Our Men

I’ve been asked several times about the following scriptures and how women in today’s society should interpret them. No matter your life situation – there are lessons to be learned here. I am a professional in society, a successful business woman, a loving wife, a caring mother and a home-keeper.

Ephesians 5:22
(22) Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. (23) For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. (24) Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

First, seek guidance from God and then search deep within. Personally, I feel it should be interpreted just as it says. God’s order of things is very specific. God intends for the man to be the head of the household. Ladies, don’t count your-selves out though! Even though our husbands are the head, the wives are the heart. God calls us to keep order within our homes and make it a safe haven for all that live and enter its doors. We have a large task of keeping it clean, tending to the children, keeping ourselves healthy (inside and out), emotionally and physically, as well as being a devoted wife who “respects” her husband. In some cases, women still earn a living and still have the great task of being the heart of the home. It is not an easy task but necessary.

Ephesians 5:33
However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Even if your husband does not act as the “head”, you should pray and encourage him to be. Why? Because that is how God intended it to be – that is what pleases him. As wives, we are called to respect our husbands even with all his faults (and don't we have many faults too and still want to be loved and respected?) I believe that men hold respect in high regard and many men would choose to live without love rather than to live without respect. When we pray for God’s guidance in our husband’s life, we actually open the door for God to restore order in our lives, marriages and home.

Ephesians 5:31
"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

Even if your husband doesn’t pray for you, you need to ask God to help you to not hold that against him. Pray for your husband daily, because it works and ultimately pleases the Lord. Remember, you and your husband are one flesh…you would not pray for one half of your body and not the other now would you? When you pray for changes in your husband, remember to pray for changes in yourself. It may be hard to take criticism from others but you can easily search within and find imperfections (and if you can’t, God will let you know where to start!)

PRAYER

Lord, I feel a deep need to pray for the men in our world right now. Our men (husbands, brothers, uncles, fathers, sons, leaders, pastors, friends, etc.) need encouragement and support to step up and be good examples by seeking guidance from you, listening and following. We need them to be strong spirit-filled leaders and rebuke the things of the world. Lord, give us the tools and understanding to hold their positions in higher regard and encourage them in any way possible. Help me to not hold things against the men in my life but to be humble and to be slow to anger – easy to forgive. I know this pleases you Lord and I need help. Amen.