worshipper

Bondman...THANK you for the scriptures...
YES, the Lord is able to do ALL things; we must have faith, believe and PRAY!!!
I am being persistent!!! No. #3 is my fav;
GIVE THANKS IN ALL THINGS....


Fluffy: so sorry for the confusion; I hadn't had my first cup of coffee when I wrote this (giggle) we were talking about what is NOT our job but the job of the Holy Spirit and how we "step back" and not try to do the Holy Spirit's part.


So what I meant to say was that just being a woman (his wife), I believe that God can and has used me to better reach my husband than if I try to play the role of the Holy Spirit... I hope that is clearer...

It's NOT our job; God can certainly teach him (praying that he is teachable) and that He can bring us together in unity so we can pray together. (I believe this is the Lord's will, I really do...)
Thank you for praying.

Fluffy

Worshipper! That was much clearer! You meant that it was better you being a woman and not trying to be the Holy Spirit! I getcha!

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Be transparent before God, He sees right thru you, anyway!
http://www.likepreciousfaith.org/testimony_val.htm
Please pray for your local emergency responders, daily.

Faithwoman

Hi there.. It is midnite here in Boston. We fly home tomorrow morning.
The training went well, but I have missed my frequent doses of the good word here in the Inner Room.

I have missed you all. Have been very busy. My faith has not gotten the attention as it was when I was home in my daily routine. I need to work on that when I am away like this.

Please pray for safe travels for me.

Hugs
Faithwoman

Bondman

MOST CERTAINLY, worshipper! I've gone back and modified the sentence to now read:

"What a WONDERFUL assurance! Oh yes, He responds very strongly when you're praying for more GOODNESS (more righteousness, godliness and holiness) to be in your life!!"

which then leads on much better from Message #1 (Personal Righteousness) and Message #2 (Living Right). Check any of these Messages by clicking this graphic:


I'm so glad that Message #3 has been a blessing. It's kinda funny going back and reading messages I've written. I can read #3 for example and think with some surprise, "Hey, that's not bad at all!" sorta wondering where I may have got the wisdom to have written it (but we know where the wisdom came from, don't we!!!! "Oh, thankyou Lord for Your blessed Spirit You've sent to live within us and abide with us!!")

Dear heart, you are MOST welcome for any Scriptures the Lord has blessed me by helping me to understand - and then further blessed me by allowing me to share with others!! Praise His Name!!!

I was rather confused by what you'd said too! *hehe*. Thanks for the clarification!

Love n blessings,

- BM

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Bondman

HUSBANDS and WIVES

It appears that hubby is what I'd probably call "dug in" as to what he feels is his role in the marriage. HE'S CERTAINLY NOT ALONE!! - but is standing with many millions of other Christian husbands with a wrong understanding of what the Scriptures really say. For example we could ask concerning Ephesians Ch 5:21 submitting to one another in the fear of God, "What is it about "submitting to EACH ANOTHER" that you don't understand? But of course we WON'T ask him that, because it would be as unloving as it would be futile and VERY counter-productive. We could also ask: "Is it a pure ACCIDENT that God just 'happened' to write this particular verse (v. 21 above) - not just close to all the instructions as to the roles and relationships of husband to wife, and not just as a part of the instructions, but EXACTLY PRECEDING THE WHOLE LOT OF THEM? I don't think so!!!

Then we could go to v. 25 where the Lord issues to us husbands a command that's utterly mind-blowing in its intent, and which I've always said was FAR HARDER to do than a wife submitting to her hubby: Ephesians Ch 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Let's ask a few very pertinent questions here. 1. How does Christ love His church? - TOTALLY!! 2. How MUCH does Christ love His church? - so much that He SACRIFICED His life for her!! 3. How does He treat His church? - He loves and cares about us all SO MUCH, giving Himself completely to us in order for us to grow to be like Him. 4. What is Christ's focus concerning His church? - it's TOTAL and it's CONSTANT and it's COMPLETE, loving us and ALWAYS wanting the very, very best for us. 5. What is Christ's aim and purpose for His church? - v. 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish, i.e., that through Him, the church should be able to grow to nothing short of perfection, and that's the reason for His astonishing LOVE for church that He has!

And thus a husband is to give himself to His wife to the same extent and way and to the same end. FURTHERMORE, ALL OF THAT IS JUST A SMALL PICTURE OF THE LOVE I AM COMMANDED TO HAVE FOR MY WIFE!!!!! I told you that husbands have the tough task!! So can you wives demand - or even suggest - that your husband should treat you this way? NO!! Treating you right is something between him and God. You have YOUR OWN TASK. You must get on with that. In the same way can we husbands demand - or even suggest - that our wives submit to us? NO!! You submitting to us is something between you and God. We have OUR OWN TASK. We must get on with that.

Of course it's not only fine but a good thing to talk together about these matters - but it takes TWO to discuss. If one is unwilling in any way, then stop right there, and simply pray for him or her. "I pray now for those who are having problems in their marriage, Lord. May each one of us be living in our marriage close - really close - to what YOU say! Please help us all to this end!"

- BM

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worshipper

Good question.

Quote:

Then we could go to v. 25 where the Lord issues to us husbands a command that's utterly mind-blowing in its intent, and which I've always said was FAR HARDER to do than a wife submitting to her hubby: Ephesians Ch 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

My dh says that he does JUST that; but there have been a few times; not in the past few years, that I actually said to him "If God/Jesus loves me like you do, and if I wasn't already saved, I don't think I would be interested"The Lord continued to show me His love through His Word and encouraged me to love my dh with the love that He had given me through Jesus. That is the ONLY way.

Thank You Lord for Your amazing love for us and the patience to teach us and mold us into the likeness of Your son by using our marriages and spouses to help us be more like You.

I pray that we all see ourselves in these words and trust the Lord to do the work in our hearts that we all need.

[/quote] AMEN...
"Lord, We will stand in faith and continue to love our spouses as they are; as You gave them to us and we pray that both ourselves and our spouses will be obedient to Your word in ALL ways..." :Pray:

Thank you Bondman...

Bondman

Happy to help where I can, worshipper! Judging by what you said to hubby (at top of this post), sounds like maybe you two guys have really been 'telling it straight' to each other for quite some time. Which can sometimes be a good thing, but that's for another time.

I've found that most wives don't realise the truth that "behind every successful man is a good woman". A man DOES need to be successful. I don't mean become a millionaire, or a CEO of a major company, not that sort of success, but rather that he feels like he's doin' good and is a special person in the eyes of his wife. Most wives don't seem to have a clue about this truth either: the power to MAKE or BREAK your hubby IS IN YOUR HANDS! You literally can make him, or you can break him! Serious stuff - so the Christian wife will want to MAKE him, right!!

This time the pertinent verse is at the very END of the husband and wife passage in Ephesians Ch 5!! (I really like that - love the way the Lord thinks, and has led His servant Paul to write as he has.) Okay, here we go from the Amplified Bible, to get the fullest possible understanding of what may be derived from the the original Greek text: Ephesians 5:33 However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband, that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly].

Now here's something that I find utterly amazing and really quite WONDERFUL: true and committed LOVE can and will bring about all of the above!!!!! How do I know? Well I've been strictly forbidden not to write this - but I'm trusting that Beloved won't kill me for being 'disobedient'! FACT: she was doing ALL of the above BEFORE ever reading it in the Amplified, i.e., true, serious, committted love does them all without ever having to read it in the Word!! (I hereby swear you all to total silence about this, else Bondman may never write another word here ever again! hehehehe)

The result of treating me like this - CHANGED MY WHOLE LIFE!! So much so that I literally would NOT be here writing this, no way! - couldn't POSSIBLY have become who I am today to be able to, but for the effects INTO MY LIFE of the love and respect and especially the encouragement and honour and esteem with which she has treated me (she's always maintained that 'it's no big deal'!) IT'S A FACT THAT I HAD NO BELIEF IN MYSELF AT ALL - until her love started changing me.

So you gals, you have the power!!! The power to do good or the power to do bad. The Holy Spirit is right there in you to give you all the love you need to change your man for the better. SUGGESTIONS: Start building him up, not tearing down. Please do this truthfully, i.e., don't tell him what's not true, but rather look for what he has abilities and compliment/encourage him about them. Figure out a way to let him know that you believe in him. Be creative. Give him some (genuine) compliments. Don't overdo it; just here and there, even as if it's a throw away line till he gets used to you complimenting. It has to be REAL too, or he'll sense that it's just words. Help him to feel his importance to you as a real man, that he really is 'someone' to you (not a 'no one'). And of course first DO spend time considering and PRAYING about all this.

Will you have to push past or give up current thoughts and feelings in order to do the above? Almost certainly. But God WILL help you - because this is being obedient to what HE wants you to be and do!! I reckon that's enough! Feel free to share problems, successes or queries here. Bless you ladies who can do amazing things in your husband's life!

- BM

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Fluffy

Wonderful! Wonderful as usual!
There is a great book out called "Love and Respect". I know I've touted that book before, but its that good!
In it, he says that the most primary need a man has is to be respected. He needs other things, too, but the highest on the list is respect. If he has respect, he can survive without love. (us women have a hard time believing that, but if you think about it, its true) Start giving him the respect he needs (even if he doesnt DESERVE it, give it to him because of his position, your husband) and you will see amazing changes in your man.
I know my man has alot of work to be done, but there is some good stuff happening because of the above.
My brother in law, that passed away a couple of years ago, made the comment to me that he never hears me say anything negative about his brother. I told him that wasnt always the case, but I had learned.
A good step is learning to control your tongue, not just in front of him, but to other people, whether he is around, or not. To always say good things about your husband to other people. That is one way to build him up.
Now, there is a time to vent. When you need to get things off your chest and get a different perspective on things. But that is not to say to go around telling everybody all about it, all the time. Find one good person that you can trust to not only keep their mouth shut, but to not think less of him when you air out your dirty laundry. That can be the tough part.
My best friend for this is Jesus. He lets me vent all I need to, then He shows me a different perspective on the situation and it changes. Amazing how that works!
Goodness! I am quite the Chatty Cathy this morning!
Blessings!

__________________
Be transparent before God, He sees right thru you, anyway!
http://www.likepreciousfaith.org/testimony_val.htm
Please pray for your local emergency responders, daily.

Bondman

And in return, wonderful as usual! *loving grin* And I sure ain't gonna argue about the 'respect' thing! Or about who's the best to talk with about real serious stuff (Jesus is always 'online', and the best listener I know; 'tis all so wonderful!!)

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Bondman

FROM THE MOVIE ‘SHALL WE DANCE’

We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'."

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