The POWER of FAMILY Series: The Husband and Wife!

For this reason I bow my knee
before the Father, from whom
every family in heaven and
and earth is named.
(Ephesians 3:14-15)

They come in all sizes, colors, and shapes! Few and in great numbers! We don't often get a chance to choose them and when irritated, try hard to deny them! But each member is a necessary contributor to the essence of who we really are!

What am I talking about?  FAMILY!

I just spent a wonderful time with a Sister Niece (one who is more sister than niece) from Illinois last week and it got me thinking about how powerful familial connections are to a person's total well being, i.e. emotional, physical, and spiritual health.

In the Garden of Eden after preparing everything needed for His creations, God said to Adam: It is not good for man to be alone, (Genesis 2:18). Voila!  Along comes Eve,  the mother of all living beings and they became progenitor of what we call family!   It is the first institution established in the world and done right, sets the foundation for every relationship one will ever have in life!

That being said, it should not surprise you that we're barely out of Eden when we find the family under violent attack!  Adam and Eve's son, Cain filled with jealousy kills his brother Abel over a preferred sacrifice and its downhill from there!  Families are STILL under attack today and rife with violence! Sometime from within and often externally.

Our enemy, Satan is doing everything possible to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10) God's ideal for the family.  He's on a campaign to viciously wipe out any godly vestige of it in our current culture and on many levels, appears to be winning. Why is the family unit such a formidable target? Because he fears the strength and unity that resides within it when used to the glory of God! Shrewdly he undermines its definition.   Then its authority.   Finally, its purpose as he preys upon the vulnerability of each family member:

Target One: Husband and Wife - Understanding Headship

If you want to defeat an Enemy cut off his head!  The rest will implode from sheer chaos!  When a husband and wife ceases to present a united front, the entire family is at risk. God has put into the human flesh a unique and complex being-the male and female gender (Gen. 1:28).  Each was made intentionally with specific personalities, responsibilities, roles, and modus operandi(ways of doing things).

These entities were designed to reflect the holiness of God; to keep the family secure, and to reflect authority as in The Trinity.   In the Christian family it is called headship. When this Divine Design is embraced in obedience to God (Ephesians 5:21-29) the plan works!  But abuse of this authority or rebellion against it creates a perfect climate for evil infiltration and painful consequences.

Perhaps you were like me.  Nearly fifty years ago when I said I Do to my husband; I had no idea that as a Christian I was agreeing to the Biblical View of Marriage.  Heck, I didn't even know what it was! So you can imagine things got pretty rocky and confusing!  Now that the Holy Spirit has enlightened me and Experience has tempered me I find it less confusing but at times still difficult!

This is not news to God! After the fall of mankind into sin, headship became it's first casualty! A simplistic interpretation of Genesis 3:16 is this: Because of sin, woman will have the urge to oppose, control, and go against her husband and the man will rule over her in ways that are sometimes harsh and inappropriate. (excerpt from A Vision for Biblical Womanhood: The Desire to Control, Nancy Leigh Demoss Wolgemuth, Revive our Hearts) 

Often described as the Battle of the Sexes, it is really an engagement of conflict in what is call ed Spiritual Warfare. It is here the enemy exploits our sinful desires of pride, power, and superior knowledge to put a wedge between the head and his home and thus alienate the entire family from God's authority in their lives.

It is an ancient military strategy but works well against those who are ignorant of its devices.  That's why the bible uses a military term to defeat it and safe guard the family.  A Greek word found in Ephesians 5: Strong's #5293 - hupotasso (pronounced hoop-ot-as'-so) from 5259 and 5021' meaning to subordinate, reflexively, to obey; be under obedience (obedient); to rank under authority. To subject or to submit.

This word submission is dreaded by most women as being prohibitive, but when studied and taught correctly describes a mutuality of respect and honor.  Everyone submits: husband to God, wife to husband, children to parents; government to God, church to elders, etc.  It is a beautiful picture of the Holy Trinity bringing blessings of unity, peace, and efficiency in these relationships.  (See Ephesians 5, Romans 13, and  Hebrews 13)

The Enemy hates the unity that man and woman in sync with God and each other represents. Not only in marriage but in other areas as well. It shows God's original intent of beauty and order for this world and Satan as you know is the author of confusion.

Whether it is the cultivation of the egalitarian mindset of feminists espousing equality with power! Or the cultural popularity of same sex, polygamy, and cohabitation devaluing the sanctity of marriage; Satan diligently seeks ways to divide us!  Much of what has become media hot topics or cultural debates, like the gender issue are nothing more than a ploy to make God's truth trivial and is a push for acceptability with no accountability.  In other words, provide a distraction to diffuse the Power of Family!  Don't buy into it!  Let's not bow down to the Altar of Self.  Gird your loins with the truth and prepare for the fight of your life!

UNTIL NEXT TIME...

If you would like to leave a comment please send an email to: sisters4sisters@att.net OR  scroll to the bottom of my blog page at  http://alittlewiser63.blogspot.com  click on the  no comments by the pencil and it will change to a writing space.


The Power of Family Series Continues: Target Two: Our Children - A Heritage of the Lord!