If you want to reference what I'm saying, the verses are in John 17, and I'm using the NIV.
HOW should a husband love his wife? We tell husbands to love their wives AS CHRIST LOVED the Church and was willing to DIE for her... but we often neglect to tell these holy husbands how Jesus LIVED for her. John 17, in the prayer that Jesus prayed.. we see how he LIVED before He died. This is also an example for husbands to follow.
O.K. Picking up where we left off in the last blog:
- Verse 10 - Jesus said to God, "All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them." Here we see that Jesus knows the source of His life on earth - it is God and God alone. A husband's foundation HAS to be his relationship with God and a humble acknowledgment to God that - "all I have is yours." A man's family belongs to God, his material things, his goals, his career, his spiritual gifts..... everything.... BELONGS to God. It is surprising to speak with some very good churchgoing men who do not acknowledge this. They believe what they have earned belongs to them... but... it does not. They don't truly.. utterly.. and completely gve up OWNERSHIP of themselves and acknowledge that they BELONG to a MASTER. Each of us has a MASTER... and that MASTER has a right to everything we own. But it's not enough to know that everything a man has belongs to and is given to God.
- The KEY... the KEY... is that Jesus knew that everything GOD has belongs to Him. A husband who can embrace this incredible and unbelievable TRUTH will walk in the power and knowledge of knowing that all God has... read those words again: ALL GOD HAS....belongs to him also. All the love, power, faith, wisdom, mercy, grace..... belongs to every husband who belongs to God. This is a SOLID TRUTH that too many husbands never ever believe. Dear HUSBAND WHO HAS PUT HIS FAITH IN CHRIST... you are...the ROYAL joint-heir of Jesus. J.E.S.U.S. Your.. ROYAL OLDER BROTHER - JESUS. Ask God to give you the FAITH you need to FULLY EMBRACE and BELIEVE THIS. If more husbands could be LIFTED up... lift up their eyes and hearts... to understand the POWER that GOD is LONGING to give and share with him.......POWER over lust, anger, selfishness. POWER to have the WISDOM to lead his wife and children. POWER to influence the world around him to see and SEEK God..... only God knows how that would change the world.
- Dear Wife... It isn't beating a husband down that brings him to the role God has created for him. It's reminding him - and yourself - that he should accept and embrace the ROYAL PRIESTHOOD that God gives to every husband through Jesus. A wife who encourages her husband to BE THE ROYALTY God has bestowed him is the wisest woman alive. It is a GIFT from God. This is FOUNDATIONAL. This is what is missing in Christian marriages that fail. A man doesn't understand HIS ROYAL STANDING.. or HIS ROYAL RESPONSIBILITY. Listen dear wives - When a man knows WHO HE IS in Christ... HE also embraces that his wife is his ROYAL JOINT HEIR. For a husband to treat his wife as a joint-heir... HE MUST KNOW WHO HE IS.. FIRST. Dear Husband.... God has bigger plans for you than you have for yourself. God has POWER waiting for you to claim. It's your royal inheritance... won by Jesus.. shared with YOU. Jesus knew that any glory He received was because of all that God had GIVEN HIM. I wish every Christian husband could cast off all insecurity, all lack of faith that he can be what God requires and ACCEPT THAT all that he needs will be GIVEN TO HIM. Be the ROYALTY you are, husband and your ROYAL wife will turn in to a glory in your life. THIS is how a husband should love his wife.
- Verses 11, 12 and 15 - The Evil One. In verse 15 Jesus specifically identifies one of his jobs while on earth was to PROTECT and that the protection is "from The Evil One." This is one area that from my experience, Christian husbands are numb and/or deceived and/or lazy. They don't see with spirit eyes the forces of evil intent on destroying the glory of a Godly family. If there were an army of terrorists trying to break in to a man's house......with the intent to destroy the family inside... I cannot imagine any husband - good or bad - going down without a fight.. or NOT protecting his family. He would spend every waking moment setting up safeguards, and barriers, and walls of protection between the evil army and his own family. And yet, in the spirit world - the one that is eternal - that is exactly what is happening. The Thief - the Evil One - wants to kill, steal, and destroy a man's family. I'm not going to give a legalistic list of things a husband should NOT allow in to his home and family. I will say that a husband should not be talked in to... cajoled in to....or become lazy about what he allows his family to be exposed to. It isn't going to be easy to withstand the pressure that the world and peer pressure put upon your home. It will take a MAN.. a MAN OF GOD.. to say "no" to some things and "yes" to the right things. The Bible says, "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy"... (Philippians 4:8)... THIS is how a husband should love his wife.
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awordtothewives@gmail.com
XO,
Mrs. Older
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