Read Colossians Ephesians 5:25-33, Colossians 3:19, 1 Peter 3:7
Read Proverbs 31:10-31
In Ephesians 5:21, we are called to submit to each other out of reverence for Christ. The husband submits by loving his wife as Christ loved the church. This is a profound love that is completely sacrificial and other centred. This is the kind of love that is completely and utterly self denying and giving to the other person - what did Jesus demand for Himself in the last few days of His life???
Husbands are not to be harsh with their wives. They are to live considerately with them, knowing and understanding that they are the weaker partner. They are to be filled with understanding and compassion, seeking to remove any obstacle, any impediment to the prayers they share together! Husbands are to set the spiritual tenor of the household!
Husbands are to be willing to die for the purity and sanctity of their wives. They are to treat their wives as a young sapling, fertilising it, watering it and nurturing it so that it grows into the beautiful flowering tree that God created it to be. Husbands are to bring out the purity and reverence, the holiness and inner beauty in their wife.
Read Proverbs 31:10-31 again and notice what the godly wife is like. But then think about what the husband is like that allows this woman, noble woman to develop into her beautiful self. He loves her. He supports her. He opens the door of opportunity for her. He allows her to use her talents. He nurtures her. The ‘typical’ husband who comes home and demands that dinner is on the table and then expects the wife to clean the house and tend to the kids and then to put out in the bedroom, is as far from the Biblical picture of husbandry as you could possibly get. This is a model of selfishness and self gratification.
Let the Word of God describe and convict you of what a husband’s love is to be like.
Read Colossian 3:18. 1 Peter 3:1-6. Ephesians 5:21-24
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
Prayer:-
ÿ Pray that our congregation will be filled with godly men who set the spiritual tenor of the home and lead their wives and families deeper into relationship with Christ. Since this is naturally a battle, pray that wives and families will be willing to be led by their husbands and fathers.
ÿ Pray that we will see all men in our congregation grow in Jesus - like manhood, taking on the qualities and characteristics of men that are Biblical and honouring to God. Pray this in particular for our teenagers.
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