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Pass on the Blessing, No. 190
1 Peter 4:10, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
God pours out His gifts upon us and He wants us to pour them out upon others. The word ‘gift’ is the Greek word charisma which means a gift of grace. Each one of us has received grace from God, but God’s grace is manifold. It is revealed in numberless ways as we need it. As God pours out His grace upon us in a certain way, He does not want us to keep it to ourselves, but to pour it out on others.
We must not do this in a haphazard way, but with a serving heart. The Scripture says that we are to minister the grace to one another. The word ‘minister’ is diakonea in the Greek. It means ‘To serve with an emphasis on work. In a practical sense it means to wait on a table, to serve at dinner, to care for someone’s needs.’
We see a lovely example of this when Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law who was very sick with a fever. The moment he touched her the fever left her. She received a healing grace of God and immediately poured it back on others. After being healed, she didn’t sit back on the sofa with her feet up, glowing in the joy of her healing. Instead, “she arose, and ministered unto them.” (Matthew 8:15). She immediately got up and prepared a meal for everyone in the home. She ministered back her blessing in a practical and physical way to touch the lives of others.
We may receive a spiritual blessing, but we can pour it back on others in a practical way by serving them. As you receive a blessing from God you can pour it back on your family by creating a lovely meal for them and serving them. When God graciously provides you with a home, either purchased or rented, you can minister back the grace that you have received by showing hospitality and opening up your home to others.
In Acts 19:22 Paul talks about Timothy and Erastus who “ministered unto him.” Once again, the word is diakoneo. Timothy and Erastus received the grace of salvation through the ministry of Paul. They returned this grace by serving Paul in a sacrificial and practical way.
Matthew 25:44 tells us that we can pour out God’s grace by serving those who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, in prison or who are strangers.
Angels love to diakoneo (to serve). If they do, surely we can. (Matthew 4:11; Hebrews 1:114) Recently I read about General William Booth who founded the Salvation Army along with his wife Catherine. During his last days he was not able to attend a conference because of ill health. They asked if he would send a written message instead to inspire the people. The message arrived. Instead of a long exhortation, it contained one word, “Others.”
Next time God blesses you, which will be some time today, because God is pouring out His grace upon us continually, respond by pouring it out upon someone or everyone in your home in a practical serving way.
Pour out God’s grace on others.
NANCY CAMPBELL PRAYER:“Father, I am a continual recipient of your grace. Please help me to pour your grace out upon others, especially those in my own home. Amen.” AFFIRMATION:
"Others, Lord, yes others, let this my motto be, Help me to live for others, that I may live like Thee.
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Risks Worth Taking
Many people are amazed at the risks we were willing to take to adopt five teenage children we had never met. And from a war-torn country. We already had seven children! They are even more amazed at the beautiful reflection of God’s mercy, grace, and love they see in our family today. From the beginning, well-meaning people and supposed experts laid out their fears for us. Their list of potential risks was long! We heard everything from, “You’ll need a Yellow School Bus to get around” to “It’s dangerous to upset the age order in your home by adopting children older than the ones you already have.” Then there were behavior/abuse issues (sexual being the scariest) the children might have suffered, and would possibly act out in our home and with our biological children. Of course, we were also warned of the potential for AIDS/HIV, other diseases from Africa, war-trauma, etc. As a result, we prepared for the worst, hoped for the best, and were pleasantly surprised. Some of the obvious risks were the huge financial implications of adopting five teenagers internationally. We knew we would be radically changing our family’s comfort zone. In the year 1999, my precious father died and left our family resources that allowed us to change our lifestyle quite a bit. My husband built our house, and stayed home to help teach, train and disciple our children. That could change if we adopted five more children; he may have to go back to work outside of the home. Something Bigger than Ourselves! We absolutely love our Dad-built house and property in the country, but we could not allow it to be an idol in our life and get in the way of our serving God. We needed to be willing to offer it all up on the altar of God and open our hearts to the possibility of not continuing in this comfortable lifestyle. Truthfully, we always wanted to be a part of something much bigger than ourselves. We had a sense of urgency to put ourselves on the line in whatever way God was calling us. We kept asking ourselves the question, “What do we want the end of our life to speak of?” Glenn and I had just been through a season of losing all our parents, our few remaining grandparents, and even a few friends our age to illness and disease. Life became all too fragile and eternal life’s reality became extremely REAL. We were ready to be living for what was REAL, painfully aware life here on earth was much shorter than we once thought. The hole left in our lives from the death of our parents was significant. We all noticed it. Holidays, birthdays, fun-times and weekends spent with our folks… now they were gone. Somehow, the vacuum left inside made room for a strong call on our lives. It was a call that spoke to our spirits and encouraged us that we were equipped for “such a time as this. For 19 years, we did what so many other Christian families similar to ourselves had been doing. We focused on our family by home-centered living, learning to parent with love and grace. We learned to home-school with God’s design in mind for each child while trying to discover their personal interest and learning style. Our babies were born at home, we eat healthy and take care of ourselves. I have always held the word ‘liberty’ dear in my heart. We named our youngest daughter, Liberty. Now, God has used that word to bring my faith to a place of action with my precious Liberian children. The Latin root for Liberia is liber meaning free. The Country’s motto is, “The love of Liberty brought us here." It reminds me of the quote, “True biblical liberty is a paradox! You’re never truly free unless you’re bound… to Christ.” I think this quote explains why we’ve sacrificed our comfortable life and risked so much. No man is ever truly free unless he is bound to his Savior. We are all bound to something in life; if not the Lord and His desires, we will serve ourselves and our own sinful nature. Missionaries in our own home!As we considered adopting these five children, we realized we were making a huge decision. I needed to be extra certain that I was not deceived in my emotions or in my heart. Experience had taught me my emotions were open game for the enemy’s deception! As we stepped out in radical faith, we were aware that many, many changes would be coming. For us, it would be like becoming missionaries in our own home. To my prayers, I added fasting (something that doesn’t normally come easy to me). We had been praying and trusting God could, and would, make His will known to us. I am blessed to report that He did in so many miraculous ways. Someone said to me recently that adoption should not just be about rescuing children but about making a family. True! But why does "making a family" have to negate the fact that we are rescuing children? We are making a family--a lovely family--and we have also rescued children in the meantime. The first two children, Boto (now Botianna) and Lightning, we chose to adopt because they had only months left before they would become un-adoptable. This pulled on our heartstrings. How could we let these precious children, who had been in this orphanage for ten years, reach this status of being un-adoptable? These children know we rescued them, feel rescued, and are thankful we rescued them! Our children arrived home October 5, 2006. It is now four months later and they are an integral part of our lives. I periodically check with our younger biological children to see how they are really doing. I wish the world could see the joy and hear the responses. They absolutely love their new brothers and sisters! I actually see my children having beautiful compassion in their hearts for their new siblings and understanding for their weaknesses. They are getting missionary hearts. Our two oldest biological children, Shepherd and Prayse, have both been to Liberia, and can’t wait to go back the minute funds are available. Shepherd is developing “Liberty Vision Productions” comprised of himself, his video camera, and a great purpose - to bring people who will never go to Liberia “the eyes to see and the ears to hear”. He is developing vision for his future and desires to use his video talents to assist the missionary aid effort of Children Concerned. Prayse strongly desires to go back to Liberia and love on the children who remain. Since coming home from Africa, she is gaining vision for her future and a life in ministry wherever her mission field may be. Even the younger children Joshua (9), Robert (8), Hope (7), and even Noah (5) have pen pals in Liberia. They are always asking their new brothers and sisters to tell them more about their friends there. They want to save their money and go to the dollar store to buy something for their friends in Liberia. Our home is better than before! How have our Liberian children fitted in? Botianna (17) is quickly becoming a wonderful mother’s helper. She absolutely adores Liberty and loves to take care of her for me. Likewise, Liberty adores Botianna and enjoys going to her. She has faithfully taken over managing the laundry. Wow! She helps with cooking and sometimes makes the entire meal. She does this especially well when we eat African. She is learning to make 30 loaves of bread on “bread day” and loves it. She has a GREAT personality and a beautiful, contagious smile. We would not want to be without her, and being the oldest Liberian, we all look to her for understanding. She takes her responsibilities in our family seriously. We all love her so much! Andrew (16) is the calm, reserved one. His nature is to take things more seriously than the rest of us but, thankfully, he can be playful and laugh. He thrives on responsibility, is trustworthy, honest and focused. I can always trust him to speak the truth because his conscience is strong. I’ve so connected to him as a son, and we’ve had many long heart-to-heart conversations that have proven glorious. He will make a wonderful father and leader one day! Our home is a more beautiful and wonderful place because he is in it. Lightning (15) has surprised us all. When we processed our adoption for him, all we heard about him was that “he loves soccer”! We live way out in the country and had no plans of busying ourselves with a sport like soccer for only one of our children. We thought he would grieve this activity. Little did we know Lightning has so many interests! His younger brothers think he is a genius for all his creativity. He amazes us constantly. No one in this house can speak too highly of Lightning; we all adore him. Lightning doesn’t know the phrase “I’m bored”. None of them do, thankfully! His other absolute number one passion around here is food. He loves to eat! He’s so excited because he can tell his fingernails and hair condition have improved greatly since coming home, not to mention, he loves to hop on those scales! Lightning’s smile can light up a room! In fact, it does almost everywhere we go. When we are out people always ask, “Does he always have such a big smile on his face?” and we get to say “Yes!” Cherish (12) is soft, sweet, tender and mild. She is sensitive and just a little girl inside. Cherish came here obviously wounded and bound; she had a hard time giving and receiving affection. However, she has been the most rewarding in terms of seeing her set free. One day, in the first few weeks of their being home, I had one of those migraines that got out of control. Cherish had never seen me sick and she could not stop crying for me. The next day while I was in recovery she laid all day cuddled up with me and never left my side. She is a nurturer and loves babies! I am amazed at how quickly we all came to cherish Cherish! Kabiera (12) has the most expressive personality you could ever want to see, or should I say, experience. She is the queen of facial expressions! One day we were asking each child what some of his or her favorite things were. Andrew answered, “Laughing at Kabiera!” We all could relate. She is definitely a highlight to our home. She is spunky, cute, affectionate, warm and friendly. Just today, I had the privilege of leading her to the Lord. What a joy! Her heart was soft and pliable for Jesus, ready to hear and receive the gospel message. The children had all heard enough Scriptures in the orphanage to have a foundation, but they still need one-on-one, individual discipleship. They need a personal relationship with wise and Godly parents. They are so receptive if parents can walk in lots and lots of love, patience, and grace! The mission field is right in our home! Whatever risks we took we feel were worth taking! We are all better people today because we stepped out in faith and recognized that our ministry, once again, really is in our home! ALICIA AHLERS Pendleton, Kentucky,. USA
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Called To Queenhood
“Come to me, my bride, my queen you shall be.” Song of Songs 4:8 Knox There is a quality of queenliness in every woman. You innately desire it. Your husband desires it, and as king, he wants you to be his queen. We see it in our young daughters and granddaughters. They want to be princesses. They want to dress up as princesses when they play ‘dress ups’ -- they are subconsciously practicing to be queens. They love to play ‘mommies and daddies’ with their dolls -- they are intuitively preparing for motherhood. We don’t teach them to do this. They do it naturally… until their minds are re-programmed by the humanistic propaganda of our modern society.
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I Love Aprons
WHERE’S MY APRON? What would I do without my aprons? They are an indispensable part of my homemaking equipment and I have a pile sitting in my pantry.
Fully Female
In the beginning God created male and female. He did not create two males, rather a male and a female. Together they make one whole, yet each one is different from the other. To want to be like man, fulfilling his function is to be deceived. Droves of women, unthinkingly, have followed the feminist agenda of the last few decades and turned from their female role to compete in the man’s sphere. Inevitably, we have not only seen the devastating breakdown in family life, but the weakening of manhood. It is time to break through the haze of deception and get back to who God created us to be. If you were born female, you may as well embrace it with all your heart and live your femaleness to the full. To do anything less is to shortchange the destiny of your life! What does it mean to be fully female? May God give us understanding as we look at an acrostic of this word, FEMALE.
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Mothers Are Memory Makers
Will our children have precious memories of their childhood? Or will they be bad? Memories provide a basis for the future lives of our children for blessing, or for bitterness and hurt. Happy memory making is one of the most beautiful things we can do as a mother. God is very interested in preserving memories from generation to generation. If it is important for God to organize things for us to remember, don't you think it should be important to us too? Let's look at a few of the things God wanted His people to do to help them remember His glorious acts.
Encourage One Another
Encouragement is part of God's character. Our God is called the God of comfort, patience and consolation. He is the God who "comforts those who are cast down."
Should Children Be In Church?
I am reminded of William Bradford's' 1623 Thanksgiving Proclamation: "All ye Pilgrims with your wives and little ones (emphasis mine), do gather at the Meeting House, on the hill...there to listen to the pastor, and render Thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings." The early Pilgrims lived their lives according to the Word of God. As you read the following Scriptures, you will notice how Biblically familiar this proclamation sounded.
Change The Mood In Your Home!
Do you use a timer when cooking and baking? Are you like me? If I don’t use my timer, I end up with burnt offerings. I am usually doing so many things at once, that I’m prone to forget that I have put something in the oven. Often I’ll put the bread in the oven to bake and then come downstairs to my office to answer Above Rubies letters. If I don’t bring the timer with me, I’ll forget all about it – then guess what kind of bread we have to eat?
Certainty In Uncertain Times
What are the anchors that will hold us strong and secure in difficult times? We’ll find these anchors in the Word of God, which gives us the principles for all of life – for good times and for bad. I am a great advocate for having a biblical basis for everything I believe and everything I base my life on. If I can’t find it in the Word of God, it is too shaky for me. Hebrews 12:27 tells us that only “those things which cannot be shaken may remain.” When we stake our life on the principles in God’s Word, we will never be shaken. Therefore let’s look at what God has to say. What are our anchors?
God Loves Feasts
We should look forward to coming to the table, not just because we are hungry, but for the joy of being together. We should be full of anticipation. It should be full of fun and laughs. We enjoy eating at our home. We enjoy the taste of our cooking. As we eat our evening meal I often exclaim, “I feel sorry for everyone else in the world. I wish they could eat what we are eating right now.” Please forgive me if I sound biased. I just enjoy my cooking and relish the flavor.
Are You Kind? - No. 94
2 Chronicles 35:26-27, “Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness (kindnesses), according to that which is written in the law of the Lord, and his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.” (2 Chronicles 32:32)
What a wonderful obituary over the life of Josiah. Josiah was a mighty king of Judah. He was a radical reformist. He spearheaded the greatest purging revival against evil in the land of Israel. He instigated the best Passover feast that was ever held from the time of Samuel. But the first thing the inspired Word of God records over his life is “his kindnesses.” This attribute meant more to God than all his mighty acts. The Hebrew word is “chesed”, one of the most beautiful words in the Old Testament. It means, “kindness, grace, mercy, beauty and unfailing love.” It is the same word that is used of God’s lovingkindnesses. It also involves forgiveness and is the closest word to “charis”, the New Testament word for grace. Each Friday evening that we are home, we love to celebrate a Shabbat meal and invite different friends and family to enjoy this precious time with us. At this meal, the husband reads Proverbs 31 and blesses his wife and children. As we sat at our table last Shabbat and each husband eulogized his wife, I was touched by the testimony of one couple. He held his wife’s hand and shared many beautiful things about her, but the preeminent attribute he declared over her life was “her kindness.” “Oh she is so very kind,” he exclaimed. “She is so kind to me, to our children, and even to her animals.” What a beautiful testimony to be spoken over us at the end of our lives. But how more powerful if it could be a daily testimony. Can we allow our kind and loving God to pour out His kindnesses through us? Our God is not only kind, but abundantly kind. God’s kindness is always recorded with an adjective. Exodus 34:6 “Abundant in kindness.” Nehemiah 9:17, “Thou art a God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.” Psalm 31:21, “Blessed be the Lord: for he hath showed me His marvelous kindness.” (Psalm 17:7) Psalm 36:7, “How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God.” Psalm 69:16, “Thy lovingkindness is good.” Psalm 119:76, “Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort.” Isaiah 54:8, “With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.”
It is not enough to be kind. It is not enough to do kind things. We must also speak kind words. The testimony of the Above Rubies woman in Proverbs 31:26 is that “She opens her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” This is the same Hebrew word, “chesed”. It is not enough to speak kind words sometimes, or when everyone is being nice to us. It is not enough to speak kindly to people at church on Sunday. Kind words should flow from our lips in the midst of our home, to those who are closest to us - our husband and children. It is a law in the depths of our being. It is part of our lives and therefore pours out from our lips, even when people speak unkindly to us. Love from NANCY CAMPBELL PRAYER: “Oh God, I confess to you the unkind words I have said to my husband. Please forgive me. Forgive me for the many unkind words I have spoken about people. Oh kind and loving God, I need to be more kind. I long to be saturated in your kindness. Please fill me with your lovingkindess so that I can pour it out to others. Anoint me to speak kind words, first to those in my home, and then to those around me. Amen.”
AFFIRMATION: I will not be remembered for my great deeds, but for my kindnesses.
The Shabbat Meal
Isaiah 58:13, “Call the Sabbath a DELIGHT.”
Years ago I read a book of the history of the Jews. In this book, a Jewish man stated that the whole of the week revolved around Shabbat. They would start anticipating it during the middle of the week leading up to it, and then ponder on the joy of it for the next few days until it was time to lead up to it again. When I first read that, I thought it was rather “over the top”! However, now that we celebrate the Shabbat meal ourselves, it has become my own experience. This is a reprint of a Devotional I wrote a while ago. You may read it by clicking the title below
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