LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 184: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 6

The ALTAR OF INCENSE is a Golden ministry, a Sweet ministry, a Come Up Higher ministry, a Morning and Evening ministry, a Horning ministry, a Crowning ministry, a Four-Square ministry, and more next week. How do these things affect our day-to-day lives in our families?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We’re still going on our series, Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living. We are up to P, Prayer and Praise. We’re still talking about that. I want to continue talking today about the altar of incense, because there are many aspects to this which really affect us in our lives right now.

To catch you up, we found out that it is a GOLDEN ALTAR. Number two, it is an ALTAR OF SWEET INCENSE. Number three, it is the HIGHEST PIECE OF FURNITURE in the tabernacle.

MORNING AND EVENING ALTAR

Now, number four, they had to attend to the altar of incense, the golden altar, every morning and every evening. It talks about that in this passage in Exodus 30:7, 8: “And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at evening, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.” It wasn’t only something that they were to do back then in Exodus chapter 30. It is something for all generations.

So, why did they have to come morning and evening? Because God wanted this beautiful, sweet incense to be a perpetual incense, never going out. Always filling the Holy Place. And He also wants that beautiful, sweet incense to fill our homes too. He doesn’t want it to ever go out.

In fact, the morning and the evening principle is a very important principle in the Word of God, especially as we read about it in the tabernacle because they had to come to the brazen altar. That was outside the actual tabernacle and that is where they sacrificed the animals every morning and every evening. A lamb in the morning, a lamb in the evening.

They did lots of other offerings as well. But this was one that had to be conducted every single day. It was something that God wanted. He wants this morning and evening principle. It’s very precious to Him. They did this lamb for sacrifice right up until Jesus came. In fact, they kept on doing it even after Jesus was crucified. But when the Temple was ransacked in AD 70, that was the end of the sacrifices then, because the Bible tells us that Jesus was sacrificed ONCE AND FOR ALL

But at that time, it had to be morning and evening. Just as they would come every morning and evening to do it, and every single sacrifice pointed to Calvary, pointed to the ultimate and final sacrifice of the pure, spotless Lamb of God upon the cross, I love to look back and not forget. Every day, when we pray together at our family devotions, I love to remember to thank the Lord for His sacrifice. I don’t think we can ever be thankful or grateful enough, because I don’t think we’ll ever even understand, even in eternity, the enormity of His sacrifice for our salvation and to redeem us. So, I love to look back and thank Jesus for His incredible sacrifice to give His life to save me, someone so unworthy.

Then you went into the tabernacle, and they had the candelabra, the seven-branched candlestick. That had to be lit every morning and every evening because the light was never to go out. They had to pour the oil in the lamps, and to attend to the wicks, and get rid of all the junk and the burned stuff every morning and evening.

Also, they had to attend to the altar of incense every morning and evening too. It was a principle that God established. That’s why we love to have our family devotions, or whatever you call it in your home. It doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as you do it. Some people call it worship time. Some people call it Bible time. Whatever you like to call it, as long as you do it.

We call it family devotions. It used to be called “the family altar.” I don’t think anybody calls it that today. It’s sort of a forgotten phrase, but actually, it is a biblical phrase. It comes from the Word of God. I think it is, if I go over to it, in Leviticus 6:8-13. Here Moses is speaking about establishing the altar.

The brazen altar was made of brass on which they would do the sacrifices. He tells them there, that was another thing they had to do morning and evening. They had to attend to the fire on the altar every morning and every evening.

So, he says, in Leviticus 6:8: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. . .” It wasn’t Moses’ idea. It’s God’s idea. “The Lord spake . . . Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.”

And we go down to Leviticus 6:12: “And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out.” It was never to go out. And He repeats it again in verse 13: “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”

To keep it going, they had to keep attending to it, every morning and every evening. Come and take out all the ashes and get rid of all the junk. That’s what we have to do in our lives, too. Put on the wood to keep it burning. So, we read the Word of God to our family, to fuel our souls and fuel their souls, and keep them burning.

The only way we can keep the fire of God burning in our lives, and in our families, is to keep to the morning and evening principle. Once a day, the fire will go out. If we light the lamps only once a day, the light will go out. If we light the incense altar only once a day, the incense disappears. It’s not enough, once a day. It’s morning and evening. This is the principle, to keep the fire of God burning, to keep the light of God burning, to keep the sweetness of the incense of the aroma of the presence of God continually in our homes. This is what it takes to make these things a continual thing.

This phrase, “the family altar,” was taken from this very passage. This altar of the fire upon the altar. The idea of, yes, we want to keep the fire of God burning in every member of our family. We’re going to also have a family altar.

I remember many years ago going to an Above Rubies family retreat. Colin and I walked in. We were a little late getting there because of our transport. The people were singing, and they were singing this great old hymn. To tell you the truth, I had never heard it before. But I loved the words. And I’m going to read them to you, because I think it’s a wonderful hymn. It also has a line in this hymn which is rather interesting.

1. God give us Christian homes!
   Homes where the Bible is loved and taught,
   Homes where the Master’s will is sought,
   Homes crowned with beauty Your love has wrought;
   God give us Christian homes;
   God give us Christian homes!
2. God give us Christian homes!
   Homes where the father is true and strong,
   Homes that are free from the blight of wrong,
   Homes that are joyous with love and song;
   God give us Christian homes;
   God give us Christian homes!
3. God give us Christian homes!
   Homes where the mother, in caring quest,
   Strives to show others Your way is best,
   Homes where the Lord is an honored guest;
   God give us Christian homes;
   God give us Christian homes!
4. God give us Christian homes!
   Homes where the children are led to know
   Christ in His beauty who loves them so,
   Homes where the altar fires burn and glow;
   God give us Christian homes;
   God give us Christian homes!

Now, that sounds like a real Christian home, doesn’t it? We have lots of Christian homes today in name only, like we have RINOS, Republicans In Name Only. I think we have a lot of CHRINOS, Christians In Name Only.

This is not actually the testimony of every Christian home, but there was a line there that I picked up and heard everyone singing it.

“Homes where the altar fires burn and glow.”

“Wow,” I thought. “That’s amazing. I know what that’s talking about. I wonder if anybody here singing it knows.”

So, they ended the time of praise and worship. I got up to say hi to everybody. I said, “I wonder, folks, does anybody know what this line means? You’ve all been singing, “Homes where the altar fires burn and glow.” Who knows what we’re singing about?”

Well, do you know, there was not one hand that went up! Not one person knew what they were singing about! That’s a bit sad, isn’t it? But they were singing about the altar fire, the family altar, because back when that hymn was written, it was the norm for Christian families to have the family altar where the family gathered together morning and evening.

They didn’t gather around an actual, literal altar. We don’t have altars today. But we have a time. We have a place where we choose in our home where we’re going to meet together. It can be different in different homes. We don’t all have to do it the same. As long as we find our altar, the place where we want to be, the time when we want to meet.

In our home, we love to do it at mealtimes because that’s a gathering time of the family anyway. I find, as I was raising our children, that it’s pretty hard to get them together, especially as they’re getting older. It’s very easy when they’re all little. Even that has challenges.

But, you know, getting them to the table, getting everyone together, especially as they get older, and they’re all doing their different things, and going here and there, it’s quite a challenge to get everyone together.

But the table, the meal table, is a drawing place, because everybody wants to eat, especially if you make a lovely, nutritious, beautiful meal, with lovely spices and aromas. It smells so wonderful, and the aromas are filling the house. Everybody wants to come. They are drawn to the aromas and to the kitchen.

So, you draw everybody to the meal table. To me, the meal table is very important anyway. I love to gather the family. I’ve never, ever allowed our children to sit around to eat in front of the TV, eat where they like, when they like. No, we eat at the same time, together. Together, at the family meal table.

Because we’re gathered there, at the end of our meal, we will have our family altar, or our family devotions, where we’ll read the Word, and we will pray together and worship and sing. I have found it a wonderful secret to make it happen by doing it at the table.

In fact, as we come to the end of our meal, guess what, ladies? We don’t even clear the table, because I find that if we do clear the table and everybody gets up, and they start scraping their dishes and taking them to the counter, by the time they get to the counter, help! I can’t even get everybody back again! So, I don’t even let them go! That’s why I do that. I have found that we have the time, and we never really notice the dishes are there.

My husband will begin to open the Word and read to the family. Then we’ll pray together and sing a song or hymn or worship song. So that is the family altar, where we’re coming to meet God. The altars that they made back in biblical times, when the patriarchs made altars, they built those altars as a place to cry out to God and to hear Him speak.

Now, this is the same thing we’re doing. We’re not building a physical altar, but we’re committing to a time and a place where we’re going to listen to God. We’re listening to Him speak from His Word, and we’re going to call out to Him, and pray and intercede.

Now, lovely, precious ladies, if we’re really, truly Bible-believing, God-fearing families, to do that twice a day is the least we can do. I know many families who do it three times a day, just as Daniel prayed three times a day. David said: “Morning, noon, and night, I cry out to God” (Psalm 55:17).

You can do it three times a day if you would like to. That would be wonderful. But two is actually a minimum. We at least gather together morning and evening to the family altar.

All right. And it says, “Homes where the altar fires burn and glow.” You see, that keeps people in the home burning and glowing with the fire of the Lord.

Everything was not just for fun. Everything spoke of some aspect of our salvation or understanding of Christ. The four horns on the brazen altar speak of salvation for every person right to the four corners of the earth. Not one is missed out. Jesus died for all.

Then, there are four horns on the four corners of the golden altar too. That speaks of prayer and praise, because that’s what it represents, prayer and praise going up from the four corners of the earth. And also, prayers for people right out to the ends of the world, to the four corners of the earth.

Our prayers should not only be for ourselves, and for our little family. They should reach out to the nations, reach out to the four corners of the earth. As we’re teaching our children to pray, we teach them how to pray beyond their little world.

That’s a big thing that we have to teach, dear mothers. But that’s something we need to do, is to broaden the understanding of the needs of the world to our children so they can become interceders. Children can become interceders. Wow! Children love to pray, and God hears their prayers.

That’s why I love to have prayer boxes in our home. I find them such a blessing. I’ve talked to you about prayer boxes before. I wonder, are any of you doing it? Have you made any prayer boxes? Oh, I hope so, because you will find it such a blessing, especially for your children.

Well, I find it a blessing too, because often when I come to pray, there are so many things on my heart. But there are often things that I miss because I don’t think of them. But when I take the card out of the prayer box, it reminds me.

Currently, I have ten different prayer boxes in our home on all different subjects. When I started doing this with our children, I started with our family prayer box. That was the first one I ever started with. In that, I put the names of all our family, Mummy and Daddy, grandparents, aunties and uncles, and the extended family around us so that we could faithfully remember to pray for one another.

It’s good for the children, learning to pray for one another. Maybe one of the boys has had a fight with Johnny just before he came to the meal table. Now, as the box goes around the table, out comes his name! He’s got to pray for him. Well, that’s good, isn’t it, because we have to pray for one another, even when we are not feeling too happy about one another.

But then, as with everything, I think we start little, and everything grows. Do you find that? That everything, you get an idea, you get a revelation, you get something that God puts on your heart. And you do it. You’re faithful to do it. As you do it, then it gets bigger and bigger. So now, we have ten different prayer boxes.

I’ll tell you the ones we have. We have our family prayer box.

Then our cities, capitals, and countries prayer box. The countries in the world, and the cities and capitals which are the most strategic in the world, we have a lot of them in that box. That’s a wonderful way for your children also to get to know about the world. Sometimes they can’t even pronounce the name of a particular capitol or country. You have to teach them. You can teach them about it, and what are the needs of those countries, and we pray for them.

We have our world-changing prayer box.

We have our nation-changing prayer box. Well, actually, this one is not a box, because a friend of ours brought us a little miniature Liberty Bell. So, we keep all our nation-changing cards in our Liberty Bell. We use this very frequently, because, oh my, how we need to be praying for our nation at the moment! I trust you are praying every day for this nation. Oh, yes.

In fact, on Thanksgiving, after our big Thanksgiving dinner, we always have toasts. Well, really, that’s speeches. Different ones will get up and toast to something or someone that they feel they want to talk about. This particular Thanksgiving, I think every speech was a political speech, but a very positive, wonderful one. They were great speeches.

One guy got up and he said he felt it would be great if we could sing

God Bless America, land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with the light from above.

From the mountains to the prairies,

To the oceans white with foam.

God bless America, my home, sweet home.

So, we all sang that together. And he was saying how, with so much negativity coming upon our nation, how important it is to pray a blessing upon her. We’re planning to do this regularly, along with our singing another hymn or worship song, to sing that prayer over America as we come together every day.

We have our Israel prayer box. We’re commanded to pray for Israel. Yes.

And the persecuted church prayer box. We are commanded to pray for the persecuted church. I hope that you remember to do that. How can we let a day go by when we don’t pray for our fellow believers who are suffering?

I mean, we are one body, and even if our little toe, you’re walking by something, and you kick a chair by mistake! Oh, it’s awful, isn’t it? You feel that pain, and your whole body goes out to comfort your little toes. It’s the same in the body of Christ when our precious brothers and sisters are being persecuted and tormented. Their bodies are being hurt. They’re hungry and they are cold. They’re even being martyred. Are we praying for them?

What does it say in Hebrews 13:3: “Remember them that are in bonds or in prison as though you are in prison with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body?” In other words, you’re feeling their pain even in your body. That’s how we’re meant to pray for them.

I might have told you this story before. It was a while ago, about a year ago. Serene was coming down a ladder from the top story of their house because their house is always being added to. We say their house is the house that Sam is building because it never stops. It’s always something new he’s doing.

She was coming down the ladder with a long skirt on. It got tangled and she fell to the ground on her back. It was a very hard fall. She thought she may have broken her back. She was in incredible pain. She said to me, “Mum, oh, I was in such terrible pain! But the first thing I thought of was the persecuted church, because, you see, I don’t know how to pray for them. I feel so good, and I feel so amazing, and I don’t know how to feel their pain. But I was in such pain that I just cried out for the persecuted church!”

I thought, “Wow!” That was challenging to me. Wow! When we’re in pain, we can really then pray and intercede for them, can’t we? It was only a week or so later that I also fell and broke a couple of ribs. Of course, you know what broken ribs are like. They mend, but, oh, they’re terribly painful. So, I had much opportunity to pray for the persecuted church. That’s an important one too, isn’t it?

We have our salvation and healing prayer box, where we’re praying for those who need Jesus, and those who need healing.

We have our Above Rubies ministry prayer box. I certainly need a lot of prayer for Above Rubies.

And our Above Rubies helpers, all the helpers that have been with us over the years.

We have our Hilltop fellowship House of Prayer families. We pray for them.

So that’s ten prayer boxes we have. It’s so great because there’s so much to pray for, that we can forget about so many things. Especially prayers for children, because often, especially little children, they’ll just pray their little prayer, “Thank You, Jesus, for this lovely day. Give us a good night’s sleep. Amen.”

But if they get a card, you can explain it to them, and they’ve got something new to pray about. That’s a very important thing.

A HORNING ALTAR

We’re talking about how the altar of incense is an altar of horns. All right. Now, what do horns speak of in the Bible? They speak of power and authority. Therefore, the horns on the altar of incense are of power and authority. It’s in the place of prayer that we have authority and power with God. Power over demonic forces, and power over evil, something that we cannot have power over ourselves. But in the place of prayer, we’re coming into God, and we get with His power and anointing. There is power and authority in the place of prayer. We need to take it up.

The devil knows that, dear ladies. That’s why he has, I believe, dehorned the horns of the church. He doesn’t want the church praying. You know, I think that even affects us, as mothers, because our society has caused us not to live the way we’re meant to. The way we’re meant to live as a family is that, as evening is coming on, the mother is in the kitchen, preparing the meal for the family to gather round. That is a basic thing of family-ness, a powerful thing in keeping the family together.

But today, everything seems to happen at that time. All the football practices, and the basketball practices, and the music, and this and that, and everything. And the mother is running around in the car, taking her children to this and that. Help! How do you get home in time to prepare the meal? Wow! There’s hardly time, and you’re just having to get some fast food, and everybody is eating in the car.

You’re not having family devotions, because you’re not home in time. “Whoo-hoo!” says the devil! “Got them away from the prayer time tonight!” And he seems to get them away from the prayer time nearly every night, because there’s something on, and everybody’s going here and there.

We’ve got to establish a family life where we gather the family together. As we prepare the meal, because I have found, as you’re making an altar, not a literal one, but you’re making a time and place, the meal is part of that, very much. I have realized that if I don’t prepare the meal because I’m just doing something, or going somewhere, we will not gather to read the Word and pray. We do that because I prepare the meal. I gather the family. We’re there together. I’ve made the altar ready for us to hear from God and to cry out to Him.

We have to watch. Don’t let the devil dethrone your horns and take your horns away from you. Oh, my. We’ve got to keep up the horns. Let me read you some Scriptures about horns, shall I? I didn’t really mean “dethrone.” I meant “dehorn.” That’s what they do, often, to animals. They dehorn them so they can’t push and shove and gore.

But that’s we want to do in prayer! We’ve forgotten how to gore and how to push against the enemy in prayer! Prayer is not just some little, sometimes it is just a little prayer from our heart, but in times of storm and stress, we have to gore and push against the enemy! And we’ve got to use our horns! OK?

This is Bible. 1 Samuel 2:1: “And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Thy salvation.”

Psalm 75:10: “All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.” Ladies, it is a marvelous thing to take the Scriptures into the place of prayer. Pray the Scriptures. When you’re praying the Scriptures, you’re praying in the perfect will of God.

I love to pray this Scripture: “Lord God, cut off the horns of the wicked!” Oh, there are so many in our nation who are wicked, who are bringing evil things upon this nation. They think they have all the power and authority in the world. But God can bring down their authority. He can bring down their horns. So, we can pray that they will be cut off, and instead, that “the horns of the righteous will be exalted.”

Psalm 89:17: “For Thou art the glory of their strength: and in Thy favor our horn shall be exalted.”

Psalm 92:10: “But my horn shalt Thou exalt, like the horn of an unicorn.”

Psalm 148:14: “He also exalted the horn of His people.”

Micah 4:13: “Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron.”

Do you notice how it talks about how the horn of the righteous will be exalted? That’s what we’ve got to pray for, that the authority of the wicked will be cut off, and the authority and anointing of the righteous and the godly will be lifted up, lifted up and exalted.

Just listen to this prophecy that Moses prayed over Joseph. Deuteronomy 33:17: “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push. . .” The word there means “to gore, to butt, to go against. “. . . to push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” So, let’s take up our horns, dear ladies.

A CROWNING ALTAR

OK, number six: it is a crowning ministry. The altar of incense had a golden crown all around each side.

A FOUR-SQUARE ALTAR

I’ll go on to the next one, number seven. It is four-square. That’s a very interesting thing about the altar of incense, that it is four-square. Each side is exactly the same, whereas the showbread table was rectangular.

The altar of incense, four-square. It’s meant to be that it would have the same priority as other things in the, well, in our Christian life. In things that we do for the Lord, prayer and praise should not be little, or just have a little part. It must take part with the others. It’s four-square. That makes me think of a church meeting!

OK, if we had a really, truly four-square church meeting, what would we have? We would have equal parts of prayer, worship, the Word of God, and fellowship, because fellowship is very important in the Word of God. In Acts, they fellowshipped when they came together.

Well, is that true amongst our gatherings today? No, I don’t think so. I mean, people, when they go to church, the pastor will open with prayer. He will close with prayer. Maybe there’s a bit of other prayer, but I don’t think there is as much prayer as the sermon! The sermon may be for half an hour. Do we all pray for half an hour?

We may worship for half an hour. But let’s get everything in the same order, four-square. OK, four-square gospel. There is a church called the Four-Square Gospel Church. Colin and I actually became members of that when we were missionaries in the Philippine Islands.

But four-square means you’re not belittling one important thing and giving it more to the other. No, they must all have the same. That is very important too.

Oh, goodness. Time has gone, and I still haven’t finished! There are some more things to tell you. So, we’ll have to carry on next week, OK?

Oh, the Lord bless you, dear lovely, precious mothers and wives, in your home. Oh, I hope you can just get a glimpse of this beautiful, golden ministry, this four-square ministry, this horning ministry, this crowning ministry, this coming up higher ministry! This is what it’s all about, and this is one of the things that we have to have very much embedded into our lives and operating in our lives, as we prepare for whatever we will come across in our lives, if we may face end times in our lifetime.

So, do you think you can do it? Do you think you can bring more prayer into your home so it can be the testimony of your home? That there is much incense going up before the Lord? Do you think you can even have a prayer meeting in your home? At least have a great prayer meeting every morning and evening with your family.

If you’ve got a big family, woo-hoo! You’ve got a good, great prayer meeting! You’ve got eight, nine, ten children, you’ve got a bigger prayer meeting than a lot of churches have! Sometimes they only get three or four to the prayer meeting! You’ve got more! Wow! You can have a great prayer meeting, a powerful prayer meeting. You can change this nation. You can change the world through your prayers!

“Oh, dear Father, help us to get the vision, and please help us, Lord, to get on our feet and do it, Lord. Oh God, it’s so easy to just lag behind. But help us to truly say, “Oh, I will get up and go. When Thou sayest, ‘Seek ye My face.’ My heart said unto me, ‘Lord, thy face will I seek.’ Help us to respond, Lord God.

I pray for Your wonderful blessing over every family. Bless them with Your protection. Bless them with Your salvation. Bless them with Your healing. Bless them with Your anointing. And bless them with Your presence in their homes. And, Lord, I pray that the spirit of prayer will come upon them, from father to mother to children. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS PODCAST, “LIFE TO THE FULL” WITH NANCY CAMPBELL.” DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 183: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 5

We begin the second P which is PRAYER AND PRAISE. The apostle John looks into Heaven and sees the GOLDEN ALTAR before the throne of God. What is this GOLDEN ALTAR and how does it relate to us in our homes?5

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! We’re still continuing our series of the five qualities God wants us to have in our lives as we prepare for end times. We’re currently looking at our second P, which is prayer. PRAYER AND PRAISE.

At the end of our podcast last week, we were looking at Revelation 8:3. I’ll give it to you again, so we can get into the whole theme of this Scripture. We’ll talk more about it. John is looking into the heavenly realm, and he sees in Revelation 8:3: “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”

John was looking at the altar of incense in heaven. You see, the altar of incense in the tabernacle on earth was made after the pattern of the heavenly one. The heavenly one is still there. And Christ is interceding at that altar for us, night and day. He wants us to also participate in this altar of incense.

Everything that was given back in the Old Testament was written for us today. It wasn’t for nothing. It was to show us how we are to live today. So, we see quite a number of things about this altar of incense.

THE GOLDEN ALTAR

First of all, number one, it was called “the golden altar.” We see that also in Exodus 30. That’s where we first begin to read about it. There are many, many Scriptures which I won’t give you in this podcast, but if you get to read the transcript, I will give them to you. I have a whole paragraph here of Scriptures where the altar of incense is mentioned in the Bible, in the Old Testament, and in the New. You can look them all up if you get to read the transcript (Scriptures at end).

We’ll only look at one or two Scriptures today. In Exodus 30, God is telling Moses how He wants him to make this altar. It was to be made of shittim wood, or it’s sometimes called acacia wood, which was a very common wood there in the wilderness, in the desert where they were travelling through. It speaks of man. It was common.

But it was overlaid with gold. Exodus 30:3: “And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold.” And they were to overlay it on the top, and on the sides, and on the horns, and all over. It was to be covered with pure gold, speaking of God and His divinity.

It’s a beautiful picture of we, who are man and fleshy, and who cannot really do much without God. We come to this altar of incense to cry out to God. It is a place of prayer as it tells us in Revelation, that it is speaking of “the prayers of all the saints.” In Revelation, which we just read, it talks about “MUCH incense,” coming up before this golden throne. It is a golden ministry.

Have you ever thought of prayer being a golden ministry? Well, that’s what it is, ladies. It’s a golden ministry, a wonderful ministry that you can be part of. And God wants the altar of incense to be operating in your home. He doesn’t want a little bit of incense going up to His throne. He wants a lot of incense, much incense, a great quantity of incense.

One translation says . . .  I wonder how much incense goes up to the Father, to His throne, because when you’re coming to the altar of incense, when you come to that place of prayer, you are coming into the very throne room of God. How incredible! Oh, what privilege we have, to come in through the precious blood of Jesus that was shed for us!

And through the power of His Name, we can come into the very throne room of God, where He is, in all His glory, and intercede before Him, for our own needs, and especially the needs of others, and the needs of the world. Oh, what a glorious privilege! How much incense goes up in your home? Is it a little trickling bit that goes up every now and then? Or is it “much incense” going up every day toward the Father? That’s what the Scripture talks about, “much incense.” Yes.

I believe we are in an hour in history where we need much incense. We need much prayer. Oh, there is just so much happening. There are so many needs, not only around us, of people in your own home, maybe, and people you know. But in the whole of the world, oh my. And yet, are we truly praying?

I’m always challenged by that Scripture in Jeremiah 10:24-25: “O Lord, correct me, but with judgment” (or “justice,” the word is) “O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing. Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not, and upon the families” (Oh, my. Families? What families?) “The families that call not on Thy Name.”

To me, this is a very challenging Scripture how God will pour out His fury upon the heathen that are not walking in His ways, but also on His families, His families that do not call upon His Name. Are we a family that is calling upon the Name of the Lord? This is really the defining factor of God’s people.

In the early church, they were known as “the people that call upon the Name of the Lord.” Are we known as those who call upon the Name of the Lord? Is our church known as a people who call upon the Name of the Lord? Do the people around us know that we are a praying people, a praying family, a family that calls upon the Name of the Lord?

Well, if we’re not, we might as well be the heathen, because that’s what separates us from the heathen. The heathen walk in their own ways, and in sinful ways. They don’t call upon the Name of the Lord. But we, as God’s people, we have access into the throne room of God, and we call upon the Name of the Lord. That should define who we are.

In this hour, oh, when there is so much treachery and tyranny happening . . . now here we are, we’re living in Tennessee. Really, at this current time in Tennessee, we are living a beautiful life. There’s no lockdowns or tyranny here, especially out where we live. Here you wouldn’t know that there was any tyranny going on in the world, but there is.

We have dear friends and people we know in other countries who are facing great challenges. My dear friend, Val Stares, who is the director of Above Rubies in Australia, I think I shared this with you in one of my previous podcasts, how the 17^th of December in Australia is D-day. If they do not take the vaccination by that day, they will be completely isolated from society, without being able to buy. Their jobs will be wiped out.

This is tough. This is happening in a free society! In a free world. This should never be happening in a free world. But what are we doing about it? Are we praying? We have a responsibility to pray for our fellow believers.

I was just reading last night about what is happening in the Northern Territories of Australia. I could not believe it! I just go to this site here, and it says: “The Australian government of the Northern Territories is now using military soldiers and army trucks to forcibly round up indigenous people, Aborigine people.”

Of course, we lived in Australia for ten years. We lived in this great, free country of Australia, what is called “The Lucky Country.” But now, they’re rounding up indigenous people who have merely been near someone else who tested positive for covid, with families being separated at gunpoint, one of the most horrifying predictions we made has now come true.

Military medical martial law, where innocent civilians are being round up at gunpoint, and taken to what are essentially covid concentration camps. These victims are being forcibly relocated to the Howard Springs Quarantine Camp in Darwin, Australia. They’ve already got these internment camps ready. I have seen pictures of ones in Queensland.

Michael Gunner, the territory chief, admits to the military kidnapping and forced relocation of Australian indigenous people, even disparaging their family structure and implying they are savages because so many members of the community interact with each other like family. So, it goes on and on, of what they are doing to these indigenous people in the Northern Territories of Australia.

Then, we have Victoria, down in the bottom of Australia, which is being locked down. Then we have Queensland, only until the 17^th of December. The mandate is, if they’re not vaccinated, well, then that’s it.

Then we have our dear precious friends in Israel. They only have until the 6^th of December. If they’re not vaccinated by then, they’re wiped out. They’ve got to clear out of the country, after years and years of pouring their lives out for the Jewish people there in Israel.

And not only them, but Canada, Austria, many other countries, are locked down. They have tyranny coming upon them. Free countries. Now, does that get to you? I don’t know. How can people just carry on life as normally, and not be praying? How can we not pray and cry out for these situations? We have to be crying out for the world at the moment.

Now we know that there will come, eventually, a one-world order, because it is prophesied. But we don’t take that sitting down. No, we push back, and we resist all tyranny. We must resist all tyranny because it is evil. It is not for the blessing of the people, or the country. It is not for their good at all.

There are some Christians who passively give in. They talk about Romans 13, how that we must submit to whatever is happening. No, they are taking that passage in the wrong context, because it is talking there about how that we must submit to the government for our good, and we will receive backlash if we don’t. If we’re not good, if we do that which is evil, we’re going to get our rebuke, and whatever they’re going to do to us, from the government.

But this is not for anybody being evil. This is what they’re doing to those who are good! And what does it say in Daniel 11:32 in the context of persecution? “And the people that do know their God shall be strong and DO EXPLOITS.” (King James Version).

Other translations say: “The people that do know their God shall be strong and TAKE ACTION.”

Some translations say: “The people that do know their God shall be strong and RESIST.” Of course, I believe, more than anything else, we pray! Oh, let’s be praying. Oh, prayer works wonders, but as I look around, I see most people carrying on as usual. They have not intensified their prayer life. They have not called corporate prayer meetings.

I believe we should be calling corporate prayer meetings to pray. Yes, and if there is not one near you where you can go and pray, if they don’t have one in your church that’s praying for this situation, and for the countries of the world, well, start one in your own home. It’s a wonderful thing to have a prayer meeting in your home. I think it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. I don’t think we have ever been without a prayer meeting in our home all throughout our married lives.

At the moment, well, we have two corporate prayer meetings a week here, on the Hilltop. We have one in our home, and also one in Serene and Sam’s home. Last night, Wednesday night, we were at the prayer meeting at Serene and Sam’s home. Oh, sometimes you never know what’s going to happen at a prayer meeting. Usually, we are really storming the gates of heaven on behalf of all those who are suffering and that are under tyranny. We’re crying out to God for the needs all around us. But last night, what happened?

We ended up praying for all the children and it was the most beautiful night. You see, we have the children in our prayer meetings. And, dear, precious moms, if you have lots of children, then, “Oh, how can I have a prayer meeting in our home with all the children? What will I do with them?”

Well, you make them part of the prayer meeting! That’s the best thing they can ever be part of, is to be part of prayer meetings! And if you have a little baby, and you’re nursing your baby, well, just nurse your baby. Just have a nursing shawl, a nursing cape. You can nurse discretely. Just nurse your baby and your baby will go off to sleep.

Your little toddlers can be around. We have our toddlers all around us. If you don’t feel you can cope with yours, well, maybe you can make sure they don’t have a sleep in the afternoon, and they get to bed early. But otherwise, they can learn to play very quietly. Then, when they get tired, Daddy or Mummy take them on their knee, and they just cuddle in and go to sleep. That’s what happens with our little ones. Then, of course, the children.

Well, last night, one of our little ones, a little three-year old, he had hurt himself badly during the day, and they were nearly going to take him to ER, but they didn’t. They prayed instead. All the blood that was coming out of his mouth soon stopped. God was good. They wanted us to pray over him again at the prayer meeting.

So, that was the first thing we did. My husband anointed him with oil and prayed over him. And then, it just began. Each little child came and knelt down, and my husband and others began to pray over them, all the little ones. Then the big ones, and even the teens. It took the whole prayer meeting, but it was such a beautiful night.

So, when you start a prayer meeting, you make your children part of the prayer meeting. Children should be part of prayer meetings. They should grow up in the midst of prayer. It should be part of their lives. Yes.

Not a little part, no! A big part of their lives! The Word of God says “much incense,” not a little bit of incense, but “MUCH INSENSE.”

Malachi 1:11: “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My Name shall be great among the gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name.”

This is not talking to the Jewish people. This is talking to the Gentiles! “Among the gentiles, and in every place” (EVERY place, EVERY home) “incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” Amen?

Well, number one: this altar is a golden altar.

THE SWEET INCENSE ALTAR

Number two: it is also called “the altar of sweet incense.” (Leviticus 4:7). Yes, all the spices that were used to make the incense were beautiful, sweet spices. You’ll get all the Scriptures about that in the transcript when you get to read it.

THE HIGHEST ALTAR

Number three: this altar of incense was the highest piece of furniture in the Holy Place. It was higher than the table of showbread and higher than the golden candlestick, which were also very important pieces of furniture. But this one was the highest. God wants it to be the HIGHEST PRIORITY in our lives.

Did you know that it’s the highest priority of Jesus now? The Bible tells us that He is continually interceding for us, which is the altar of incense. Let’s read, shall we? Romans 8:34: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us.”

Let’s go to Hebrews, shall we? Hebrews 7:25: “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Over in Hebrews 9:24: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the Presence of God for us.”

Also, prayer and praise. You see, it’s not only prayer, but also and praise and worship that the altar of incense speaks of. It takes us up to great heights.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us of how those who “wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles.” We mount up in the Spirit when we go to the place of prayer. Oh yes, personally and corporately. There is much power in corporate prayer. I believe in personal prayer, but I also believe in the power of corporate prayer.

In Matthew 18:20, it tells us how that if two or three of you are gathered together, I will be with you. I will be in your midst. Amen?

Isaiah 2:3: “Come ye, and LET US GO UP to the mountain of the Lord.” That’s the place of prayer. “The mountain of the Lord.” We’ve got to go up to it, ladies, go up to the mountain. Now, it’s not always easy getting up a mountain. Have you ever climbed a mountain? Well, sometimes you get pretty tired going up that mountain. It can be steep. It can be rough, and you’re puffing, and you’re getting tired, and you’re getting worn out. But you keep going. And you get to the top.

Oh, what a beautiful view from the top! How exhilarating! And it’s the same in the place of prayer. You’ve got to come up to the mountain. “Come ye, and LET US GO UP to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” And so, we come up to this place of prayer and of praise.

Talking about praise, the other week we were invited to a meeting to listen to this speaker. In one part of his message, he was speaking a most wonderful message about praising God in the midst of our difficulties. He went through the Scriptures, showing the places where the different people of God, and how they were going through the most terrible circumstances. But in the midst, they kept praising God. This is also part of the altar of incense.

He took us also to 2 Chronicles. I’d like to take you to it. 2 Chronicles 20:1. It’s the story of when King Jehoshaphat, who was a good king of Judah, and the enemy came against him. It says here: “that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites.” Actually, another place tells us where there were another lot of people, too. Yes, and also the inhabitants of Mount Seir.

All these enemies came against him, “a great multitude.” And Jehoshaphat was scared. They didn’t have an army like that. They couldn’t even . . .  what were they going to do? That army was too big for them to fight. They were going to be wiped out!

So, what did he do? Well, we see here in 2 Chronicles 20:3: “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” So, number one, he began “to seek the Lord.”

I believe that’s what all God’s people should be doing in this hour. We are facing a battle. We’re facing an enemy that’s bigger than us. This is a huge, evil enemy that we are facing. We have to seek the Lord, because we can’t fight it on our own. It’s only the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of heaven, who is able to bring us the victory.

So, number one, they began “to seek the Lord.” And he proclaimed a fast. 2 Chronicles 20:4: “And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.” They came corporately. They didn’t just back in their cities. “Oh, goodness, we can’t travel all that way! Oh, help! Goodness me! No, we’ll just stay home and pray.”

You know, many people say that about prayer meetings. “Oh, we’ll stay home and pray. It’s too difficult to get to the prayer meeting. I don’t really feel like going out. Oh, I feel too tired.” Actually, that is very true. At the end of the day, you can feel very tired. In fact, many times, at the end of the day, I feel worn out. I have busy days. I can feel worn out, and its prayer meeting night. I say, “Oh, help, how am I going to make it to the prayer meeting? I’m nearly falling asleep.”

But I go! When you go into that place of prayer, into the mountain of the Lord, you are rejuvenated. I was thinking of my dear friend Nadia. Nadia has seven children. Her youngest child at the moment was born with a very rare, rare disease where one side of her body is perfect. The other side grows these huge tumors. On top of that, recently she was diagnosed also with stage four cancer.

I mean, how much more can this little darling go through? She has not only had chemotherapy; she’s now facing radiation and stem cell replacement and so on. Poor Nadia. She’s back and forth to the hospital, sometimes staying there all the time, and then back and forth in the day. She has so much on her plate with all her children and this precious little one.

But Nadia doesn’t miss a prayer meeting! If she’s not in the hospital, she’s at the prayer meeting. Monday night, she was here at the prayer meeting. She sort of dragged herself up the stairs. I could see she was so tired. And she was sharing with me last night. She said, “I was just so worn out. I could hardly walk up your stairs. I could hardly keep my eyes open.”

But she came! She came! And as she prayed, she was rejuvenated. Even last night, there she was, second prayer meeting of the week, and she’s there, with all her seven children!

And there are people who don’t even have children who say, “Well, I don’t think I can get to the prayer meeting. I think I’ll just pray at home.” But they don’t pray at home. There’s something about getting up and going and getting together with the saints. This is what they did here. They came out of all the cities of Judah. They came to seek the Lord.

Yes, and then Jehoshaphat prayed this amazing prayer. 2 Chronicles 20:6: “O Lord God of our fathers, are not Thou God in heaven? And rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in Thine hand, is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee? Are not Thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend forever?”

And so, he goes on with his prayer, right down to verse 12: “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee.” Hallelujah! That’s a great prayer. That’s why we come, because we don’t have the answer ourselves. Our eyes are upon the Lord.

And this is what we do, when we go through our difficulties, our trials, our persecutions. We go through them with our eyes upon the Lord.

So, OK, all the people came, and now we find out something else they did. Whoo! They not only came to pray together corporately, but verse 13 says: “And ALL Judah,” it doesn’t say some of the people of Judah. “ALL Judah stood before the Lord.” Most probably there was not enough room for them to sit down. They weren’t sitting on lovely sofas like we often sit at our prayer meetings. No, they stood before the Lord. And get this, I’m going to read the next little bit. Listen for it, ladies.

“And all Judah stood before the Lord, WITH THEIR LITTLE ONES.” And if you look that up in the Hebrew, the actual Hebrew meaning of “the little ones” is “the tripping gait of little children.” It’s the little toddlers. Oh my, those are the ones we don’t want at the prayer meeting. Oh goodness me, what will we do with them? Yes, they’re tripping around, and they can’t keep still!

Well, God says, “I want them there.” Yes, and they came with all their families, “with their little ones, their wives, and their children.” So, the husbands came, and the wives came. The wives didn’t stay at home! The wives came, with their little ones, and most probably they had nursing babies. They wouldn’t leave them at home. They were with them too! Nursing babies, in the prayer meeting! Whoo! And all their children! Every age group was there, to cry out to God.

I wonder, what it is going to take for the people of God really want to come and pray? To even want to go to a prayer meeting? Because I find that most people in the body of Christ don’t really even want to go to prayer meetings. Oh, they go to the theaters to watch a movie. They can stay home and watch a movie. They can go out to this entertainment. They can go out to this, out to that, out to everything. Yes, and running here and there all the time.

But they don’t want to go to prayer meetings. These people came. As families. Everyone. Husbands, wives, little toddlers, nursing babies. Children of all ages, the teens, everyone was there, to cry out to the Lord. It reminds me of Joel. Oh yes, over in Joel.

So, here was another prayer meeting. Joel 2:15: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.”

Wow. That’s the prayer we need to pray, isn’t it? “O Lord, give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.” We are facing in many areas in the world today, and even here in the States, we are facing where people are seeking to rule over people, rule over their bodies, take dominion over their bodies. This is against God. No one is meant to rule over someone else’s body.

God made us free people. And we should be praying against this tyranny over lives. It says: “wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” But do you notice that when they called this solemn fast, that, well, in fact, if your pastor or minister was to call a solemn fast, he would usually say, “Well folks, we’re calling this solemn fast, so I think you’d better get babysitters. We can’t really have the children all there, because this is a very solemn occasion.”

But no, God is not like that. He’s always incorporating the children, no matter what’s happening. Here’s a solemn fast, and He says, “OK, I want the children. I want the little toddlers. I want the nursing babies. I want everyone.”

And then, goodness, this is a solemn occasion, because even the new bride and bridegroom have got to come out of their closet! Whoo! Well, actually, just before I close, maybe I should tell you this little story, because this actually happened to Colin and me.

When we were first married, Colin went out fulltime for God when we were engaged. We were involved in a wonderful ministry called “Tell the Nations Crusade,” where those who were involved took a gospel of John to the door. Not putting it in the letter box, but to the door of every home in New Zealand.

My husband was involved in that. From that, the leader of this ministry, Campbell McAlpine, a very holy and wonderful man of God, felt God calling us to the mission field, and that we were to do the same thing. Take a gospel of John to the homes in the Philippine Islands. So, we actually did that. After we were married, we went to the Philippine Islands.

But on our wedding day, it had been planned that those who were in the ministry would meet for three days prayer and fasting. Unbelievably, it was going to start the day after we were married. So, of course, Colin and I never even entertained the thought that he would go, even though he was fulltime in that ministry.

We had our glorious wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. But at the end of the day, this man, Campbell McAlpine, came to my husband, and he said, “Colin, I have a Scripture for you.” It was this Scripture, Joel 2:16: “Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet” in order to fast and pray and seek the Lord.

So, we’re going away on our honeymoon, and driving along. Colin says to me, “Well, Campbell gave us a Scripture.” I said, “What is it?” He said, “The bridegroom and the bride have to come out of their closet and seek the Lord and fast and pray. What will we do?”

I said, “Well, I guess there’s nothing else we can do, but obey!” So, we had one night together, and then Colin went off with all the rest of the guys for three days’ prayer and fasting. I went and stayed with Joy and Jim Dawson, who were then living in New Zealand. They now live in the States.

I went down to her prophet’s chamber, which she had in her basement, and had three days’ prayer and fasting, seeking the Lord there. That’s how we started our married life, separated for three days’ prayer and fasting. But I think it turned out a pretty good way to start.

Anyway, let’s pray. I haven’t finished yet, ladies. More exciting things to find out about this altar of incense in our next session next week!

“Dear Father, oh, we just thank You, that we have the privilege to come into Your presence, Your throne room. Oh, God, give us a love to come there. Lord, I pray that You will stir Your people to become pray-ers. Lord God, that we will seek Your face, Lord God.

Oh God, Lord God, there is so much that is happening. Lord, we have no answers, except that we seek Your face. I pray, Lord, the whole church of God, Lord, to begin to seek You, to come together to pray and to cry out to You. We ask You for this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

SCRIPTURES NAMING THE GOLDEN ALTAR

 Exodus 30:1-10; 26-29; 34-38; 31:8; 37:25-29; 39:38; 40:5, 26, 27; Leviticus 4:5-7; Deuteronomy 33:10; 1 Samuel 2:28; 1 Kings 6:22 (AMPC); 1 Chronicles 6:49; 23:13; 28:18; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 13:10, 11; 29:11; 32:12; Psalm 141:2; Malachi 4:11; Luke 1:9-11; Revelation 5:8; 6:9; and 8:1-5.

DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS PODCAST, “LIFE TO THE FULL” WITH NANCY CAMPBELL.” DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 182: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 4

Today we talk about THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. A quality of character that does not allow one to surrender. William Barclay says: "Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to TURN IT INTO GLORY."

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We’re now up to session four in our series, “Five Qualities We Need for the End Times.” Now, I’m not saying that we are in the end, end times. I don’t know when that time will be. It may be in our lifetime, or it may be in our children’s lifetime.

But we don’t wait until we are facing the end to have these qualities in our lives. We must get them part of our lives now. They must be habitual in our lives now so that whenever we may face these more difficult times, and the things that we read about in the book of Revelation that are to come upon the earth, that we will be ready.

Now, if they don’t come in our lifetime, we are preparing our children to have these qualities in them so that if it comes in their lifetime, they will be ready, or they will pass it on to their children. This is what we’re talking about. These are powerful qualities that we want to establish now in our lives.

The five points are F F P P and K. We’re now starting the first P. We’re going to find that in Revelation 13:10: “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

PERSEVERANCE

In the King James Version, it says “patience.” OK, P for “patience.” But most translations of the Bible translate it with the word “perseverance.” So, this is the word that I’m taking, P for “perseverance.”

The Berean Study Bible, The New Revised Standard Version, and the English Standard Version, and many others say: “Here is the call for the perseverance and faith of the saints.”

The Holman Translation says, “THIS DEMANDS THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS.”

Now, this Scripture is in the context of the time when people will face the mark of the beast. That, if they take the mark of the beast, well, that’s the end for eternal salvation for them. But if they don’t take it, they will not be able to buy or sell. I think many will end up being martyred.

So that will be a pretty trying time. It says: “This demands,” or “This calls for the perseverance of the saints.”

It also is repeated again in Revelation 14:12. It says again: “This demands the perseverance of the saints, to keep God’s commands, and their faith in Jesus.”

Now, what is this word, “perseverance”? We’re going to look at it. The Greek word is hupomone. It comes from two Greek words:

hupo, which means “under,”

meno, which means “to remain.”

It literally means “to remain under trials with a cheerful and hopeful endurance.”

Spiros Zodhiates, in his Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, says this about this word:

“It is a quality of character that does not allow one to surrender.”

Do you like that? That’s powerful, isn’t it?

Spiros Zodhiates is the editor of the Bible that I use. I use the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible. I love this Bible! I keep wearing these Bibles out. I just had to order another one because this one, even the first few pages are missing!

But it’s such a wonderful Bible. If you’re looking for a good study Bible, I can’t recommend one more than I recommend this one. It has the Strong’s Concordance in the back. But I rarely refer to that. It also has the Strong’s numbers. If they are in bold, you can go to the LEXICON in the back which gives a fuller understanding of each Hebrew or Greek word.

So, it’s a wonderful way, just as you’re reading the Word, and oh, you want to know what does it really mean? You can look it up and find out just a greater understanding and meaning. I love it.

Let me give you his definition again of “perseverance.” “A quality of character that does not allow one to surrender.” We certainly need to get this quality, this character quality into our lives now. To me, it is very sad that I see many people, and even Christians, caving into take this current mandated vaccination, which is, or could be, a death shot. So many people have died already. They predict that many yet could die.

I read some time back, a letter, not a letter that’s published over the housetops, but I found this letter in some writings. A letter written by Bill Gates, writing to one of the vaccination people who are doing the vaccinations, I forget which one. It may have been Johnson and Johnson. But I’m not sure.

Writing in there, this was a number of years ago, because they have been planning this for many years, how that they did not want people to die immediately from this vaccination, although many have. But that it must come later, so people will not put it together that deaths really don’t relate to the vaccination.

It is so sad, because this thing is not about health. It’s about tyranny. It’s amazing how many have caved in. Well, of course, in the natural, they feel they have reason to. They’ll lose their job if they don’t, or they have other things that they’ll face if they don’t.

But, you see, we’re practicing now for a time where we cannot give in, where we cannot surrender, for when that time does come when we face the mark of the beast, we dare not surrender, we dare not cave in. The Bible clearly warns us that we must never take the mark of the beast, or we will be siding with Satan.

But you see, this is preparing us now to not surrender, to not cave in, to stand even in the face of persecution. There are many who have lost their jobs. But I believe that God honors those who honor Him. He will provide a way. I do believe it. Even if we are facing difficult things, we have still got to stand on the side of right.

Well, other meanings of this word of perseverance: it means “endurance, continuance, not giving up, steadfastness, courageously enduring,” and also “cheerfully enduring.” That’s an interesting one, isn’t it? “Remaining faithful to God and His purposes for you through trials and through suffering.”

You see, precious ladies, we can endure in either of two ways: we can endure cheerfully. That’s part of the meaning, the Greek meaning of this word, “to endure cheerfully, trusting in God, and to endure courageously.”

But we can also endure with groanings and complainings and bitterness. It’s so easy to do that, isn’t it? We’re going through a trial, and we do nothing but complain and groan about it. “Poor me!” We’re full of self-pity. We even get bitter through the trial. It is sad that many people come through trials with bitterness. You see it all over their face. It destroys their lives and the lives of their children.

Yet others can come through incredible trials cheerfully enduring, because they trusted in God. They’re looking to Jesus, and they come through without the smell of that fiery trial upon them. That’s what happened to those three young men there in Babylon, wasn’t it? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They would not bow down to the image. They were the only ones who would not bow. They were threatened with being thrown into the fiery furnace. Well, they trusted God. They said, “God will deliver us. But even if He doesn’t, we’ll trust him!”

They kept bowing. The king, you know the story, how he was so mad that they would defy him, that he got the fire to be heated seven times hotter, and even the people who threw them into the fire were burned to death.

But then, God did deliver them. And God, Jesus Christ, obviously it was a Christophany of Christ Himself being with them in the fire, the fourth man in the fire. And He did deliver them. But their confession was, "Even if He doesn’t deliver us, even if we die, even if we’re burned to death, we will not cave in!”

They came out from that fire, and the Bible says they didn’t even have the smell of the fire upon them. Isn’t that amazing?

As we go through our trials and difficulties and hurtful experiences, let’s seek to trust the Lord, and to come through cheerfully without the smell of the fire upon us. Because that’s such a horrible thing, to smell the fire on people, and see bitterness and hurt over their lives.

Other translations: The New English Translation says: “This requires steadfast endurance.”

The Complete Jewish Bible says: “This is when God’s holy people must persevere and trust.”

God’s Word Translation: “In this situation, God’s holy people need endurance and confidence.”

Even The Message Bible, which is a paraphrase, is very good. It says: “Meanwhile, God’s holy people passionately and faithfully stand their ground.” Yes, that is the meaning of the quality of not surrendering.

And then, there’s that famous quote by William Barclay, an expositor of the Word of God. He says:

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

Isn’t that amazing? That would be a good quote to pin up on your wall, don’t you think? “Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

That’s what Paul did. Remember how he said, “I glory in my tribulations” (Romans 5:3). I often read that and think, “Oh, help! How do you actually do that? How do you make it glory?” But it was possible. He made it into glory.

So, we need to seek to do these things in our lives when we’re facing something so tough. But we’re going to turn it into glory because we’re going to trust God! We’re going to trust Him, no matter what! Yes, because we believe God that He is faithful.

I know some of you, maybe you’re in this position. Your husband’s lost his job because he wouldn’t take the jab. But don’t get bitter. Don’t get into self-pity. Don’t think, “Oh, what will we do? How will we survive?” No, look to God. Trust Him. Turn it into glory.

I believe in these times that so many amazing, incredible people have lost jobs. Some of the best people. But I believe that because of who they are, God can give them ideas, incentives, inventions, things to begin other things. From these hard times, greater things can even come.

This last weekend, we had the Hartman family staying with us for over Thanksgiving. We had a glorious Thanksgiving as usual, packed out, a sit-down meal for over 80 people or so. It was such a glorious time. But Allison Hartman (I hoped to do a podcast with her while she was here, but we never got time. We were just so busy. Everything was happening from one minute to the next).

But she was sharing how that down in Pensacola where they are, she is friends with a doctor at Sacred Heart hospital. He’s perhaps the head doctor there. His picture is all over the city. He was given the mandate that he had to leave if he didn’t take the jab. This doctor actually does vaccinate all his children, but because he is seeing so many negative things happen, coming into the hospital, that he is so against this vaccination. Refused to take it, and even though he was the head doctor, he was fired.

It was a very sad thing for this man who’s given his life to his work for all these years and years and years. As his wife and children and grandchildren came to be with him as he was fired, they wouldn’t even let them come over to him at the hospital. They said they had to stay on the other side of the road.

But God worked on his behalf and the governor of Florida, DeSantis, called a meeting. And he turned all those mandates around and said that organizations and hospitals would be fired for firing their people. Miraculously, after that, he was reinstated. Isn’t that wonderful? Praise the Lord! Yes.

Also, this word includes conviction with perseverance. You can’t really endure if you don’t have conviction about the truth. That’s such an important thing. We’ve got to have convictions. If our convictions are not strong, we won’t persevere. We’ll cave in so easily. I think that’s why so many people do cave in, because their convictions are not strong.

Now, in persevering, I think we’ve got to even practice, even in the little nitty-gritties of life, even in the daily activities of life. There are many things we face that are boring and mundane, but we persevere. We keep on. Also, even in our marriages, we persevere. Sometimes a marriage can go through a difficult time.

THE TIDE ALWAYS COMES IN AGAIN

I never forget. Years and years ago, a dear friend of mine shared this thought. She was talking about marriage, and she said, “You know, we must take this eternal principle that although the tide goes out, it always comes in again.”

If you’ve been to the beach, as I love to go to the beach, you see the tide go out. Sometimes when the tide goes out, you see all the stuff, if there’s been a storm, all the junk that the waves bring in on the beach. I’ve been to the beach sometimes, and it brings in all the seaweed. The whole beach is filled with seaweed, and you can hardly walk.

Sometimes it brings in poisonous things and poison jelly fish, and they’re all on the beach. You can hardly walk either. Sometimes it brings all kinds of junk and stuff. You see all the horrible junk on the beach when the tide goes out. But there is an eternal law. God stated it. The tide always comes in again.

When the tide comes in again, it washes all that junk away again. It’s a beautiful thing. We can take that principle in our marriage. You may be going through a difficult season, a difficult time. Persevere. Don’t surrender to giving up. You may be looking at all the awful things, and oooh, you don’t like it at all. It’s too tough.

But think, remember. The tide comes in again. And wait for that tide to come in again. Trust God. Release the spirit of forgiveness and love and wait for that tide to come in again. It will wash away all that horrible junk.

I have seen that happen in many marriages. I have a very dear friend, a contemporary of mine. Of course, we’re all in our 80’s now. But I remember in the early days of her marriage. It was very tough. They went through a very, very difficult time. But they did not believe in divorce, and they did not give up. Even though it wasn’t very “enjoyable,” we need a worse word for that.

But they stuck it out. And as the years went on, the tide came in again. Now today, goodness, they have been for the last many, many years, many years, they’ve just had a beautiful life together. They’re just so happy, just loving one another together. What a sad thing it would be if they were separated. They wouldn’t be living the beautiful enjoyable life that they are living now.

So, we see there are many, many Scriptures with this word in, but I won’t give them all to you today. Just a couple here, maybe two or three.

Matthew 10:22: “And ye shall be hated of all men for My Name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

Matthew 24:11-13: “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

And then we see this word again in this passage, Hebrews 10:32-36. I’ll read it from the English Standard Version this time: “But remember the former days when you endured a harsh conflict of suffering after you were enlightened (when “you endured”). At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction. And at other times, you came to share with others who were treated in that way. For in fact, you shared the sufferings of those in prison, and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy.”

Wow. That’s a pretty tough thing, isn’t it? Even though their belongings were taken away, they accepted it with joy. “Because you knew that you certainly had a better and lasting possession. So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward. For you need endurance (there’s the word perseverance, steadfastness) in order to do God’s will, and so receive what is promised.” Amen?

One more Scripture: Hebrews 12:1: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.” Now it’s interesting, ladies, that that word “witnesses” is martus, which means “martyrs.” Do you remember we talked about that last podcast; I think? So, here we are.

We are compassed about, ladies, with this great cloud of martyrs who are up there in Heaven already waiting for us. And they’re watching on, they’re cheering us on. “Come on, persevere! You’ve got a great reward awaiting! No matter what you go through, this life is so fleeting! It’s just a blink of an eye. It’s just a vapor and it’s gone! And you’re preparing, you’re persevering for the eternal world, which is the real world, which is forever!”

And even if one day, if we face the real end time, and we’re martyred, wow. It’s worth it for the eternal realm. And yet, all over the world today, there are more martyrs for the faith than there ever has been in the history of the world. In so many Muslim countries, and North Korea, and places all over the world, Christians are being persecuted. They are suffering. They are being martyred, even now for their faith.

But we have this great cloud of martyrs watching us. And it says: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience (there’s the word again, hupomone, and it’s the word “perseverance, endurance, never giving up. So, we run with perseverance the race that is set before us).

And how do we do it? Hebrews 12:2: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” That’s the word again, enduring, persevering. “Endured the cross.” How did He endure it? With joy. “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So, precious lovely ladies, we are getting in practice now to persevere. Amen?

All right, we are getting to the end of our time, and I’m ready for our second P. We’ll start it today, and we’ll finish it next week. We won’t get it all done today.

PRAYER

But the next P is “prayer.” This is also a very important character quality we must have operating in our lives. Let’s go and see what it says, because it’s all in Revelation for the end times. So, we’re going to go to Revelation 5:8: “And when he had taken the book,” (this is, well, I should just give a little bit of understanding of where we’re reading).

It is John, the apostle John, who is looking into the eternal world. God is giving him visions of Heaven and also visions of many things that are going to take place on the earth in the end time. But in this passage in chapter 5, we should go back.

It says here, in Revelation 5:4, how he was weeping because nobody was found worthy to open the book. But one of the elders said: “Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.”

And we come down to Revelation 5:8: “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors.” Or it really means “full of incense.” I think your modern translation will say “incense.” Yes, in my margin of my King James Bible, it says “incense.”

So, they were holding “golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.” OK, incense always speaks of prayer in the Bible. We are seeing prayer here.

We go over to Revelation 8. John is looking into heaven again.

Revelation 8:1: “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar.”

Now, some commentators believe that this angel was actually Christ Himself, who is now our high priest, interceding before the Father for us, 24 hours a day, continually. The Bible says that He is continually interceding for us.

So, “another angel,” it wasn’t one of the seven angels that we read about in Revelation. But it was “another angel,” most probably Jesus Christ Himself. “And He stood at the altar.” Now, this was the altar of incense. “Having a golden censer; and there was given unto Him much incense, that He should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”

And so now we’re reading again about this altar of incense. Now we first read about the altar of incense way back in the Old Testament, way back in Exodus. And there in Exodus, God is speaking to Moses and telling him that He wants him to establish this tabernacle. In this tabernacle there would be all these special pieces of furniture. One of the pieces of furniture was called “the altar of incense.”

MORNING AND EVENING

It’s also called “the golden altar.” It’s also called “the altar of sweet incense” because God also gives the recipe for the incense. It was made up of sweet spices. The incense was to give off this glorious, beautiful, sweet perfume that filled the holy place of the tabernacle. God wanted it filled with this beautiful, sweet aroma, night and day. Yes, night and day!

That’s why they had to light the incense every morning and every evening. When they lit it in the morning, it would fill the holy place. As the day was coming to an end, it would begin to dissipate. So, the priest would come again and light it again so it would be all night. It would be filled with that beautiful, sweet aroma.

Now, here in Revelation, it’s called “the golden altar which was before the throne.” The amazing thing, ladies, is that we read about this altar of incense back in Exodus. As we read about the tabernacle there, (many people don’t know very much about the tabernacle) but it’s something we should know, because, oh my, it’s not some bit of history a way back there in the beginning of the Bible.

No! It is something that is alive and real, right now! And when John looked into the heavenly realm, he wasn’t seeing some altar of incense back in the tabernacle. He was seeing Heaven, and he was seeing the altar of incense right there in heaven itself! And where was the altar? It was before the throne of God, right before the throne of God.

Where was the altar of incense in the tabernacle? It was right next to the Holy of Holies. It was the last piece of furniture before you went into the Holy of Holies. It was right next to it! Next to the glory of God.

This altar of incense, we’ll get to speak about it more next time. Because this is something that needs to be part of our lives in our homes. It’s not just something, “Oh, well, that was something I read about in the Bible.” No, this is reality that needs to be part of our lives now. Also, part of our lives as we prepare to be those who can face whatever happens to us in life, whatever comes into our lives, and whatever difficult times will come, or if we will face end times in our lifetime, or in our children’s children’s time. Whatever.

But we are going to be people who will be prepared. We are going to be people who have these qualities in our lives now, for these are the qualities that we’re meant to have, to even face life, right now. And prayer is a very big part of it.

Oh, I have some exciting things to tell you about it for next week. So, don’t miss out! Come in again next week. Don’t miss out. Let’s pray.

“Dear loving Father, we thank You so much for the way You teach us from Your Word. And we pray that You will help us to be those who know how to persevere, who never cave in, who never surrender, who never give in. But Lord, that we will go through and endure and persevere with joy, with cheerfulness, with courage. We ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 181: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 3

We continue talking about FAITHFULNESS today. Faithful to our word, faithful to church attendance, faithful to be on time, faithful in the daily etiquette and courtesies of life, and faithful to the end. "Continued acts of faithfulness add up to strength of character, to resiliency and preparation for end times."

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We’re up to number three in our series on five things we need to prepare in our lives as we prepare for the end times. We are talking on faithfulness. Last week we talked about being faithful in our marriage, and in our mothering, and in the very mundane, little things of being a wife and a mother.

I do hope that this last week you began to enjoy doing even the mundane things with joy and delight, and with faithfulness. Oh, ladies, faithfulness is such a great thing. It’s not something to be despised. It’s a great thing, and the more you are faithful, the more faithfulness will become part of your life. Remember, it means “trustworthiness.”

All right. Well, I ended last session with the Scripture, Luke 16:10-12. Let me read it again. “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large things. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with the things of your own?”

Now that’s quite a good challenge, isn’t it? Something I do think we need to think about. Many times, we will be using, well, I hope it’s not many times, but we could be using somebody else’s property, something they own. We’ve borrowed it, and we break it!

Well, what do we do? Well, of course, we reimburse it, don’t we? If we break something that doesn’t belong to us, well, we’re going to reimburse it. If we borrowed something from someone, and we break it, we’d better reimburse it. Maybe we lose it. Well, we’d better buy another one. That is faithfulness. That’s etiquette. So, let’s go on to our next one.

No. 3. KEEP FAITHFUL TO YOUR WORD

I said we’d talk about seven different little practical things in our lives. Number three: keep faithful to your word. That’s part of the Greek word pistos, “to be faithful and trustworthy, to keep to your word, to keep to your promises.” It’s so easy to say things, isn’t it, and not to keep them. We have to really watch what comes out of our mouths. “Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay” (Matthew 5:37).

If we are not sure that we are going to be able to do something, well, let’s not say we’ll do it. Because when it comes out of our mouths, we should keep to it. That’s etiquette. That’s faithfulness. I think it’s something we need to get into the habit of.

Like even for functions. Weddings, parties, birthdays, invitations. Many times, we can say, “Oh, yes, I’ll be coming!” And then, something may happen, and it just works out that we can’t come. But we should always call the people. If something happens, and we can’t fulfill our obligation, at least call and say, “Oh, look, I said I was coming, but so sorry this has happened. And we’re not able to. We’re so sorry about this.” But always communicate.

Because we are a hospitable home, I’ve had so many functions and parties and things, dinners in my home over the years. I couldn’t even count them, there’s so many. And it’s amazing, different parties that we’ve had here, people say, “Yes, I’ll be coming.” And then, they don’t come!

Well, if people call me, that’s fine. That’s understandable. You know that something has happened. But when they don’t call, you think, “Wow! What’s happened? They didn’t turn up. And they didn’t even have the decency, the faithfulness, to call and say they couldn’t come.”

These are very important things. When we say something, we must keep to it. Or if it’s impossible to keep to it, we must let the people know. Train our children this way. I believe it’s so important to train our children in faithfulness.

No. 4. FAITHFULNESS AND ETIQUETTE

Many young people today don’t really even know the normal courtesies and etiquette of life, which takes me on to point number four: faithfulness and etiquette. I believe we should teach our young people, when they go to visit friends at another home, because young people love to get together, they will ask one another to each other’s homes.

Now, tell your young people, if they’re asked to another home, they’re not only going just to hang out with the young people. Remind them to go and speak to the parents. They’re going into their home. Therefore, they need to say, “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so. Thank you so much for allowing me to come into your home and enjoy friendship with your children.”

Teach them that when they leave, that they don’t just leave. They go and say goodbye, not only to the young people, but they also go to the parents, and they say, “Thank you for allowing me to be here. It’s been wonderful. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.”

Now, that is normal courtesy. That is faithfulness. But who does that today? Oh, I’ve had so many parties, as I have said, in our home. I have young people coming in. Many times, those young people don’t even say hello. I might as well not be in the house! Nor do they say goodbye. I’m sure it really isn’t their fault. They haven’t been taught.

Now, we must teach our children these things. It’s part of teaching them how to be faithful. Colin and I have always made it a precedent in our lives that whenever we go somewhere to someone’s home, or we’re invited to a party, or even a wedding, we would never even think of leaving the wedding or whatever it is that we’ve got to without going to the host and hostess and thanking them for inviting us. And telling them how we enjoyed it.

Many times, it comes times to go, and my husband says, “Look, darling, we’ve got to go now. I’m getting tired.” I’ll say, “OK, well, we’d better go find the host and hostess.” We’ll both go around to find both the husband and the wife, to let them know we are leaving, and to thank them for the lovely time.

Now, they have done a big job! They have put on this dinner, this wedding, this party, whatever it was. It is only right that we would let them know.

Once again, why am I saying this? Because of all the hundreds of parties and things that I’ve had in our home, rarely do people ever come and say goodbye! I can’t even believe it. It comes to the end of the night, and gradually everyone’s gone out the door. Nobody comes and says, “Well, thank you for inviting me. It was a great time. Great to be here.”

That’s etiquette! There was a time when nobody would ever think of leaving the house without doing that. They wouldn’t think of it! What has happened? Somehow, we’ve dropped the baton, and parents have not passed on this act of courtesy and faithfulness to the next generation. Can I encourage you to train your children this way? We’ve trained our children. And even now I say, “Don’t forget to do that.”

Recently we had one of our family weddings. Addie and Isaiah were married, Serene’s son. He was married to Addie. Actually, you’ll see their picture on the front cover of the new Above Rubies Magazine that is coming out.

Serene and Sam put on the most beautiful wedding. Sam has got this vision to build this wonderful big barn. We’re already calling it “The Wedding Barn.” It’s going to be such a great place. Well, we had Isaiah and Addie’s wedding there. It wasn’t finished. All we had was the concrete, and the roof, and all rough. The wood that holds up the roof, but nothing was filled in.

But it didn’t matter because it was summer, and it was a glorious, glorious day to have the wedding. But now, their daughter Cherish is getting married to Ben on the 5^th of February. So, Sam says he’s going to have The Wedding Barn ready. It will have to be closed in, because it’s going to be winter.

But anyway, I was talking to Serene afterwards, and I said to Serene, “Serene, just for interest’s sake, how many people came and thanked you before they left? Who came up and said goodbye?” Well, she said, “Not many.”

Actually, I had watched people who had been invited, not family, but other friends. I watched couples; young couples walk out. I knew that they hadn’t gone to Serene and Sam, and I thought, “How sad! They haven’t been taught. They could come to a wedding, enjoy, feast on all the wonderful food, then just leave! Without telling anybody! Without going to the ones who invited them.”

So, let’s change things, shall we? And get back to these little acts of faithfulness. They are so important. These little things add up. These little things add up to great things.

Now, we have a family in our fellowship. Nadia, and they have seven children. I remember talking to Nadia about this one day. There’s something about Nadia. She receives instruction. So, she received this, and she obviously decided she was going to tell her children about this. It’s amazing. Every Sunday when they come to church, and we have fellowship meal, and we hang out. It’s such a glorious time.

But every Sunday, before they leave, in the afternoon sometime, these children will come individually, and they will come up to me. They will say, “Thank you, Nana. Thank you for having us here. We really appreciate it.” It’s so wonderful! I mean, I don’t need that, but I’m so glad that they are doing it. Because they are getting into a habit now, as children, that this what you do! It’s so beautiful, and it’s such a wonderful character trait that’s being added to their lives. It’s really beautiful.

All right. Another meaning of faithfulness is “loyal and loyalty.” I like that. In 3 John 1:5, John is writing to Gaius. He says, “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to the strangers.” John was talking to him about the ways he showed hospitality to the preachers who were traveling through, and to whoever came to his home. He said, “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest.” What a wonderful testimony to have over our lives.

No. 4. FAITHFUL TO CHURCH ATTENDANCE

Here’s another one. Number four. I believe that we should be faithful in church attendance. In preparing, this is actually, this Scripture, you know this Scripture, Hebrews 10:25. Let’s read it this time from the Amplified Classic Translation: “Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together as believers, as is the habit of some people, but admonishing, warning, urging, and encouraging one another, all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.”

This Scripture is encouraging us to get into the habit of faithfully attending church fellowship, whether you go to church on Saturday, or you go to church on Sunday, or whatever church you go to. It doesn’t matter, but we should be faithful, because this Word here, the writers of the Hebrews is saying: “Be faithful now, especially as you see that day coming.”

Well, we’re closer to that day now. And the closer we get, the more faithful we should be to the assembling of ourselves together. Because we’re going to need one another more and more. And it is important to establish that fellowship amongst the brethren now, because church is more than going to a building, and hearing a sermon, and going home.

No, church is the body of believers. Church is the assembling of the saints. It’s the assembling together. It’s the togetherness. God wants us to be a togethering people, because we encourage one another. Our faith is not just a personal faith. It’s a together faith. It’s a you-and-me faith.

This is what the Word of God says in Romans 1:12. It’s a togethering, one-anothering faith. And so, God wants us to establish that. As we do, we will have an assembly. We’ll have people around us who will be there for us when times get more difficult. That’s a lot of what church is about. It’s not only going to hear a sermon.

I was absolutely astounded. I still haven’t got over it, that when this whole thing started last year, and this so-called covid thing began, churches actually stopped meeting. I could not believe it. We were never commanded in the Word to stop meeting, no matter what was happening, no matter what persecution.

What about faith? All around the world, there are Christians who are in countries that have for years had to meet underground. They didn’t stop meeting! And here, people stopped meeting! I can’t believe it! Of course, they had Zoom. “Oh, we’re having Zoom! Oh yes! We’re still getting our messages.”

Well, that’s true. It’s good. You can get a good . . . nothing wrong with Zoom. Get a good message. That’s great. In fact, I’m giving you a message now. I’m not with you, unfortunately. I’d love to be sitting down with you. But that’s not church. Yeah, it’s a Zoom meeting, but it’s not church.

Church is the assembling of yourselves together. And we are commanded not to give it up, that it is to become a habit. To do it more faithfully, even as we approach the end. So, make that a habit in your lives, precious wives and mothers.

You know, there’s always things that happen. Excuses can come. “Oh, this happened. Oh, we won’t make it this morning.” I beg your pardon! No. You decide.  We are people, we are a family who go to church! We meet with the believers at least once a week. These other things that are coming . . .  “Oh, this is happening. This is. . .”

No. We don’t take notice of them. We do the priority. We do what we have to do. I just cannot believe. . . I mean, they’re not hardly valid excuses! They’re just, “Oh, someone came to visit. Oh, I’ve got to go here. Oh, I’ve got to get this done.” People, they don’t come to church, because “Oh, I’ve got to get this done around the house.”

I beg your pardon?? Are we believers, or are we not believers? Do we believe the Word of God, or do we not? The Word says that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together! And yet, so many believers, “Oh, well, a beautiful day. I think I’ll just get out in the garden today or get this done around the back. We need to get this finished.”

Oh, I understand. Life is busy. My, often you don’t get time, but let me tell you, the Word of God says: “Them that honor me, I will honor” (1 Samuel 2:30). You honor the Lord. He will honor you. You’ll get those things done some way. God will enable you when you do what is right.

We show to our families, when we just allow things to come into our lives, “Oh, we won’t be able to go today.” What do our children see? You can say it all you like, “Oh, Lord God, You are the pre-eminent One in our lives. Oh, we love You! Lord God, we worship You!” And your children see, well, you’re not even going to church because, just some excuse, or something you want to do that’s more important.

We show to our children the real priorities in our lives by our actions. So, let’s be faithful. Faithful. Faithful now, ladies. Let’s get into the habit of being faithful, faithful now, and we will be much more ready for the end time. I believe it with all my heart.

No. 5. BE FAITHFUL TO BE ON TIME

Number five: be faithful to be on time. On time for church. On time for functions. On time for appointments. That’s being trustworthy. The meaning of “faithfulness.” Are we trustworthy? Can people trust our word? Can they trust us to be on time? Oh, I know that’s not always easy. And there’s often things that cause us to be late. And I’m not perfect either.

But I believe we should seek to be on time. I grew up with a father who believed in being on time. He didn’t only believe in being on time, he believed in being early. He was never late. He was always early for an appointment. He was always early for church. He would be making sure we got ready in time to be there early for church.

That wasn’t easy, because my mother was always late. We used to have this saying, “She was late for her wedding, and she was late ever since.” But he would always be hurrying her along. She was always finishing dishes and trying on this hat to make sure it matched that dress, and so on.

But anyway, he made sure she got there on time, even though he would rather get there early, because he had things that were holding him back. But that was his premise in life: be early. It is a good thing.

I know some mums who will set their watches for half an hour ahead for Sunday. They do it the night before. They’re just half an hour ahead. If they were going to be half an hour late, well, actually they will get there on time. That’s a good idea. You might like to try that one.

But being late is actually selfish, isn’t it? Except, I’m not talking about mothers with little children. Oh, my, I know it’s not easy. That’s why it’s quite a good idea to set your watch ahead, so that you will make it.

Back in our day, can I tell you? I’m really back in the old, old days. So, I can give you a bit of history. But when we were growing up, this was normal. Not just in our home. It was normal in the homes of all the believers. What we would do, going to church, didn’t start on Sunday. It started the night before.

Always the night before. So, Saturday evening everybody would have a bath. Oh, we didn’t have showers in those days. So, we’d all have our bath, all washed our hair. We were all beautifully clean for Sunday. And before we went to bed, we had to lay out all our clothes for Sunday.

Back then, that meant not only your dress, but your hat, and your handbag, and your shoes. Of course, we would wear shoes. But everything to go with it. So, you had it. You didn’t go round Sunday morning, looking round, “Whoo, where is everything? Can’t find it!” All the little children, you can’t find any socks, and you can’t even find shoes! Help!

But no, you do it the night before. So, everything is done. And then, of course, we would even cook on the day before, ready for Sunday, so we didn’t even have to cook on Sunday. We started the day before.

I think that was because it was a priority. They didn’t suddenly think, “Oh, goodness me, it’s Sunday! Here, church, help!” OK. But no, they were gearing up to it, looking forward to it, and preparing for it. I think that would be a good habit to get back into. Don’t you?

Then, of course, we would put our Sunday best. Have you ever heard of that phrase in your life?  “Sunday best”? Well, that’s what we used to call it. Because we would always have clothes that were specifically for Sunday. The best clothes in our wardrobe, usually just one special dress that was our Sunday dress. Or maybe we just might have a couple of others too.

But many times, people only had a Sunday dress, because we were not quite as affluent as we are today where nobody would understand “Sunday best,” because help, you go to your wardrobe, and you think, “Oh, what will I wear?” You’ve got about twenty dresses, and you don’t know which one to wear!

We’re living in a totally different era. Also, people don’t even usually wear their Sunday best today. They wear whatever they feel like. Sometimes you think they were getting ready to go to the beach! Or just so casually.

I do believe, I do believe that we should dress up for Sunday, because it’s that reverence. We are going to worship God. We read in the Old Testament how the priests were not to come into the Holy Place with the clothes they wore outside. They had to change their garments before they came in. They changed their garments to minister unto the Lord.

Then we read about how when Jehosophat was coming against that great army. He sent out the worshippers to go ahead. They got dressed in “holy attire,” in their beautiful worship robes, when they were worshipping the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:21). They didn’t use the same clothes they wore to hang out in. No, they changed them. I think there is something about dressing nicely for church.

No. 6. FAITHFUL IN COMMUNICATION

OK, time is going, so let me carry on here. Number six: faithful in communication. Oh, that’s so important, isn’t it, too? It’s another etiquette thing, really. Communicating with your husband. That’s so important. Families communicating together.

We raised our children to always, especially as they got older. Of course, when they’re young you know where they are every moment. But as they get older, and they’re going out to do their own things, we always told our children they must not ever leave the home until they tell us where they are going and what time they will be home. That is etiquette, and it’s also learning to be faithful to one another.

In a home, we’re a family, and we communicate together. That is something also very important we must train our children in so that becomes part of their lives. When they get married, they will also still be communicating. They don’t just go and do their own thing.

OK, so many people do that today. Just, oh, do their own thing, whatever they’re thinking of doing. Off they go! But no, we don’t live unto ourselves. We are to live for one another. In a marriage, we communicate to one another where we’re going, what we’re doing. In a family, we teach our children the same, so they will always tell us.

It becomes a habit. See, these things become habit. Habits of our lives. These beautiful faithful habits.

No. 7. FAITHFUL TO FINISH WHAT WE START

That’s an important thing, too, isn’t it? So easy to start some project with a hiss and a roar and then to peter out. It’s a good thing in faithfulness to seek to finish. Keep plodding on.

I read once that to get a vision for something is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. I guess that would be my testimony of doing Above Rubies which I started well over 44 years ago, with this great vision that God put upon my heart. It was so strong. It was such a burden. So, I just started it. Wow!

I didn’t think of the future. But as I kept going, because I’ve always felt and thought to have this attribute of faithfulness in my life. Because I started that, I just kept faithful to it. It has taken much self-sacrifice and pouring out of my life. But it’s been my joy also.

I just kept going. I’ve just kept plodding on, and here I am, over 44 years later, still doing it. I’ve known so many other Christian magazines that have started and have finished. So many of them! I guess it’s just by God’s grace I have kept going.

But I know it’s only because I have kept plodding on. I could have stopped a thousand times, but I just kept plodding on. It’s not for any ability of mine. I don’t really have any great abilities at all. Really, all I have, is I keep plodding on. I think this is a very important part of life, to just keep plodding on.

Paul, what was his testimony? 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” He was faithful to the end.

Revelation 2:10: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

In Revelation 2:13, it talks about Antipas. Jesus said of Antipas, “Antipas was my faithful martyr." Faithful, pistos. Martyr. Once again, it’s amazing how many Scriptures there are about when John looked into the heavenly realm. And he saw those who were there. So many of them were there because they were martyred.

I’ll give you these references. We haven’t got time to read them: Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 17:6; and Revelation 20:4. They all talk about those who were there. But they were martyred to get there. But they were faithful unto the end. I think of that Scripture in Hebrews. It’s talking about all those witnesses who are looking on. Those witnesses, that is “martyr” again. It’s the word martus, martyr.

The Bible talks about those witnesses in heaven who are looking on. It’s the word “martyr.” They all got there by being martyred. *

Matthew 10:22: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

Matthew 24:13: “He that shall endure to the end shall be saved.”

Hebrews 3:14 (New Living Translation): “For if we are faithful to the end, trust in God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.”

I just wrote down this quote:

“Continued acts of faithfulness add up to strength of character, to resiliency, and preparation for the end times.”

Let me say it again. “Continued acts of faithfulness add up to strength of character, to resiliency, and preparation for the end times.”

My prayer for you lovely ladies is Jesus’ prayer for Peter when He said, “I have prayed for you, that thy faith fail not.” (Luke 22:32).

Keep being faithful, dear mother, in your home, in the little things of life. As you are faithful in them, they will add up to great things.

“Dear Father, we pray that You will help each one of us to be faithful, to be faithful in the few things, to be faithful in the things that we face each day. We ask that we will become strong in faithfulness. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.