By Lisa Wood

Men Of God Arise

By Lisa Wood

I once heard a pastor say that everything he needed to know about a man he could find out by looking at the man’s wife. Boy, I bet that statement just made a lot of men hopping mad. Good! It is time to get hopping mad because this country is in trouble and something needs to change. Our marriages are broken, our children are on drugs, sexual sins are rampant and have you looked at the government lately? It is time to get back to Bible Basics and quit blaming, ignoring, abusing and start stepping up. Whether you like it or not, God put you in charge. Men, it is never too late to do the right thing. Right now is exactly the time to start taking back your broken marriages and your fragmented families in Christ Jesus. So if we work together and do this God’s way, we will reclaim and He will restore marriages and families to what they were intended to be. As we follow Christ and do this, the building blocks of our society will become reset on God and His Word and we will be able to reclaim our nation as well. Let’s do this because we have little time to step up and step out in faith. Our enemy has been very busy.

When Adam and Eve were in the garden after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit, God said, “Adam where are you?” Do you understand the magnitude of that statement? “Adam where are you?” God didn’t say, “It is all Eve’s fault.” God addressed the man. So “Adam” where are you? Let me simplify this for our slow learners: Adam is responsible for what Eve did. Now do you get it? The husband is responsible for what the wife does (or doesn’t do). It doesn’t let Eve off the hook. She still has to answer for her own individual sin. However, in the confines of marriage, Adam is ultimately responsible. One day you men will stand before a Holy God and give an account for what you did and what you didn’t do to the “perfect helpmate” that God gave you. How will you answer? Did you help her realize her full potential? Did you bless her and exhort her daily? Did you speak life to her and call out her gifts? Did you look to Jesus for all your answers or did you look to the ways of the world? Were you the spiritual leader of your home? Did you look like a high priest in words and deeds or were you a disconnected and unfair task master? Or will you simply stand before the Lord and say, “She didn’t submit.”

Everything starts with the leadership. Men you are it. They say it rolls down hill for a reason and you know what I am talking about. I see men either blaming or abusing and every single one of you knows that verse on submission. However, how many of you can quote the verses on love? Exactly! It is time for you to shut up with the verse on submission and to read your whole Bible and realize it has been taken out of context for far too long. God never said, “Husbands command your wives as I commanded the church.” Jesus did not say or do that. He LOVED the church into obedience. He very simply directed, “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.” Think about that. Jesus gave and He loved. He was gentle and kind. He did not blame, curse or punch. Jesus did not say, “Submit.” or “Obey me!” Men, hear me plain. You will give an account for how you loved your wife. It is from your love that she will gladly and willingly submit to you because she knows that you truly love God first. It is ALL about love! Love is the greatest commandment. So men, stop blaming and start loving.

How do I know you do not love your wives as Christ loved the church? I see your fruit: addictions, alcohol, pornography, divorce, separations, financial problems and unanswered prayers. I also see your wife. She is a reflection of you and what you pour into her. If you pour into her complaints, disgust, disappointment, hate, then guess what comes out? Overwhelmingly the wives I see in the church are unsatisfied and unfulfilled. God said she is your perfect helpmate and you husbands are all too quickly dismissing her and casting her out. She does not need to submit to your tyranny or abuse. It is only from a place of love that she will be moved. Read Song of Solomon. God gave you all the instruction you need. This is the way of Jesus and the church. Out of your love for your wife, she will have no choice but to submit to your Godly authority. She will have no doubts that you put her needs above your own. So do you love her? Can you love her? Have you given her reasons to doubt you? Do you look to Jesus first in all matters? Do you put your wife before yourself? Will you repent before our Holy Father and say, “Show me how to love her?” Please stop trying to love in your own way. It is not working. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. It is a command.

The most perfect example of Christ and the church is in the parable of the two fish and five loaves. Jesus had been preaching to the crowd for some time. (Do you openly discuss God in your home?) The people were getting hungry. The disciples approached Jesus about the people’s need for food. (Do you anticipate your wife’s needs? Or does she need to ask you?) Jesus did not curse the crowd, complain about it or send all the people away. He did not look for another crowd or have thoughts of the crowd he saw on the beach last week. He asked for an accounting of what they had. Two fish and five loaves were all that was present for the five thousand. It was clearly not enough. How many times do you men come up short? Whether perceived or real, how many times do you not have enough? What you do when you find yourself in this situation separates the men from the boys; the world from the Word.

What do you do when you do not have enough? What did Jesus do? He gathered what he had and took it before the Lord. He laid it out and looked to heaven. Every time I read that, what comes to mind is Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.” That parable is also the perfect example of a husband’s prayers not being hindered. At that moment when Jesus looked to heaven, He was coming before God in a place of love. Jesus was representative of a husband and the crowd was representative of a wife. Jesus was thinking of the people first and wanted to provide for them but did not have enough. How many times does that happen in a marriage? How many times is there not enough? Do you look to the Lord? So following the instructions of His Father, Jesus set the matter before Him. He was obedient, He acted in love and God moved to change the circumstances. At that moment Jesus had an open heaven. God multiplied what he had. Our Father in heaven will do no less for us! Men, it is time to move in obedience to the Father and love your wives as Christ loved the Church. It is time to stand up and reclaim what the enemy has stolen.