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  Religion
Ungodly Husbands and Dead Prayers "Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives with understanding of their weaker nature yet showing them honor as co-heirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered." 1 Peter 3:7 By Pastor Phillip Howle web posted April 7, 2010 RELIGION – Husbands, how is you marriage right now? You ought to know! The spiritual condition of your marriage depends on you. But sadly I see men all time take the cowardly approach of failing to lead their families to God and instead just let them all fend for themselves in a cruel and Godless world while he atrophies on the couch. So men, if you don’t know how to answer the question of what is the spiritual condition of you marriage, then let me ask you another question: how vibrant is your prayer life? Is God hearing and answering your prayers? If not, then I bet you are not being a godly husband. Being a Godly man who leads his family and having a strong prayer life are directly linked. Before I go further I must give a note on what I mean when I say Godly husband and leader. In Desiring God, John Piper defines a husband’s leadership in this fashion: As Jesus says in Luke 22:26, “Let the leader become as one who serves.” The husband who plops himself down in front of the TV and orders his wife around like a slave has abandoned the way of Christ. Jesus bound Himself with a towel and washed the apostles’ feet. Woe to the husband who thinks his maleness requires of him a domineering, demanding attitude toward his wife. If you want to be a Christian husband, you become a servant, not a boss.” The Apostle Paul goes a step further and adds in Ephesians 5:25-26 “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word.” Kent Hughes says if you want to know if you are obeying the above then answer the following questions: Is my wife more like Christ because she is married to me? Or is she less like Christ because of me? Do I encourage her godliness or do I hold her back? Is she a better woman because she is married to me? Men, be honest here. Peter now adds in the above verse that men are to honor their wives. What does it mean to honor? A man who honors his wife will protect, respect, help, and stay with her. He will not expect her to work full-time outside the home and full-time at home; he will lighten her load wherever he can. He will be sensitive to her needs, and he will relate to her with courtesy, consideration, insight, and kindness. So, why are we to honor our wives? Because women are weaker (calm down feminists): this means women need to be protected and cherished. Weaker here is referring to physically, and in social standing in Peter’s day. So the fact that a woman is weaker does not mean that she is inferior to man; the Bible never suggests this (Gal 3:28). Neither does it mean that she might not actually be stronger in some areas, just hopefully not the bench press! As a matter of fact, women are generally speaking more devoted to Christ than men. And they usually are better able to bear prolonged pain and adversity (child birth!!). The English Puritan Matthew Henry sums this idea amazingly as he writes “The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to top him, nor out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved by him.” So we have our standard of what male leadership of a wife looks likes, now what happens when we fail at it? The husband’s prayers are hindered. The word “hinder” in Greek is the picture of cutting a branch from a tree. The result of “cutting off” is to render the branch incapable of producing fruit. Here is an uncomfortably strong promise of God men! So men, how is you prayer life? Understand that God promises that you will send up lead balloon prayers if you fail to honor your spouse. What is the affect of the dead prayers that you pray and God refuses to hear? You severely hinder and hurt your wife, children, home, work, ministry, and all other areas of your life. So guys, be a real man and honor your wife. Any coward can bark orders and neglect his spiritual responsibility. Don’t be a coward. Honor your wife like a man. Lost as to how to do this? Next week I will be writing on how to practically express honor toward your wife. Got to go home and honor my wife! Pastor Phillip © Copyright 2010
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