the Word of God that is so powerful, and liberating, and victorious, and overcoming. But we don't live in it because we don't take hold of the Word.

And actually, we don't even believe it. We've got to start believing it. We acknowledge it, and we believe it. And so we say, “Thank You, Lord Jesus, that I live in rest ,because You live in me. And You are rest. I thank You for Your rest that fills my soul.”

Are you in turmoil about something today? Are you upset? your stomach's all wound up? Oh, just come to Jesus. “Oh, Lord Jesus, I thank You that You live in me. And You live in rest. Oh, I thank You, that Your rest fills my soul. Thank You, Lord Jesus!”

And so you're doing what the Scripture says. You're acknowledging this truth, that every good thing that's in Jesus is in you.

 Are you having trouble with having patience with the children? Oh, they're driving you crazy! You're getting mad. You fly off the handle! Oh, you've just got to change this habit. You see, what you're doing, you're relying on your own strength. But you've got to cease from your own works, and you've got to trust in His. And so you cry out to the Lord Jesus. You say, “Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You live in me, and You are patient! And so Lord, I am patient!”

Yes, you can confess that you are patient, and you're filled with longsuffering. Because Jesus Christ dwells in you, and when he comes into your life, He doesn't come in with a little bit of Who He is. He comes as Who He is. He is patient. He is longsuffering. That's Who He is. He wants to live His life through you.

Instead of living your own life, we say no to the flesh, and yes to the Spirit. We put off the old man, and we put on the new man. Instead of wearing these old clothes of unbelief and tension and worry, and all these old clothes that we've been so used to using, we put on our new clothes, our new man, which is Christ Jesus. All the good things that are in Him...Are you getting it? If you can get this truth, it will revolutionize your life.

God revealed His truth to me as a young mother, when I was just so emotional.  Up one day, down the next. Screaming at the children. And then God began to show me, no, that's not how you live as a mother, living your old life. No, you live according to My life. My life in you is patience, rest, longsuffering, joy, yes!

You’re down in the mouth, you're depressed, you're grumbling, oh . . . No, that's the old man! But Christ Jesus in you is joy! He is JOY! That's Who He is!

So we're either going to live according to our feelings and our old man, or according to the life of Christ, who dwells in us by His Spirit. And we have to learn to choose what we're going to do.

We have to learn to acknowledge the truth. You see, we can live according to lies. We can live according to our feelings. But feelings are lies! I mean, yes, they seem pretty true, because that's how you feel. Yes, you really feel lousy, and you really feel mad. You really feel depressed.

But feelings come, and feelings go. They're just a very temporary thing, and we do not even have to give into them! We do not have to yield to them at all. Instead of yielding to them, we say, “NO! I do not yield to them! I yield to the Life of Christ, Who dwells in me. His life, His joy, He is joy! He is victory! He has overcome the enemy.  And he dwells in me!”

And so you speak the good things that are in Christ. You speak them out. and you acknowledge that they are in you! Precious ladies, you may have to listen to this podcast again, to get this truth into your very soul, so that it becomes part of you. I

I'm just thinking now of a Scripture in Ephesians, I think it is . . . let me go to it. Yes, or was it Ephesians one? Maybe I'll go to Ephesians three, or maybe I'll go to Colossians. Oh my. I would love to get it for you. Let's see, Let's see if it's here. You know what? I'm not finding it. Yes, I am, here it is! It's Colossians, OK?

Colossians 1:10: “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might.” Woo! Don't you want to be strengthened with all might and all the power of God?

Yes, it goes on to say: “. . . according to His glorious power . . .” Wow! “Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power”! Then it says: “Unto.”  Wow, what is this “strengthening with all might,” with this “glorious power?”

What is it for? For “PATIENCE AND LONGSUFFERING. “Isn't that amazing? You see, when we have the power of Christ operating in our lives, it will release patience and longsuffering, because that's Who Christ is. Yes, the power of God in us, is to help us to be patient and longsuffering, with thankfulness and joyfulness!

Yes. And so, the power of God comes into your life to give you that enabling, to live the life of Jesus in you. The life of patience, and longsuffering, and joy, and thankfulness, and victory, and rest. Amen?

Have you got it? Well, if you haven't, go back and listen to it again. Let the truth of God's Word fill your life. Amen?

All right . . .

Number Nine

SEEK TO KNOW GOD AND HIS WAYS

We're still in our Hebrews chapter. I'll have to find it again myself. Hebrews 3:9, 10: Yes, “When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years.” For forty years they saw the miracles of God. Yes, they were going through the wilderness, but in the wilderness, they saw such mighty miracles.

“Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in in their heart; and they have not known My ways.” Yes, verses 11- 13, we'll read those too: ”So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

Here we see another one of those Scriptures, those “one anothers.” Remember I talked to you for four sessions about TOGETHERNESS? And how that God has given us all these “one anothers.” Here's another one.

But some translations say: “encourage one another.” The King James says: “But exhort one another.” Some say: “Warn one another.” The actual Greek word is, let’s see, what is it? I've got it written down here . . . yes! Parakaleo. Now kaleo means “by the side.” So this word means, “to call to one's side.”

Do you remember, if you listened to those podcasts, how that we found that our faith is a mutual faith? It's FACE TO FACE, and SIDE BY SIDE. Oh, I love those phrases, “face to face,” “side by side.” And here it comes again.  This word is literally, “to come alongside.”

We are meant to come alongside one another, to encourage one another, to build one another up, to warn one another, to keep one another in the faith. And so this is quite a strong verse. “Take heed, brethren, and exhort and warn one another daily”! Not once a week, but every day, “while it is called TODAY.”

So we're coming alongside. It's not enough to stay in our home and just listen to some Zoom meeting, which is great! But we have got to get tangible, and real, and get alongside one another.

This whole social distancing thing, I don't believe is from God. OK, I will acknowledge, of course, people who are sick and vulnerable. They don't go out and mix amongst others. They protect themselves. They can even wear masks if they have to go out.

But those who are well and healthy, I don't believe that we have to be hidden away, or social distancing from one another. From the very beginning of the first acknowledgment of this COVID-19, we have never social distanced, never worn masks, and never stopped meeting together.

And I still don't know anyone in my community, my state, in this nation. I did have a friend in England who did get the virus, but apart from that dear friend in England, I still don't know anybody in America. And I know loads and loads and loads of people. Of course, we know that many people have got it, but I still don't know any personally. You'd think if it truly was this incredible pandemic, that I'd know somebody! But here, this whole thing has stopped God's people from getting together, and side by side to really encourage one another. . (I’ve since heard of two or three, but they are all fine and well).

Anyway, we're talking here about knowing the ways of God. They saw the miracles, but they didn't know His ways. There's another Scripture, in Psalm 103:7 where it talks about how God shows His acts and His miracles to the children of Israel, but Moses knew His way.

Dear ladies, let's be those who not only just see or hear about God doing great things, but let's be those who know His ways. We seek Him, we seek His Word. We're not just listening to everything all around about. We go to the Word. We're Word-wise. We're Word-mothers. And I believe we have to be that. I believe, as mothers in the home, we have to be Word-mothers.

In fact, if there are young people listening to me today, and I hope there are, you don't start to be a Word-person when you become a mother. You become a Word-person when you are young, because that is your preparation for motherhood. You go into motherhood with the Word in your heart! So you know how to live as a mother. You know how to overcome as a mother, because you know the principles of the Word of God. And you also have that Word in your mouth, not just in your heart, and not just in the Bible, on the bookshelf.

But it's in your MOUTH, ready to impart to the children that God gives you. What does it say in Isaiah 59:21? “As for Me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My Spirit which I have given unto to you, My Words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth . . . ” Notice it says, “mouth,” every time. “Nor out of the mouth of your children, nor out of the mouth of your children's children, and henceforth and forever, saith the Lord.”

And so we become Word-people when we're young. And we go into motherhood as Word-people. But then again, if you haven't had that growing up, and here you are, you're mothering. Perhaps you didn't have the blessing of the Word as you were growing up. But seek to get it now.

I know, young mothers, you don't have much time to get away in the Word of God. But put the Word of God up on your windowsill, in the Psalms, where you can look up, and get a little sustenance. Put it in the toilet where you have to go.

Have another Bible where you sit to nurse your baby. Have Bibles around the place, open. Open. Not to Ecclesiastes, but no, open it to Psalms or Proverbs, where it's easy to get a little Word.

When you wake in the morning, try to grab a little Word. Just get little bits if you don't have time for big lots. You can get little bits to sustain you. But let's be those who know God, know His ways. Because when we know Him, lovely ladies, you know what? We can trust Him. We can trust Him. We know that He is faithful.

As you get to know Him, you know that you can trust Him. This brings rest into your soul. Yes, you're not fretting, you're not worrying, you're not in a state of panic, because we only get into those states when we don't realize God is in control.

But when we know who He is, we can say, “Oh God, I don't know how to get through this, but I thank You, You are with me. I thank You, that You are bigger than this, this thing I'm facing, this mountain. You are bigger and I trust You, and I thank You, and I give it over to You.” And as you do this, rest comes into your soul. Because you know Him, and you know you can trust Him.

Number Ten

KEEP A HOME OF ORDER AND CLEANLINESS

OK. I've got to finish. I want to finish this session, so let's do our last point, number ten. And this is practical. Seek to keep your home a home of order and cleanliness and discipline, because you can't have rest without these things. When you live in chaos, you can't have rest. It's impossible. And of course, let's just start with a little bit of discipline.

Something has happened in our society today. You see, what is happening in society filters through into the Christian world as well. It seems that so many people today don't believe in discipline. And now, even many Christian parents don't believe in disciplining their children. The children run the home.

I have been amazed to watch children really order their parents around. They're the ones who are in control. This is not right! Parents are in control. Parents have the authority. Children are to obey and submit to their parents. That's what the Word of God says. Children are to honor their parents. They are to obey their parents. The Word of God even says they are to fear their parents. “Fear thou thy mother and thy father” (Leviticus 19:3).

And this is meant to be the attitude of children. I love the Scripture, I wrote it down . . . Let me see, I'll go to it in the Word. Proverbs 29:17. Let me get my glasses on here: “Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest.” Oh, this is one of my favorite Scriptures. Well, I have so many favorites.

But oh, this is so true, Ladies, hear it again. “Correct thy son, and HE SHALL GIVE THEE REST; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.” Now every mother loves her children. But many mothers are just haggard and overwhelmed, because their children are out of control. Their children rule them. They go to town, and they're whining and complaining, and they want this, and they want that.

“Can I have this?” and “Can I have that?” And if they don't get it, they keep whining. So the mother buys it for them, just to keep the peace. Now that is not true peace! That's giving in to your child, and training them to have an entitlement mentality, and that anything they want, they can get it, anytime.

That is not training your child! Sometimes you've got to sit down with your children before you go to the shop. You say, “OK children, we're going out to the shops. We're going to have a lovely time together, but we're just buying the groceries. That's all we can afford. We're not buying everything we see. OK, if you see something, just because you see it, doesn't mean to say you're going to get it. So today, when we go out, we're not getting anything extra. If you ask for something that you know we're not planning to get . . . we’re just getting the groceries, OK, well, we're going to have deal with that.”

Maybe you'll say, “OK, we'll just go straight home” even if you have to forget your groceries. You keep your word. You're going to train your children. So that they know. Look, we've got to train them. Yes, we correct them, we discipline them. We also have to train them. Because how we train them, that's how they're going to grow up.

Children whine. Do you really allow your children to whine? I've never allowed our children to whine. Nor has my husband. Our children were never allowed to whine. We soon put a stop to that. They weren't allowed to get in moods. We broke those habits from little children. They have grown up, and not one of them has a whining spirit.

Never in my life do I ever hear them complaining about anything. Not one of them ever has a mood. In fact, they hardly know how to really get into being down about things.

I remember one time, Evangeline was, oh, she got, I don't know what was wrong with her. She was terribly ill. She came upstairs to our place, and she could hardly walk. She was bent right over, and oh, I said, “Vange, what's wrong? How are you?” And she said, “I'm incredible!' She didn't even know how to say, “I'm lousy!”

Because they have, well, maybe that's a bit over the top, but that's really how they are. And yet, if we allow whining and all these things, that's how they're going to grow up, and that's what they're going to be taking into their marriage. That will even spoil a marriage.

So we discipline our children for disobedience, and for those things that are totally wrong. We keep them in check. We train them! We correct them, we chasten them, we train them. We train them into the right habits instead of these selfish and negative habits.

And what happens? We get rest. Oh, do you know that raising children can be such a beautiful thing of rest? If we train our children in obedience? And they are not ruling the house instead of the parents? So this is an important thing, too.

Make sure that you know who you are, and who God's created you to be. You are the mother. Your husband is the father. And your children are to obey you, and to honor you, and to fear you. That is biblical. OK?

And you will also seek to live your lives so that you keep your home in order. Now that doesn't mean to say, well, you've got little ones, and oh, you know, things can get messy, and everything can get everywhere.

But at least before your husband comes home . . . I used to have a one-two-three. OK, and toys can be strewn all over the floor, and everything's around and I would say to the children, “OK, let's have a one-two-three! Daddy's coming home soon. Let's go for it!” And so we'd go one-two-three, and we'd go! And everyone would run to put everything away.

Now of course, everything should have a place where it belongs and goes to. Sometimes you don't even have time for that, because Daddy's coming home soon, and the little ones have just made a big mess. At least you can have one cupboard where you throw it all in, and it's out of the way. And Daddy walks in, and he doesn't even trip over. He can walk in the door. Isn't that wonderful?

Oh, but time has gone, lovely ladies. We could talk so much more. Let me pray for you.

“We thank You, Father, again, for Your wonderful goodness, how You love us, and how You just want to draw us into Your way. We ask that You will teach us Your way. I pray for these darling ladies who are listening today, that You will teach them Your ways, and lead them more and more into Your truth. I ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris.

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 112: MAKING A HOME OF REST— PART 3

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies, it is always great to be with you again.

I started off a couple of sessions ago, talking about all the beautiful “ness” words that belong to marriage and family.

We are actually talking about one of them at the moment, which is restfulness.

Let me give you just a few others: Peacefulness, pleasantness, positiveness, prayerfulness, pureness, respectfulness, restfulness (which we’re going to talk more about today), righteousness, sacredness, selflessness, sensibleness, sereneness, steadfastness, softness, soberness, songfulness, submissiveness, sweetness, teachableness, tenderness, tenderheartedness, thankfulness, thoughtfulness, togetherness, trustworthiness, truthfulness and I will leave some more for next time.

All these beautiful words relate to us in the home and in the family. I hope to talk to you about some of them. We have too many to talk about each one.

Currently we are on our third session of how to make a restful home, a home of rest for God because He wants to dwell in our homes, and He wants a place of rest where He can dwell.

David had a vision to make a home of rest for God.

We are up to point number five.

Number Five

ERADICATE ALL TENSION

Of course you know you’re not going to have any rest in your home while you’ve got turmoil in your home.

Last session we talked about how sometimes we have to have a battle before we can have rest because we can’t have rest until we conquer the enemy and also, until we’ve eradicated all tension, strife, turmoil, and all moods, too.

Moods are a terrible thing. They don’t bring rest into the home. They bring such a horrid atmosphere. Many times children grow up being allowed to have moods and then they take them into the marriage.

If perhaps that’s been in a habit in your life and maybe, though I hope not, if you’re doing that in your marriage that’s something you have to work on. Because if we get into a mood because our husband has said something we don’t like and we feel hurt and get into this silent treatment and give him the cold shoulder that’s not what we’re meant to do.

That doesn’t bring restoration. That doesn’t bring rest. We have got to sit down and gently talk about it. We have to seek to eradicate these things that upset the atmosphere of our home.

Number six

WALK IN FAITH NOT UNBELIEF

We go over to Hebrews. Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 talk about rest; they are all on the subject of rest.

We will start reading at verse 12 of chapter 3: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”

Wow, they are pretty strong words, aren’t they? It says an EVIL heart of unbelief. Sometimes we are so used to being unbelieving that we don’t think there is anything really wrong with it.

We think, “Oh well, I don’t have much faith.” But the Bible calls it an evil heart of unbelief.

When we don’t believe the words that God has written that He has given to us, His eternal words that can never lie, if we don’t believe them, God says we have an evil heart of unbelief.

We go down to verse 18 and it says: “And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in [enter in the rest] because of unbelief.”

Unbelief stops us living in rest. This is something we often have to work on, too.

Let’s have a look at some more Scriptures in Hebrews chapter 4. Both these chapters are all about rest.

Verse 2: “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”

In other words, when we read the Word of God but if we don’t believe it and don’t mix it with faith to act upon it and live those words, we might as well have not read it because it doesn’t do anything for us. We have to mix the Word of God with faith when we are reading it.

We go down to verse 3, the next verse: “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

Verse 6: “Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief.”

The Passion Translation of chapter 3:12-13 says: “So search your hearts every day, my brothers and sisters, and make sure that none of you has evil or unbelief hiding within you. For it will lead you astray, and make you unresponsive to the living God. This is the time to encourage each other to never be stubborn or hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”

And so let’s watch unbelief, dear ladies.

Sometimes I have mothers saying to me that they are so concerned about having another baby because they don’t know how they could provide for another child.

Often it seems to me that it is more husbands who are lacking in unbelief than wives regarding this subject. Often, they don’t want to have any more children because they don’t believe that they can provide for those children.

But when we don’t believe, what does the Bible say? We have an evil heart of unbelief because when we get to the bottom line, what are we really doing? We’re saying, “God, I don’t believe You. Goodness me, I don’t think I can provide and really I’m god in my home.” Because if we think we are the ones who provide, we’re making ourselves as God.

But when we trust God and His words, even when we cannot see it happening in the physical, when we trust Him, we will find that God is faithful to His Word.

In Psalm 78:19-22 it says: “Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? Can he provide flesh for his people? Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth [angry]: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel . . ..”

Why? “Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.”

We say, “Can God really do this? Can God really provide for another baby?”

Why do most Christians stop at two or three children? Maybe because they think they cannot provide for them. Maybe they think that when they get older, they wouldn’t be able to provide a college education for them.

Of course, sometimes we wonder if that would even be a good idea with the state of our colleges today. They have become breeding grounds for socialism. Unless we can send our children to a very conservative college they are going to be brainwashed in this socialism and Marxism.

We’re seeing the fruits of that happening in our nation right at this time.

Getting back to believing God: What does God say? Let’s go back, shall we, to Deuteronomy chapter 7. I love these verses.

Deuteronomy 7:12: “Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the  Lord  thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee . . ..”

Interesting, isn’t it? Here God is sharing His heart and how He feels for His people. He says, “I’ll show mercy to you.”

That is the Hebrew word racham, a beautiful word that is a word that is also used for the womb. It means compassion, and mercy, and pity.

“I’ll show mercy and compassion to you and I’ll love you and I’ll bless you.” God says.

How is He going to show us His love and His blessing? He says, “By multiplying you.”

“And I will multiply you and bless the fruit of your womb.” That is how God wants to bless us. Here is the Word of God and that is literally what it says. How does He want to bless? By blessing our womb.

Sometimes mothers may think, “Help, I don’t know if that’s a blessing. I don’t know how I will provide for this child that’s being formed in my womb.” But you haven’t read the end of the Scripture yet because God goes on. He starts off first blessing. Always the first blessing is the fruit of the womb.

He says I “ . . . will also bless the fruit of thy womb . . .” and listen to what He says next: “and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.”

Do you see the progression there? When God blesses with the fruit of the womb He doesn’t stop. He says, “And I’m going to bless your land and your sheep and your cattle and your fruit and everything.”

Why? To provide for the fruit of the womb. The whole reason for the blessings of wine and the fruit of the land and the cattle and the sheep to feed us is all to feed the fruit of the womb.

Let’s go over to Deuteronomy 28. This is the blessing chapter, which I like to read. It is also the cursing chapter, which I don’t like to read that quite so much. In fact, there are more verses about cursing if we are disobedient to God’s ways than there are blessings if we follow God’s ways.

Anyways, it starts with the blessings.

Let’s start at verse three: “Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.” I love that. God will bless you wherever you are placed.

Some people think, “Oh if only I could get out to the country. It would be so much easier to raise my family there. It would be so much easier to have children out there in the country. But I’m stuck in the city, right in the heart of the city. How do you expect me to do that here?”

Well, God says that He will bless you in the city and in the country. If God has placed you in the city because that’s where your husband’s work is, He will bless you there.

I know it is a blessing to raise children in the country. Currently many of our grandchildren live out here on the hilltop in the country. Not all of our grandchildren live in the country because some live in the city, too, but those who have lived out here in the country have had a beautiful blessed life.

But I didn’t raise my children in the country; we raised them in the city. In fact, when my children were teenagers living on the Gold Coast of Australia, right in Surfer’s Paradise, right in the heart of nightclubs (it was a holiday place where everyone came to party).

Our house was right underneath the big Jupiter’s casino. The church that we planted was opposite the casino. Our children lived looking out on a casino and the heart of sin city. How do you raise teenagers for God in that kind of place?

Well, God is true to His Word. You see if that is where God has you, He will bless you. He kept our children. He blessed them even in that environment.

Of course, my, I had to pray. Every day I walked the beach. We weren’t far from the beach. Every day I’d go down and walk the sand with the Pacific breakers rolling in and I would be crying out to God, crying out to Him to keep my children from the evil in that place. He was faithful to do that.

We’re talking about how God blesses not only the fruit of the womb, but He blesses everything else to provide for the fruit of the womb.

That’s right, I haven’t read you the rest yet, have I? Verse four: “Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body [here it is again but it carries on] and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.” That means all the provision that you need. You’ll be blessed with it.

“Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.” Now all these blessings come after the blessing of the fruit of the womb.

You may think, “Well I don’t know. The way we are living, I just don’t know how we could manage.”

Dear ladies, God doesn’t give you these blessings before the fruit of the womb. They come after the fruit of the womb. When God blesses you with conception, then He will provide for that precious child. God is faithful.

Let’s go over to Deuteronomy 30:9: “And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy womb . . ..” Notice how God always mentions the fruit of the womb first and now again, the third time we’re reading it.

“ . . . And in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good.”

And so you get the pattern. That’s what happens.

I could give you so many Scriptures. In fact, you may like to go to my webpage aboverubies.org and go to articles and stories and go to “Can God Provide?” There is an article there called “Is God able to Provide for Another Baby?” It gives you so many Scriptures. If you are feeling full of doubt and unbelief go to that article and print it off.

Read the Scriptures because it is the Word that will encourage you. As the Word gets into your heart it will give you faith. You see ,faith doesn’t come out thin air. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

As the Word of God fills our souls it generates faith to walk in that Word. You can’t do it if you don’t have the Word in you. So I would encourage you to go and read those wonderful Scriptures. Let me just give you one or two more in the meantime.

Deuteronomy 2:7: “For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.”

Nehemiah 9:20-21 says: “Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.”

They lacked nothing and yet, ladies, the children of Israel going through that howling wilderness didn’t live in homes like we do today. They just lived in temporary tents. They didn’t have all the mod cons that we have. They lived in the heat of the desert.

They didn’t have refrigerators. They didn’t have freezers. They didn’t have washing machines or dishwashers or vacuum cleaners. They didn’t have the nearest shop they could run to if they ran out of milk or bread. They just had to trust God each day.

They had the same diet of manna every day for forty years and yet God said they lacked nothing. We think that we have to have this and that and everything. We have such a high standard today.

But we don’t have to have everything to have what we need. In fact, we don’t even have to have a huge house. It’s amazing how even a big family can fit into a small home. Well, I do love big homes because my husband and I are lovers of hospitality. We love to have people.

God has been so good, and we sometimes have lived in little homes but often we have been able to live in large homes. But you don’t have to have a large home. You don’t have to have a bedroom for all your children.

People say, “How can we have more children, we haven’t even got enough bedrooms? “Well let me tell you: children don’t want to sleep alone. They hate it. They love to be together. They love to all sleep in the same room together.

You can have one bedroom for girls and one bedroom for boys. That’s all they need. They love to be together.

I remember when our children were growing, and we were moving into our first home we had built. We were so excited because had a few more bedrooms. Not that we all had a bedroom each ( the girls had one and the boys had one).

We’d put the children to bed and then we’d go back later as my husband and I were going off to bed and goodness me! What’s happened to the bedrooms? There are all these empty beds!

We found they were all in the one bedroom together. They had made a bed way up in a cupboard or something or the boys had gone outside to sleep out in some tent shack they had made. That was far more exciting! Children are quite happy to sleep together.

In fact, the Johnson children, some of my grandchildren, as they grew up, those boys, I don’t think they’ve hardly slept on a bed in their whole lives. They just slept on the floor in their sleeping bags.

Sometimes we think we  have to provide so much to have everything perfect when really all our children want is togetherness, unity, and love.

I love Psalm 37:25: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

Amen! Are you saying, “Amen,” with me? Yes. There are so many Scriptures in the Word of God about how He will provide for us. Look up that article and read them over.

Let’s be those who walk in faith and mix faith when we’re reading the Word of God.

Number seven

DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEART TO GOD OR YOUR HUSBAND

This is one of the things that come up when we are reading about rest in Hebrews chapter three and four.

We’ll read Hebrews 3:7-15: “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, TO DAY if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation . . ..” That just means in the times of rebellion when the children of Israel rebelled against the Lord.

When the spies went into the Promised Land to check it out, they came back with amazing reports of how incredible this land was. They brought back bunches of grapes that took two men to carry.

But ten of the spies brought back an evil report, the Bible says. It was a report of doubt. It was beautiful but, oh, there were giants there! They didn’t think that they could go in.

“We’re too little,” they said, “We’re just like grasshoppers and they’re giants!” They put fear into the people and so they were afraid to go in.

It’s a bit like what we’re facing now. Not quite the same, but we are in a time of so many people facing fear in our nation, fear of this COVID-19.

I’m truly amazed at how so many believers are filled with fear. Many of them are still too fearful to go back to their churches and yet we are not seeing thousands of people dying from this. It has flattened out.

Even though now there are many people testing positive but they’re not dying unless they’re a person who maybe has other underlying medical problems and it makes it worse for them. But if that is not the case, they’re not having anything much more than the flu. Why are believers filled with fear?

Oh yes, it was true; there were giants in the land. They weren’t telling lies. It was true. There were giants and when they went into the Promised Land, they had to face those giants and they conquered those giants.

It doesn’t mean to say that facts are not true but why are we filled with fear? We as the people of God are not meant to be filled with fear. We trust in our God. Therefore we’re not victims of fear and becoming filled with unbelief.

Here we are, they were filled with unbelief. This Scripture goes on to say: “When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)”

That generation did not enter into the rest and into the Promised Land that God had promised them. They all died of unbelief and hardness of heart.

We’ll go down to verse 15: “While it is said, TO DAY if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”

 Then we go to Hebrews 4:7: “To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

Three times God repeats those words.

TODAY. That happened way back, back there. We read about that way back in Exodus but now it’s TODAY. You see every word of God applies to us today, right now. Today.

If there is any hardness in our hearts, any stubbornness, any unbelief, we better repent of it now, today, because God says: “TODAY if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart.”

We mustn’t harden our hearts to what God says in His Word. We have to be open to it, responsive to it, and obedient to it.

When we keep a soft heart to God, we keep a soft heart to our husband. The Bible tells us that the reason for divorce is hardness of heart.

We go to Matthew 19:8. The Pharisees had come to Jesus and they had asked Him if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife.

Jesus said in verse 4: “ . . . Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” or let not man separate.

Then He goes on to say in verse 8: “Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.”

And so it happens through hardness of heart. Of course it is true that when we’re married it is God’s intention for us to be one. One together, one flesh, one soul, one spirit, one in unity; but we’re not perfect and life’s not perfect and that doesn’t always happen. Strife comes into marriage and sometimes things are said that hurt and then bitterness comes in.

Oh precious wives, don’t allow bitterness to ever get hold of your heart because it destroys you and it destroys your marriage and ultimately it destroys your children because they are affected, too.

Bitterness and hurt, oh, they are such destroying attitudes and that is why God says: “TODAY if you hear His voice DON’T HARDEN YOUR HEART.”

You’ve got to get down on your knees and let the Holy Spirit work in your heart. Our hearts are flesh and sometimes they just don’t want to do it. I’ve found that I’ve sometimes had to get down on my knees and say, “Holy Spirit, come, come into my life. Come and work in my heart. Work Your Spirit in my spirit that I would have a spirit of submissiveness, gentleness, softness toward You and toward my husband.”

So we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts. We don’t let them get hardened. We don’t carry on holding this in our hearts.

What does it say in Ephesians 4:26: “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” You might get angry but let not the sun go down upon your wrath. You do not go to sleep tonight until you’ve got things right.

That’s the Bible way. That’s the way that works. That’s what keeps our hearts right.

If we want to have rest in our homes, “TODAY if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart.” There will always be things that happen in life and when they happen, on the day they happen, we allow God to work in our lives.

We let Him move in our hearts so we can get our hearts right with God, with our husband, say sorry, seek restoration AND THEN REST COMES! Praise the Lord!

That’s what this is all talking about: Rest. Do we want rest, or do we want strife? Are we going to continue to live in strife or are we going to do it God’s way so we can live in rest? Amen?

Well, I love The Passion Translation that says: “ . . . ‘They will never enter into the calming rest of My Spirit!’” That’s because of unbelief and hardness of heart. But if we yield those to God, we can live in the calming rest of God’s Holy Spirit.

In fact, this morning at our family devotions we sang the beautiful old hymn that says: “I am resting, resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art.”

I wish I could remember the rest of the words but anyway, let’s pray, shall we?

“Father, We thank You for Your precious Word. What would we do without Your Word, Lord God? It keeps us in line and shows us the way You want us to live. I pray that You will continue to work in our hearts. Expose any hardness of heart, any unbelief, bitterness, and hurt.

“Oh God help us to keep our spirits pure before You because we want to live in rest. We want to enjoy the rest that You provide for us. We want to make our homes a place of rest for You where You delight to rest. We ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Morgan Roth.

Words of the hymn:

1 Jesus, I am resting, resting
in the joy of what thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
of thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon thee,
as thy beauty fills my soul,
For by thy transforming power,
thou hast made me whole.

Refrain:
Jesus, I am resting, resting,
in the joy of what thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
of thy loving heart.

2 O how great thy lovingkindness,
vaster, broader than the sea!
O how marvelous thy goodness
lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in thee, Beloved,
know what wealth of grace is thine,
Know thy certainty of promise
and have made it mine. [Refrain]

3 Simply trusting thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold thee as thou art,
And thy love, so pure, so changeless,
satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings,
meets, supplies its ev'ry need,
Compasseth me round with blessings:
thine is love indeed. [Refrain]

4 Ever lift thy face upon me
as I work and wait for thee;
Resting 'neath thy smile, Lord Jesus,
earth's dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father's glory,
sunshine of my Father's face,
Kep me ever trusting, resting,
fill me with thy grace. [Refrain]

Author: Jean Sophia Pigott (1876)

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 111: MAKING A HOME OF REST— PART 2

We must eradicate evil and conquer the enemy before we can experience rest. How we deal with these situations will impact the following generations. Will our children and grandchildren live in peace and prosperity, or turmoil?

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. We are currently talking about making our homes a place of rest. I was sharing with you how there's loads of “ness” words that are so applicable to us in our homes. We're talking about “restfulness” at the moment.

Here's a few more of these lovely words: generousness, gentleness, godliness, goodness, graciousness, gratefulness, greatheartedness, happiness, hardworkingness, heavenliness. healthfulness, holiness, homeness, hopefulness, humbleness, industriousness, joyfulness, kindness, loveliness, meekness, mercifulness, motherliness, nestingness, oneness, orderliness. That's enough for today. I'll give you some more next time.

Now, we're up to point number three, about filling our homes with worship and beautiful music. We were saying last time how that, if God loves to dwell in praises, shouldn't we love to dwell in an atmosphere of praise too? Therefore, let's make our homes “homes of praising.” Praising our husbands, praising our children.

Do you remember that experiment that was done by the Japanese doctor, Doctor . . . what was his name again? Doctor Imoto. He talked about having three jars of cooked rice. To one jar you were to speak angry, hurtful words. To the other jar, you would speak loving, encouraging words, full of love and kindness. And the other jar, well, it was just sort of left alone.

OK, so he did this experiment and said that the jar which you spoke the angry words to, it began to go moldy and black. The jar with the encouraging words, it stayed amazing!

So anyway, my friend Erin Harrison, who I have done TALK SHOWS with in the past (we're not doing them at the moment because we're both doing other things).

Anyway, Erin, she actually did this experiment. We talked about it on our TALK SHOW and showed the jars. It literally works.

Now I have gone onto the internet, and there are people who pooh-pooh this experiment, and say it doesn't work. Well, they must be very negative people, because this experiment worked in front of our eyes. Because this jar, and every week, I went, I mean, for a few weeks, there was this jar, this one where Erin would speak horrible, hateful, awful words to it. It just became so moldy and black.

And the jar that she spoke the loving ,beautiful words over it, it just stayed beautiful! It was amazing! It kept on for a few weeks like that. We could hardly believe it. So it actually does work.

It shows you how our words have power. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. We mold our children by our words that we speak to them. Dear precious ladies, seek to make your home a home where not only God dwells in praises, but where your husband and your children dwell in an atmosphere of praises. It will make such a difference to their lives, and to their health.

I believe that positive, encouraging, affirming words affect people's health. You see, conversely, children, and even poor husbands, who live in a home where they are nagged at, and grumbled at, and spat at, oh goodness me! Oooh! No wonder it's just so full of hate and tension.

No husband can live in that. And children, how do they grow up? I think they grow up sickly. And I think they grow up hurting and bitter. So our words are so powerful.

I even like to speak to my garden. I go out to my garden and I'll speak to my plants, to my vegetable garden. My vegetable garden this year is doing so wonderfully. It's just beautiful! It's growing before my eyes. All the plants are strong and healthy.

As I was planting them, I would say to them, “Take root downward, and bear fruit upward!” That's a Scripture, actually talking about Israel, but I use it for my plants. I would just tell them how wonderful they are, and that they're growing so well. They are growing so well!

Words have such power, ladies! I believe we fill our walls with our words. It begins to affect the atmosphere of our homes.

All right.

Number four.

ERADICATE EVIL

If we're going to build a home of rest, we must eradicate evil from our homes, and conquer the enemy!

Now back in Bible days, the children of Israel, they only had rest when they had conquered the enemy. When there were enemies roundabout, they had to fight. Now at the end of Joshua's life, he was the one who took the men to the Promised Land. They fought all these battles and conquered the enemy.

It says in Joshua 21:44-45, “And the Lord gave them rest round about . . . and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.”

It says they had rest all around them. But then time went on. And the Israelites, they began to forget God as a new generation came on. As they got involved with the evil things around them, God's anger was hot against Israel, the Bible says, and he sold them into the hand of the king of Mesopotamia.

So for eight years, they were in slavery and servitude to this king. Then they got sick of it, and they cried unto the Lord. God is so merciful. Oh what a great God He is! It says in verse nine, Judges 3:9: “And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer.” His name was Othniel.

So he defeated the enemy, and then the Bible says the land had rest for 40 years. For 40 years they lived in rest. No enemies, just in beautiful rest. Every man was beside his fig tree and his vineyard. Everything was lovely.

But after 40 years, oh, they got complacent, and they began to get involved in evil again. So when that happened, God allowed the king of Moab to subdue them. For 18 years they were in servitude to this king. Not an easy thing, to live when you are in servitude. But in Judges 3:15 it says: “But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer.”

This time it was Ehud. Now, this is quite a gruesome story here. Now mothers, if you have any boys and they like real gruesome stories, why not read them this story in Judges, chapter three, verses 12-30? Oh my, your boys will love it as you read to them of how Ehud killed the king of Moab, it's pretty gruesome.

After he killed the king, they went on to subdue the whole of the nation of Moab. In verses 29 and 30, it says: “And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valor; and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for 80 years.”

How wonderful! 80 years! Well, I'm going to be 80 next year. That's quite a few generations, because now I have our beautiful children, and then our grandchildren. And now we have great-grandchildren coming on. So a fourth generation is coming on.

Dear ladies, this makes me realize how powerful we are as mothers, and how what we do can impact the following generations in such a powerful way. The way we mother and nurture our children will affect them throughout their lives.

But it will also affect the next generation, and the next generation; who . Who we are as mothers, and how we stand up for righteousness, and how we keep evil out of our homes. We can have the power to bring rest to our families and to generations to come.

REST COMES AFTER SUBDUING THE ENEMY

You see, get it! Every time we read about this, they had rest after they subdued the enemy, after they got rid of evil, after they had repented, and cried out to the Lord.

So we have to watch, ladies, if there's any evil coming into our homes, just a little bit, “Oh, that's all right, you know, oh, just a tiny little bit.” No! You have to get rid of the even the little bit, because the little bit becomes bigger and bigger and bigger.

When the enemy gets in, and takes the little foothold, he'll soon take over the whole home. We must always get rid of evil! We must subdue the enemy! And that is one of our tasks as mothers, subduing the enemy!

Dear mothers, there is one part of motherhood that is so beautiful, and gentle, and nurturing, and loving. But there's another part of motherhood that is powerful, where we rise up to come against evil, to come against the enemy, to conquer the enemy, because we will not let our children be taken over by the enemy!

And so we must be women of God who stand up for righteousness. We love righteousness, and we abhor evil. We will not allow evil in our homes! We will cast it out!

We may have a war while we're doing it. Many times, some mothers are afraid to take authority over evil things that come into their homes. Or their teenagers begin to bring evil stuff in, or even stuff they may be watching on social media.

Maybe some mothers feel too timid. They don't want to make a scene. They just want their children to love them. No! There are times where we have to have a war if we want peace. Before they had rest on every hand, they had to conquer the enemy. They had to have war. They had to have a battle first.

Of course, we don't want battles. Who wants battles? Oh, help, no. But if there is evil, we've got to have a battle to eradicate it so that we bring peace. And we bring rest.

Now, after this battle with Ehud, they had rest for 80 years. At least four generations. Isn't that amazing? In fact, of course, if I think of my parents and my grandparents, who I knew, that 's six generations. So we're to mother generationally. We're not mothering only for today. We must always think of the future, and mother generationally.

That's why we have to think, dear precious mothers, of our children, as they're growing. They get to that age where it's usually the time to send them off to college. So many Christian parents just do that, because that's what you do.

But we are living in an hour where we'd better think carefully about doing that, because our colleges and our universities, at this present time, have become breeding grounds for socialism, which is now turning into anarchism. We are facing, at this time in our nation, a spirit of anarchy, as we have all these protesters, these people who are pulling down our statues, who are taking over cities, who are burning businesses, and wanting to just get rid of the police. This is anarchy.

This is coming from young people in our colleges. They have been brainwashed with socialism. Now dear precious parents, we have to think carefully. Are we going to send our children in to be brainwashed with socialism?

That is not going to bring peace and rest to this country. Already it's bringing terrible stress and anarchy. So we've got to think carefully of what we do, because we affect the future, and our children affect the future, and our nation will be what our children will be!

There are other ways of them being educated. They could do college class from home and still get a wonderful college education. There are some very good conservative colleges. But to just send our children to the normal rank and file public college today is scary, because in most cases, they are not only being brainwashed in socialism, but yes, even the Black Lives Matter.

Now of course, oh my, I'm getting onto a controversial subject, but of course we have to face it, because we're facing it right now with Antifa, and Black Lives Matter, who are rising up.

Of course, we love black people!  In fact, every person created by God is beautiful. They are God's creation. Every different race, and black lives, are beautiful! We stand with them.

But I have to confess, I don't stand with Black Lives Matter as an organization, because if you go to their website, you will read how that they stand with the queer, and they stand with homosexuals, and they stand with transgender. They stand with that which God says is an abomination. So therefore, I cannot stand and align myself with that organization. That doesn't mean to say I don't love black people!

On their website, it says, in very clear letters, that one of their agendas is to disrupt the nuclear family. They are not interested in the nuclear family at all. This is the very foundation of our nation, because it's biblical, it's God-ordained. God ordained the nuclear family of father, mother, and children, raised in a home. Of course, we then have the extended family. Then back in Israel they had the tribes, and then they had the nation. But the nucleus was the nuclear family.

Now Black Lives Matter does away with that. Because it is so sad that it's an organization which is being . . . Well, they also blatantly and openly confess that they are Marxist-trained. So we cannot stand with Marxism. We cannot stand with that which is against the nuclear family.

Therefore, dear mothers, we've got to watch. Our young people are being pulled into this. Young people in our colleges today are seeking to . . . they actually are brainwashed and made to feel guilty if they are white. People are having to confess that they have white privilege. No!

We should, of course, we should have no other privilege than any other race! Absolutely! Well, I shouted that, didn't I? I certainly believe that. But you see, this is where it is all getting out of hand. We are all the same before God. And yes, our precious black people in this nation have every privilege, every privilege of white people.

Now let's think about it. They can go to the very height of our nation. Our last President was a black President. You cannot get higher than being the President of the nation.

We have a black Supreme Court judge, Clarence Thomas, a beautiful, wonderful, conservative Supreme Court judge, a black man. That was . . . he was able to rise to that. That's one of the heights of our nation, to be a Supreme Court judge. And he is the second African-American to be a Supreme Court judge.

We have many politicians and senators and congressmen who are African-American. They can rise to whatever they want. Every one of us can rise to what we want. That is, it's the freedom of this nation. It is the land of the free.

But sadly, these organizations of Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and so on, they are bringing in a Marxist ideology, which brings in tyranny and servitude, where they want to take the money from the rich, where they want to take away private property, where it becomes mob rule, and no longer law and order, according to the Constitution.

So you see, we have to guard, dear mothers, how our young people are being brainwashed. We have to share with them what is truth, so that they grow up knowing truth; loving all nations, always being open to never ever taking on oppression in any way, but knowing that every man is free, and every man has privilege before God to be whatever they want to be.

But not according to Marxism and all these other things. Their organizations, they are not really, yes, they're people, but that's just a certain sector. There are  so many beautiful conservative black people who are crying out for their own race who are getting into this.

So, how did I get onto that? Yes, we're talking of the generations. You see, right now, how is our nation going to go? And why is it like this? How come? Because so many of our precious young people, even from Christian homes, have been brainwashed in our colleges.

So we are at a state in our nation. We have got to wake up and decide what we are going to do. How are our young people going to be educated? Because we want to have rest in our land!

At this particular situation, they had 80 years of rest. Oh, they can raise four generations in that time! I think now of my grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and future generations to come. My! If this country is taken over by Marxism, these tyrannical groups, what would be the life for our children to come?

So we must pray. We must cry out to God. Oh, we're crying out to God. Are you? I'm sure you are. Are you joining the thousands of godly people and righteous people across this nation who are crying out to God at this time? This is our only hope, to cry out to God! That He will bring down evil, and that righteousness will exalt a nation.

That is what the Word says: “Righteousness exalts a nation, and sin is the reproach to any people” (Proverbs 13:34).  But we've got to cry out to God. And when we do, He hears our cry, as we've been reading in these stories here.

Oh, yes, now let's read this Scripture. 1 Timothy 2.:1-4. And Paul says here, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers. intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

And how does this happen, ladies? It happens through prayer, by our coming together as families. And first of all, we cry out to God for those in authority. We pray for our President. We pray for those who are in authority.

Why? So that we can have a quiet and peaceable life. We haven't got it in our nation at the moment, ladies. So we better be crying out to God. As we do, we pray that God will hear us, and law and order will come, and righteousness will come, and revival of turning back to God will come. And that a revival of mothers and fathers turning back to their homes and to their families will come.

We pray for our precious black people, for there are so many single black mothers. Did you know that Planned Parenthood makes sure that they have Planned Parenthood places right near black communities? They target these precious people. We must pray against that. I mean, we don't even deserve God's mercy. And yet we cry out for mercy, even though we don't deserve it.

So after these 80 years, once again, in Judges, chapters four and five, we read how the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So this time God sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, and his captain Sisera, who had 900 chariots of iron.

The Bible says, they mightily oppressed the children of Israel for 20 years. That's a generation. Imagine your child being born, your little baby, and for 20 years, right up until the prime of life, that you're living as a slave. You're living in servitude. You're being mightily oppressed.

In fact, in those days, they were too scared to even travel on the highways. They had to find little back roads to go places because they were so scared of the enemy! They lived in fear. And they lived in oppression. In Judges 5:7, it says, “The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.”

Now the words “The inhabitants of” are not in the original at all. They're not even there. If you go to your King James Bible, you'll see they are in italics, and that means they're not in the Hebrew original. They put them there to try and make sense. So it really starts with the word “villages.”

Now, it's not even really “villages,” because when we go to the Hebrew, we see that the word is perazon, meaning “magistracy, leadership, chieftain, warriors.” They were the ones who guarded the villages and the towns and the cities.

But because they were living in such fear, and such oppression, even the leaders, even the warriors of the villages and the cities, they were living in fear. They were too scared to guard and rise up against the enemy! So they were all under oppression.

Now the word “ceased,” “the villagers ceased,” that word in the Hebrew is chadal, and it means “to be flabby, to cease, to leave off.” So, we're getting the picture. The chieftains and the leaders of these villages and cities, they ceased to take control. They ceased to protect their towns, because they were living in fear.

Now, the Message Bible, it explains it very clearly. It's very interesting, because sometimes people will say, “Oh, the Message Bible, it's just a paraphrase. You can't take it too literally.” And then I'm amazed sometimes when I will read it, and I'll go back to the Hebrew, I will find, wow, that is spot on!

And of all the translations, I've found that this time, the Message was exactly true to the Hebrew. Because it says here, “Public roads were abandoned. Travelers went by back roads. Warriors became fat and sloppy, no fight left in them.”

And that's exactly what the Hebrew says. It says: “They became flabby. They were soft and sloppy and wimpy. They gave into the enemy. They were too fearful to stand up.”

God is looking for warriors. Did you know that? God wants wimps . . .  I said that wrongly. God doesn't want wimps, He wants warriors! And that's what He looks for.

When he looked for someone to lead his people Israel, He was looking for a new king after Saul, because Saul had disappointed Him, and had not be obedient to the ways of God.

It says in Psalm 89:19-20: “I have energized a warrior. I have raised up a young man from the people. I have discovered David, My servant. With My holy oil have I anointed him as king.”

So when God looked for a king, someone to shepherd and lead His people Israel, He didn't look for a wimp. He looked for someone who was a warrior, who had no fear, who was ready to stand up against the enemy.

We remember how, when he was only 17 years of age, he may have been younger, David stood up against Goliath! He wasn't afraid because he trusted in his God. Oh mothers, let's raise sons and daughters who are not afraid of the enemy, who will stand against the enemy, who will be warriors for God!

So this time, God raised up a woman, as well as a man. He raised up Barack and Deborah. And you'll remember how Barack said, “I won't go into battle unless you come with me, Deborah.” And so they both went into battle. They won the victory. Praise the Lord!

Actually, the final victory was won by another woman. Do you remember that? Her name was Jael. Now ladies, here's another gruesome story you can read to your boys who love bloodthirsty stories.

Here at the end of the battle, Sisera, that was the captain who had 900 chariots of iron. Wow, he's no longer on his chariots of iron, because the children of Israel, with God's help, had raised up, had risen up, and they had conquered.

Now Sisera is running away, He's just on foot, running away. I don't know what's happened to all his chariots. I was reading, one time, a commentary and it was saying how they all got stuck in the mud. I think they couldn't even use them. So here he is, running away.

And he arrives at the home of Jael. She beckons him in. And she sees he's so tired and completely worn out, so she gives him milk to drink. She lies him down. She puts a covering over him. He goes to sleep.

While he's asleep, she gets a tent peg. And she gets a hammer, and she puts the tent peg right at his temple, and she hammers the nail through his temple, and he dies.

She was the one who actually won the victory, and where did she do it, ladies? She didn't do it out on the battlefront. She did it right in the heart of her home.

Oh, mother, you can be a warrior for God, right in the heart of your home! You're there with your children. You don't have the opportunity to go out into the battle, but you can be a prayer warrior in your home. You can take authority over the enemy that comes into your home. You can conquer him. You can subdue him in your home.

And God says in His Word, in Judges chapter 5, verse 24: “Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.” She was blessed above all the other women. Why? Because she took authority over the enemy. She subdued the enemy, right in the heart of her home.

Oh, that is so powerful. And then at the end of that chapter, verse 31, it says: “So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love Him be as the sun when He goeth forth in His might. And the land had rest 40 years.” So after that battle, and subduing the enemy, they had rest for another 40 years. Praise the Lord!

Well, I will just give you two more Scriptures on that point. There's many more, but I think I've got the message over. Then we come to King David, 1 Chronicles 22:18-19. This is after David, he was older now, and he's conquered the land.

Now it's time for Solomon to become king. He says to all the people: “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has not He given you rest on every side?” I love that phrase, ladies, “rest on every side.” Every side. Yes, not just rest here, but there's tension over here. No, rest on every side.

“For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hands, and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before His people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God.”

When they had rest, they were able to build this house of rest. And now Solomon speaks, and David is giving the vision to his son, Solomon. He says, in 1 Kings 5:4-5, “But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. .  . ” That same beautiful phrase again. “so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent, and behold, I purpose to build a house unto the Name of the Lord my God.”

He's got rid of the enemy. The enemy is subdued.  There's rest on every side. And now he can build this house of rest for God.

Shall we pray?

“Dear Father, we thank You for Your precious Word. Every story that is written is not just a story. It is written for our learning. We thank You that every word is a principle for us today. We thank You for showing us today, Lord, this incredible principle, that we must conquer the enemy, we must subdue the enemy, we must defeat the enemy, before we can have rest.

“So Father, I pray for every precious home that I'm speaking into. Lord, if there's tension, unrest, strife, battles going on, Lord, I pray that You will enable these precious mothers to rise up, Lord, with the authority of the Name of Jesus, and the precious Blood of Jesus, and take authority over the enemy, the authority over all evil, and to subdue the enemy in their homes.

“Thank You, Lord, that You have given us the power as mothers to subdue the enemy in our homes. We cannot do it in our own, but we thank You for the precious Name, the wonderful Name, the Name of Jesus. We lift up the Name of Jesus. We lift up the precious Blood of Jesus that has power today. Oh, we thank You, and we thank You that we can take authority over the enemy through the Name of Jesus and the power of the Blood. We thank You, Lord Jesus.

“I pray Lord, that victories will come to these homes, wonderful victories in the Name of Jesus, and that you will give them rest on every side, rest on every side. And their homes will be filled with rest.

“We pray, Lord, for our nation. We pray for God to come against the demonic spirits that are rising up, in people to bring this spirit of anarchy into our nation. We break the power of these demonic spirits in the Name of Jesus. We take authority over them, only because we lift up Jesus' Name.

“And we thank You, Lord, that You will bring us the victory, and Lord, that we will have rest in our nation, and for our children, and for our future generations. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris.

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 110: MAKING A HOME OF REST— PART 1

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. I hope you got to listen to the last four podcasts where I did a series on the subject of TOGETHERNESS.

It’s a beautiful word in the Scriptures. It’s something that is really God’s plan. When we incorporate all the Scriptures about togetherness it can bring such a blessing to our homes and to our church life.

Togetherness—it’s one of those “ness” words with N-E-S-S on the end.

I love words and I love “ness” words. When “ness” is added to a word it means: “The state or quality of that noun.” For example, “sweetness” is the quality of being sweet.

“In loveness” is the quality of state of being in love.

“Darlingness” is the state of being a darling.

There are loads of “ness” words in the world, but I have found 80 of all these beautiful “ness” words that actually apply to us as wives and mothers in our home. Of course there are many more, but these particularly relate to us.

Now with all of these words I am not going to be able to speak to you particularly on every one because there are so many.

Let me just read you a few of them today. I have A down to Z.

Let me just start with A:

Adorableness, amiableness, availableness, blessedness, braveness, brightness, calmness, chasteness, cheerfulness, cleanliness, courteousness, darlingness, devotedness, dutifulness, faithfulness, femaleness, forgiveness, friendliness, fruitfulness, and so they go on.

I’ll leave some more till next time but today I would like to talk to you about restfulness.

I was thinking about this because I was reading a Scripture of how David wanted to build a house of rest for God. I began to think about it and think how this should also be our vision. We should also want to build a house of rest for God.

Our God is a dwelling God. He loves to dwell.

Right back in the Old Testament we read of how He wanted to dwell with His people, even in the desert. He dwelt in a tabernacle. He went wherever the children of Israel went. In fact, He directed where they went but He went with them. He went before them.

When they stopped, He stayed in their midst, right in the very center of the camp to dwell with them.

He wants to dwell with us now. He wants to dwell in our hearts. He wants to be with us personally. And He wants to dwell in our homes.

God’s favorite place to dwell is in a place of rest. God loves to dwell, but God also loves rest.

He is a God of rest. He wants to bring rest to us when He comes into our hearts, but He also wants our homes to be a home of rest where He can enjoy dwelling.

Shall we look at some Scriptures? In 1 Chronicles 28:2, David is speaking and he’s sharing his vision.

He says: “ . . . As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building.”

David didn’t actually end up building this house. God said that his son would do it, but he got ready for it. You can read later in 1 Chronicles chapter 28 about all the materials that David got ready for the building of this house for God. Oh my, it is amazing how he gathered gold and silver. And everything that would be needed he gathered and had it ready.

There is another beautiful Scripture in this chapter, verse 11: “Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch . . . And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the Lord.”

And He goes on. All this had to be absolutely ordered and God gave it to David by the Spirit.

I love that. He didn’t just think it up by himself. The Holy Spirit showed him. I think there is a beautiful thought here because, ladies, every one of us are different. Every one of us is unique. Every one of us is going to build our homes differently because we are different, and God doesn’t cookie cutter. He makes each one of us so unique and so different.

That is why we have to seek the Lord like David did. He sought the Lord so God could show him how He wanted him to build this house for Him.

That’s a wonderful thing to do precious mothers. Get before the Lord and ask Him: “Lord, how do You want me to build this house for You? Please show me.”

God will show you and He will show you all the very practical things. All the things that He showed David were so practical. Every little measurement and how to do this and how to do that, it all was practical.

The running of your home is very practical. God will show you how to do the practical things and how to do them the best way for your household.

Sometimes you read books and you read the idea of this mother and it works so amazingly for her. Her house just runs smoothly, and everything works just great. She writes this book about it and you read it. You try to put it into operation and somehow it doesn’t quite work how it did for her.

That is because you are not her. God has made you differently and so you have got to seek the Lord personally to hear from the Holy Spirit how He wants you to run your home.

Isn’t that wonderful?

We go down to verse 19 and it says: “All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.”

Every detail of the pattern God gave him by the Spirit, and He will do that for you, too, dear mothers.

And so you’re going to be seeking to build this house of rest for God.

We go over to Psalm 132. David says here: “Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.”

The Passion Translation says: “ . . . I devote myself to finding a resting place for You! “What a beautiful vision to have: I devote myself to making my home a resting place for God.

My, that’s a big vision, isn’t it, dear ladies? ‘

We know that, just because what life is like, that our homes are not always this beautiful place of rest. Tension comes and things happen and oh my, it seems to be nothing like a place of rest!

That’s why we have to devote ourselves to make our home a place of rest. As we seek the Lord, He will show us by His Spirit.

I’ve written 10 points here. I don’t think I’m going to give them all to you. There will be more than 10. I know you will have lots of wonderful ideas also, but I will share these 10 points with you.

In fact, perhaps before I even get to sharing them, I should also share with you how God also sees our marriages as a place of rest. Did you know that?

Yes, in the Bible, marriage is aligned as a place of rest.

In the story of Ruth in Ruth 1:9, Naomi was leaving Moab because her husband had died, and her sons had died. She was in a state of depression, sadness, and self-pity. She was just going to go back to Judah.

She said to both of her daughters in law: “May the Lord enable each of you to find security in the home of a new husband.” The King James Bible says: “That you may find rest.”

That is the word: Rest.

The Hebrew for rest is menuwchah and it means: “repose, peaceful, consolation, abode; quiet, comfort, refreshment, a resting place; and specifically matrimony.”

In that Hebrew word menuwchah, which talks of rest, refreshment, quietness, and peace, it also means marriage and matrimony.

It’s the same word in Psalm 23:2 where our good Shepherd leads us beside “still waters.” That’s the same word. Our marriage is not meant to be turbulent waters.

Dear ladies, God means it to be still waters. That’s what He desires.

We continue with the story of Ruth and we know that Ruth would not leave her mother-in-law. She went back to Israel with her.

Naomi was very concerned about Ruth finding another husband. She needed to have someone who could provide for her and care for her.

In Ruth chapter 3:1 she says: “ . . . My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?”

The Good News Translation explains it a little more clearly: “ . . . I must find a husband for you so that you will have a home of your own.”

That’s what Naomi was talking about. Although she says, “I’m seeking rest for you Ruth so that it will be well with you and you will be looked after” she was concerned about finding a husband for her.

That word, this time, where the word rest was used, it is a similar word that was used, but not the same. It is the word manowach.

It has a very similar meaning. It means: “a settled spot, a home, a place of rest.”

Sometimes marriages are not always a place of rest, are they? But this is what God intends. God has a beautiful vision for marriage.

He wants our marriage to be a place of rest and a place where we find security, stability, and provision, and a resting place to fulfill our God given career of mothering and nurturing.

It’s very hard for single mums. Maybe some of you are listening today and you are trying to provide for your child or for your children. At the same time you are trying to nurture them and make a home for them. I know many single mums find themselves in this position through no fault of their own.

They need so much encouragement and help because it’s not something we were meant to do on our own. God intends there to be a husband and a wife in the home so that as children come along the wife can be secure.

When she has a husband who knows his mandate from God is to provide for his wife, and to protect his wife and children, then the wife can live in quietness and rest.

She can give herself to the work of managing her home and caring for her children because she doesn’t have to do her husband’s career. You see, God gives a career to the husband and a career to the wife. If we both have the same career, then we can’t really function properly because God has given to the husband that mantle to provide.

God says that if a man does not provide for his family, he is worse than an infidel (1 Timothy 5:8). That is his mandate from God: to provide well for his wife, for his family, so that she can be at rest to do her job, to manage the home, to bear children, and to train and nurture children.

That is a huge career and we cannot do it adequately when we’re trying to do a career out in the corporate world. It just is too difficult.

God has planned that marriage and the home become a place of rest when it is functioning correctly, and the husband is doing his mandate, and the wife is embracing her mandate from God.

THEN WE CAN LIVE IN REST!

It is so sad that there are husbands who want to get their wives out to work and help them earn more money for the family. What happens to the children?

I did mention that when we are living in the plan that God has, the wife and the mother has the opportunity to work in the home and give herself to this work of building her family and raising her family.

There we see two opposites: work and rest.

Did you know that they can actually go together? if we are living at rest, it doesn’t mean to say that we are sitting on the sofa looking at soap operas.

No, that is not the rest that we are talking about here. The rest we are talking about is a state of our soul where our soul is at rest. We can be busy. We can be working hard. We can have many projects that are going but we are in a place of rest.

We’re not doing them because we’re fretful about them. We’re doing them in rest. We can have rest in our soul so that we have this state of rest.

I love Matthew 11:28-30 where Jesus said: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest . . ..”

Jesus loves to give us rest. He is rest. When He comes into our lives, He brings rest because He lives in rest. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Nothing gets Him in a state of nervous tension or depression or overwhelmingness. No, everything is under His control. 

When we come to Christ and we receive the forgiveness of our sins, we have rest from sins forgiven. I believe that is the first rest we experience but then the Scripture goes on.

Jesus continues and says: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I love that phrase: “rest unto your souls.” I believe this is something even deeper than the rest of forgiveness of sins and the guilt of sin taken away.

Then Jesus says: “Come, come with Me. Come and sit at My feet. Come and learn of Me. Come and spend time in My Word. Learn of My ways and as you do, you’ll find more and more rest in the depths of your soul.”

This is what God wants to give us. He wants us to have rest as mothers in our souls and in our homes. It’s difficult to do this if we are trying to do careers at once. That’s why God calls marriage a rest.

Of course everything that God ordains Satan seeks to destroy everything. He seeks to destroy marriage. He seeks to destroy the plan for marriage and God’s beautiful plan of the career He has given to man to be that ultimate provider.

Of course wives in the home, many times with gifts they have, they are able to do things that can help generate some income into the home without leaving the home, things that they are able to do in the home.

That’s of course also in seasons. When we have little ones, we don’t always have time to do those things. God has ordained for the man to be that ultimate provider. We have to watch, dear ladies, that we don’t let Satan get his foothold into the home and woo us out of the home, getting involved in not maybe even a career but maybe other things.

There are so many things that we can get involved in outside of the home. Often many of them are very, very good but they’re not very good for you if they are hindering you in the home and taking you away from managing your home affectively and nurturing your children, which is your ultimate mandate from God.

We have to watch that. We dare not be like the woman in the Song of Solomon and she said, “They have made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept” (Song of Solomon 1:6).

We have to watch that. If we haven’t got time to keep own vineyard, well don’t let’s go and keep other people’s vineyards. And so we guard that.

We also have to guard other things. We have to guard tension coming into the home. If we notice tension, then we better do something about it. If we notice evil creeping into the home, we better make sure we cast it out.

We resist all rebellious and selfish attitudes and especially bitterness and hardness of heart. We have to watch those things and those attitudes.

Marriage is all to do with our attitude, isn’t it, ladies? We can choose which attitude we will take.

It’s easy to just go to the negative one. That’s easy. But it’s not so easy to take the godly attitude but that’s the one that brings blessing and God will enable us as we trust Him.

We see that God wants our marriage and our home to be a place of rest. He wants to come and dwell with us and enjoy that rest.

Let’s see some ways that we can do this.

Number one:

MAKE A TIME AND PLACE TO MEET WITH GOD EACH DAY

That’s in 2 Chronicles chapter two. I’ve talked about this before so I will briefly mention it.

This is where Solomon is now beginning to build the house. Remember, David had the vision and he passed it on to Solomon.

In chapter two of 2 Chronicles, verse four, Solomon says: “Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening . . .” and so on.

Now Solomon was making a house of rest for God, but it was also a place where he could come before God morning and evening and sacrifice to Him.

We see in verse 6 where Solomon says: “But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?”

Back in the tabernacle days there was the principle of the morning and evening sacrifice, the morning and evening lighting of the candles, the morning and evening attending to the fire upon the altar, and the morning and evening lighting of the incense, speaking of praise and worship.

These were places where they met with God. God wanted them to do it morning and evening.

It’s a principle we should continue. We no longer need to do sacrifices, lighting menorahs, and lighting incense, but we are just doing it because we want to meet with God.

We don’t have to do all these external things now but we need to find a time and a place each day where we gather our families and we come into the presence of God to meet with Him, to seek Him, to pray to Him, to worship Him, and to listen to His voice from His Word.

As we do this, we are building a house of rest for God. We’re building a place where He can literally come to us and speak to us. It is a place where we can literally make this time to worship Him and spend time in His presence each day.

I don’t mind sharing this with you again because I know that so many of you have it in your heart to do this, but doing it is another thing. But I have found that unless I make this happen in my home it doesn’t happen.

I have to make it happen. My whole day revolves around our morning time with God and our evening time with Him as a family.

I meet with Him personally, but these are our family times. This paves a way, it builds and prepares us as we make a house of rest, a place for our God to dwell.

If there is no meeting time, if there is no time in the day when we bring our families before the Lord, where is God in our homes? Do we make any time for Him?

You see, we have to make these times. We make these times around the mealtime, around breakfast time, and at the suppertime, the chief evening meal of the day.

We do it at the end of these meals. They become meeting places with God.

I encourage you to do this. This is such an important part of our making a home of rest.

Number two:

FILL YOUR HOME WITH GOD’S WORD

In the same passage in 2 Chronicles chapter two, verse four, it’s saying that Solomon wanted to make this house where he could burn sweet incense for the continual showbread.

The showbread was the twelve loaves of bread that were baked every week and put on the Table of Showbread in the Holy Place. They were always to be there, never, never off the table.

In fact, once a week the priests would eat the showbread and fellowship together before the Lord. But before they took those loaves off, they had to put the new loaves on.

How they did it was:  so many priests would come in and as they took the showbread and the other utensils off the table, then another set of priests would immediately put the new, fresh bread on the table so that there was never a second that the bread was not on the table.

It was called the CONTINUAL BREAD as it is here in 2 Chronicles 2:4: “The continual showbread.”

It speaks of Jesus Who was is the Bread. He is our sustenance. He is our Bread. He is our Life.

It speaks of feasting upon Jesus. It speaks of feasting upon the Word for He Himself is the Word.

It speaks of the written Word and Jesus Who is the Word. We’re to feast upon Him continually.

Of course you can’t just sit and read the Word all day long. But once again, I find it so important that we read the Word at these times, morning and evening, as that principle was established in the tabernacle. It was that morning and evening principle that we read in the Word of God.

You can also have the Word of God around your home. You can have one in the bathroom where you do have to go throughout the day. You can have it open at Psalms and maybe pick up a little Scripture there. You can have another Bible open on your windowsill where you are preparing your meals and doing the dishes.

I used to do that when I was a young mum. I always had a Bible on my windowsill. My windowsill, at the moment, won’t fit a Bible, which is very sad. I hope you have got one that does fit a Bible because it so great. You can look up and get a little bit of sustenance to encourage you throughout the day or whenever you’re at the kitchen sink. That’s a place where you need encouragement too!

And so we fill our home with God’s Word. Psalm 119:165 says: “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

Number three:

FILL YOUR HOME WITH WORSHIP AND BEAUTIFUL MUSIC

Psalm 22:3 says: “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”

Now our God, Who is a dwelling God, loves to dwell amongst praise and worship. Precious ladies, if you want God to live in your home and fill your home, fill your home with beautiful worship music.

God loves to inhabit praises.

I was thinking about this the other day. If God loves to live and dwell in praises, don’t you think that we who are His creation, would also want to live in an atmosphere of praises? I think so.

So as we seek to make our home a home of rest, let’s make our home a home of praises where we’re not only praising God, but we’re also praising each other.

We’re praising our husbands. Do you praise your husband? How many times a day do you praise him or speak loving things to him? Make your home a place of praises so they’re just coming out of your mouth. When you see your husband, you’re praising him.

Your children: you’re just praising them, encouraging them, affirming them, and uplifting them.

Just get into the habit. Make it a habit. Seek to think about it, to try and make this a habitual thing that comes out of your mouth, praises and encouragement, and these kinds of words are coming out of your mouth.

It is true how in Proverbs 12:25 it says: “ . . . a word of encouragement does wonders.”

It does miracles!

Ladies, is your home a little bit depressing at the moment? Maybe there is tension. Oh goodness me!

Hey, here’s the remedy: make it a home of praises. Praises to God, praises to your husband, praising your children, praising them all day long.

Oh my, you will be absolutely amazed! Yes, wonders will begin to happen. Miracles will begin to happen. Yes, do it! Okay?

I have something a bit more about this, but I have to wait till next week because time is up.

Let me pray.

“Father, I thank You for every precious wife and mother who is listening today. Father, I pray that You will come into their hearts in a wonderful way. I pray You will come into their homes.

“Lord, where there is tension, where there is strife, where there is bitterness, where there is hurt, oh God, I pray that You will help these dear wives and mothers to change the atmosphere by filling it with praises, with encouraging words, affirming words, praising words, uplifting words, positive words, exciting words.

“Oh God, I pray that You will touch their mouths and take them from the negative into the positive, that You will take them, Lord, from the despairing words and grumbling words into thankful words and praising words and encouraging words.

“Lord, You’ve told us that these kinds of words release wonders into our midst. I ask that You will do this in every home, Father, in the precious name of Jesus. Amen and amen.”

Transcribed by Morgan Roth.