Ephesians 5:25 (NIV) ~ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. 

In a day when so many wives feel neglected, unwanted, unappreciated and taken for granted, God is speaking to husbands to rise up and love their wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. The Bible says in Proverbs 18:22 (NIV), “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the LORD.” A covenant wife is one who understands the value and importance of loving her husband just as the husband loves his wife. A covenant marriage is one in which both a husband and wife work through everything together in prayer. They are always there for each other, taking the time to listen and pay attention to what each other is saying. They believe in each other, encourage each other, and respect each other, and they never disrespect one another in public or in private. As a result, there will be nothing that will hinder your prayers and His peace rules your heart.

The husband is the head of the family and the spiritual priest who spends time in prayer for his wife and family. He cherishes his wife, feeds her, esteems her, respects her, appreciates her, never takes her for granted, builds her up in the most holy faith and like a Boaz, covers her in prayer and protects her. 

I love story about the young man on the night before he was going to get married who was given a gift from his father who was married to his mother for over forty-five years and was still loving her with everything he had. What his father gave him was a watch, but on the face of the watch there was a message engraved that said, “Say something nice to Sarah.” Husbands take the time to say something nice to your wife today; wives say something nice to your husband today as well. 

The Bible says that a woman’s true beauty is not caught up with material things 1 Peter 3:4 (NIV), “Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” Gentlemen, your wife is gift from God, and ladies, your husband is a gift from God. Even though a husband is the head of the family, this position should never be one which is used to gain, or win a disagreement, or to be manipulative or controlling, which is not of God. Likewise, a woman should not have the same negative attitudes towards her husband. The Bible says in Colossians 3:19 (NIV), “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.” Love them as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Wives, in turn, will respond to being appreciated and cherished. As a result, they willing submit to their husband as fitting in the Lord, knowing him to be a godly man who loves her with all his heart, for when you love someone with all your heart, you want to do your best for them, blessing them and being a blessing to them as a godly husband. 

The responsibility for a husband is one that should not be taken lightly, for a husband is held accountable before the Lord for the way he treats his wife and his family, for she is his wife, and not merely a wife, but the wife of his covenant marriage before the Lord. I believe it is time for men to be men, but in order for that to happen, women must respect their husband’s position within the covenant marriage, so they can rise up and be the leader God calls them to be. 

My friend, when a man treats a woman as the Bible says in Ephesians 5:25 (NIV), “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” and when a woman responds to her husband’s Christ-centred attitude, his love and Kingdom living, then something special happens, they both begin to live in and enjoy the blessings of a covenant marriage the way God has intended and ordained for them.    

God bless you my friend, Matthew.

 

Matthew 22:32 (KJV) ~ “…‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” 

Oh, how I love the phrase, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” He is our ELOHIM ADONAI, our everlasting God. From one generation to another He is God. “Great is Thy faithfulness O God, my Father; there is no shadow of turning with Thee.  All I have needed Thy hand hath provided, great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me.” 

This same God who made a covenant with Abraham and sealed it with blood as He walked through it as smoking brazier with a blazing torch, is the same GOD who brought the people out of Egypt with a display of His awesome power, who parted the sea so the people walk across on dry land to the Promised Land. He is the same God who, time and time again, throughout the Old Testament, showed Himself strong and mighty to save for His people. He is the same God who bared His holy arm with great and mighty works and delivered His people who called upon His name. He is the same God who showed His power to heal, raise the dead and conquer death, hell and grave, through His Son Jesus Christ. He is the same God who gives gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will. He is the same God who gives you His ZOE life through Jesus Christ, and this great God, who is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is our God!

He loves to display His glory in our lives, for He is a living, powerful, awesome God. He is from everlasting to everlasting. He is not a God of past miracles, but a God who is living to do miracles right now, for He has saved the best till now! He is the God of the NOW; here and now He is a living, all-powerful EL SHADDAI. 

My friend, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is our God. He is not only omniscient, not only omnipresent, but also omnipotent. Every manifestation of His awesome power and glory in the Scriptures can testify of His love for us. Just as every person in the Bible turned to the Lord and received a miracle for their lives, so we can do the same, for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is our God, the God of the living, to display His power from one generation to another.

The cry of my heart today is, “Oh, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, my God, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds; O Lord renew them in my day, in my time make them known. For you are the God of the living, let this generation live in the manifestation Your great power and glory.”

God bless you my friend, Matthew.