Your husband may not care about the way his angry words have cut you to your heart - BUT GOD DOES. Your husband may not want to hear what you are afraid of - BUT GOES DOES. Your husband may not think it's a big deal that he doesn't really provide for your family - BUT GOD DOES. Your husband may not understand how vital it is for a wife to be loved and cherished by her husband - BUT GOD DOES. Your husband may not put any importance on being the spiritual leader in your home - BUT GOD DOES.
It's not a secret that God's plan for marriage was not what we are witnessing in our society today.
So let me say this to those of you who are bitterly disappointed in the way your marriage is: Don't let the disappointment in your husband cause a root of bitterness to take hold in your heart. If you do, it will cause much destruction. All around you. To the people around you. (Hebrews 12:15). Go to God and ask Him to let His Spirit protect you from a human reaction and to give you the grace to put your heart in the hands of the God who loves you.
Speaking of being bitter, Colossians 3:19 reads: "Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them." LOVE your wives.. and be NOT BITTER.
It means to NOT be "irritated", "exasperated" to a point of grieving. It means to be so annoyed at your wife that you grieve the relationship. You become sorry in your heart that you married her? Maybe?
I hear from so many Mrs. Younger's whose Christian, church-going
husbands do not have the slightest reverence for God to CARE that He cares about the way a husband is doing his marriage.
At the root of all marriage problems is one (or two) people who do not fear or respect what GOD thinks, a person or persons who do NOT walk every day in the wisdom of accepting that God is watching. Every. Single. Thing. Every attitude. Every word. Every unkindness. Every love-less action.
1 Peter 3:7 means what it obviously seems to mean:
"Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers."
"Considerate" means "knowledge". It means KNOW your wife as you LIVE with your wife. Do you wonder why she acts the way she acts? That is not a good indication that your wife is wacky or insane. That's a good indication that you don't know her. YOU are the one God calls to KNOW her. Not her girlfriends, her mother, or your kids. How can you know her? Ask the Lord to reveal her heart to you - AND - ask HER to tell you what is in her heart. That might require you to put down your cell phone, turn off the football game and actually ASK AND THEN ACTUALLY LISTEN.
"Respect" means "honor" and value. Value her. Be proud of her. This may make my feminist readers angry, but women are not as strong physically as a man is. A good man will honor this, not make fun of it or berate it. A woman has emotions that sometimes rule our brain cells. Our emotions make our thoughts rise and fall. Understand this. Don't make fun of it.
"Fellow Heirs" - yes.. yes.. yes.. in the Kingdom of God, she is your equal. She is an heir of everything God wants to give to you. She is not weaker when it comes to the Spirit of God. She is equal. Make sure you make sure that you make a way for HER spiritual life to PROSPER. Make sure you understand that you are BOTH children of God. You cannot just live your life and let your wife figure out how to follow Jesus. YOU HAVE TO LEAD YOUR FAMILY. YUP. YOU.
Well, o.k. some husband are ho-humming all these words.. but here's the kicker.. guys..
God expects YOU to do these things so that
NOTHING WILL HINDER YOUR PRAYERS.
We are all so slow to understand that just because WE IGNORE what God expects.. and we "seem" to get away with it.. doesn't mean God doesn't mean what He allowed to be written in His Word.
Men, is is possible that the reason your plans get frustrated, the reason you don't seem to have any power when you pray is DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE WAY YOU TREAT YOUR WIFE? (UHHHHhhhhh.. yes.)
Mrs. Younger, speak to God about your husband. Don't complain... don't pray, "GOD GET HIM!" prayers. But pour out your frustration and pain.
Just because your husband doesn't care about being what God requires doesn't mean God doesn't care.
SECRET: God will honor your faith... God will deliver you.. God will change who needs to be changed.
You can trust God.
God will never disappoint you - even when your husband does.
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