I think there is much confusion about
submission in Christian circles. Submission happens when we determine to
substitute Gods mission for our own. Submission = a substitute mission.....Simple as that . My mission up until I met
Jesus Christ,was to serve me-My desires ,my needs. I am by natural fallen
nature - selfish. So the word submission used to make the hair on my neck stand
up. I believe that that word when used by anyone, wether it's referring to men
submitting to God through sacrificial love for their wives, or women submitting to
God through submission and respect for their husbands as well as any number of other scenarios... gets our flesh in a tizzy~
Yet If we are stoking the fire of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will
want to know Christ who is the purest model of submission better through
obedience at ALL COSTS. Jesus said Take up your cross and follow Me. I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, that I may obtain the
resurrection of the dead.
The dog in the movie "Up" is such a great example
of biblical submission. The minute he meets Carl, he loves him and asks him will you be my master?? This ought to be our attitude having met Jesus Christ! Will you be my master and teach me your ways? Submission is nothing more or less than coming under the "shadow of His wings" because we love him and He first loved us. In the movie Carl says I was hiding under your porch because I
love you. And He is such a happy go lucky personality. You can't help but love this dog. I have been hiding under the shadow of God's wings through submission to Him and it's because I love Him. And the longer I have ministered to the Lord through obedience, the more happy go lucky I have become as well! When I used to hang out with the the rebellious, I inevitably ended up wearing the collar of shame. Satan is good at luring us away from God and the minute we're caught he pulls out the collar of shame.
When a women or a
man is striving to please God in every way possible- women through submission to
their authorities and men through submission to their authority (Christ and their
brothers in Christ ) and either one doesn't feel heard in their relationships , it's not an excuse to throw the command of God out the window.
Men are still called to love their wives as Christ loved the church and submit to other men in the church and governing authorities and women
are still called to respect their husband and submit to them. When your spouse
is making no effort to do their part, you will either cling to the truth for all its worth, or
you may give up entirely. The word says :Let God be true and every man a liar.
The answer is not to lower the standard, but to do your best as an individual to
hold the banner high through obedience.
Obedience to God is our only hope
for things to ever change. I am one of those women who actually believes that
every word of God is pure to the conversion of the soul... and that if we grow
not weary in well doing in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not
faint.(Galatians). But instead of always looking for a harvest of fruit in my husbands life as proof that I should submit to him, I
want to submit to Jesus proven by submission to my husband and reap a harvest in my own life! He is the vinedresser of the vineyard not me. I am a mere branch that takes it's life from the vine. I can no more produce fruit in my husband than I can in myself! I am a branch who receives it's life from abiding in the vine and I cannot abide if I am constantly grieving the Spirit WHO IS my life. The flip side of this is that my husband will reap a harvest of fruit as well if I abide through his connection with me because the two become one in
marriage.....What I do WILL ultimately affect him. It most likely will take
time for the affects to be really seen, but if you planted a seed of truth it
will reap a harvest of truth.. Am I saying that my husband will get saved?
There's a good chance he will! But I don't know that for sure. What I do say
is that Gods word does NOT return void and if we live our lives based on the
truth , the truth will affect our life , our spouse's life and the life of
others looking on. Not only that but the secrets of the Lord belong to us who
are obedient.
John 15:14-15 You are my friends if you do what I command. I
no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's
business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from
my Father I have made known to you.
When I first began walk with God and
ultimately to submit to my unsaved husband I thought of Jesus as my Master (and
still do!), but Oh! To think that I am called a friend of God because Jesus has
made to known to me everything He has learned from His Father. Jesus has made
known to me His plan for me (submission- substituting His mission for my own
selfish one) and Jesus Himself learned obedience by the things that he
suffered! Talk about a humbling thought. We will not learn obedience to God if
we are not willing to suffer. So if your feelings are hurt by a husband that
you feel is uncaring and unloving, TRUST God. We are not JUST a picture of
Christ and the church when both the husband and wife are walking in obedience,
we are a picture of Christ and the church (his bride) when things are imperfect,
but we cling to His word as truth and our only hope for recovery from the state
of depravity we were in prior to Christ saving us. . And even if it's only one
of us clinging to that truth. I don't believe for a minute that there is any
such thing as a perfect marriage where BOTH husband and wife walk perfectly the
way that God would have them to. Christ and His bride (the church) illustrate
that. And in that case WE the bride are the ones who walk imperfectly. We are
in process of coming into the likeness of Christ, If Christ joined Himself with
an imperfect flawed human being like you and I, why do we think that a marriage
where things are off balance is not a proper representation of Christ and the
church! ? I daresay, It more CLEARLY represents Christ and the church! We walk
by faith and NOT by sight! When one person is determining to obey God even
if they seem despised because of it , it represents Christ and His bride more
perfectly than we think! I'm NOT saying that as time goes on we shouldn't (as
Christians in marriage), become a more radiantly beautiful partner (spiritually
speaking) , in that marriage, but what I'm saying is that all it takes is ONE
person willing to be obedient at all costs, for Christ and His bride to be
represented properly. Two walking in the Spirit is wonderful , but don't
underestimate the impact you can have EVEN if you are the only one in the
marriage really working at change. In the case of Christ and his bride that one
person was Christ. It is a lie from the pit of hell that if both people are not
walking in the Spirit , that marriage cannot properly represent Christ and the
church. So TAKE heart! All you women or men who are in unequally yoked marriages or
even those in marriages where you feel your spouse is not making the effort that
you are. Christ Himself who is without fault or blemish (which none of us can
claim) took us to be His bride as desperately wicked human beings.While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. His love is a refining fire and agape love is stronger than death! Our hearts used to be desperately wicked, but because of the death and resurrection of Christ , we who have received Him have been made alive as well. We have the very heart of Christ and we need to walk according to the new heart. Walk in the Spirit!
As I began to submit my husband, I
came up againt fierce opposition in many dfferent forms,but I was ultimately
wrestling satan
. He didn't want me to submit because he knew it would be the
thing that would unleash the power of God in my life. The gates of hell came
against me too however they did not prevail against me . Gods love is winning out. I have been submitting to my husband for 15 years and I have the promise of
God that in due time I will reap a harvest. In the meantime I am harvesting the
fruit of the vine (Jesus Christ ) in my own life. I love my husband more than
ever (pure love) I have peace, I have joy, much more patience and am learning to long-suffer. There is a gentleness in me that I never used to have, and self control is developing as well . These fruits are all in
my life compliments of Jesus the vine and His Father the vinedresser who prunes
as He sees fit. My husband still doesn't often give heed to my suggestions or feelings when I tell him my views, but the joy of the Lord is my strength. And when I seem obsessed about submission I am really just obsessed with the one
who modeled submission to the Father . The one who is submission..... the one
who is the way, the truth, and the life. The one who set His face like flint
towards Jerusalem, the one who is the author and finisher of our faith who or the
joy that was set before Him endured the cross , despising the shame and has sat
down at the right hand of the Father, the one through whom we MUST come to the
Father, if we are to come at all !
This morning I thanked the Lord for the pain in my life with the utmost sincerity . I cannot imagine where I would be and the fear that would consume my heart without Him near me in this cold dark world. Had it not been for the pain that drew me to Him and continuously draws me back..... I would have no hope of spiritual wholeness . I have resolved the question in my own heart that Jesus asked the paraplegic ... Do you want to be made whole? I DO !-and the only way I am whole is when He fills my brokenness with His love. All the cracks and crevices that have been such a deep aching abyss in me for so many years have been filled up with His love. I must continuously be filled up with His love because I am SO enamored with Him that nothing the world offers me can draw my heart away from Him . The Living Water of His Holy Spirit has become a well springing up in me continuously and overflowing . And I wouldn't trade the peace and refreshment of that well for anything.
