Encourage – to put courage into.
If you have been following along you may have noticed that we have had a LOT of decisions to make as a family lately. From selling our house, to moving churches, and standing against the vaccine mandates in our area. With each decision we of course were met with opposition. Those that oppose our decisions are plentiful and can be found in many community groups we have been involved in. Yet, those that support us, both then and now, are also in abundance, and have been transformational during these hard times. As these key moments in our life unfolded, as a wife I had two options:
I could complain, be reactive, or assert myself as the leader
OR
I could put COURAGE into my husband to lead
The choice seems obvious, does it not? YET, how often do we find ourselves putting down our husbands due to our need to control the situation. (Insiders Information: I know this because I have battled this need for control and continue to work to submit to my husband daily.)
As believers, we know the call to be submissive to our husbands. However, at some point we let the culture confuse us to thinking submission is passive. What I have found on my road to learning to biblically submit is that submission at its core is FAR FROM PASSIVE, it takes active strength, and unwavering courage to be able to encourage our husband into righteousness.
Equally, when we CHOOSE to be encouragers to our husband’s role as the leader we gain so much. We don’t have to carry the weight of decisions on our shoulders, and praise God for that! Our husbands, working within the role that God has created them for have been made to lead in that way, and we were created to inspire, submit, encourage, and start a fire of leadership. This all brings freedom to us as wives! In doing this it allows our husbands to FULLY submit to Christ, see both wives and husbands are called to submit. We are not talking about rank of importance because we are all called to submit, and all co-heirs with Christ.
Submission is about loving our husbands well, and husbands are also called to love their wives. We both called to love, and both to model Christs’ sacrificial love. The meaning of the word submission comes from an army rank idea, where there is a clear order of responsibilities. For example, lets say there are 2 top leaders and they are both calling the shots; one says to charge, and one says to retreat. If you were under their leadership which one would you listen to? How do you choose? Remember, you are in a battle and any confusion can lead to the death of others and yourself. While that may seem like an extreme example when we are talking about marriage and submission, I use it as an illustration for show the WHY behind having a clear rank of roles. It is for the benefit of everyone. Similarly, you could use the same illustration above and say we are in a battle and both of the commanders are expecting the other one to make the decision so they sit back and wait, and their army becomes sitting ducks for the enemy to pick off. We are in roles that benefit us all! When their are clear ranks of roles the main commander looks to his support system to give him intel, support, and courage. Same in an army as in a marriage, our roles on the team must not be passive or inactive, for we all depend on each other for the success of the team.
Remember that marriage is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church, and in all things we are at war not against flesh and blood but against the powers of this world. We are in a spiritual battle together and as wife and husband we must be working together according to how God intended in order to successfully bring glory to God through our marriage.
It is time to armor up and prepare for battle WITH your spouse! Putting on the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. The war is here and now; we must be active NOT passive.
How to prepare for war:
PRAY!
READ GODS WORD!
SUBMIT to GOD first and your husband second.
ACT in OBEDIENCE!
**Submission does NOT apply to abuse, and if you find yourself in that situation or wonder if you are please reach out to a pastor, biblical friend, and or please email us at Marissa@rasingrices.com