PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 394: WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 3
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 394: WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 3
In everything in life, we begin small and continue to enlarge more and more. Even in nature, the bud comes first, then the blossom, and then the flower. We look at Ezekiel 47, where we get into the water to the ankles, then to the knees, then to the loins, and then waters to swim in. God has a deep river full of blessings for us if only we will plunge in.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to the Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies, a magazine bringing strength and encouragement to families across the world.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! I trust this New Year is going well for you. And today, we are here to continue our series of “Welcome to the Land of More and More.” This is the land that God has brought us into when we come into His kingdom. His kingdom is always an increasing kingdom. It’s a kingdom of more and more. We are discovering, in this series, all the Scriptures that talk about the things that are “more,” or “more than,” or “how much more.” There are so many of them in the Word of God.
But before we carry on with them today, I was thinking of this beautiful passage in Ezekiel 47. Let me read it to you, can I? Starting at verse 1, it says: “Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; (that was the sanctuary, the temple) and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house . . . and the man measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.”
Verse 4: “Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again, he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.”
Verse 5: “Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.”
I see that it’s such a beautiful picture of this land of MORE AND MORE. It starts off just with the water to the ankles. Actually, this passage of Scripture is literal. It is something that will yet happen. It has not happened yet.
But if we read further in Ezekiel 47 and we go down to verse 8, it says: “Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: (that is the Dead Sea) which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.”
I wonder if any of you have been to the Dead Sea in Israel? I have been there a number of times and enjoyed the fun of going out into the Dead Sea and floating. You don’t swim in the Dead Sea. You just float. And all that salt in the Dead Sea buoys you up. I have a picture taken many, many years ago of my floating, just lying back on the water, and reading my Bible. Can you imagine that? You can do that in the Dead Sea.
But there is going to come a time when this prophetic word will come to pass. It says that these waters that now are stagnant, they shall be healed: “And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish (there are no fish in the Dead Sea now but one day it will be teeming with fish)“because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.”
Some translations say: “Where the river flows, life abounds.”
The New English Translation says: “Everything will live where the river flows.”
So, that is yet to happen, but it is also an allegory. Everything in the Word of God, especially when we read the Old Testament . . . we read the Old Testament stories, and they are literal stories of things that happened to people.
And yet, they are also types. They are types and shadows and lessons for us to learn today. So many Scriptures, even though they are going to be a literal fulfillment, they are also spiritual allegories. This one here speaks of how the water begins at the ankles. Now, it doesn’t end there, but it starts there. That’s like everything with God. He starts it in a little way, even in creation.
You think of the corn growing. First the ear, then eventually comes the full corn. In springtime, we see the buds come out, then the blossoms, and then the fruit. With most things, it’s the little bud first. Then gradually the flower opens up. It doesn’t happen all at once. It’s little by little.
Oh, I must tell you about my orchid that I have flowering at the moment. Actually, my lovely granddaughter gave it to me last year. It bloomed and it was beautiful. But then, it eventually died. I put it aside, and thought, “Oh well, that’s the end of that!” But I didn’t throw it away.
And, just a few weeks ago, I couldn’t believe it! This orchid that I had put aside hadn’t watered it, hadn’t done anything to it . . . I couldn’t believe it! Suddenly, there was a flower. And then I looked closer, and there were two more buds. So, the second bud has now come out. Now the third one is just about to come out into a beautiful orchid flower. This is the first time that I’ve had an orchid come back to flower, so I was so excited.
But this is how we see how God has created things. First the bud, and then the flower begins to open up. It’s like everything we learn too. Isaiah 28:12 talks about how we learn: “little by little, precept upon precept, line upon line.” This is how it is. We don’t learn everything at once. We learn little by little. And everything that we come into, even in our motherhood.
Today I am speaking, I guess, to so many mothers. Here you are, in the throes of motherhood, some maybe just starting in motherhood. Some of you are old-time mothers. But when we start, we hardly know what we’re doing. I can remember. I really didn’t know what I was doing! And you’re just figuring it out. You’re learning little by little.
But we don’t stay there, do we? We keep growing. We keep learning. For the first-time mothers, young mothers, I encourage you today, dear mothers. Learn all you can about motherhood. Don’t stay in the shallows of motherhood. Here we have the picture of going into the water. We’re just in at our ankles.
That’s like it is when you go into the water. First of all, you go in, and you stand in the water.
If I go down to the Gulf and swim in the Gulf down there, the water’s usually very warm. Except in winter, it can get cold. But beautiful spring, summer, you can just run into the water and splash in it. It’s so easy to run into.
But that’s not like what it is in New Zealand where I come from. Even in the summertime, when it’s time to go to the beach and time to go swimming. We lived very near the beautiful ocean breakers and loved to go swimming. But every time we did, we had to brace ourselves.
So, you would just go in ankle-deep, and whoooooo, you’d start to shiver! Even in summertime. You’re just there, and you kind of have to gradually take it. Just get up to your knees, and then maybe to your thighs. And then, you’ll take a great big breath, and you’re going to plunge under! That’s what it’s like.
Although I do remember going into the water in the Gulf when it was very cold. It was wintertime and a cold spell. The water was freezing. Friends said, “Oh, are you going to go in?” I said, “OK, I’m going to take the challenge!” It was quite a big thing to go in and get under. It’s amazing though. When you get under, even in cold, cold water, you find you can get used to it. Many of our grandsons here on the Hilltop do cold plunges every day, or at least three times a week. They all go and plunge into the freezing cold river.
UP TO THE ANKLES
But OK, we are talking about the ankles. We have just got to the ankles. Maybe some of you mothers are just at the ankles in motherhood, although you may think that you're over your head. But really, you're just at your ankles and there’s so much to learn.
As I said before, seek to learn all you can about what God says about motherhood, not what the world says. You’ve got what society and what the world is saying. It’s bringing down motherhood. It’s making motherhood insignificant, whereas God talks about motherhood as an exalted career. We read this is in an allegory in Ezekiel 19. God calls it exalted, higher than every other career.
I encourage you, if you haven’t yet got my book, The Power of Motherhood, do get it. You can go onto the webpage, aboverubies.org, and order it. Because this book goes into the Word of God to tell you what God says about you as a mother. Therefore, it will encourage you so much. You will learn from the Scriptures. It’s amazing. God has so much in His Word, even about motherhood, more than you can ever dream.
Actually, some time back, I did, can you believe it? I did 27 podcasts describing “The Land of Motherhood” that God talks about in His Word. And then I did 15 podcasts of what we do in this land of motherhood, 42 altogether. So, you can go back. You can listen to those. There is just so much.
But we’re just at the ankles at the moment. And I believe that speaks of our walking with the Lord. When we are born again and we come into His kingdom, we’re not meant to stay stagnant. We are meant to start walking, obeying, following the ways of the Lord. Following Jesus. Obeying His commands. Walking in His ways. Learning of Him so we can walk in His ways. It’s difficult to walk in His ways if we don’t know His ways. So, we have to learn of them. I’ve just completed a podcast series called “FOLLOWING JESUS.” I speak a lot about learning how to follow His ways in those podcasts.
Here are a few Scriptures about walking. There are so many. I’m just giving you only a few, dear ladies. But if some of you are Bereans who really love to study the Word of God, that’s a good study. Go into your concordance and look up every Scripture where it says “walk.” Check out each Scripture and find out what God says about it. Write it down and then write out what God is saying to you about it. Really get it into your being.
Here are just a few. Genesis 17:1: God is speaking to Abraham: “I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect.” Some translations say: “Live in My Presence,” because when it says: “walk before Me,” whenever you read those words “before the Lord,” or “before Me,” it’s actually meaning “in God’s Presence.” So, He wants us to walk in His Presence. Another translation says: “Walk in His sight.” You’re walking in the sight of the Lord. That’s in His ways and He’s watching over you as He teaches you.
Genesis 24:40. Abraham told his servant to go and find a bride for Isaac. He says: “The Lord, before whom I walk” will lead you and show you. That was a testimony of Abraham. He walked with the Lord and in the presence of the Lord.
In Genesis 48:15, this is Jacob speaking now. It says: “And he blessed Joseph and said, ‘God, before whom my father Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which led me all my lifelong until this day.’” Not only was Jacob walking with the Lord, but he had the testimony of his father, Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham who walked with the Lord. Wouldn’t it be great if our children could also have that testimony about us? “Yes, my mother, my grandmother walked with the Lord.”
Exodus 16:4. God says: “That I may prove whether they will walk in my law or not.” When we are walking, it’s walking in God’s commandments, walking in His ways. We have to keep checking up on ourselves. Are we walking in His way? And His commandments?
Because a few podcasts ago, I was telling you how it’s not only God who has commandments and statutes, but the devil has them too! Oh, yes, the devil’s kingdom has statutes, and customs, and ordinances. It talks about that in the Bible. God says: “Do not go after the ordinances of the heathen.” No, follow after My ordinances.
So, we have to choose. Which ones are we following? Are we truly walking, yes, walking in the ways of God’s ordinances or have we succumbed to walking in the ways and the ordinances of the heathen which are all around us in society? It’s so easy to start walking in them because that’s what we’re seeing, and that’s what’s happening all around us.
We actually have to walk a different step when we walk in God’s ordinances. We walk a different step, just as Caleb did. Caleb walked a different step from everyone else. It was only he and Joshua who got into the Promised Land.
Deuteronomy 10:12: “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to walk in All His ways?” Not just some of them, but all His ways.
Deuteronomy 13:4: “You shall walk after the Lord your God.” So, you're following after Him with your feet. Yes, it’s not just in your mind. It’s with our feet. We follow the Lord and walk after Him. Many Scriptures say: “Walk in all His ways.”
1 Kings 8:61: “Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes, and to keep His commandments.”
David said in Psalm 101:2: “I will behave myself wisely, in a perfect way. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.”
Even in our homes, lovely ladies, we’re walking from this room to that room. We’re walking everywhere in our homes all day long. How are we walking? Are we walking with a downcast face, and a frown on our face, and grumbling and groaning? Or are we walking with joy, and with a good attitude before the Lord? And also showing our children.
What about some New Testament Scriptures? Romans 8:4: “Walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Ephesians 4:1: “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”
Colossians 1:10: “Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
1 John 2:6: “He that abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as Jesus walked.”
So, lovely ladies, we’re coming to the waters, the waters of God’s wonderful land, the waters of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the waters where God’s anointing and healing and blessing flow. We’re at the ankles. We’re beginning to walk. We’re learning the ways of God, and we are obeying them, and walking in them.
UP TO THE KNEES
But the waters don’t stay at the ankles. Remember? They got up to their knees. Now the water is at the knees. Are you in it up to the knees yet, precious moms? Oh yes, I often like to think that this speaks of prayer, which of course, we get on our knees to pray.
We don’t always get on our knees to pray, and we can pray standing up. We can pray lying in our beds. We can pray sitting. We can pray in any posture at all, but getting on our knees before the Lord is a very powerful thing. That always speaks of prayer.
I don’t think I get on my knees enough. Yes, I think I’m challenged about that, to get on my knees more when I am praying. But if we’re walking in this water of the Holy Spirit, and we’re reaching out (remember we’re talking about MORE AND MORE) we’re not going to stay at the ankles. Oh goodness me, you can’t stay there. You’ve got to get going out to where it’s deeper. Out to where it’s up your knees. Now, if it’s up to your knees, you’ll have moved into being a praying woman, a praying team, a praying child, a praying mother. Oh yes, I think we really have to say that we must be still in the shallow waters if we haven’t yet learned to pray.
If prayer is not a big part of our lives, dear precious moms, ladies, each one who is listening, we’ve got to get into the waters at least up to our knees. We’ve got to begin to pray. Oh, I couldn’t have got through my mothering years without prayer. In fact, the older my children got, the more I needed to pray.
I often remember when my children were in their teens. We were living at that time on the Gold Coast of Australia. The Gold Coast is a very, very worldly place. We moved to this place to pioneer a church on the Gold Coast of Australia. Our church looked straight out on the casino. In fact, our house looked right on to the great big casino on the Gold Coast. I was raising teenagers in this environment. Wow! How would you like to raise your children in the midst of that environment?
Well, of course, it brought me to prayer. I would go down to the beach to walk in the sand. The Pacific breakers were rolling in, pounding in. Nobody could hear me, and I would cry out to God, cry out to God for our children. And God was so faithful. He kept them, even in that evil place.
In fact, they became on the offensive. They all began to go out into the open air more and preach. They did that every week. They all became preachers there in the Cavill Mall, gathering crowds around them as they preached the gospel.
But you know, we have to be praying mothers, praying whoever we are. Prayer is part of our walk with the Lord. As we’re moving deeper and deeper into the ways of God, we will be moving into prayer because that water came to the knees, dear ladies. That speaks of prayer.
How much are you praying? Oh, I believe prayer should be so much a part of our lives. Well, we pray personally, of course, but then we need to pray as families. As you know, I encourage families to have morning and evening devotions, where we’re all praying together, where everyone in the family is praying.
This is where our children learn to pray. Oh, begin praying as families, dear ones. I’m sure you're already doing it, but if you're not, do begin it. Encourage and lead every one of your children to pray. I talk with some moms, and they say to me, “Well, this child of mine, she doesn’t really want to pray.” I’d pray a lot about that!
I would encourage her, and teach her how to pray, and how to pray out loud, because it should be something that’s part of our lives, which is just part of us. It’s not something we even have to do (it’ second nature). So, do encourage your children in this way. It's not only praying for our families, but the needs of the world, the needs of this nation. There are so many needs! And God is looking for intercessors. He’s looking for those who will pray.
UP TO THE LOINS
OK, well, let’s move on: “As he measured another thousand, the waters came to the loins.” Wow! Right up to the thighs. We’re getting there. We’re getting into the deep. We’re coming more and more into the ways of God.
Sometimes I like to think of coming up to the loins as, OK, the loins speak of our procreative power in women and in men. I often wonder, do we really surrender this area of our lives to the Lord? We’re in the waters, ladies. We’re right up to our loins now, so it's got to be accepting our loins. It’s going to be touching this area of our bodies.
It’s amazing how many beautiful, wonderful Christians can be in love with the Lord. They surrender their whole lives to the Lord. They’re ready to go out to the mission field. They’re ready to lay down their life for the Lord. And yet, they’re not ready to lay down their loins. Wow! They haven’t yet yielded this part of their body to the Lord.
But if the waters are up to the loins, we should be doing that. I think of that Scripture in Ephesians where it talks about putting on “the whole armor of God.” We all know that Scripture, don’t we? Do you remember which is the first part of the body where the armor is? Do you remember? Yes, it starts right in the center of the body. God doesn’t start at the head with the helmet. No, He starts at the loins.
And it says: “Stand, therefore, having your loins gird about with truth.” Well, that’s King James language. If you go to most other modern translations of the Bible, you will not read that. You will read: “Put on the belt of truth.” I often wonder why, why do they translate it like that? Because I’ve checked it out. I’ve gone to the Greek, and actual Greek word is osphus, and it means, “loins, procreative power.” So, how do they translate that as “Put on the belt of truth”?
Well, it’s speaking about the Roman soldier, of course, and I will concede that he has this big belt on. If you see a picture of a Roman soldier, he has a very big belt, which I guess he can carry a sword and other things. Sometimes it even goes further down from his waist. But it also holds up another part which goes around his loins, or especially in front of his loins. Sometimes they just had it in front of the loins.
But they had these tassels coming down, made of leather and metal. They were protection for the groin and for the loins, as that soldier goes out to war. I also checked. I thought, “Well, why do they translate it ‘belt’?”
Then I go to Acts 2:30, and I see the same Greek word used. It says here, speaking of David, how God promised David that the Messiah would one day sit upon His throne. It says that “of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on His throne.” From “the fruit of his loins.” I looked it up. Oh yes, same word, osphus.
In all these translations, most of them do translate it there “fruit of the loins.” But in Ephesians, they say: “the belt of truth.” So, I don’t know what they’re doing, but in the original, in the Greek, it is the word “loins.” I’m always amazed to think this is the very first place God starts.
It is also truth. “Gird up the loins (your loins) with truth.” It’s interesting. This is where many, many of God’s people are deceived. They’re deceived about the power of their procreative areas. They haven’t yielded that to God. Many of them believe that they are in charge, and they should limit their families. They haven’t given that over to God. So, that’s something to think about as we come to the water which is up to our loins.
WATERS TO SWIM IN
All right. We keep going. And then we get to verse 5, and it says: “Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass over, for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.”
So now, it’s over our heads, ladies. We get to that place where we haven’t got our feet on the ground. We’re totally cast upon the Lord. We’ve just got to swim. We’ve got to trust Him. Out in the deep waters, we’ve got to swim. We can’t rely on our own strength and our own wisdom to mother our children. We can’t rely on our own strength, really, and our own intellect. We’ve got to trust the Lord. We’ve got to move into that place of faith and trust in the Lord, in this place where we’re now in the waters to swim in.
But it's also a picture of the awesomeness of our God, the awesomeness of Christ who is our Savior. And the awesomeness of the Word of God. There is so much here, ladies. More. It’s an ocean. It’s waters to swim in. It’s more than we can ever, ever fathom.
I think of Colossians 2:3, where it says: “In Him (in Jesus) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” All the knowledge we’ll ever need, all the wisdom we’ll ever need, they are all in Christ.
We go down a little bit in that chapter, down to verses 8-9. It says: “For in Him (in Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” And then it goes on to say: “And ye are complete in Him.” Isn’t that amazing? We have everything in Christ.
We go over to 2 Peter 1:3: “According as His divine power hath given unto us (not some things, but) all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue,” He has given us “all things that pertain to life and godliness” to enable us to live this life of Christ, this divine nature that God has put within us. He wants to live His life through us.
Then it goes on to say: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” God has given us everything in Him, and in His Word to live in victory. Right there in your home, dear precious mother, yes, right there facing the challenges you face each day, facing the overwhelmingness you often feel. But God has given you all you need in Him, in His Word. It is all there for you.
But our time is gone, so we’ll talk a little bit more about it next time. So, here we are, ending up with waters to swim in. I do hope that you’re getting to that place, lovely ladies, where we’re coming MORE AND MORE. We’re never staying stagnant. We’re coming from the ankles to the knees, to the loins, to the waters to swim in. Amen?
“Dear Father, we thank You so much that You do not leave us bereft, but that You come to us. You have given us Your Holy Spirit. You have given us the Comforter, who comes to us, who teaches us of Your ways. We thank You. We thank You that You have given us Your life to dwell in us. We thank You that You’ve given us Your Word, Your precious Word, which is exceeding great and amazing. Oh, we thank You, Lord God.
“I pray for Your blessing on all those listening today that You will lead them, Lord, lead them from the ankles to the knees to the loins to swim in the great waters of Your love, all Your wisdom and knowledge, and everything that You have given to us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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THE POWER OF MOTHERHOOD
What the Bible Says About You as a Mother!
By Nancy Campbell
To purchase, go to: http://bit.ly/PowerOfMotherhoodUS
This is the most important book I have in stock. It is full of what God tells you about mothering. Every mother needs this book beside her.
This is a Bible manual for mothers. You will be amazed to find out how much God says about motherhood in His Word. It tells you what God says, not what the world says!
A few chapter headings in this 245-page manual:
MOTHER’S ARE GOD’S IDEA
MOTHERS ARE WOMB MEN
MOTHERS ARE NURTURERS
MOTHERS ARE FEEDERS
MOTHERS ARE EXALTED
MOTHERS ARE INFLUENTIAL
MOTHERS ARE NATION CHANGERS
MOTHERS ARE GENERATION PERPETUATORS
MOTHERS ARE TEACHERS
MOTHERS ARE CHILD TRAINERS
MOTHERS ARE WATCH DOGS
MOTHERS ARE MEMORY MAKERS
MOTHERS ARE HOME BUILDERS
MOTHERS ARE MISSIONARIES
All young mothers desperately need encouragement!
Middling mothers need it!
And even older mothers need it. Older mothers need a refresher course in God’s plan for mothering, so they can take their place as the older mothers who teach the next generation.
It is a marvelous gift for a new mother. If you have daughters who are beginning their motherhood career, bless them with a copy.
There are questions at the end of each chapter which you can use personally in your own study. Or a great idea is to begin a Mother’s Bible Study, gather together each week or once a month, and go through it together. You will get even more out of it as you share and discuss together.
To purchase, go to: http://bit.ly/PowerOfMotherhoodUS