Jentezen Franklin - The Spirit of Motherhood
Hello, and welcome to a very special edition of Kingdom Connection. And I really wanna wish all of the mothers watching a very happy Mothers Day, especially my own mother, she's 88 years old. Every day that I'm in town I try to have breakfast with her, and we hang out in the mornings, and maybe eat a little biscuit or something and have cups of coffee and reminisce and talk and pray together. And she is such a blessing. She's been a mega-blessing to our whole ministry. And she is very special to me as I know your mother, and I know my wife's mother, Pat, may be watching today so we love you, and we honor you. I believe today's message is exactly what you need to hear because motherhood is not an easy thing. A mother's influence on her children is the most powerful tool that she can have. I want us to go into this service that was recorded live, right here at Free Chapel in Gainesville, Georgia. Mothers, this message is just for you. I believe everybody will be blessed by what you hear, but I want you to really lean in. And we want to wish you again, a happy Mother's Day.
I wanna go for just a few moments to the book of Judges, the Old Testament book of Judges 5, and I wanna speak to you today. I know I'm gonna direct this message to the mothers of the house and the women that are here. But I do think that it will speak to every man, and every young person. And I want you to open your heart and let the word of God take effect. Judges 5, I'll begin reading with verse 6, "In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael," notice this, "the highways were deserted," I'll explain that in a moment, "the travelers walked along by the byways". They took back paths and cuts through the woods because the roads were not safe. Village life ceased, the home, the family, it ceased in Israel. "Until I, Deborah, arose," arose, "a mother in Israel".
These two verses from the song that Deborah wrote are pretty amazing, and she was an incredible, incredible woman. She was the fourth Judge in the lineage of Judges, they're seven in book of Judges, and God raised up a Judge when the nation would get off course. And many of them are famous Judges like Samson was a Judge, and Ehud was a Judge, and Shamgar, great Old Testament story of Shamgar, who... I don't have time to tell you about it, but it's a beautiful story. But out of all of the that, God chose this woman, Deborah to be a Judge. A Judge was someone whose demeanor, and nature, and wisdom, and the way they handled themselves had such respect in the community that when the community and people got off, and had hard questions, and situations to deal with, they would judge that situation.
And God raised up this woman named Deborah, as a judge, a major leader in a male dominated society. She was not the norm. She was a judge, not just there, but she decided, she was the deciding factor in situations concerning the culture in the nation of Israel. But what I want you to notice is the Bible said that she was raised up when a man by the name of King Jabin who was an evil, evil Canaanite leader, for 20 years, oppressed, attacked, and enslaved the nation of Israel. He was cruel, he was mean, he was wicked, he tried to destroy everything that Israel believed in, their God. Tried to make them worship multiple idol gods. And the Bible said the way he did that is, he occupied the highways and the roads.
So that if you travelled it was not a safe journey. And it was in that kind of culture that Deborah said, "I arose, I took a stand as a mother in Israel, not as a warrior". And she was. She fought, she literally fought, and pulled out her sword, but she didn't say, "I took a stand when I saw the road that they were wanting to take my family down was dangerous, and detrimental". She said, "I did not arise as a warrior, I did not arise as a judge, I did not arise as a prophetess," although I was... She was all of those. She said, "The thing that I recognized, and I knew that could turn the nation around, is I arose as a mother. The spirit of motherhood came on me". And as a mother she said, "I decided enough is enough. You're not gonna send my babies down that road, that road won't lead to life, that road won't lead to freedom that road will not lead to victory, that road will not lead to God". And it was a mother who said, "If the men can't change the nation, and the direction that our children and our children's children are going".
It's time for the mothers to stand up with the spirit of motherhood and say, "These roads are dangerous they're wanting to take our families down". But as a mother, she stood up there's an amazing verse I preached a whole sermon on this one time 1 Samuel 27:10, "When Achish, the king said to David, 'Where have you made a road today? Where have you built a highway?' Where is the road that you're building taking us to? That's a good question every day of your life you're building a road to heaven or to hell. You're building a road in your thinking to God or away from God. You're building a road for your family that is going to take them into..." Toward God and goodness and the truth of this book or you're building a road going in the opposite direction.
In Deborah's time the roads were dangerous, and she saw that the roads were detrimental to the welfare of her children and her children's children. And she said to herself, "My children are not going to go down those wrong roads. What they are sending, and the direction they're sending our families in is not right". And she said, "We're gonna fix these roads". That's what I like. I don't like just talking about the negative. She said, "If there's no men in Israel that'll get the job done, you get a mama bear on the job. You get a mama who's upset about the way and the direction they're sending her babies, and I guarantee you she'll get something done. Her children", she said, "I'm gonna fix these roads. We're gonna build roads that we know will make it".
This new stuff will not keep a family together this new stuff will not take them to Heaven. This new stuff of whether you can't believe if you're a man or a woman biologically, by looking in the mirror that road will not lead to happiness, peace, and a good family. We've got to have a spirit of motherhood. Proverbs 31 gives the description of the quintessential mother, and it begins to describe her, and it says, "The perfect, and beautiful, and elite mother," that he describes in his writing says, "Her price is far above rubies," she's not for sale. "Her husband trusts her, and she has no need of spoils". One translation said, "She's on top of everything".
This is the kind of spirit of motherhood that has to come on a whole generation of mothers. She's on top of it. If something's going on with her children. If something's going on in her school. If something's going on in her world, in her babies, she's on top of it. She does good and not evil. She seeks wool and flax, and she works willingly with her hands. She's a worker, she's a doer. She gets busy, she makes things happen, she makes things happen for her family, she's a worker. She makes sure that that house is right, that that family is right, that those kids look right. They don't run out with a booger on their nose, on their face, and hair all messed up, going to school in dirty clothes. She is a worker. She looks after those babies, she brings food into her household from afar. She wants to know what are they eating? She's into their diet, she's into, are they eating healthy? She's into what's being put into their bodies.
This is the spirit of motherhood that cares about this. Not just eat this sugar, and drink, here. Take that and just get away. And here's another McDonald's, and another, and another, another. I'm not preaching mean at you, I'm just saying the spirit of motherhood needs to come on a whole generation, and we build our children up. We build our children up in every area. The Bible says, "She brings food into her house from afar. She rises up while the sun is not yet up, to take care of her household". Ain't that amazing? She's up early, she's making it happen, she's getting the kid's clothes ready. What's he doing? He supposed to be going to work too. And if he's lying in there, do like Cherise does, and do the pans and pots real loud.
Listen to this amazing mother. "She considers a field and buys it". Don't you limit her just to housework. She's a brilliant entrepreneur. She has so much more in her. She finds a field and buys it, and turns it and flips it for a profit. She's smart in business, she plants a vineyard. You'd think you got all those children, all the work going on in the house and all that. But she's multitasking, she's buying a field, she's planting a vineyard, she's running the whole show. She plants a vineyard, she girds her arms with strength. I wrote down she goes to the gym, and she's got awesome arms. And that's why she wears those cut off dresses that show that part. She's amazing, she's got great arms. She lights a candle, and it doesn't go out at night, in other words, after she gets the babies to sleep, she's up taking care of this, doing that, taking care of this.
This is the spirit of a mother. She makes clothes for her family, she stretches out her hand to the poor and the needy. She models to her children, she gives, she's a giver. She cares, she speaks and trains them. How do you look at the poor? How do you help the unfortunate? What do you do? She models that that's a spirit of motherhood just teaching a family the very spirit of the home is one to care. And to love hurting especially, hurting people. It says that "She prepares her family for cold winter, she sows, and clothes them with scarlet, with tapestry, that her covering is silk and purple". In other words, all of this coming from a spirit of motherhood, her children are dressed sharp, and they look sharp, and they're taken well, and bathed well, and kept clean.
This is the spirit of a mother, "Her husband is known at the gate," she makes him look good. Just the fact that he's married to her people listen to that dummy, just because he's married to her. She makes fine linen and sells it to merchants. She's figuring out, I might make some money over here too, and I'm buying a field, I'm planting a vineyard, and bless God, I'll sell this and make some money too. "Strength and honor is in her clothing, she opens her mouth with wisdom". Listen to this, "And in her tongue is the law of kindness," when she speaks there, she may get stern and she may get strong, but there's always this tone of kindness, and there's always this tone of mother cares. "She looks well to her household," she's all over it, she knows everything, she can hear things three rooms away.
She can hear something ain't right, she's got eyes in back of her head, she looks well to her household. That is her priority, that is her number one thing, is she looks well. She's all into it she looks well to her household. She doesn't eat the bread of idleness, she's not lazy. "Her children rise up, and call her blessed". Mom you're blessed, "Her husband praises her," the text says. "And many daughters have done well, but you, mother excel them all". Deborah was like the Proverbs 31 Woman. She stands out, and the world was in bad condition when she came on the scene, and when she got through with it, it was in a better place. She contributed her success to the fact that I arose as a mother.
The thing the world and the nation needed was mothers. Mothers that say, "You're not gonna do this to my children. We're not gonna live like this anymore". The Bible has many powerful mothers. Leah a mother who was not in a perfect marriage, who was in a marriage and her husband didn't even love her. The Bible tells us this, he didn't even love her, but she gave birth to Reuben and gave birth to Simeon and gave birth to Levi from which the law came. Moses came out of that tribe, she gave birth to the tribe of Judah. Out of an ugly marriage this mother because she was a great mother gave birth to the tribe of Judah through which the Messiah would come.
Even Bathsheba, we give her a bad name, but she didn't choose to be with David. David walked out on his balcony, king of Israel and he saw her bathing. He shouldn't have been peeping, he shouldn't have been creeping, he shouldn't have been on Facebook. And then the Bible said he started reaching out to her and inquiring of her, why? You're a married man. But this woman named Bathsheba that has a bad name, do you understand that Proverbs 31 is almost certainly written about her by her son, Solomon? She gave birth to Solomon, the wisdom of that man, the power of that man, the wealth of that man. Her fingerprints were all over his success. He built the temple, and the glory filled the temple, but her fingerprints were all over his life.
What about Mary, the mother of Jesus? What must it have been like to raise the son of God. I could go on and on, but what role did that mother play in His life? I'm going to ask her when I get to heaven one day what was it like raising Him? Did you ever whip Him? What was it like? Did you ever come in and see Him reading the scrolls and tears streaming down His face? When I think about how these mothers, the roads that they cut and cleared. Where have you made a road today? Where are you making a road today? Your prayers make a road. Your example makes a road, your church attendance makes a road. It's part of the culture of your family when you do this on a regular basis. You're making a road either closer to God or further from God. You're either making a road to be more like Him, and to be pleasing to Him, or you're sending in and cutting a road that goes the way of the flesh.
How much safer is the world because their babies had a road to go down that the mother prepared? How many lives did those mothers restore? Think of the Ten Commandments. How much better is the world because those mothers made a road? Here we are today, and we're the recipients of their actions. Even Jesus when He was hanging on the cross looked down at His mother and He made mention of her and said, "Take care of her because she took care of me". One mother can affect history. And I wanna say something to parents, God gives an "A" for effort, sometimes you feel like you failed, sometimes you feel like you don't cut it, sometimes you feel like you've just messed up as a parent and you probably have, but God gives an "A" for effort in parenting.
If you just keep trying your best to turn back to this book and what it says, and cut that road, and lay that road, and lay that road, God gives an "A" for effort. Spirit of Motherhood. I'm trying to stir it up in this place. Don't let the TV raise your children, don't let the daycare raise your children, don't let the school system raise your children, don't let anybody raise your children. You put your hands on them and you be the one that has great influence in their life. One of these days, you're gonna exhale for the last time, the first time you inhaled when you were born, but there is a breath that you're gonna exhale, and you will not take it back in, in this world and in this life.
And in that moment, I wanna know that Jesus is there, and I know He will be, and I'mma tell you why I know it, because my mother sitting right down here made a road that leads all the way to streets of gold. And the question I'm trying to get you to understand is, it's not... your family is not gonna get there by accident, the road that this world is taking them on is dangerous. It's void of God, and if you just say, "Well, I'mma let them make up their own mind". Then they'll probably end up lost and undone, but when you as a father, you as a mother begin to make that road to the house of God, and back to the Bible and back to Jesus, it's not just about you, but it's a road for your babies and your babies' babies. And one day, when we all get to heaven, it's gonna be worth it.