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GOD'S HISTORY MAKERS

"An old Spanish proverb reads: 'An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.' " - Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations

Proverbs 30:11 - We live in a generation, as the Scripture describes, that curses their fathers and does not bless their mothers. Thanks to the NOW - National Organization for Woman - and other various and sundry feminist groups, the title and profession of "Mother" has been belittled and desecrated. Their attitude is diametrically opposed to the Biblical concept of Motherhood. As we will see throughout this message, God holds Mothers in high esteem and expects us to do the same.

I believe that everyone would have to agree that a Mother plays a very important role in each child's life. Because they normally spend much more time with the children than the Fathers do in their early and impressionable years, they have so much more influence on them in shaping them for the future - whether for good or for evil.

The Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations offers us some applicable quotes illustrating this point -

" 'A good mother,' it has been remarked, 'is worth a hundred schoolmasters.' "

"Thomas Edison was considered to be a dull scholar, but later in life he confessed, 'My mother was sure of me: I could not fail.' "

"When Napoleon, alarmed at the moral degeneracy of his day and the frightful economic conditions, was asked, 'What does France need most?' he answered, 'Mothers.' "

"Napoleon the Great once said, 'My opinion is that the future good or bad conduct of a child depends entirely on the mother.' The pages of history and biography furnish countless proofs of this. Who, for example, is surprised that Lord Byron of England, that brilliant genius, led a dissolute life that brought him to the grave at age 36, when we know that his mother was a vain, violent, revengeful woman, so devoid of sympathy as to jest at the child's natural infirmity? On the other hand, recall Hannah's strength of character, and you have the secret of her son Samuel's life?"

No doubt about it! Motherhood is a noble calling of God which Satan hates when it is carried out in the way of righteousness.

Proverbs 1:8 - It's no wonder that the Devil opposes it so much so in the world that we live in, for it is the Mother who reinforces the instruction of the Father as Law to the children - "My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother." Because she is generally with her little ones throughout the day, she is constantly defining for them what is right and wrong in each situation that they face or encounter.

In Proverbs 31:1, King Solomon referred to the "prophecy" that his Mother taught him.
It's the duty of every Mother to teach her children the good that they must do and the evil that they must avoid at all costs. What a golden opportunity that she has to mold and fashion her little ones' minds so that they will become all that God designs for them to be.

A Good Mother is a disciplinarian. She is after one thing and one thing alone in her children, and that is Foolishness.

Proverbs 29:15 tells us that "...a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." Therefore, she is going to try her utmost to restrict and restrain her babies and teach them not to follow their own inclinations. She will not pamper nor indulge them, but discipline them, knowing that if she fails in this area, these same children will bring her future reproach and shame.

Proverbs 15:20 says - It is a "foolish man" which "despiseth his mother."
Proverbs 10:1 adds - It is a "foolish son" which is "the heaviness of his mother."

Raising a "foolish" son or daughter causes her much sorrow and the deepest of grief. Therefore, she will do all that is within the dictates of the Holy Bible to drive out any foolishness out of her children.

Even though she may be stern at times and very restrictive, her children will rise up and bless her some day. Mixed with the strictness will always be the tenderness, gentleness, mildness, and sacrificial love unlike any other love which she will continuously demonstrate to her own.

This is so aptly portrayed in the beautiful Scriptures found in the book of the Prophet Isaiah -

Isaiah 49:15 - "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?"
Isaiah 66:13 - "As one whom his mother comforteth..."

The love of a Mother for her baby is the strongest attachment in the entire world. She nourishes and loves this little one because he or she is a part of her own being. She feels great compassion and tenderness and cannot part from her child, especially when she is nursing him or her for her own breasts remind her of her obligation to supply nourishment for her own.

Oh, yes! Motherhood is a noble calling from God.
Every Mother is called of God to be His History Maker.

The moment her baby is born, the Lord deposits in her being a power unlike any other. It's called Influence. She has the God-given power to effect her children for great good and to become all that He designed for them to be.

Ezekiel 16:44 - The Prophet Ezekiel referred to an ancient proverb known and accepted among God's people which typified a Mother's Great Power over her own through her words, actions, and attitude - "...As is the mother, so is her daughter."

The world may deny the Prestige of Motherhood. But we know that the devil wouldn't fight it if it were not so.

The Bible repeatedly demonstrates for us this concept of Power and Influence coming from the Mother, especially in the books of 1 and 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles where it gives the accounts of the kings of Israel and Judah respectively. Interestingly enough, after each introduction of the king, there follows a statement telling us, as the particular readers, who the Mother of the king was.

Read the following examples with awe and amazement -

• 2 Chronicles 12:13; 1 Kings 14:21 - "...Rehoboam was one and forty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem...And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess."

• 2 Chronicles 13:1-2 - "...began Abijah to reign over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah..."

• 2 Chronicles 20:31; 1 Kings 22:42 - "And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi."

• 2 Chronicles 22:2; 2 Kings 8:26 - "Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri."

• 2 Chronicles 24:1; 2 Kings 12:1 - "Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beersheba."

• 2 Chronicles 25:1; 2 Kings 14:2 - "Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem."

• 2 Chronicles 26:3; 2 Kings 15:2 - "Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem."

• 2 Chronicles 27:1; 2 Kings 15:33 - "Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok."

• 2 Chronicles 29:1; 2 Kings 18:2 - "Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah."

• 2 Kings 21:1 - "Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah."

• 2 Kings 21:19 - "Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah."

• 2 Kings 22:1 - "Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath."

• 2 Kings 23:31 - "Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah."

• 2 Kings 23:36 - "Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Ramah."

• 2 Kings 24:8 - "Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nahushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem."

What is absolutely remarkable is that in many of the accounts of the kings of Judah and Israel, after naming the Mother of the particular king, the Holy Spirit followed the account with one of the following statements -

"And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord" or "And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord."

Coincidence? I don't think so! I believe that the Lord wanted to get a message across to us through the Holy Scriptures that Mothers are His History Makers!

Mothers, it's time like never before to take your stations in life and obey the Word of the Lord to you on behalf of your children!

I pray that you will never see your position in life in a demeaning way ever again
On the contrary, I pray that the gravity and soberness of your calling will overtake you, and that you will seriously arise and take your place in your home as God's History Maker.
You may not know who or what your children may be some day. But God does!
And he has "planted" you in the place of Great Influence to steer your children in the direction that He would have them to go.

No matter where your children may be today - they may be serving the Lord or they may not.
No matter what - rise up this day and use your God-given influence.
It's never too late to give godly counsel and advice.

For all the Mothers in the Body of Christ around the world -

May You Have the Most Glorious and Happy Mother's Day ever!
May God's Precious Anointing come upon you like never before to fulfill His calling on your life to be His History Maker!
Amen & Amen!


Connie

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